By Dylan Deprey
“Black Girls, Silence and Other Things Made of Gold” author Mikey Cody Apollo. (Photo courtesy Mikey Cody Apollo)
As Mikey Cody Apollo, poet and published author, scrolled through her Facebook feed, she noticed an associate had tagged her in a post about an upcoming Woman and Gender studies/Africana course at Marquette.
“I’m reading through all of the stuff that’s required and I’m like, ‘Oh this is going to be so dope, I wish I went to Marquette,’ and then I saw the name of my book and when I realized I was tagged I was like ‘Oh my God!’” Apollo said. “I was totally thrown.”
Since “Black Girls, Silence and Other Things Made of Gold” released, Apollo has been just as surprised with the love and support she has received since the day she sold her first copy.
The Milwaukee Courier interviewed Apollo a week before “Black Girls, Silence and Other Things Made of Gold” was released on July 15,2017, and decided to catch up with the local author for its one-year-anniversary.
“The book took off in a way I wasn’t expecting,” Apollo said. “350 copies are out in the world right now, which is insane to think about.”
The 70-piece poetry novel, which basks in Black love, female empowerment and sexuality, was a window into Apollo’s personal life, and touched on everything from relationships to social issues that affected her community daily.
“It’s weird to think about because it was such a personal book, and I think I forget that my story relates to other peoples’ stories in different ways and in different spaces,” Apollo said.
She continued: “I’ve had people come up and say, ‘I cried at this poem,’ and I’m just like, ‘Why?’” Apollo said. “It’s been a while since these things happened, and it’s not like I’m disconnected, but there’s a degree of separation now.”
She compared the reader’s connections to her personal stories as a double-edged sword.
“In a sense, it makes me really happy so many people, especially black woman, see themselves or reflect or even say, ‘me too,’” Apollo said. “But, I think that is also the part that sucks because some of my harder parts we connect, and that other half shows the deep-rooted problems like the racism and sexism.”
Over the course of the year, Apollo would sporadically sell around 30 copies first-come-first-serve, and almost every time she announced it on her Facebook page, there was a sold out post the same day.
“A very large part of it comes from having a large village behind me,” Apollo said. “They are people that love and support me, not just financially but will actually read the book and tell people about it.”
Along with a huge support system, her stories were being used in local GED classes and in lecture halls from Milwaukee to Baltimore. From old high school acquaintances, to poetry nerds and educators, Apollo was sharing her deepest work with everyone.
“I’m trying to think and off the top of my head, I don’t even know 350 people,” Apollo said. “It doesn’t get old, and I think that is sort of a good thing because it keeps me humble.”
Apollo’s experience has opened doors to networking opportunities with local authors as well as perfecting other forms of writing that could be incorporated in a possible sequel.
“As much as I love poetry, and as much as poetry has been a huge part of who I am, poetry isn’t the write format for the stories I want to tell and I want to branch out a little bit more,” Apollo said.
Apollo said she has been writing and creating, but, there was no set release date for a sequel.
“There may or may not be a title, and it is going to be very different from the first,” Apollo said. “But because it’s me, I already have the release party planned in my head.”
To check out Mikey Cody Apollo and “Black Girls, Silence and Other Things Made of Gold” visit https://www.facebook.com/mikeycodyapollo