Sharp, lyrical poems celebrating the Black vernacularโits influence on pop culture, its necessity for familial survival, its rite in storytelling and in creating the safety found only within its intimacy
โTerrific . . .ย illuminates life in this country in a strikingly original way.โโRon Charles,ย The Washington Post
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY NPR โข The New York Public Library โข Tordotcom
Definition ofย finna,ย created by the author:ย finยทnaย /หfinษ/ contraction:ย (1) going to; intending to [rooted in African American Vernacular English] (2) eye dialect spelling of โfixing toโ (3) Black possibility; Black futurity; Blackness as tomorrow
These poemsย 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 Americaโs vast reserve of racial and gendered epithets.ย Finnaย 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 shouldnโt 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.