Score: 5/5 Bookmarks

Thank you to Berkley for gifting me a review copy of Black Girl, Call Home by Jasmine Mans. This collection comes out on March 9. Jasmine is a spoken word poet and if you haven’t heard her work before you need to (check out her website to start with). Her poems are real, relatable, and they explore modern life, pain, love, family, joy and so much more.

My personal favorites from this book are Dear Ex Lover, Serena, Do Not Fall In Love, and When You Left, You Left. I read this one as part of a buddy read and relished the opportunity to discuss these poems and share how each of them made us feel and what it said to us.

It’s a powerful and moving collection, and I strongly encourage you to grab yourself a copy. I guarantee you'll be thinking about these poems long after you've turned the last page.

Synopsis:

From spoken word poet Jasmine Mans comes an unforgettable poetry collection about race, feminism, and queer identity.

With echoes of Gwendolyn Brooks and Sonia Sanchez, Mans writes to call herself—and us—home. Each poem explores what it means to be a daughter of Newark, and America--and the painful, joyous path to adulthood as a young, queer Black woman.

Black Girl, Call Home is a love letter to the wandering Black girl and a vital companion to any woman on a journey to find truth, belonging, and healing.