Taking the Arrow Out of the Heart

Starred review from September 15, 2018
Walker's (The Cushion in the Road, 2013) new poetry collection is another strong addition to her multigenre literary canon. Her free-verse poems address poignant life experiences, self-assessment, and vulnerability while also reflecting our troubling times. Voicing outrage and leaning into hope, some poems search the past for inspiration and find deep appreciation in the heroic contributions of Martin Luther King Jr., Muhammad Ali, and Thich Nhat Hanh. As Walker calls attention to what she witnesses? We will never regret / having been born in this / cruel time ?she also recognizes the opportunity for us to allow fullness of heart, the opening to feel others' pain and come together because, as one poem's title claims, We Are Never without Help. Walker offers the prodding wisdom of an elder suggesting that we can cope by taking comfort in beauty, friendship, and human kindness; by always expressing gratitude; and by turning inward to hold ourselves accountable for what we contribute. After all, she claims that Hope Is a Woman Who Has Lost Her Fear. Adding to the timeliness and reach of Walker's more than 60-poem-strong collection is the fact that it is bilingual, presented in English and Spanish.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)

September 1, 2018

In her introduction to this newest volume of poems, Walker cites the "arrows of sorrow, of anger, of despair" that pierce the heart during troubled times, carrying out these concerns in the poems themselves, whether addressing harm done to animals, children, or the earth. Occupied by the likes of Julian Bond, Fidel Castro, Thich Nhat Hanh, Pope Francis, and B.B. King--Walker even pays homage to Muhammad Ali, "the fierce, indignant, poet of words and fists"--these are poems of witness, of spirit and hope. While Walker suggests that the future (our children) has been "captured in a heartless fist," she also recommends that we look to our ancestors "who never sleep/ yet seem to know/ what they are doing" when they tell us to "Rest your heart.".. "We have been with you/ from the beginning.".."you are attempting to carry/ the suffering/ all around you/. Let us bear it for you." In a fitting move, Cuban poet Manuel Garc�a Verdecia ably translates the poems into Spanish, so that the collection seems to double its power. VERDICT Walker forthrightly addresses our despair while ultimately offering poems of love and hope for all readers. [See Prepub Alert, 4/9/18.]--Karla Huston, Appleton, WI

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