My Head Is Full of Books: Short Poetry Reviews: BLACK GIRL YOU ARE ATLAS and FOR EVERYONE

"Outside a dog a book is man's best friend, inside a dog it is too dark to read!" -Groucho Marx========="The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid." -Jane Austen========="I don’t believe in the kind of magic in my books. But I do believe something very magical can happen when you read a good book."-JK Rowling========"I spend a lot of time reading." -Bill Gates=========“Ahhh. Bed, book, kitten, sandwich. All one needed in life, really.” -Jacqueline Kelly=========

Friday, April 18, 2025

Short Poetry Reviews: BLACK GIRL YOU ARE ATLAS and FOR EVERYONE

Black Girl You are Atlas by Renée Watson

In this semi-autobiographical collection of poems, poet Renée Watson writes about what it is like growing up as a Black girl. "Using a variety of poetic forms, from haiku to free verse, Watson shares recollections of her childhood in Portland, Oregon, tender odes to the Black women in her life, and urgent calls for Black girls to step into their power."

When I saw this poetry book by Watson I felt sure I had read other YA books by her but looking over her list of published works, I recognize some of the titles but never actually read any. I thoroughly enjoyed this small collection, perfect for middle and high school libraries. The poetry is completely accessible. I especially like the variety of poetic forms used. The poems are described as semi-autobiographical, I would have thought it was a memoir-in-verse, at least the first section was. In the next section Watson wrote poems about Black women, some who lost their lives to racism. "A Pantorum for Breonna Taylor" and "A Tanka for Michelle Obama" are two examples.

Look for this collection at your public library, encourage your librarian to buy it if your school or public library doesn't have a copy.

Random House, 2024.

For Every One: a Poem. A Nod. A Nothing to Lose. by Jason Reynolds

Back before the YA novels The Boy in the Black Suit, The All-American Boys, and Long Way Down, Jason Reynolds was just a struggling writer/artist dreaming about his future. Early in his life he dreamt he would have made his first million before age 30. Here he was 28, so broke he had to move back in with his mother. This book began as a letter to himself as a way to clinging tight to the nugget of "thin air I referred to as my dream." It isn't really a poem or a letter in the strictest definitions. More a pep talk. A pep talk that all people who have a dream deferred need to read. Reynolds said he worked on this "letter" for years, finally publishing it as a way to help others. The title is perfect: For Everyone. We all need pep talks from time to time.

As I was looking around for an online version of the poem, I found this video of Jason Reynolds performing it.What powerful stuff. Set aside a bit of time to watch it or at least a portion of it.