Finna: Poems
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Sharp, lyrical poems celebrating the Black vernacularâits influence on pop culture, its necessity for familial survival, its rite in storytelling and in creating the safety found only within its intimacy
âTerrific . . . illuminates life in this country in a strikingly original way.ââRon Charles, The Washington Post
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY NPR âĸ The New York Public Library âĸ Tordotcom
Definition of finna, created by the author: fin¡na /ËfinÉ/ contraction: (1) going to; intending to [rooted in African American Vernacular English] (2) eye dialect spelling of âfixing toâ (3) Black possibility; Black futurity; Blackness as tomorrow
These poems consider the brevity and disposability of Black lives and other oppressed people in our current era of emboldened white supremacy, and the use of the Black vernacular in Americaâs vast reserve of racial and gendered epithets. Finna explores the erasure of peoples in the American narrative; asks how gendered language can provoke violence; and finally, how the Black vernacular, expands our notions of possibility, giving us a new language of hope:
nothing about our people is romantic
& it shouldnât be. our people deserve
poetry without meter. we deserve our
own jagged rhythm & our own uneven
walk towards sun. you make happening happen.
we happen to love. this is our greatest
action.
âTerrific . . . illuminates life in this country in a strikingly original way.ââRon Charles, The Washington Post
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY NPR âĸ The New York Public Library âĸ Tordotcom
Definition of finna, created by the author: fin¡na /ËfinÉ/ contraction: (1) going to; intending to [rooted in African American Vernacular English] (2) eye dialect spelling of âfixing toâ (3) Black possibility; Black futurity; Blackness as tomorrow
These poems consider the brevity and disposability of Black lives and other oppressed people in our current era of emboldened white supremacy, and the use of the Black vernacular in Americaâs vast reserve of racial and gendered epithets. Finna explores the erasure of peoples in the American narrative; asks how gendered language can provoke violence; and finally, how the Black vernacular, expands our notions of possibility, giving us a new language of hope:
nothing about our people is romantic
& it shouldnât be. our people deserve
poetry without meter. we deserve our
own jagged rhythm & our own uneven
walk towards sun. you make happening happen.
we happen to love. this is our greatest
action.
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Nate Marshall is an award-winning writer, rapper, educator, and editor. He is the author and editor of numerous works including Wild Hundreds and The BreakBeat Poets: New American Poetry in the Age of Hip-Hop. Nate is a member of The Dark Noise Collective and co-directs Crescendo Literary. He is an assistant professor of English at Colorado College. He is from the South Side of Chicago.
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