Status
Available
Genres
Publication
Sourcebooks (2021), 112 pages
Description
"I Am the Rage is a poetry collection that explores racial injustice from the raw, unfiltered viewpoint of a Black woman in America. Dr. Martina McGowan is a retired MD, a mother, and a poet. Her poetry provides insights that no think piece on racism can; putting readers in the uncomfortable position of feeling, reflecting, and facing what it means to be a Black American. This entire collection was created during 2020, many shortly after the deaths of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd, to name but a few"--
User reviews
LibraryThing member ToriC90
Powerful. Thoughtful. Purposeful. Raw. Will definitely be revisiting.
LibraryThing member AnnieMod
Anger. This poetry collection radiates anger in ways that a book should not be able to. Anger towards the American society. Anger towards history. Anger towards the world. But at the same time there are glimpses of hope and something else - love and belonging; longing to belong and hope to exist.
If you are trying to escape from the news, this is not the book for you - the news are in the middle of most of the poems - from the named victims to the unnamed ones and back; sometimes in clean text, sometimes just as a hint.
It is current events commentary in a poetic form and poetry about the days we live in. And I found it impossible to read through the whole book in one sitting - 30 poems on 90 pages do not sound as much but the words and the emotions make you stop and think. Or at least they did for me.
I also could not stop comparing this collection with Jasmine Mans' "Black Girl, Call Home" which I read a few days earlier. They do cover some similar topics in some of their poems but they do it in different styles and inside of different frameworks. McGowan lets her rage show; Mans seems to be calmer. But the anger and disappointment is in both. And yet both styles work.
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If you are trying to escape from the news, this is not the book for you - the news are in the middle of most of the poems - from the named victims to the unnamed ones and back; sometimes in clean text, sometimes just as a hint.
It is current events commentary in a poetic form and poetry about the days we live in. And I found it impossible to read through the whole book in one sitting - 30 poems on 90 pages do not sound as much but the words and the emotions make you stop and think. Or at least they did for me.
I also could not stop comparing this collection with Jasmine Mans' "Black Girl, Call Home" which I read a few days earlier. They do cover some similar topics in some of their poems but they do it in different styles and inside of different frameworks. McGowan lets her rage show; Mans seems to be calmer. But the anger and disappointment is in both. And yet both styles work.
Show Less
LibraryThing member clrichm
Well-crafted, deeply emotional.
Awards
BCALA Literary Awards (Honor — Poetry — 2022)
Language
Original language
English