Amba Elieff & Anna Jinja

Send us Fan MailWhat if a poem could hold every part of you — even the parts you've been afraid to name? On this episode of The Anna Jinja Show, host Anna Jinja sits down with poet Amba Elieff, a woman who has reinvented herself more times than she can count — wife, daughter, mother, stepmother, massage therapist, corporate survivor, and above all, a poet who gives language to what most of us are too afraid to say out loud. Amba and Anna explore three of Amba's poems — each one a window into identity, the body, and the shadows we all carry. Together, they dive into questions that will stay with you long after you finish listening: Are you still the original color you were born? Or have layers of life — loss, love, trauma, reinvention — changed you into something new? And is that okay? Is your body a scrapbook? Who has been writing the pages — and when do you decide to take the pen back?  Have you ever found comfort in the darkness? What are the "shadows" that keep you tethered to the earth? Anna also reflects on what it means to grow up as an international adoptee — to be placed into a box of crayons that wasn't designed for you, to feel compelled to complete a story that began without you. This conversation is for anyone who has ever felt like they're living in the "both/and." The beauty and the grief. The belonging and the searching.   Support the show