Morgan Parker

Trying to find the words to explain how Morgan Parker's book has "hit me" is unbelievably challenging! Many of her poems hit me so hard I cried and the reflection that followed reading her work left me feeling heavy and needing to take lots of deep breaths.  The lens in which I experience life is through the eyes of a white woman, and the ways in which Morgan Parker drew me into her experiences as a black woman left me with so much to reflect on.  I loved how she used such direct and descriptive words which helped me create a visual backdrop in my mind which resembled a movie many different times.

In the poem Hottentot Venus, I believe Morgan pays homage to her experiences as a black woman while simultaneously giving Sara Baartman a voice; "I wish my pussy could live in a different shape and get some goddamn respect. Should I thank you?"  So many thoughts flood my mind as I frantically try to find a word in my vocabulary that would or could properly describe what the inside of my body feels like after reading this.

The title of this poem alone forced me to pause for many moments.  I invited the pain and rage I felt the first time I was told about the horrific experiences Sara Baartman, "lived" through.  In actuality, Sara Barrtman had absolutely zero opportunity to live, and even after she died she is still on display as if she is, "technically nothing/ human."  This poem is so fucking powerful, each line is loaded with so much information and embedded with so many different interpretations, "I am here to show you" and to remind you" "unleash your sons." "Everything beautiful, you own."  Doing much more than directly quoting this poem just does not feel right to me!

99 Problems was another piece which really opened the flood gates of tears to run down my face.  I wondered while I read the being of the list if the number's were associated with her age an the experiences she was having during those times in her life. So much rawness revealed within each numbered expression in this poem.  I also very much enjoyed how some of the lines stood out all on their own when I read them such as, " 11. Dating", " 16. Oppression" and "22. Listening" while other lines in the poem flowed into each other such as #28. into #29 so beautifully. "28. I don't know anything else /29. It doesn't matter"

The experience of reading poetry is a new concept for me, for many years I have listened to many people slam there words out to a crowd of people or had the privilege of being able to hear individuals poems told to me over the phone or face to face.  Reading Morgan Parker's work was an experience for me which was unlike anything I have experienced before, some of her poems were screaming at me with a beat that rang through each line on the paper while others were so softly whispered I had to read the poem a few times to hear the complexity of what lay behind the words on the page.   What I do hear, read and see written on each page of the book is a piece of Morgan's strength, grace and depth which for me is nothing less than inspirational.  The truth she lays down on paper so elegantly, moved my soul "I mean as in classically beautiful, flaws".  There are more beautiful things than Beyonce' and I believe many of them are written in the pages of Morgan Parkers  book!