MoonDrop Productions had a big night last night. For some background context, MoonDrop Productions is a quarterly submission based/themed reading created by me (Kelechi Ubozoh) and Cassandra Dallett. We encourage writers to share their personal evolution, revolution, feelings on love or lust and we strive to hear from a diverse group of writers.

Our May show (which was seriously postponed) was our 15th quarterly show. We opted for the theme Transcendence, which is defined as going beyond ordinary limits, modes of the infinite, transcending the universe, time, and beyond. We’ve been so inspired by this amazing community of Afrosurreal writers and the Oakland Museum’s ‘Mothership: Voyage Into Afrofuturism’ that we wanted to hear stories of Black futures and beyond.

We asked for Octavia Butler lullabies, and folks delivered! We went on a spiritual journey, starting with Audrey T. Williams, MFA weaving speculative non-fiction that reimagines familial grief and love complete with a sweet spirit haunting the gravitational pull in the kitchen , Karla Brundage described shades of friendship and love and the true feeling of isolation during COVID, and Adrienne Oliver had us mystified with her piece on Harriet Tubman dropping bars after awakening from a cryogenic sleep and ending up at a trap music video set of her great great great great great great (x’s more) grandnephew . (Yes, it was epic!)

Tureeda Mikell, truth speaker, ushered us into the ethical complications of withdrawing blood for money/uncovering everyday neo-nazis. We joyfully received James Cagney’s remix on Abecedarian poetry/ the impact of colonizing Saturn’s moon and an intergalactic battle..and Ayodele Nzinga, Ph.D Nzinga, the first Oakland Poet Laureate and our honored guest/feature had my ancestors arrive, with what I can only describe as channeled ancestral wisdom, starting with a call from the ‘institution’ for us to ‘fix it’ (the unrest, the disorder, in response to the lynching of George Floyd) and the work of holding up the sky, returning to the land and the remembering.

Magic is real ya’ll, I witnessed it last night.