John Murillo's second book is a reflective look at the legacy of institutional, accepted violence against Blacks and Latinos and the personal and societal wreckage wrought by long histories of subjugation. A sparrow trapped in a car window evokes a mother battered by a father's fists; a workout at an iron gym recalls a long-ago mentor who pushed the speaker "to become something unbreakable." The presence of these and poetic forbears-Gil Scott-Heron, Yusef Komunyakaa-provide a context for strength in the face of danger and anger. At the heart of the book is a sonnet crown triggered by the shooting deaths of three Brooklyn men that becomes an extended meditation on the history of racial injustice and the notion of payback as a form of justice.
ISBN: | 9781945588471 |
Publisher: | Four Way Books |
Imprint: | Four Way Books |
Published date: | 02 Mar 2020 |
DEWEY: | 811.6 |
DEWEY edition: | 23 |
Language: | English |
Sales rank: | 10851 |
Number of pages: | cm |
Weight: | 159g |
Height: | 229mm |
Width: | 152mm |
Spine width: | 10mm |