In this artist talk, Ariana Brown describes finding her way to spoken word poetry in 2009 and using it as a tool for personal and communal care. Ariana will contextualize her work within Black performance traditions and rituals, particularly in local slam poetry communities in Texas. Drawing on her lived experience as a queer Black Mexican American and her research in African Diaspora Studies and Mexican American Studies, Ariana will trace her attempts to recover Black girlhood not just for herself, but for other Black girls too. Combining storytelling, poems, and dialogue, this artist talk is an opportunity to hear from Ariana directly about how her identities and politics shape her writing. This artist talk is a hybrid of spoken word poetry performance, multimedia storytelling, and audience Q&A. The live Q&A following the talk is an opportunity for the audience to collectively reflect on the ideas presented in the talk and foster a sense of community.