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jazperusual's review
I wanted to start at the beginning of Gumbs' series of poetry. I was initially introduced through M. Archive and Undrowned excerpts, both of which I loved. I liked some of what I read in Spill, but it felt as if a voice hadn't been solidified yet, and I didn't find myself pulled in. I would like to return to this title again at some point.
lattelibrarian's review
4.0
This is a beautiful, haunting book. Alexis Pauline Gumbs has a complete mastery of the English language, and uses it to her advantage as she pushes and pulls against what it means to be a black queer woman in today's society. Broken up into several different sections, each section presents a scene representing that definition of what it means to spill.
I think my favorite poem was the very first--it was so raw and emotional and unabashed. Each piece in this book is just utterly incredible, toying with our ideas of preconceived notions, playing with the idea of what it means to be poetry and to be acceptable and beautiful and in love.
Review cross-listed here!
I think my favorite poem was the very first--it was so raw and emotional and unabashed. Each piece in this book is just utterly incredible, toying with our ideas of preconceived notions, playing with the idea of what it means to be poetry and to be acceptable and beautiful and in love.
Review cross-listed here!
sapphisms's review against another edition
5.0
** I received this book as an ARC in exchange for an honest review **
Note: tags for misogyny and racism both refer to topics covered in the book, not problems with the book.
Let me preface this with the fact that I haven't read the entire thing. I'm 53% into this book and, from all that I've read, I've learned that it isn't something you can take in in one sitting. It's a beautifully written collection of poetry (interspersed with prose), but it's so rich that reading it all at one time becomes emotionally exhausting. It's gorgeous and visceral, but I can't burn through this book like I've done others.
Alexis Pauline Gumbs, you have a beautiful voice and a fantastic means of description. Half of my ARC is covered in highlights, and it's difficult to even articulate my feelings about this collection of poetry. Overall, I'm literally awestruck by it. I've been in a rut of disappointing, surface-level poetry for a white- and Gumbs, you blew that right out of the water. With a variety of narratives, though, so far, the main one has been a black woman escaping an abusive relationship and all of the steps after it... It's all been juggled effortlessly. Mark you down as one of my favorite poets, and I'll be on the look out for any new material by you!
Lines I adored:
* "the rainmaking women the rage-taking women the blood the sky so open so nose wide open can't refuse the shape of our lungs can't bear to remain above the sky sees the shoulders that shrug off hate and celebrate and hug."
* "the water waists of the undrowned women the hope floats women the strong the water knows us the whole-note women the half-step harmony song"
* "it is still just as bad as it looks. 1. let the bathtub overflow with hot water and quilt pieces. let the grit of everyday settle to sandbar. let the soap get lost in love letters. soak out their lying blue blood. let the salt of the tears she was saving and the sweat she used up scour her skin like the tough love of black teachers. let porcelain become slate against her back."
* "she thought she heard dogs barking. she knew she heard crows. she sensed a plague of locusts crowding her windows."
* "and that woman. almost the same but eyes on fire, smile almost inviting. what is she doing with my only face?"
* "she named him what he was. so gentle he would swallow it and not choke. her wrought written loops of language printed careful on the whiteness sweet as poison. before the sugar and the milk. she loved the soft blue ocean of wishing he would die."
* "she imagined the blue of her own bruises spreading daily on his insides until his muscles could not take it and his bones grew weak and bent. she wrote vitamin hate in his breakfast. receipt for how her life was spent."
* "she could breathe. that much. she could breathe. and maybe her ribs felt it too much but it was there."
* "she drew her letters on with eyeliner. a straight line was not a bruise. a shadowed eye was not black. a penciled arch was innocence, not bewilderment, not desperation. she would draw the face she wanted. and then wear it. yes she would."
Note: tags for misogyny and racism both refer to topics covered in the book, not problems with the book.
Let me preface this with the fact that I haven't read the entire thing. I'm 53% into this book and, from all that I've read, I've learned that it isn't something you can take in in one sitting. It's a beautifully written collection of poetry (interspersed with prose), but it's so rich that reading it all at one time becomes emotionally exhausting. It's gorgeous and visceral, but I can't burn through this book like I've done others.
Alexis Pauline Gumbs, you have a beautiful voice and a fantastic means of description. Half of my ARC is covered in highlights, and it's difficult to even articulate my feelings about this collection of poetry. Overall, I'm literally awestruck by it. I've been in a rut of disappointing, surface-level poetry for a white- and Gumbs, you blew that right out of the water. With a variety of narratives, though, so far, the main one has been a black woman escaping an abusive relationship and all of the steps after it... It's all been juggled effortlessly. Mark you down as one of my favorite poets, and I'll be on the look out for any new material by you!
Lines I adored:
* "the rainmaking women the rage-taking women the blood the sky so open so nose wide open can't refuse the shape of our lungs can't bear to remain above the sky sees the shoulders that shrug off hate and celebrate and hug."
* "the water waists of the undrowned women the hope floats women the strong the water knows us the whole-note women the half-step harmony song"
* "it is still just as bad as it looks. 1. let the bathtub overflow with hot water and quilt pieces. let the grit of everyday settle to sandbar. let the soap get lost in love letters. soak out their lying blue blood. let the salt of the tears she was saving and the sweat she used up scour her skin like the tough love of black teachers. let porcelain become slate against her back."
* "she thought she heard dogs barking. she knew she heard crows. she sensed a plague of locusts crowding her windows."
* "and that woman. almost the same but eyes on fire, smile almost inviting. what is she doing with my only face?"
* "she named him what he was. so gentle he would swallow it and not choke. her wrought written loops of language printed careful on the whiteness sweet as poison. before the sugar and the milk. she loved the soft blue ocean of wishing he would die."
* "she imagined the blue of her own bruises spreading daily on his insides until his muscles could not take it and his bones grew weak and bent. she wrote vitamin hate in his breakfast. receipt for how her life was spent."
* "she could breathe. that much. she could breathe. and maybe her ribs felt it too much but it was there."
* "she drew her letters on with eyeliner. a straight line was not a bruise. a shadowed eye was not black. a penciled arch was innocence, not bewilderment, not desperation. she would draw the face she wanted. and then wear it. yes she would."
robinks's review against another edition
challenging
medium-paced
5.0
I really enjoyed this collection, not having read Hortense Spillers’s work that these poems are a response to. The imagery and mouthfeel of each line is so bold, and I liked the variation in the styles. I especially loved “an element of radical waywardness,” “It would appear reactionary, if not dumb, to insist on the integrity of female/male gender,” “daughters have their own agenda,” “a network of feeling, of continuity,” “an open school of realism,” “glitters with a notion of black disobedience,” “This is the domain of invisibility,” “a startling moment of mutual revelation,” “and perhaps that really is enough,” “that point at which the make-up rolls away,” and “having forgotten to count.” My only critique is that having the notes in the back and not printed above or alongside each of the poems meant I was flipping back and forth constantly, but it wasn’t enough of a deterrent for me to rate this any lower than 5 stars.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence, Child death, Blood, and Domestic abuse
Minor: Child abuse, Pregnancy, Slavery, and Gun violence
thegingerbreadhag's review
challenging
emotional
reflective
4.0
I have to learn to read trilogy in the right order, for I read this one last after reading M Archives and Dub !
It is beautiful, but the impact M Archives had was so strong that my expectations were sky-high, and I knew Spill wouldn't live up to them. I'm still amazed by Gumbs' writing, her words are bewitching, or it's like I'm being waken up from hypnosis. I don't know how to explain it, but having now read her poetic tryptic, I truly believe she enlightens and heals us. Just wow.
It is beautiful, but the impact M Archives had was so strong that my expectations were sky-high, and I knew Spill wouldn't live up to them. I'm still amazed by Gumbs' writing, her words are bewitching, or it's like I'm being waken up from hypnosis. I don't know how to explain it, but having now read her poetic tryptic, I truly believe she enlightens and heals us. Just wow.