pickI enjoyed this poetry collection that @IndoorDame put on my radar with her review. My favorite were the stories where she rewrote the ending of a bad situation.
IndoorDame I‘m excited to read more of her work! 9mo
dabbe 🖤🐾🖤 9mo
Electric Arches | 
pickI enjoyed this poetry collection that @IndoorDame put on my radar with her review. My favorite were the stories where she rewrote the ending of a bad situation.
pickI love that I wasn‘t the intended audience for this book. It allowed me to really appreciate which pieces hit home because they were completely shared experiences, which resonated deeply from an outsider perspective, and which passed me by because there‘s something in them I still haven‘t seen. #blackhistorymonth
I‘m thinking of using the tagged book for #BookChain #14. My thoughts are both covers have human-ish central figures w text above & below & spiky things in the background.
You think:
A. This makes sense, I should go ahead & add this one to the chain
B. I‘m nuts, these covers look nothing alike, I should add the other book I‘m currently reading to the chain which has zero graphic similarities but also has entirely white & yellow text.
My shortiies book ATM is Electric Arches. Poetry. Mainly. When I decided to tackle my anthologies and poetry books I thought wee little breaks between books but I find myself really trying to absorb the pieces. Do I understand what the author is trying to say? 🤷♂️
pickIt's been a while a poetry book enchanted me that much.
Eve L. Ewing speaks through her poems about being and growing black in America, especially Chicago. She talks about the past, the present, but also imagines the future. Or she imagines alternatives to the past in which magic saves the day. I felt all kind of emotions reading this book: sadness, anger, hope, joy.
“i believe that the sun shines,
if not here, then somewhere.
somewhere it rains,
and things will grow green and wonderful.
somewhere inside me, too, it rains,
and things will grow green and wonderful.
sometimes my insides rain from the inside out
and then i know
i am alive
i am alive
i am alive”
— affirmation (to youth living in prison after assata shakur)
pickThis poetry collection feels so fresh & impactful!
Ewing uses fantasy & escapism as a defense against the disgusting treatment of POC — & of Black people & Black women, esp. It almost seems like she‘s playing, as vengeance is enacted via the extraordinary power of flight or telekinesis. But Ewing is NOT playing. Or if she is, it‘s very serious play. With a very sharp, POINTED point.
You‘ll also find a few totally gorgeous poems about love. 💖
pickI feel in awe of Ewing‘s power. This book was like going to church.
“She is wearing a grandma uniform: she has just returned from church & so her makeup and hair are impeccable, & has also changed into a pearl-collared cotton housecoat with faint traces of a floral pattern, & a pair of slippers. I sometimes worry that in our day & age, grandmas have limited places to purchase housecoats, & dwindling numbers of people even know what a housecoat is, leaving them to guard the ones they have left like careful misers.”
I love this whole poem (which covers the span of 4 pages). I *may* have to post about it more than once. SO GOOD. Also, I learned that the poet is the same age as me & shares a birthday with my long-time bffl (May 31st — only a few days away)! I love the final paragraph on this page, which begins:
“Ever since black people came to this country we have needed a Moses. There has always been so much water that needs parting.”
#poemsbeforephones
#poemsbeforephones
What a gorgeous poem! 🌸
“hair always calling for rain”
“skin turned skyward wishing for clouds”
“knowing that ash is the language of the dead...”
“anointed”
“protected”
“resurrected”
“glistening”
“shining” ✨
“Let me be clear:
there‘s nothing wrong with finding rapture in the broke
or the broken.
But what you should ask for is a place on the park bench
where all the bits and pieces are everywhere,
and he should hand you the bottom of a smashed up Coke bottle
like the best kaleidoscope
and you should hold it up to the light together
and watch the colors turn and spin,
and that is more than good enough
until you can get the groceries together.”
— from “what I mean when I say I‘m sharpening my oyster knife” by Eve L. Ewing*
“I mean I‘m here
to eat up all the ocean you thought was yours.
I mean I brought my own quarter of a lemon,
tart and full of seeds. I mean I‘m a tart.
I‘m a bad seed.”
*(inspired by a line from Zora Neale Hurston: “No, I do not weep at the world — I am too busy sharpening my oyster knife.”)
#poemsbeforephones
Yesterday, I broke my #poemsbeforepoems streak. I‘d gone 124 days reading poetry in the morning (before touching any technology). But we went on a family trip, & we had to wake up really early, & then I had to explain to my mother-in-law who David Tennant was (because people say her son/my husband looks like him) — so I googled him. 🙈 BUT I later shared some poems with her from the tagged collection & she *loved* them. So it was all worth it.
#BlitsyHistoryMonth @Chelleo
😍 The Obamas, Oprah, Langston Hughes, Moongirl
📚 Octavia E. Butler, Nnedi Okorafor, Eve Ewing
⏰ Both
📘 Sci-fi, YA, Education
🤔 Redlining, social justice
Not a bad year! My average pages per book has been the highest since 2013 too!
Electric Arches is a collection of poetry, visual art, and narrative prose that explores everything from growing up in Chicago to an alien arrival.
Day 18: #FavoritePoetryCollection
#ForColoredGirlsPhotoChallenge #PoetryMatters #Blitsy
pickBeing a black chick from Chicago like the author I considered this to be required reading for me, 😂 I really liked it. I got some of the Chicago references but not all of them. Overall beautiful work. I would re- read it again if I owned it. 👊🏽✊🏽👍🏽✌🏽❤️❤️
pickExcellent collection of poetry, narrative prose, and artwork.
#Blitsy #Blacklitsy #Blackgirlmagic #PoetryMatters
pickI have so few words. Mostly just thank you for seeing us (Chicago‘s black girls) Mrs. Ewing.
The e-book I‘ve borrowed is a little wonky but this book is so great. The poetry/pose mix is powerful, simple, unique and contribute to a poignant trip through a life lived as black and female. #currentlyreading
pickOverall, this is a pick. It's a mix of poetry, prose, and artwork. There are some really beautiful and powerful moments, while others are not as effective. The art confused me, and the collection lacks a bit of cohesion. There are so many different ideas here. But Ewing is clearly very talented. Her prose is exceptional. I would love to see her write short stories or essays.
*Definitely recommend print over ebook for this one.
pickPicked this one up as part of YALSA's #hubchallenge, and I'm really glad I did. Ewing's writing and imagery are very sharp and evocative. This is what I want from #poetry.
I‘m only a few pages in this collection (my April pick for the #poetrychallenge2018) and I‘m in love 😍
pickStunning. Loved so much reading the experiences and the experience of reading this.
pickThe prose contained within this small book is striking as it is beautiful and lyrical. There's magic contained within the pages because within it Ewing does more than just telling us a story. She draws the reader close and lets us into a part of her world, through her eyes, and it's a thundering experience. It's a small but mighty book that deserves to be savoured, which is how I read it. It gets a 100% recommendation from me.
pickThe writing was beautiful. I think the formatting of the ebook could have been better to make things more cohesive and understandable. But overall, an enjoyable read. Plus, gorgeous cover!!!
pickPick. I‘ll likely be buying this for the shelf. That‘s all ❤️
“Mom, why are you still in bed? You‘ve been up for 2 hours already!” Cause it‘s my day off and it‘s been a long week already and I want to read, kitteh. #catsoflitsy #littenkittens
pickWhat a gorgeous book! It‘s deceivingly thin but the prose and poetry inside are perfectly wrought and equal parts heartbreaking and hysterical. I don‘t usually read poetry but I am so glad I picked this one up. Dark humor that touches on all aspects of a black woman‘s life in our society.
This hits a little harder now, after Parkland, maybe. I don‘t know. That‘s what I‘m thinking of, at least.
pickMy favorite thing about this collection of poems, art, and short prose pieces is this lovely cover. The writing is beautiful too — I especially loved the images of kids on flying bikes. A few poems irritated me because they began as print on the page but ended in handwriting, which was often illegible. I saw no reason for that; it added no value or interest to those poems.
Gorgeous cover. And Roxane Gay liked it. Can there be any better praise???
pickI don‘t read a lot of poetry, but enough to know this book is amazing! (And I knocked out my first book of the year!)
Every December, I check NPR's Book Concierge to see what books I missed out on over the past year. For 2017's edition, I was pleased to see many of the recommendations are books I've already read or added to TBR pile (Litsy has definitely helped with this). I was also very excited to see Eve Ewing's excellent book Electric Arches make the list!
pickMy Favorite Books of 2017
7. Electric Arches by Eve Ewing. I love work that defies category, both in form and concept. This is Afrofuturist and extremely contemporary. This is poetry and essay and fiction. This is a good reason to get up in the morning in these hard times. This is.
#KennyCobleBookAwards
pickI took my time with the first reading of this book, savoring the gorgeous prose of poems like “apple tree” & “ode to luster‘s pink oil” & “why you can not touch my hair” & “what it means when I say I‘m sharpening my oyster knife. There were moments I recalled like my own girlhood, and moments the narrator dropped me into her world. So grateful for this collection: it‘s truths + questions + hope
#poetry #diverselit
