This book was a bit of slog for me to read and took awhile, but it was also important and informative. And yes, a bit rage inducing in some parts. Some of the anecdotes! There are really men who worry what will be thought of them if they are "caught" doing laundry??? GTFO.
"There's very little in human behavior that's innate. Most of what we do is shaped by our conscious and unconscious experience. Calling gendered division of labor 'innate' is a convenient way of maintaining the power structure, period."
"To remain at peace in a system we feel powerless to change, we swallow justifications that support our ongoing servitude."

I enjoyed reading her story and thoughts in this book. It is a very quick read. Many other reviewers have found fault with her formatting. I admit, I don't know anything about poetry and what makes poetry, poetry. I think some of the short refrains left me wanting more, wanting her to elaborate. Like she was on to something but fell short. I will still check out her other work. I am especially drawn to her words regarding femininity and hope there is more of that in the other books.

"apparently it is ungraceful of me
to mention my period in public
cause the actual biology
of my body is too real
it is ok to sell what's
between a woman's legs
more than it is ok to
mention its inner workings
the recreational use of
this body is seen as
beautiful while
its nature is
seen as ugly"

3.5

Not a new topic. No earth shattering insights. But oof, Mott has a way with words to really drive home the issue right to your gut. And the lasting sentiment, we still have to try.

“…and that’s a hard thing to lay on a kid. It’s hard to stand there and tell your children that they’re always going to have to be afraid of the police. It’s hard to say to them: if a policeman stops you, you should trust them, but you should also keep your hands where they can see them and you should never do anything that could be seen as a sudden move and even if you do all of that, there’s still no guarantee that you’ll come out of it alive. The cop could shoot you right then and there and you’ll die without ever knowing what you did wrong.”

“The older you get, the more you find out it’s all just falling apart and, even worse than that, it’s always been falling apart. The past, the present, the future. They’re interchangeable when it comes to bad news. Tragedy and trauma are the threads that weave generations together. Hell, being Black, we should know that better than anyone.”

Maybe a 3.5 rounded up? I listened to this book and the narrators were fantastic. There are things I really enjoyed in the book. Simonopia’s character and his connection with bees and ultimately their loyalty to each other really is unique. I loved that.