Living Out Loud is a collection of poetry by Norma Edwards Paskusz. Her passionate poems describe her youth in segregated Houston and her love of family, cooking, traveling and life. Many of her poems deal with her refusal to be categorized as only one thing and her desire to recognized and appreciated as a multifaceted individual. From the humorous "I Want a Boyfriend" to the heart-wrenching "Smithereens," she lays bare her emotions about being a Black woman in a world that wasn't ready for her to be all she could be. Her subjects include motherhood, death, the impact of racism on her life and her triumph over the circumstances that threatened to hold her back.