A review by kmatthe2
Voyage of the Sable Venus and Other Poems by Robin Coste Lewis

5.0

A terrific collection. The poems that bookend the title poem (which is in 8 movements, or "catalogs") deal with what it means to be black in America, or to possess a black body in a space that does not value such. The title poem is a fascinating experiment in that it collects museum catalog entries about black bodies and writes/speaks them in poetic form. In all, the book examines the violence done to black bodies—physical, sexual, political, linguistic, economic, etc.—and calls for a reclamation of said bodies and a reformation of the/ir narrative.