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likecymbeline's review against another edition
4.0
The sea and death and sorrow, a review promised. Displacement and Eritrean diaspora and a history that includes the history happening now. The first part, elegy, I don't think it would be possible to excerpt without its context, without the interplay of the complete work. It tells us of four women called Luam from different times and places, it tells us of the sea and the dead.
In the second part "The Black Maria" and "Cooley High, Fifth Estrangement" were the poems that winded me. Seeing the names of those who died as a result of police violence, reading the poem about young Neil deGrasse Tyson--acknowledging in the telling of the story that even though we know the end we still hold our breath in fear of what could happen to him--is what makes this stand out. It connects past with present, joining together the colonialism and racism of different times to display it as a long-reigning and unsegmented oppressor.
In the second part "The Black Maria" and "Cooley High, Fifth Estrangement" were the poems that winded me. Seeing the names of those who died as a result of police violence, reading the poem about young Neil deGrasse Tyson--acknowledging in the telling of the story that even though we know the end we still hold our breath in fear of what could happen to him--is what makes this stand out. It connects past with present, joining together the colonialism and racism of different times to display it as a long-reigning and unsegmented oppressor.
kiramke's review against another edition
4.0
A collection that builds through itself a context for both grief and joy, exceptional and sometimes difficult. As a conversation with history and the present, it takes full attention. Teeth was easier for me to connect to by individual poem, but part II of this work as a witnessing kind of knocked the wind out of me and deserves further thought.
vrkinase0411's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
4.5
Deeply reflective of the people we miss without knowing and their scars we cary generationally.
Grief of those we knew and didn't know but hauntingly hopeful.
Grief of those we knew and didn't know but hauntingly hopeful.
kelseymay's review against another edition
5.0
"The Black Maria" by Aracelis Girmay is moving, lyrical, and lovely. She creates beauty out of memory and ache. This collection is page after page of gorgeous poems.
lizmart88's review against another edition
3.0
Poetry collections are too subjective to review! As always, there were some that I connected with deeply. Many others, I did not. But either way, she is a talented poet who does things with words and rhyme that I can't imagine doing.
She mixes some prose with poetry, some that focus on rhyme and rhythm while others focus on a theme across several poems.
She mixes some prose with poetry, some that focus on rhyme and rhythm while others focus on a theme across several poems.
oceanelle's review against another edition
5.0
"there was a water song that we sang
when we were going to fetch river from the river,
it was filled with water sounds
& pebbles. here, in the after-wind, with the other girls,
we trade words like special things.
one girl tells me "mai" was her sister's name,
the word for "flower." she has been saving
this one for a special trade. I understand
& am quiet awhile, respecting, then give
her my word "mai," for "water,"
& another girl tells me "mai" is "mother"
in her language, & another says it meant,
to her, "what belongs to me," then
"belonging," suddenly, is a strange word,
or a way of feeling, like "to be longing for,"
& you, brother, are the only one,
the only one I think of to finish that thought,
to be longing for
mai brother, my brother"
--page 37-38
when we were going to fetch river from the river,
it was filled with water sounds
& pebbles. here, in the after-wind, with the other girls,
we trade words like special things.
one girl tells me "mai" was her sister's name,
the word for "flower." she has been saving
this one for a special trade. I understand
& am quiet awhile, respecting, then give
her my word "mai," for "water,"
& another girl tells me "mai" is "mother"
in her language, & another says it meant,
to her, "what belongs to me," then
"belonging," suddenly, is a strange word,
or a way of feeling, like "to be longing for,"
& you, brother, are the only one,
the only one I think of to finish that thought,
to be longing for
mai brother, my brother"
--page 37-38
audreymoorehead's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.5
I'm not a big poetry fan, but this was an interesting read anyways.
sam8834's review against another edition
4.0
This collection had me at moon stuff. Combined with these narratives on race is brilliant and haunting and symphonic, all at once. The title poems are my favorites.