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emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
5.0
A lil poetry for the heart — libro número 3 💓
“Dad, every blade of grass wears your name,
on the wind, you laugh in great swarths of air.
Now, the days feel more like years because you’re gone,
only memories hold your voice
and the crack of your knees stretching in the night.
Listen, I want to tell you about a man who was deliberate,
delicate in his loving. Complete in his care.
Let me show you my skin, my blood which is his. Even the sunrise I hold with his eyes,
which are my eyes. My heart which is his.
In the quiet times, we wonder where you are.
Sometimes, feels like your truck will turn the corner
just in time for dinner. Your keys chiming up the stairs.
Out in the garden, your plants still grow.
Now, we will give them water and time,
every season, a harvest started by your hands,
showing your love, all-encompassing, forever.”
— dedicated “For Donald Lewis Jones” 🖤
You’re in the presence of a master of poetry when you open Ashley M. Jones’ book and the urgency of its title, now and with an exclamation point! Now because so much time has passed. Now because reparations has gone beyond just being about money as it also insists on looking to actively make amends and repair generations of damage and trauma — a sense of accountability to seek the truth this country continues to hide away from.
This book reminds its readers that we must act and use all educational resources to help race relations heal in a healthy way. Critical race theory is a necessity for the United States educational system, there shouldn’t be an option to opt out or be against it.
Can poetry be one of the many tools that we can call on as we seek to confront the pain of injustice?
The answer is a resounding yes! Yes it can when you hold powerful books like Jones’ that not only gives you history that bears much Black pain but also gives you family and love and a multitude of reasons why there is as much to celebrate of Black life and art and joy as there is to fight for more justice to prevail. ✨
hanvanderhart's review
5.0
Tender and full of fire—some of the most beautiful parental love poems, poems for Alabama, poems for reparations, poems that call readers to love and justice. Highly recommend!