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laura_sackton's review
Expansive poetry about sound and lineage.
More than one poem made me cry.
The [captions] are especially brilliant and moving.
More than one poem made me cry.
The [captions] are especially brilliant and moving.
greenish_'s review
5.0
i’m going to be thinking about these poems for the rest of my life. dear God. 5 stars.
thecolourblue's review
3.75
Written by a deaf, mixed-race, poet, this collection focuses on the writer's connection with his personal ancestors and history - both his predessors who experienced slavery, and those who perpetrated it.
Earlier, when he’d found the grave of his great-grandmother by the elderberry tree it was the one time he’d wanted someone white to appear and ask where he was from. It would’ve been no skin off him to point at her stone and say here.
He also uses a cool technique of including 'closed captions' to puntuate some of the poems and also break up the sections of the book, which I really liked.
Some favourites:
- 'On Vanity' which is very sad, but really hits.
- 'And Dat' ..yes Hackney! (Crackney changed / still / stay dwelling / and dat Paradise moves / but I got to land grab We E8 / East man / ain’t got to adapt Our Kingdom / got no land to hand back)
- ‘Horror Scene as Black English Royal’ is one of the poems that uses captions to punctuate the verses, explores the poet's conflicted feelings about his mixed heritage, particularly his white slave-owning ancestors - his “whitest black blood of the land”.
- 'For John T Williams' and 'For Tyrone Givans' both tell the stories of black deaf men who were killed or imprisoned, and how this situation punished them for the intersection of their deafness and their blackness.
Those who have loved me before say I made them feel second to some dream I was having. (From ‘Lovable’)
ashleycmms's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Physical abuse, Slavery, Ableism, Racism, Violence, Death, Murder, Domestic abuse, Police brutality, and Gun violence
foggy_rosamund's review against another edition
4.0
Antrobus's second collection, following the ground-breaking and award-winning, The Perseverance. Antrobus builds on similar themes as in his first collection: being Deaf, being mixed race, while also delving into his family history, including the history of his surname (a very old English name), and his relationship to racism. It deals with complex themes lightly and with clarity, while also touching on tender emotions, such as love, both familial and romantic. I was particularly moved by Antrobus's poems about disability, and the intersection of racism and ableism, "For Tyrone Givans" and "Captions & A Dream for John T Williams of the Nuu-Chah-Nulth tribe". However, I wanted Antrobus to expand on some of his themes. But he's an important writer and this is an accomplished collection.