Dandelions in the Sky

Michelle Davis began writing her life story, "Dandelions in the Sky," in a moment of despair and continued working on the book until her death in 2007. Dandelions are the motif for the fleeting beauty of her childhood, and the loss of that beauty and innocence.An African-American child in Cleveland, born to a beautiful yet violent mother and a charming gangster of a father, Michelle fought for her place amongst an extended family of half siblings born to different parents. Always a fighter, she managed to attend college and get enough of an education as to be able to appreciate literature and writing.Michelle writes of the profound harm caused by being molested by her uncle, the confusion about her sexuality fueled by her distrust of men, and about the dawning of her lesbian desires. And yet her most powerful romantic connection is with an elderly, married Jewish man who, while he cannot leave his wife, gives her a sense that she is loved for who she is and not because she is beautiful or an object of desire.But Red dies and Michelle tries to find happiness with a series of female lovers, all of whom take advantage of her in one way or another and who are never able to love her with the same constancy that she shows them. It is with Sabrina that Michelle finally moves away to California, only to be robbed by her lover and forced to end up living in her car. Her sorrow is momentarily soothed by caring for a young boy, the child of a crack-addicted spiteful mother, who eventually wrenches him away from her.All throughout her short, tragic life Michelle Davis tries to maintain a relationship with her grandmother's born-again Christianity, which at times sustains her, but eventually she abandons all hope except for completing "Dandelions in the Sky," the chronicle of her short, unhappy life.