sourpersimmon's review
5.0
Beautiful, devastating, deep and rich. I needed to read each stanza multiple times to absorb as much as possible and to turn each word, image, in my mind. Descriptions of womanhood and grasping at our mothers' and grandmothers' culture when being part of a diaspora really connected with me. The tragedy and violence of enslavement and anti-Black racism and murder, and the continued vein of perseverance, rebellion, and defiance are strong emotions throughout each poem. I highly recommend this volume.
apalershadeofwhite's review
4.0
This collection really had me thinking, picking apart, and evaluating life. Bailey has a way with words that really grip you and pierce your emotions and thoughts. My personal favourites from this collection are: 'Accent', 'Guesswork', 'First American Years', 'A Retrograde' , and 'Extra Virgin Olive Oil'.
Although I wasn't a fan of some of the structures and forms of the poem, her experimentation and inclusion of different forms is something I highly commend. The layout and form of 'La Divina, Mother of Miracles' is one that is predominantly jarring when you first read it. I tried to read this poem a couple different ways because the layout is so odd, but the content is still really thought-provoking and powerful; as is the rest of her poetry. The layout of 'It's Risky to Love in the Season of Hunters' is really memorable as well because the poem is split into three segments and each segment is a different form of poetry! I think that's really interesting and modern.
Bailey's collection is definitely something to pick up if you like overarching themes. She consistently touches upon questions and instance of faith, erasure, culture and nature (such as the sea and water as well as plants and roots).
She doesn't really play with rhyme too much, but there are instances of rhyme and sound play within the collection which really help emphasise a point or convey an emotion, for example. The rhyme often takes you aback and makes you stop and think, which is something I believe was intentional and this collection does intend to provoke thought and internal discussion. The tone leans more towards free-verse and stream of consciousness due to the rhyme and also the excessive enjambment / lack of punctuation.
The 'Notes' section at the end is also really informative. It helped me delve deeper into things I picked up or didn't pick up on within the poems and has given me things to research and really think about.
As much as I think everyone should consider picking up this text and others like it that raise the same questions and internal debates, this particular one is not for you if you prefer structures and traditional poetry styles and rhyme or are not a lover of poetry in general.
Although I wasn't a fan of some of the structures and forms of the poem, her experimentation and inclusion of different forms is something I highly commend. The layout and form of 'La Divina, Mother of Miracles' is one that is predominantly jarring when you first read it. I tried to read this poem a couple different ways because the layout is so odd, but the content is still really thought-provoking and powerful; as is the rest of her poetry. The layout of 'It's Risky to Love in the Season of Hunters' is really memorable as well because the poem is split into three segments and each segment is a different form of poetry! I think that's really interesting and modern.
Bailey's collection is definitely something to pick up if you like overarching themes. She consistently touches upon questions and instance of faith, erasure, culture and nature (such as the sea and water as well as plants and roots).
She doesn't really play with rhyme too much, but there are instances of rhyme and sound play within the collection which really help emphasise a point or convey an emotion, for example. The rhyme often takes you aback and makes you stop and think, which is something I believe was intentional and this collection does intend to provoke thought and internal discussion. The tone leans more towards free-verse and stream of consciousness due to the rhyme and also the excessive enjambment / lack of punctuation.
The 'Notes' section at the end is also really informative. It helped me delve deeper into things I picked up or didn't pick up on within the poems and has given me things to research and really think about.
As much as I think everyone should consider picking up this text and others like it that raise the same questions and internal debates, this particular one is not for you if you prefer structures and traditional poetry styles and rhyme or are not a lover of poetry in general.
justanothersamsmith's review
4.0
A rip-roaring deep-sea dive in two parts: the first an epic, framed by one woman's narrative at the cusp of the Haitian revolution; the second devoted to Bailey's experience of blackness and what the contemporary Black diaspora looks and feels like in and around her own body. Sheer lyrical magic. An absolutely fantastic debut collection.
e_flah's review against another edition
emotional
5.0
What Noise Against the Cane was a powerful, lyrical collection of poetry that touched on everything from the Haitian Revolution to what it's like to be a Black woman in America. Bailey's verses beg to be read aloud. The voice of the ocean runs through the collection through a narrative along the bottom of each page; this device added a moving undercurrent to Bailey's poetry that was incredibly well done.
our bodies shoved into the mouths of discovery
civilization's march towards more
and more comforts
for the cult of the whitened god
from "Chant for the Waters and Dirt and Blade"