"Originally published in hardcover in the United States by One World, an imprint of Random House, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, in 2021."--Title page verso.

A multilingual block in West Philly -- Spanish becomes a secret; language of the dead -- English is for atheism; language of woodworking -- A name that is a mask -- An English cousin comes to visit -- Language of the forest -- Latina health vocab from the late '80s -- Spanglish cousins on the New Jersey turnpike -- Body language -- Sophomore year English -- Things go unsaid long enough... -- Possession's voice -- Sedo buys me an upright; language of Bach -- Taíno petroglyphs -- Lukumí thrones -- Silence=death -- Unwritten recipes -- Yoruba vocabulary -- A racial slur -- A book is its presence and absence -- Mom's accent -- Dad buys me a typewriter -- She said Norf Philly and one-two-free -- Atonality -- Fania everything and salsa out-of-prints -- The serenity prayer -- Sterling Library -- The Foraker Act (on Boriken's-and the diaspora's-language history) -- Gil-Scott Heron asks me a question -- Writing's a muscle, it gets stronger -- Broken language -- On obscenity -- Cold drink became a play -- Silence=death (déjáa vu all over again) -- The book of our genius. "Quiara Alegria Hudes was the sharp-eyed girl on the stairs while her family danced their defiance in a tight North Philly kitchen. She was awed by her mother and aunts and cousins, but haunted by the untold stories of the barrio -- even as she tried to find her own voice in the sea of language around her, written and spoken, English and Spanish, bodies and books, Western art and sacred altars. Her family became her private pantheon, a gathering circle of powerful orisha-like women with tragic real-world wounds, and she vowed to tell their stories -- but first she'd have to get off the stairs and join the dance. She'd have to find her language. Weaving together Hudes's love of music with the songs of her family, the lessons of North Philly with those of Yale, this is a multimythic dive into home, memory, and belonging -- narrated by an obsessed girl who fought to become an artist so she could capture the world she loves in all its wild and delicate beauty."-- Back cover.