Sharp, lyrical poems celebrating the Black vernacularтАФits influence on pop culture, its necessity for familial survival, its rite in storytelling and in creating the safety found only within its intimacy
тАЬTerrific . . .┬аilluminates life in this country in a strikingly original way.тАЭтАФRon Charles,┬аThe Washington Post
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY NPR тАв The New York Public Library тАв Tordotcom
Definition of┬аfinna,┬аcreated by the author:┬аfin┬╖na┬а/╦Иfin╔Щ/ contraction:┬а(1) going to; intending to [rooted in African American Vernacular English] (2) eye dialect spelling of тАЬfixing toтАЭ (3) Black possibility; Black futurity; Blackness as tomorrow
These poems┬аconsider 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 AmericaтАЩs vast reserve of racial and gendered epithets.┬аFinna┬аexplores 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 shouldnтАЩt 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.