Jonterri Gadson

My friend Heather was posting about YesYesBooks, and as soon as I visited their website I fell in love. I had to buy this book almost for the cover alone, it was so interesting. The book, when it arrived, was even more beautiful than its picture -- glossy like it is itself an oil painting.

I like Gadson from the very beginning, and "Rapture," the first poem in the collection and the poem around which the rest of the book is structured, remains my favorite after reading and rereading. The gem that won me over was:

...finger pacing
over thin pages to find the perfect
verse to help me understand that vengeance
against boys who didn't call was the Lord's.

This poem and many of the others reflecting a childhood in a mostly white small town -- the strange dances of small town "well meaning" racism, growing up with an absent father, the bonds of family, the bloodiness of the womb.

A lovely collection.… (altro)