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dusty_folds 's review for:
Domestic Work
by Natasha Trethewey
Trethewey's first poetry collection centers around work, photography, memory, and family. Even in these early poems, you can see the emergence of a powerful voice in poetry. Lines like, "The eyes of eight women / I don't know / stare out from this photograph / saying remember." ("Three Photographs --by Clifton Johnson, 1902: 3. Wash Women") and "His hands will never be large enough. / Not for the woman who sees in his face / the father she can't remember" ("His Hands") will not leave me any time soon. Her poems based on random photographs show the power that poetry can have--taking a rather innocuous object and forcing you to consider all the meaning that is wrapped up in it. Her biographical poems delve deep into the conflicts she had growing up with a black mother and white father, and she doesn't shy away from discussing the domestic abuse and loss that also defined her early years. Needless to say, this is a powerful look at race, gender, and family that will stick with you.