Niagara (Life in Black & White), Pt. 1

Niagara: Life in Black & White Part I of the Niagara Anthology Some cities become destinations. Others become ghosts. In Niagara: Life in Black & White, Axley J. Blaze returns to the city that shaped her childhood through a haunting blend of poetry, prose, and cinematic storytelling. Told through the eyes of a child and the reflections of the woman she becomes, the collection explores memory, family, vision, trauma, faith, mental illness, and the fragile beauty of growing up. Structured like an old film reel, each poem unfolds as another scene, another frame, another attempt to restore damaged footage. Between the roar of the Falls and the silence of forgotten rooms, innocence slowly gives way to revelation as the ordinary becomes mythic and the familiar becomes unforgettable. Part memoir, part meditation, and part motion picture, Niagara: Life in Black & White asks what remains after the film fades—what we remember, what we choose to forget, and how the stories we survive continue to shape the people we become. The first installment in the Niagara Anthology, this collection is an intimate portrait of childhood, memory, and the lifelong search to see clearly.