Finna: Poems

First, have to say that I actually won this as part of a Goodreads Giveaway, the likes of which I have been entering for YEARS. It was for the Kindle edition, which is admittedly a bit less satisfying (especially for books of poems) but still, I won something and that feels preeetttyyy special.

Now, onto the book itself – I liked it. I didn't love it, but I think that's because these poems aren't really “for” me in that they don't dial into my experience of culture and language. That being said, this is a powerful collection that demands attention to language: which, sure, all poetry does – but this plays out differently... like a search for a mother-tongue that examines white supremacy, Black culture, the power of names, love and loss along the way. Marshall demands attention and respect for AAVE, which has typically been seen as non-academic, even uneducated. His poems are at once a lament for a lack of ancestral land and cultural ties and a paean for the language and culture that grew despite that lack.

The attention to sound is this collection is beyond superb. I highlighted some sections that I read over and over again because the word play is just too good. If you do nothing else, just read this line and take in the delight of it yourself:

“we deciphering the phrases through our slurs we slurring like we ain't sure until we murmur a sure vow. whole time we blur the whole thing we make shambles of their standards we stand on them & fashion an abolition in diction.”

I mean CMON right??? So good.