A review by seebrandyread
Finna: Poems by Nate Marshall

challenging informative inspiring reflective slow-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

5.0

Nate Marshall’s Finna celebrates much of what’s ordinary about Black life–the intricate relationships between kin and neighbor, places constantly on the verge of erasure or becoming–but mostly it’s a celebration of language, its origins and evolutions, connotations and denotations, its sounds and its uses. The title word “finna” is eye dialect for “fixing to” (a phrase I use often as a Southerner and means “about to”), a word for Black futurity. He ties the word to Black survival and persistence. One of my favorite features of the collection is how iterative it is. Marshall revisits and repeats themes, words, even titles to plumb the depths of his subjects and self. Gathering influences from rap, family, places, and language itself he explores the complexities of race, gender, and politics that are both close to home and universal. In intimate honesty, he highlights many of the micro and macro problems he's seen and experienced while also hoping for a new direction, not just continuation but a flourishing, a reclamation, a realization of infinite possibilities.