Poetry of a Black Girl - The Darkness and the Light is the first poetry volume to be released by Lela Jefferson. "I began penning this collection of poems when I was 10 years old; I am now 30. What sparked me to release it was finding a cassette tape I had recorded of myself reciting the oldest of the poems in what now makes up the heart of this volume. I was 19 at the time; at a crossroads in my life just as I am now and being forced to close another chapter and start anew. I wanted to record in some way this climatic moment in time and the best way I knew how" - Lela J.