A moving, defiant poetic exposé of world injustice.
Black feminist poet and educator Juanita rails against those who threaten the “inviolable right to live” in this collection.
“Some time after my youthful and equally fervent participation in the Black Panther Party, I became a Nichiren Soka Gakkai Buddhist,” remarks Juanita in her preface to this new collection. The poet goes on to explain how the second president of Soka Gakkai International, Josei Toda, denounced people who would employ nuclear weaponry as “ ‘devils’ in the Buddhist sense of ‘robbers of life.’ ” Throughout this book, Juanita calls out the “evils of imperialism,” including nuclear aggression, equating it with the destructive movie monster Godzilla. The opening work even draws on a plot summary of the original 1954 film: “American nuclear weapons testing has created a seemingly unstoppable, dinosaur-like beast”; in “return of godzilla,” the concept of the creature is used to draw attention to other monstrous aspects of humankind: “unfaltering racism / uglier than godzilla’s scales.” On another occasion, the poet takes aim at Hollywood “as out-of-date / an institution as slavery.” Other poems touch on figures from popular culture; one provocatively juxtaposes Dave Chappelle and Malcolm X, and in “lizzo fights godzilla,” the titular singer and flautist confronts “amerikkka the beautiful,” with the speaker declaring “we is 100% behind you baby girl / behind your superb black ass...let us worship lizzo / that’s right—bow down.” Toward the close of the collection, the poet includes “The Gun as Ultimate Performance Poem,” an 8-page work that addresses gun control in America.
Over the course of this compilation, Juanita writes gloriously unrestrained poetry that always packs a punch. For instance, a poem titled “old black woman” rapidly develops into an unsettling portrait of racial oppression: “her favorite show was lassie / said white people love their dogs so much / because it was bred in them / to treat blacks like beasts / of burden during slavery.” Meticulously placed line breaks further intensify this poem’s impact. Elsewhere, “swimming towards godzilla, swimming from godzilla” deftly pinpoints the horror, sadness, and futility of the refugee crisis: “in the great Mediterranean / their arms paddle to freedom / the women and babies scream and sink / into eternity / a few feet from the raft.” Such jarring imagery compels readers to face issues of social injustice head-on. Juanita’s poetry can also be wryly amusing, as in a poem that points out the absurdity of people being defined by their skin color: “ ‘I’m crazy about the new guy. What a pumpkin.’ / ‘Are you sure he’s not a yam? Or even a sweet potato?’ ” Throughout, her poems aim to shake readers up and make them rethink issues from new angles, as in the aforementioned “The Gun as Ultimate Performance Poem,” in which the speaker declares, “I don’t want gun control. I want police who are unarmed, peace officers.” Readers will find this to be incisive writing that aims to be a powerful tool for positive change.
A moving, defiant poetic exposé of world injustice.Pub Date: Nov. 19, 2022
ISBN: 9781732609808
Page Count: 90
Publisher: EquiDistance Press
Review Posted Online: Dec. 15, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A short, smart analysis of perhaps the most famous passage in American history reveals its potency and unfulfilled promise.
Words that made a nation.
Isaacson is known for expansive biographies of great thinkers (and Elon Musk), but here he pens a succinct, stimulating commentary on the Founding Fathers’ ode to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” His close reading of the Declaration of Independence’s second sentence, published to mark the 250th anniversary of the document’s adoption, doesn’t downplay its “moral contradiction.” Thomas Jefferson enslaved hundreds of people yet called slavery “a cruel war against human nature” in his first draft of the Declaration. All but 15 of the document’s 56 signers owned enslaved people. While the sentence in question asserted “all men are created equal” and possess “unalienable rights,” the Founders “consciously and intentionally” excluded women, Native Americans, and enslaved people. And yet the sentence is powerful, Isaacson writes, because it names a young nation’s “aspirations.” He mounts a solid defense of what ought to be shared goals, among them economic fairness, “moral compassion,” and a willingness to compromise. “Democracy depends on this,” he writes. Isaacson is excellent when explaining how Enlightenment intellectuals abroad influenced the founders. Benjamin Franklin, one of the Declaration’s “five-person drafting committee,” stayed in David Hume’s home for a month in the early 1770s, “discussing ideas of natural rights” with the Scottish philosopher. Also strong is Isaacson’s discussion of the “edits and tweaks” made to Jefferson’s draft. As recommended by Franklin and others, the changes were substantial, leaving Jefferson “distraught.” Franklin, who emerges as the book’s hero, helped establish municipal services, founded a library, and encouraged religious diversity—the kind of civic-mindedness that we could use more of today, Isaacson reminds us.
A short, smart analysis of perhaps the most famous passage in American history reveals its potency and unfulfilled promise.Pub Date: Nov. 18, 2025
ISBN: 9781982181314
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Aug. 29, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
Not so deep, but a delightful tip of the hat to the pleasures—and power—of glamour.
A coffee-table book celebrates Michelle Obama’s sense of fashion.
Illustrated with hundreds of full-color photographs, Obama’s chatty latest book begins with some school portraits from the author’s childhood in Chicago and fond memories of back-to-school shopping at Sears, then jumps into the intricacies of clothing oneself as the spouse of a presidential candidate and as the first lady. “People looked forward to the outfits, and once I got their attention, they listened to what I had to say. This is the soft power of fashion,” she says. Obama is grateful and frank about all the help she got along the way, and the volume includes a long section written by her primary wardrobe stylist, Koop—28 years old when she first took the job—and shorter sections by makeup artists and several hair stylists, who worked with wigs and hair extensions as Obama transitioned back to her natural hair, and grew out her bangs, at the end of her husband’s second term. Many of the designers of the author’s gowns, notably Jason Wu, who designed several of her more striking outfits, also contribute appreciative memories. Besides candid and more formal photographs, the volume features many sketches of her gowns by their designers, closeups on details of those gowns, and magazine covers from Better Homes & Gardens to Vogue. The author writes that as a Black woman, “I was under a particularly white-hot glare, constantly appraised for whether my outfits were ‘acceptable’ and ‘appropriate,’ the color of my skin somehow inviting even more judgment than the color of my dresses.” Overall, though, this is generally a canny, upbeat volume, with little in the way of surprising revelations.
Not so deep, but a delightful tip of the hat to the pleasures—and power—of glamour.Pub Date: Nov. 4, 2025
ISBN: 9780593800706
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 7, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2026
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