[Hear the story in the author’s voice—audio reading included]

The girls watched as their grandmother fanned out the cash and examined the bills, searching for counterfeits, counting and recounting. Her bangles chattered like teeth on her arms.

That was the first time she learned that she had to set herself on fire to make other people happy.

When the sun came back/ I was a full tree/with all the room in the desert to grow,

I hope when they take my picture/I am filtered with bright exposure

She leaped from her window and became a swarm of bats.

A story from The Hope, The Prayer, The Anthem. Written by Joshua Chizoma. Read by Amanda.