Tiel Aisha Ansari

The Day of My First Driving Lesson Tiel Aisha Ansari

1st Place Winner of The Poetry Box Chapbook Prize, 2020




A poignant, poetic memoir written in the wake of the death of the author's parents, celebrating a multicultural life of love and adventure.



"I was learning to be the hero of my own story. This line from the poem "1975" could be the anthem for this powerful chapbook that traces the story of the poet's family, an odyssey ranging from coast to coast in the United States, to Tanzania, and beyond. Alternating plainspoken narrative with vivid imagery, the poems also range through time, building a kaleidoscopic view of this interracial family's life, challenges, inevitable aging, and the strong bonds that hold them together even beyond grief. The Day of My First Driving Lesson is a rare love letter to good parents and the legacy of compassion they leave behind."

-Amy Miller, Contest Judge, 2020




"Prepare yourselves to be swept off your feet by the brilliance and depth of love in this book, by the beauty and power of its understandings. I can't begin to praise it highly enough."

-Ingrid Wendt, author of Evensong




"A powerful exploration of what our families can teach us and what we have to learn ourselves along the way, The Day of My First Driving Lesson is a poignant, tender collection."

-Jennifer Richter, author

No Acute Distress and Threshold