Oh dear. I can't see much poetry here amongst the 130 pages, but there are loads and loads of gratuitous line-breaks. The content's well-meaning - maybe it's for school-kids?
- Their knees worn out/ ancestors stood us up/ from the awkward position/ they had to honor/ on the floor beneath/ the floor (p.3) (I don't understand it)
- Here/ I have found a previously/ unexplored/ love of sports (p.4)
- Not yet beaten into/ submission/ or oblivion/ by those who kill everything/ they touch/ with money (p.10)
- I stumbled over some of the words/ in the new to me/ song/ but you sang solemnly,/ correctly,/ devoutly,/ believing every word/ you sang/ with your whole/ handsome/ heart (p.32)
- All we do know/ is now is the time/ to live life to the full/ and without/ regret (p.55)
- What does it take to make us smile/ when we feel the sword of anger/ and hatred/ sharp against the backs/ of our peaceful necks? (p.69)
- My guests/ who have never known the peach/ as I grew up knowing it/ in Georgia/ are mesmerized by the sight/ the scent/ the texture/ the flavor/ of each one they sink/ happy teeth/ into (p.79)
- Those who are seen, recognized, and embraced/ by the wisest old people of the tribe/ especially by both the women and the men/ as you were/ cannot really be defeated. They may be lied about,/ imprisoned for decades, or even killed,/ but that is not the same. (p.108)
"My 12-12-12" is best, which isn't saying much. "Sweet people are everywhere" is the worst. Or "The prize itself"
Other reviews
- Good reads
- Tessa Rose (With poems for the children of Palestine, Iraqi women, the mothers of police brutality victims and many more oppressed groups, Walker’s words of sorrow and redemption account for all forms of oppression against the intersections of marginalized people globally. She further memorializes artists, activists and other brave fighters of oppression and injustice, like Martin Luther King Jr. )
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