Ordinary Cruelty by Amber Flame

Amber Flame’s Ordinary Cruelty finds the dark rituals and strange magic hiding inside everyday choices.

With fierce tenderness, Flame explores grief, motherhood, ancestry, and the complicated relationship we have with our own bodies. These poems celebrate the beauty of brown skin while confronting the systems that make living inside that skin unsafe. Ordinary Cruelty is a profound collection about Black feminism, survival, and the unexpected joy found in resilience.

Dive into the ordinary cruelty and miraculous joy of existence with Flame today.

did not disintegrate. this
poem whooshed up in flames. burned hot.
left you its ash. this poem is not a joke. is
a not funny quit playing. this poem cannot find
its end. punch. line.

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Amber Flame is a multi-genre writer, educator, and arts administrator serving as program director for Hedgebrook, a premier writing residency for women-identified writers. She has served as a copyeditor, development editor, and general “fluffer” for all manner of texts.