VS (Poetry Foundation) · Poetry Foundation

Brittany and Ajanaé vs. The Next Adventure

January 27, 2026·53 min·4 clips

Brittany reveals a raw elegy about her grandmother's transition and unspoken needs.

1. The final episode of Versus, the Poetry Foundation podcast, features co-hosts Brittany and Ajanaé interviewing each other with questions submitted by listeners via social media. 2. Brittany is a Detroit-native poet, teacher, and scholar; Ajanaé is a poet and literary arts professional who has known Brittany for more than half her life. 3. The episode's emotional register is explicitly tender: both hosts acknowledge it is their last episode and open by calling each other 'best,' their term of endearment throughout the show's run. 4. After a brief opening about Ajanaé missing the Erykah Badu 'Mama's Gun' 25th anniversary concert and Brittany standing in line at Detroit Furs, the hosts formally open the episode. 5. Brittany reads a new poem titled 'Elegy' about tending her grandmother through a hospital death: she called her mother nightly with medical updates but never said 'I need you here for me,' so her mother did not come. 6. Ajanaé responds to the poem by noting that Brittany's work always braids grief with other emotions in a way that reveals how many daily feelings are complicated versions of grief. 7. On their origin story, Ajanaé explains they officially met at L-TAP through Detroit's Inside Out Literary Arts program after months of hearing each other's names in overlapping literary circles. 8. Brittany describes their early dynamic as big-sister/mentor while managing a toddler as a single mother, and Ajanaé as a 'bossy suburban teenager' she was sometimes trying to keep from reckless choices. 9. Ajanaé says the shift from mentorship to friendship crystallized when she realized she was telling people Brittany was her best friend without having confirmed it was reciprocal — then asked and confirmed it was. 10. Among interview memories, Ajanaé describes asking Naomi Shihab Nye what she would tell her younger self and receiving: 'Nothing — I lived the life of my dreams,' because she only wanted to write poems and be with family and community. 11. Ajanaé says Nye's answer haunted her for weeks, asking herself 'are we living the life of our dreams?' and says it permanently changed how she evaluates where she spends her time. 12. Both hosts were shaken in an interview with the elder poet Toy, who responded to a question about 'the second half of your life' by saying: 'Second half? Baby, I'm in the final quarter — I'm preparing to die,' delivered with complete calm. 13. They also cite Victoria Chang saying she doesn't approach a collection as a collection, which gave Brittany permission to trust that a project will cohere without being consciously planned. 14. Rachel Eliza Griffiths describing herself as a photographer in the language of a poet is cited as another standout moment — Ajanaé felt immediately at home in that framework. 15. On archiving, the hosts frame Versus as a contribution to the literary record for poets — especially Black women writers — who might otherwise only be recognized posthumously or have their records corrected after the fact, citing Sonia Sanchez's shock at seeing the Schomburg Center's collection of Black writers. 16. The 'pinky toes touching' metaphor captures their creative relationship: even when working on separate projects, their thinking stays in contact, with each constantly sending the other books, references, and feedback. 17. Ajanaé describes Brittany as 'my work cited' — her theological framework for engaging Black women and God is explicitly grounded in reading Brittany's collection 'Good Dress,' and she has presented on Brittany's work at academic conferences. 18. Ajanaé's upcoming project is a docu-poetry collection about her aunt who went missing and received three death certificates over 31 years; it explores the metaphysical dimensions of being missing and the lives of women who lose themselves. 19. Brittany is working on a poetry collection about beauty's misappropriation — specifically how religion has been used to frame queerness as not beautiful — and separately on a romance novel she has been preparing for years through extensive reading of the genre. 20. Ajanaé closes the episode by reading a poem about her missing aunt that catalogs all the funeral rituals that never happened because there was no confirmed death — no church, no electric slide, no pound cake, no goodbye.

As heard by us

A warm VS farewell about friendship, poetic lineage, and the care behind making an archive.

Brittany and Ajanae close this run of VS with a farewell that feels tender, funny, and a little stunned by its own ending. They begin in the loose rhythm of friends finding the mic, with Ajanae still thinking about Erykah Badu's Mama's Gun anniversary concert and both hosts…

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Press play for a conversation about poetry, trust, and archiving.

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