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4.04 AVERAGE
4.04 AVERAGE
It did take me a long time to finish this one but I am so glad that I read it.
This entrancing collection feeds on Safiya's childhood in Jamaica but also explores race relations and blackness in America. This lyrical collection paints a vivid imagery of how cannibalistic the world is to certain groups, from the female body, to motherhood and commitment to family and country.
Some poems are so dark and shocking that I was left reeling but they definitely hit their mark. It tables exiles, death and religion is such a provocative and enthralling way, a good example is in the poem "prayer book for vanishing". I absolutely loved this collection and I cannot wait to read something else by Safiya Sinclair.
Some of my favourite poems are "After the last astronauts had left us, I", "America the beautiful", "White Apocrypha", "Prayer book for vanishing", "Good hair", "A separation", and "spectre"
"I wear your undoing like a mask.
wear your porcelain pock of dust
across my forehead
as one of the damned.
....
But Lord I think
my angels do not hear. Lord,
they are tourist gawking through
the cages of my poverty,
who take pity in this squalor
then return to far moons."
This entrancing collection feeds on Safiya's childhood in Jamaica but also explores race relations and blackness in America. This lyrical collection paints a vivid imagery of how cannibalistic the world is to certain groups, from the female body, to motherhood and commitment to family and country.
Some poems are so dark and shocking that I was left reeling but they definitely hit their mark. It tables exiles, death and religion is such a provocative and enthralling way, a good example is in the poem "prayer book for vanishing". I absolutely loved this collection and I cannot wait to read something else by Safiya Sinclair.
Some of my favourite poems are "After the last astronauts had left us, I", "America the beautiful", "White Apocrypha", "Prayer book for vanishing", "Good hair", "A separation", and "spectre"
"I wear your undoing like a mask.
wear your porcelain pock of dust
across my forehead
as one of the damned.
....
But Lord I think
my angels do not hear. Lord,
they are tourist gawking through
the cages of my poverty,
who take pity in this squalor
then return to far moons."
challenging
dark
slow-paced
challenging
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Sinclair's whole outlook and composition is absolutely beautiful, from the production of the book down to the results of her editing process. Her themes, the way she elicits such emotions, the references from Shakespeare to everyday occurrences--they're all beautiful, wonderful, magical. This is a poetry book definitely worth reading (despite the fact that it'll probably get you some weird stares on the metro). This book is just as evocative as it is sentimental.
Review cross-listed here!
Review cross-listed here!
challenging
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
You know, poetry is very personal. I loved Safiya’s memoir How To Say Babylon so I gave this poetry collection a try. I really only liked about 20% of the poems. Just not a collection that I identified with although I know her writing is strong. May be perfect for someone else. Not for me.
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
challenging
emotional
inspiring
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
challenging
dark
Listen, I tried. As with a lot of very contemporary poetry, about 80% of this left me feeling baffled and/or stupid. There were some wonderful phrases and cadences and images, but how they fit together or what they were trying to say or even what the poem was about often eluded me—I suspect that the thing that tied A to B to C was often obvious only if you were privy to Safiya Sinclair's personal thought processes, and so I couldn't make the linguistic leaps along with her. The 20% that I did understand were bleak and powerful, though, lush with mythological references, the beauties of the Caribbean Sea and the Jamaican landscape, the pain and the power of embodiment.
Also, one of the most arresting and unnerving book covers I've seen in ages.
Also, one of the most arresting and unnerving book covers I've seen in ages.
emotional
reflective
a raw and beautiful lamentation on the poet’s childhood, their connections to home and how, along with race, it ties to their identity.