"Don't expect sense from these poems, in which grief, politics, literary theory, and sexuality interweave. But do expect language surprise and beautiful metaphors. . . . When Akilah] Oliver presents her experiences in metaphor-rich language, the reader feels what she feels: incredible loss, infinite pain."--Library Journal

"An extraordinary gift for everyone."--Alice Notley

Written for her son, Oluchi McDonald (1982-2003), Akilah Oliver's poems incorporate prose, theory, and lyric performance into a powerful testimony of loss and longing. In their journey through the borderlands of sorrow, they grapple with violence, find expression in chants, and, like the graffiti she analyzes, become a place of public and artistic memorial. "If memory is the act of bearing witness," she writes, "then the dream is a friend driving us somewhere."

Akilah Oliver is the author of the she said dialogues, recipient of the PEN/Beyond Margins Award. Born and raised in Los Angeles, she currently lives in Brooklyn and curates the Monday Night Reading Series at the Poetry Project.

Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: Coffee House Press
Published: 02/01/2009
ISBN: 9781566892223
Pages: 97
Weight: 0.35lbs
Size: 8.80h x 5.90w x 0.30d

Review Citations: Library Journal 03/15/2009 pg. 109
Multicultural Review 10/01/2009 pg. 55