Black Girl, Call Home

February 15, 2021
Through concise and eloquent verse, spoken-word poet Mans addresses a variety of timely and poignant topics in this excellent collection. Early on, the theme of home is explored in tones both observational and acutely personal. The strongest poems gathered here feature mothers and mother figures imbued with attributes that are both deeply human and preternaturally close to the divine: ""Separating cloth / by color, / making sure / nothing bled, / onto anything else, / stretching pork / across seven days, / because even / poverty / knows ritual. / Baptizing Black babies / in bathtubs / of hand-me-down water, / one, after / another."" The book continues with powerful, succinct lyrics that explore a wealth of resonant themes, giving voice to the girls mentioned in "Didn't Feel Like Winning": ""Those girls don't have faces. / They are footnotes / relapsing in the margins / of poems."" Delving into heartbreak, community, family, race, queer identity, sexual violence, feminism, and celebrity (including the blistering "Footnotes for Kanye West" and an astounding elegy for Whitney Houston), Mans' poems are startling and unforgettable.

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