What are some simple things we overlook with each blink? How do we share apples with no urgency? In this Poetic Interlude, Jae Nichelle shares her poem “Sci-fi with Black Lead.”
Creatives, including poets, show us how to embrace our humanity and act on our truths. We in The Rest of Us community view this as a deep connection to one’s own agency — our definition of rest.
Settle into the work of Jae Nichelle and even explore your own creativity, which we define as liberatory rest.
Poem: “Sci-fi with Black Lead”
“I’ve never seen a hero like me in a sci-fi.” – FKA Twigs
The movies are wrong. Time
is circular, meaning the future
is just us older in the past.
We are naked, we don’t understand
science—we never did—
& I love you.
We’ve seen all of our terrors
before, so we rebuke excess.
This is enough—
gather sticks, set fires, be
together. Our families
have finally met.
We are still here. You bring back
apples to share with no urgency
in your walk. Where are the battles?
Behind us. Where we don’t look.
Where are the men? We don’t need
answers, but the ocean
is clear, gas-flame blue. So we ask.
Have we ever seen ourselves?
Look—
you, black woman,
still here, me, black
woman, still here.
How did we used to live? Always
on our toes & ready. One might think
the hunted would seek revenge.
We did. We rebuilt our homes & our feet.
Where are the heroes? We are still here,
only no one needs to be saved.
Reflections
This poem imagines a moment in time where all of the small things are more than enough. What are some simple things we overlook with each blink? How can we see ourselves in the smallest of things — apples to share with no urgency in our walk?
About the Poet
Louisiana-born JAE NICHELLE (she/her) is the author of God Themselves (Andrews McMeel, 2023) and the chapbook The Porch (As Sanctuary) (YesYes Books, 2019). A graduate fellow of The Watering Hole, Jae won the inaugural John Lewis Writing Award in poetry from the Georgia Writers Association and was a finalist for a 2023 Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Fellowship. Her poetry has appeared in Best New Poets 2020, Washington Square Review, The Offing, Muzzle Magazine, and elsewhere.
Her latest book, Grownfolk Blues: a musical in poems, is forthcoming (Host Publications, Fall 2026).
Dana Tenille Weekes made the conscious decision to live in a mindset of rest as self-liberation after nearly 15 years as a lawyer-lobbyist in Washington, DC. In 2020, Dana faced the darkest period of her life, which eventually led her to resign from a top global law firm and take a year-long journey of rest in 2022.
In 2023, Dana launched Thrive Architects, a strategic advising and professional development firm building advocacy, organizational health, and well-being platforms for organizations, communities, and people to thrive.
The Rest of Us podcast is one way Dana is building community for professionals and advocates on the brink of burnout to think about rest differently. If you’re interested in embracing rest as liberation, especially after the podcast episode ends, join our community where we converse, connect, cultivate, and lean into our creativity.
