Taken from my Substack originally published on July 9, 2026:
The above watercolor was painted specifically to be the cover of the book. It was done in watercolor and India ink on watercolor paper.
The following poem went viral on my Instagram reels last month (watch it here). It’s from my second illustrated poetry book called The Other Crown.
eden
Eve is a myth.
Oh no, she wasn’t a fairy tale but
the justification for her blame was pure
patriarchal propaganda.
When God created Adam, He
gave him the rules before
Eve even existed and if
we read between the lines we can
assume it was Adam’s job to tell her.
He didn’t.
So when Satan spoke to Eve how could she have
known any better?
She didn’t know.
Adam didn’t show.
We shouldn’t be surprised to see that
when God sought answers
it was the man he asked.
But man blamed woman.
And he continued to blame her,
and her,
and her,
and her.
The Other Crown is an illustrated poetry book that asks the question: how much power do women have to give up in order to fall in love? Here are a few more of my favorite poems from the collection:
power
The only way I can take power in
a relationship is by
choosing not to love; for,
once I love I’m not in power anymore,
because love is finally in power
over me.
My previous-self wanted to be
a princess fit with golden gloves and a
crown placed on my head to rule with
glass slippers wrapped around my feet,
hiding inside a fortress I
built for myself, waiting for
someone to find me.
This previous woman, this weaker woman
could not balance the
heavy weight of the crown and
stand on her toes
smushed inside crystal shoes so she
bled and bled and bled and out
of her stupor, she
dislodged the weapons meant to bind her
and pulled out a sword.
This new woman, this stronger woman now
wanted nothing more than to
slay the dragons before her, and
watch the fury of the world, the fury of her heart,
spill out in front of her for
everyone to watch burn.
My second poetry book explores themes of love, romance and sexuality as they are intertwined with the patriarchy. Questioning how I gain my power as a woman, I attempt to unwind the complicated nature of relationships, societal expectations, and the imbalance of power between the sexes. The Other Crown is my love letter to women: our love lives, our heartbreaks, and our friendships with one another.
