Top Poetry Books of Fall 2016 - Library Journal
Who are we humans, with our differences and our personal histories,
mythologies and urgencies, as well as our collective struggles and
dreams? Why are we here?
Questions of culture, ethnicity and gender--and the denial of those
borders--infuse these poems, rich with social and political commentary,
and filled with compassion, love, anger and hope. Even while writing of
one child, one homeless person, one soldier, one war survivor, devorah
major connects these individual stories to a contemplation of humanity's
place in the cosmos
Four sections of this long-awaited volume: 'spirit', 'other selves',
'fragile', 'whole' reveal a writer and life experiencer at the height of
her poetic powers. Whenever I become too self-satisfied in intellectual
games, I find my heart upended by these impassioned verses of humanity
and what it means to be fully alive and present. From 'nommo-how we come
to speak' to 'war memories', this former San Francisco Poet Laureate and
worldly cosmonaut handles politics, war, and love in equal measure as
the best poets of the people do. Pablo Neruda. Bob Kaufman, June Jordan.
Wanda Coleman. Ears to the ground and eyes to the sky."--Giovanni
Singleton
In and then we became, devorah major steps out of the way and allows
creation to craft creation. The structures and paints of her
descriptions have incredible range of effect: the ascension into the
first history a free people teach, the short story perceived through
possession, the melodic start-stop motion of a debilitated life, the
flash of your torturer's dream; all part of a collaged panoramic of
spirit and flesh. She is at home in all dimensions of her subject. The
voices of this work walk straight toward you holding out moments of
violence, lament, beauty, and invincibility for you to embrace, offering
a face to become your own.--Tongo Eisen-Martin, author of Someone's
Dead Already
devorah major remains one of our premier storytellers. She wraps myths
and headlines, family lore and visions in language that is both delicate
and tough, enticing us to dive in even though the poem she serves up may
have dangerously sharp edges. Her poems eagerly call forth the African
deities who give her voice as she wrestles with the mysteries of this
plane from why a woman may want to be a soldier to how we learn to love.
These poems are like prayers to which you return each night.--Jewelle
Gomez, author of The Gilda Stories and Name Poems
I hate to turn on the radio each morning where I hear that men haven't
changed, staying in office for generations and generally acting the
fool. devorah major uses the many voices of women to explore a world
that we know less about than the oceans of Enceladus. The great thing
about devorah's book is that we can't interrupt as she rolls out the
indictment poem by poem."--Ishmael Reed
major's book could not have come at a more appropriate time as now when
the clamor of despair is being spoken into the universe. But as many of
us know, these are also times for listening to our hearts and minds and
doing what's right for the greater majority, the global world of which
we are a part. Reading and really reflecting on the messages in these
poems will help us to become our better selves.--Opal Palmer Adisa
