bahareads's profile picture

bahareads 's review for:

Magic and Mortal by Crystal A. deGregory
4.0
challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

I adore Bahamian poets. deGregory's work is a mix of historical, cultural and personal poems. Her style creates a great narrative and the sectional nature of the book had a great flow. The elements of history, especially HBCU history, really stuck out to me. I do not know much about HBCUs for the most part, so this helped inform me. This poetry is healing to the Black soul and a place to let emotions be felt and heard. deGregory made me cry on a few of poems. The emotion behind these could be felt by readers. 

My favourites were 
You've Covered Me in Love 
Marguerite
Lord, You are Good
Aityi, May God Exalt You
'Twas the Night before Dorien
Empty Vessels
If America Is Waiting On the Souls of Black Folks to Save It, It Will Die
Dear New Orleans
Where There Were Once Five 
The Women