remarkably personal work on biracial identity, interracial marriage, and the looming shadow cast by the legacy of American race policy over one American life.
Clark comes to topics as varied as conceding selfconsciousness over holding her white husband's hand especially in the South, a loving, if fraught relationship with a black mother and an absent white father, and rape with an honesty that is frequently uncomfortable.
I think a reader comes away knowing she has very clearly not sought peace with her subjects, but catharsis for herself.
There is so much to recommendthe imagined correspondence of church friends Obour Tanner and Phyllis Wheatley only Phyllis' letters to Tanner are extant demonstrates an inventiveness to be envied.
Arguably the collection's best work is herein:
I'm a savage, There is savageme, inside, wildthick as sin, so much my soul/is clabbered, but there is a Change, I sense, inside my curdled mess, Christ hung/
and crucified in me, daily, a Saving Change.
The ship. Do you feel the ship, pitching, /sometimes, inside the skin under your skin, . .
Remember the ships
that brought us over the bent world, Let us praise these wooden beasts that saved the/the evil beasts of us, . .
from "Conversation With Phyllis Wheatley"
This, from "Where the Fired Body is Porous," of a white lover:
.
. .
He is reaching for my kitchen,
Unruly secret at the nape of my neck,
Hush now
: All those gleaming pots and pans,
: All those cabinets I keep shut, Hush.
I am undone and open,
No order is here/ cant find nuthin back there/ except
a little me/ in a chair by the stove:
hot comb on the black burner, another red tornado.
Mama standing,
bowing my head downwardbending me
into a black comma,
Pressing my hairsmooth,
Holding back my ears as I hold back my breath,
Gettin cooked. Always afraid mama
would burn me
, . .
Other faves include the extremely distrubing "Dead Bug" "BBHMM," after Rihanna, admiringly and "Ways to Be Saved" Numberis, simply, "Solange.
" You don't need to be a "poetry expert" to enjoy this workwhile the explanation of
"the kitchen" is one I might have left certain folk to dig up on their own, I really appreciate the copious notes in back, which explains much that might be unclear or necessary to know for understanding the work.
Check her out on YouTubeshe is an extremely moving reader and there are plenty of vids of her reading there.
And pick this one upI hate that I've gotten to it two years late,
sitelink youtube. com/watchvWIFd Many of these poems left me speechless, I usually read a book of poetry in about two days, but this one begged to be read slowly so I could digest everything.
A unique and vivid portrayal of black trauma and personal pain, The centerpiece and star, if you're looking to read just one of her poems, would undoubtedly seem to be "The Rime of Nina Simone.
" One of my favorite new poets, I love the quality, the passion, the form and the technique in this book, I can read it again and again, This is the second book Ive read by Tiana Clark, I love her style, but Im also convinced shes one of our most important contemporary poets, Every poem is a knockout,.So many incredible poems and lines in here, This is a collection that bears reflection, rereading, repeating, The poem about having a conversation with her white motherinlaw about taking some family photographs on a plantationSoil Horizonwas shattering.
So glad I came across this book in an online article, A poet to watch, follow, and listen to with open ears,
From The Rime of Nina Simone:
"Yes, This:
I need to be herein the workshop,
I must look them in the face
and tell them when their words
and worlds are making me uncomfortable.
Tell them when my chest tightens and flares up
when they try to conjure the other, a fantastic
field of fictitious black and brown bodies.
Tell them my body is realnot imagined,
not a prop or a sieve or a literary device.
Not foil. Not craft. Not carnal. Not chocolate.
Not mammy or mask or persona, Not opposite
of the white gaze, I must tell them that my:
lips/butt/haircurlers are mine/urban/slang/long
fingernails/arrested/dialectic are mine/burning
erotic hottentot/blue bandanna/Beyoncé/likelike
liquor/blasting the classroom with my noisy stereo
types, shouting: I.
A. Here. You cannot write
around me, The periphery is also mine, I'm not
afraid to take up space I need to survive,
I'm not afraid to write what I need to survive, "
Wow Tiana SNAPPED, An amazing debut collection. So I took my time reading this because I wanted to savor every word, It was a month well spent,
Clark's debut fulllength collection about the traumapersonal trauma, historical traumawe carry in our bodies is PHENOMENAL.
These poems will haunt me for a long, long time, which, as far as I'm concerned, is the mark of a good book of poetry.
Here's a little taste, from "Where the Fired Body Is Porous":
He is reaching for my kitchen.
Unruly secret at the nape of my neck,
Hush now
: All those gleaming pots and pans,
: All those cabinets I keep shut, Hush.
I am undone and open,
No order is here/can't find nuthin' back there/except
a little me/in a chair by the stove:
hot comb on the black burner, another red tornado.
Mama standing,
bowing my head downwardbending me
into a black comma,
Pressing my hairsmooth.
Holding back my ears as I hold back my breath,
Gettin' cooked. Always afraid Mama
would burn me,
But I am clanging, full
of kinks,
teeming with my own spice: turmeric, clove, paprika
grains of paradise liquid/smoke.
i read this through the library! i want to revisit and revisit this collection and also write all over it so perhaps i should buy it now For me, one of the ironic blessings of the Covid pandemic has been rediscovering and wantonly indulging my love of poetry.
I hear Tracy K. Smiths soft, earthy caress of a voice in my head, her measured, yet searingly vulnerable dance of the mind and heart.
I cry for Natasha Tretheways sorrow laid bare beside her rage, Lucille Clifton, Aracelis Girmay, Ada Limoncellos,
Snag I Can't Talk About The Trees Without The Blood Narrated By Tiana Clark Accessible In Publication
Tiana Clark