Dawn Lundy Martin

Black/women are alive after tomorrow

A review of 'Letters to the Future: Black Women/Radical Writing'

Above: detail from cover art of ‘Letters to the Future.’

The most provocative mark in this anthology may be the virgule or forward slash that separates the last quarter of the title — Radical Writing — from the opening three quarters of the title — Letters to the Future: Black Women. I’ve analyzed elsewhere the function of the colon, a staple in academic article and book titles, so I won’t discuss that here.

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Weathering the storms of history

On ‘In Inheritance of Drowning’ by Dorsía Smith Silva

Georgiana de Rham

From left to right: the cover of “In Inheritance of Drowning,” Dorsía Smith Silva.

The political bent of the launch was apt; although In Inheritance of Drowning begins with Hurricane María, Smith Silva’s verse traverses the Atlantic Ocean to visit the Puerto Rican diaspora, address America’s history of colonialism, enslavement, and genocide, and draw poetic connections between climate change, American imperialism, and the intersections between social and environmental justice.

In Inheritance of Drowning
Dorsía Smith Silva
CavanKerry Press 2024, 104 pages, $18, ISBN: 9781960327079

To empty rooms (PoemTalk #204)

Horace Gregory, "Chorus for Survival"

PoemTalk

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Al Filreis convened Cristos Kalli, Jon Hoel, and Henry Steinberg to talk about two poems about the once hugely famous and now mostly forgotten communist and communist-affiliated poet who thrived for decades but most notably in the 1930s. In the middle of the Depression decade — in the momentous year of 1935 — he published the book Chorus for Survival with Covici-Friede. Our group discussed two poems in the Chorus for Survival series — numbers 5 and 11. In 1944, Gregory traveled to Cambridge, Mass., to record some poems for the Harvard Vocarium, performing six poems include the two we discuss. Jon and Al had met up nearly a year before, discovered a common interest in Gregory, and have co-curated this episode.

January 27, 2025

Mining Black history

On two docu-poetry collections

Aiden Hunt

From left to right: Alison C. Rollins’ book “Black Bell” and Sheila Carter-Jones’ book “Every Hard Sweetness.”

“Documentary poetics is often lauded for its ability to articulate social injustices and advocate for civil rights,” writes award-winning poet Craig Santos Perez.^{^[1]} Two poetry collections published last year harness this ability and mine the African American archive to shine a light on evidence of past injustices in the hopes of a better future.

Black Bell
Alison C. Rollins
Copper Canyon Press 2024, 136 pages, $22.00, ISBN 9781556597008

Every Hard Sweetness
Sheila Carter-Jones
BOA Editions 2024, 134 pages, $19.00, ISBN 9781960145123