In Orphan Bonding: A Queer Black Woman's Poems of Love, Loss, and Belonging, Oriana Cambria Myles threads the soft, insistent music of memory with the slow ache of discovery. This is not just a love story, it is a map of survival, desire, and chosen family, told in free verse that carries you from Chicago student hangouts to Seattle streets, from the ghosting of first love to the steadiness of a roommate who lovingly folds your towels when you accidentally forget them in the dryer. With clarity and emotional precision, Myles offers a lyrical archive of what it means to be a queer Black woman making a life one gesture at a time. For readers who crave intimacy without spectacle, resilience without erasure, Orphan Bonding is an invitation to belong to yourself, and to each other.

Oriana Cambria Myles is a poet and former nonprofit leader whose work explores emotional intimacy, queer resilience, and the soft rituals of everyday life. With roots in the Midwest and a long career in service to LGBTQ2IA+ communities, her writing is informed by lived experience, deep observation, and quiet strength. This debut collection traces a personal and poetic journey through love, solitude, friendship, and becoming. Oriana lives and writes in the Pacific Northwest.