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A review by pangnaolin
dayliGht by Roya Marsh
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
4.5
Roya Marsh’s dayliGht is a collection that grabs you from the first poem and doesn’t let go. She isn’t afraid to confront tough topics like police brutality, systemic racism, and the intersectionality of being a queer Black woman in America. The balance she strikes between raw anger and deep tenderness is incredible. She’s unflinching in how she calls out injustice, but there’s a lot of love beneath it all— love for herself, her community, and the future she’s fighting for.
The poems feel urgent— meant to be heard right now, in this moment. Her voice is unapologetic, and she refuses to sugarcoat the pain and trauma, but there’s also a clear sense of resilience as she makes space for both the anger that comes from being marginalized and the care it takes to survive in a world that constantly devalues you. There’s this underlying thread of hope running through the collection, a belief that even in the face of so much injustice, there’s power in speaking out, in being heard.
I also really adored the use of structured titles with slight adjustments. It really tied each story together, and I felt like the collection really was one story/piece, whereas a lot of poetry collections can feel more disjointed to me. I would definitely recommend this to anyone who likes a sort of... Danez Smith/Hanif Abdurraqib style of poetry.
The poems feel urgent— meant to be heard right now, in this moment. Her voice is unapologetic, and she refuses to sugarcoat the pain and trauma, but there’s also a clear sense of resilience as she makes space for both the anger that comes from being marginalized and the care it takes to survive in a world that constantly devalues you. There’s this underlying thread of hope running through the collection, a belief that even in the face of so much injustice, there’s power in speaking out, in being heard.
I also really adored the use of structured titles with slight adjustments. It really tied each story together, and I felt like the collection really was one story/piece, whereas a lot of poetry collections can feel more disjointed to me. I would definitely recommend this to anyone who likes a sort of... Danez Smith/Hanif Abdurraqib style of poetry.