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Appalachian Elegy
Appalachian Elegy: Poetry and Place | bell hooks
12 posts | 10 read | 13 to read
Author, activist, feminist, teacher, and artist bell hooks is celebrated as one of the nation's leading intellectuals. Born in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, hooks drew her unique pseudonym from the name of her grandmother, an intelligent and strong-willed African American woman who inspired her to stand up against a dominating and repressive society. Her poetry, novels, memoirs, and children's books reflect her Appalachian upbringing and feature her struggles with racially integrated schools and unwelcome authority figures. One of Utne Reader's "100 Visionaries Who Can Change Your Life," hooks has won wide acclaim from critics and readers alike. In Appalachian Elegy, bell hooks continues her work as an imagist of life's harsh realities in a collection of poems inspired by her childhood in the isolated hills and hidden hollows of Kentucky. At once meditative, confessional, and political, this poignant volume draws the reader deep into the experience of living in Appalachia. Touching on such topics as the marginalization of its people and the environmental degradation it has suffered over the years, hooks's poetry quietly elegizes the slow loss of an identity while also celebrating that which is constant, firmly rooted in a place that is no longer whole.
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Coffeymuse
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My first bell hooks but definitely not my last! This one was so fantastic! A slice of life in rural Appalachia.

@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks
@Eggs
#aboutabook

Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks Perfect 👍🏻 2mo
Eggs Stacked! 2mo
22 likes2 stack adds2 comments
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Coffeymuse
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I read this in the past month and I have to say I loved it!

bell hooks is a new-to-me author and one I want to pick up more of. This haunting collection made me homesick for a place I've never been.

#Aboutabook
@alwaysbeenaloverofbooks
@eggs

IndoorDame Such a powerful collection! 3mo
Eggs Lovely review🫶🏻 3mo
21 likes2 stack adds2 comments
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Leftcoastzen
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Pickpick

Reading is my happy place , no time to read is making me blue. Poetry packs a punch.I usually read Bell for feminism, race , class, & such.People forget that people of all races live in the hills.Hooks reflects on the self reliance of hill people & their deep, abiding, love for the natural world. A very special collection.I will forever miss Bell Hooks, she would have had so much more to tell us.

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IndoorDame
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Pickpick

The simple language of this collection is deceptive. These pieces are moving, gut wrenching, and incisive. Paired with an astute academic introduction on black Appalachian identity and history, bell hooks is definitely an author I‘m going to be on the lookout for in the future. #WinterGames2021 #TeamGameSleighers @StayCurious #booked2021

StayCurious If there are any poems that are 2 pages or more, count them as an individual story - you could get a lot of points! 3y
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Scochrane26
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The rest of the list. Fiction, poetry, movies, podcasts. I‘m planning to finally watch Hillbilly in Nov.

SamAnne Thanks for this. 4y
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wanderinglynn
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#poetrymatters March 20: enemy

Section 4 from Appalachian Elegy (Sections 1-6) by bell hooks and found in the tagged.

Full poem also available at: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/148751/appalachian-elegy-1-6

TheSpineView Excellant choice! Interesting imagery and use of earth.🤩 5y
60 likes1 comment
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Scochrane26
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This book of poetry was hard to find a couple of years ago, but I had just learned about the author & wanted to read some of her books. Started to read this morning; poetry is not usually my interest, but I‘ll try. I made a list for the book fair today, & surprisingly, there‘s much more NF on it than other genres.

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megnews
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Mehso-so

I feel bad for saying it, but the majority of poems in these two collections just weren‘t for me.

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mountainsandlace
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"Folks from the backwoods were certain of two things: that every human soul needed to be free and that the responsibility of being free required one to be a person of integrity, a person who lived in such a way that there would always be congruency between what one thinks, says, and does."

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TelevisionNeighbor
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Might have gone a tad overboard with the poetry the other day at the library. #catsoflitsy

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Pagesflutter
Pickpick

What a beautiful poetry collection. I appreciated it even more after reading the excellent essay about the authors connection to the subject. Definitely want to read more of her prose as well. #bellhooksisatreasure