LatinosUSA

Published in 2019, this poetry resonates profoundly today. Sister poets, Black women born in the Deep South and carrying generations of their histories in their bones, present perspectives that are universal whether one’s skin is cocoa or olive, as in «Bright Yellow Banana Peels» (Felicia’s Poem I),

Sisters are people who wear your

            clothes without your permission.

They borrow earrings and make-up

            and conveniently forget to

bring them back.

Sisters are mirror images of self,

            who fight, laugh, cry and

gossip on the phone.

And yet, they are exclusive to the American Black experience living with pervasive racism still, as in  «Why We Can’t Salute Oppression,»

White privilege allows your guilt-free conscience

to not consider that your’re

indeed my oppressor…

content with my oppression,

because black lives only matter

when white lives can monetarily benefit

from the pain, pillage, and suffering of

400 years of black inequality.

Free verse here feels real as if the words poured from their souls onto the page. Unlike Giovanni or Lorde whose poetry is more formal in structure and where the voices hint at their dialect, Jackson and Wallace revel in theirs.

One travels with them.  Voices are «in the rich,soulful, textures of black speech patterns,» a reader participates in their history regardless of race, or economics, or class. Autobiographical

in nature, this IS a history book of feelings garnered from racism, and from the human experience. If one has an open heart, this book is truly a gift.

References:

Clifton, Lucille. Blessing the Boats: New and Selected Poems 1988-2000. NY: BOA Editions, Ltd. 2000. Print.

Lorde, Audre, The Marvelous Arithmetics of Distance: Poems 1987-1992. NY: WW Norton & Co., 1993. Print.