A review by makealongstorycourt
Homegirls and Handgrenades by Sonia Sanchez

4.0

Still trying to get into poetry - would love to revisit this once I get more interested. With that being said, I loved the poetry and short stories in this book. Especially the last section of the book, Grenades Are Not Free. This entire section was written during the historical moment of the early 1980s during the nuclear arms race/Cold War, the Reagan era - the new conservative political climate after the politically-charged decade of the 1970s. However, reading it I felt as if absolutely everything I could translate over to the current neo-nazi, neo-liberalism, alt-right political climate. "Reflections After the June 12th March for Disarmament," "Letter to Dr. Martin Luther King," and "MIA's" are SO AMAZING.

My favorite passage from "MIA's":

"they came that nite to the village.
calling peace. liberty. freedom.
their tongues lassoing us with
circus patriotism
their elbows wrapped in blood paper
they came penises drawn
their white togas covering their
stained glass legs
their thick hands tatooing decay
on los campaneros till their
young legs rolled out from under them
to greet death
they came leaving a tatoo of hunger
over the land." (p. 75)