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rebeccazh's review against another edition
a lot of african-american poetry have this darkness and grimness to it even as they are very beautiful. this book of poems reminded me slightly of [b:Bestiary: Poems|28015100|Bestiary Poems|Donika Kelly|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1453061561l/28015100._SX50_.jpg|48025517] (another dark but beautiful collection of poems). i bought this book years ago, because i came across one of the poems, When the Sun Nears the Earth in the West, and i fell in love with it:
i loved this poem and over the years i came back to it again and again whenever i needed to forgive, let go of bitterness, and accept. tj jarrett's poetry is powerful and grim, and the darkness/the dark is a recurring image for racialized violence and brutality. the poems struggle with life and death and the difference between living and dying when living feels like death and dying feels freeing. some of the poems really take my breath away - any of the ones written in memory of the victims of lynching are absolutely powerful. i also really loved How to Hear Music With Your Whole Body. trauma underlies all the poems, and there's this sense of trying to work through the bitterness, powerlessness, sadness, fear and anger of living with the reality of brutal racial violence.
Let me tell you how
to withstand the dark: The dark will go on only as long
as you let it. You must forgive the dark. It never takes you
into account. Forgive the earth that bears the dark
on its back. Forgive then, the ghosts you carry. Touch them
on the cheek tenderly, each one, and send them on ahead
of you.
i loved this poem and over the years i came back to it again and again whenever i needed to forgive, let go of bitterness, and accept. tj jarrett's poetry is powerful and grim, and the darkness/the dark is a recurring image for racialized violence and brutality. the poems struggle with life and death and the difference between living and dying when living feels like death and dying feels freeing. some of the poems really take my breath away - any of the ones written in memory of the victims of lynching are absolutely powerful. i also really loved How to Hear Music With Your Whole Body. trauma underlies all the poems, and there's this sense of trying to work through the bitterness, powerlessness, sadness, fear and anger of living with the reality of brutal racial violence.
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