The story of Settled Dust takes root in the events of the last two hundred years, from the abolishment of the importation of slaves to the New World to the Black Lives Matter protests heard down the streets of today. Amidst this history, Settled Dust tells the heart’s cry of Loma, a woman who wants to be free—a woman in need of a second chance at life.
Second chances act as a tool not just for personal elevation but for the recovery of society as a whole; they right past wrongs and forge a new lease on life for freedom, liberty, and respect; they give loved ones, communities, and even entire races a new opportunity for their humanity. And beneath it all lies the unshakeable foundation of family and friends—the nucleus of society, the shield and support system upon which life is revamped and sustained and identities are developed.
Within the chants of “Black lives matter” echoes the aftermath of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade and the identities, stigma, and stereotypes that black slavery produced. Within Loma’s own story, the burden of femininity in a patriarchal world is a heavy one, and understanding lives in a lineage of ancestral women. But even with the weight of history and identity on her shoulders, Loma is a woman who raises her head despite the odds to fight for her own second chance.
Settled Dust is lyrical poetry that tells the aftermath of life-altering experiences at the intersection of race, ethnicity, gender, love, and faith. When the dust settles, clarity is found, and second chances are on the horizon.
