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saphira7's review against another edition
5.0
This book. Ooof. It’s a great book. I will sing it praises until this book blows up as it should.
helenabythebook's review against another edition
5.0
book playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4wN6xGbh5UVmQkJZDdNyvY?si=jQ0lCZHyRr-2M10SoNoJGg
Sana Sana is a cohesive and stunning poetry collection that confronts the experiences of being Afro Latina in America. It is both a personal collection and one that so many people including myself can relate to. To say that I felt seen by this collection would be an understatement. This was so beautiful and touching. I cried, laughed, smiled, and felt all the emotions.
I am really astonished by how little attention this collection is getting. It is such an amazing piece of work and is going down as one of my favorites of all time! I can’t wait to read her next collection and hope to see her in person one day.
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I actually started reading and in only a few lines I stopped and was like “damn I felt that” after I read this (first poem titled “23):
“I don’t know how to call myself Black in Spanish without it being an insult”
Then I kept reading and couldn’t put this down. I read all the poems through taking notes and underlining everything! Then I realized some of the poems had Ariana Brown performing them online. Here’s a brief review of some of my favorite poems and some with links to her performances:
23: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYMDA--KPqQ
This poem was such a banger to start the collection off with. Emphasizing the potential divisiveness of the Spanish especially for Afro Latines was such a powerful choice and something I really related to.
Death Poem (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYJH6FNGTxc): This was so healing for me because I think it can be hard to see death and only view it as sadness and not think about all the memories and love that came from someone’s life before they died. It was a reminder to reflect on memories and live life for those memories.
Invocation (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMjIRCOTqdE): This one made me smile and was so intriguing because it’s a poem about her hair but it’s interesting she chose the title of Invocation. I underlined almost this entire poem but here’s a sneak peek at one of my favorite lines:
“everyone can tell where you’ve been. even bus windows remember your name.”
Cumbia / We Never Did this to be Beautiful (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZacdD5lHQUg): These both start you off so light and then just hit you and make you feel so much! It’s difficult to express with words but I think these lines sum them up the best:
“you can’t tell me there aren’t many ways to survive, to remember the dead, to make a freedom when there isn’t one” YESSS!!!!
Myself First (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WIJx-RjwlQ)/ For the Black Kids in My 8th Grade Spanish Class (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gx5oKuxQLQ): The last time I cried reading poetry was reading Danez Smith and I truly wasn’t expecting to feel so emotional but reading these two poems really had me stuck!! If I were to include a snippet of either of these, I would have to include the entire poems. They were so beautiful and so healing just as the title of this collection states.
Ode to Thrift Stores (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFZJoU44uOo)/ Ode to the City Bus (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pN5HtfzqTc): I was propelled back to so many memories (present ones too given that I still ride the bus) and they made me smile and laugh out loud.
I felt a connection to every single poem but this review is already long enough lol. I loved this and thank you so much Ariana for writing it.
Sana Sana is a cohesive and stunning poetry collection that confronts the experiences of being Afro Latina in America. It is both a personal collection and one that so many people including myself can relate to. To say that I felt seen by this collection would be an understatement. This was so beautiful and touching. I cried, laughed, smiled, and felt all the emotions.
I am really astonished by how little attention this collection is getting. It is such an amazing piece of work and is going down as one of my favorites of all time! I can’t wait to read her next collection and hope to see her in person one day.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I actually started reading and in only a few lines I stopped and was like “damn I felt that” after I read this (first poem titled “23):
“I don’t know how to call myself Black in Spanish without it being an insult”
Then I kept reading and couldn’t put this down. I read all the poems through taking notes and underlining everything! Then I realized some of the poems had Ariana Brown performing them online. Here’s a brief review of some of my favorite poems and some with links to her performances:
23: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYMDA--KPqQ
This poem was such a banger to start the collection off with. Emphasizing the potential divisiveness of the Spanish especially for Afro Latines was such a powerful choice and something I really related to.
Death Poem (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYJH6FNGTxc): This was so healing for me because I think it can be hard to see death and only view it as sadness and not think about all the memories and love that came from someone’s life before they died. It was a reminder to reflect on memories and live life for those memories.
Invocation (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMjIRCOTqdE): This one made me smile and was so intriguing because it’s a poem about her hair but it’s interesting she chose the title of Invocation. I underlined almost this entire poem but here’s a sneak peek at one of my favorite lines:
“everyone can tell where you’ve been. even bus windows remember your name.”
Cumbia / We Never Did this to be Beautiful (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZacdD5lHQUg): These both start you off so light and then just hit you and make you feel so much! It’s difficult to express with words but I think these lines sum them up the best:
“you can’t tell me there aren’t many ways to survive, to remember the dead, to make a freedom when there isn’t one” YESSS!!!!
Myself First (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WIJx-RjwlQ)/ For the Black Kids in My 8th Grade Spanish Class (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gx5oKuxQLQ): The last time I cried reading poetry was reading Danez Smith and I truly wasn’t expecting to feel so emotional but reading these two poems really had me stuck!! If I were to include a snippet of either of these, I would have to include the entire poems. They were so beautiful and so healing just as the title of this collection states.
Ode to Thrift Stores (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFZJoU44uOo)/ Ode to the City Bus (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pN5HtfzqTc): I was propelled back to so many memories (present ones too given that I still ride the bus) and they made me smile and laugh out loud.
I felt a connection to every single poem but this review is already long enough lol. I loved this and thank you so much Ariana for writing it.