The challenge of making racism relevant, or even evident, to those who do not bear the brunt of its ill effects is tricky. Rankine brilliantly pushes poetry's forms to disarm readers and circumvent our carefully constructed defense mechanisms against the hint of possibly being racist ourselves…The writing zigs and zags effortlessly between prose poems, images and essays. This is the poet as conceptual artist, in full mastery of her craft…it's like viewing an experimental film or live performance. One is left with a mix of emotions that linger and wend themselves into the subconscious.
Swift River by Essie Chambers is a story of family mythology and coming-of-age that you won’t want to put down. Chambers joins us to talk about themes of race and class in her work, navigating identity, growth through storytelling and more with Miwa Messer, host of Poured Over. We end this episode with a TBR Top […]