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Room Swept Home
Intimate and sweeping poetry that examines race and lineage
Room Swept Home serves as a gloriously rendered magnifying glass into all that is held in the line between the private and public, the investigative and generative, the self and those who came before us. In a strange twist of kismet, two of Bingham-Risher's ancestors intersect in Petersburg, Virginia, forty years before she herself is her paternal great-great-great grandmother, Minnie Lee Fowlkes, is interviewed for the Works Progress Administration Slave Narratives in Petersburg in 1937, and her maternal grandmother, Mary Knight, is sent to Petersburg in 1941, diagnosed with "water on the brain"―postpartum depression being an ongoing mystery―nine days after birthing her first child. Marrying meticulous archival research with Womanist scholarship and her hallmark lyrical precision, Bingham-Risher's latest collection treads the murky waters of race, lineage, faith, mental health, women's rights, and the violent reckoning that inhabits the discrepancy between lived versus textbook history, What do we inherit when trauma is at the core of our fractured living?
[sample poem]
XI. the more ground covered, the more liberated you became
I am scared my mind will turn on me.
I am scared I will be naked in a burning
house. I am scared my children won't outpace me.
I am scared my children (who aren't made by me)
believe I am a sad imitation of the others.
I am scared I will gather in a room
where everyone will ask me to remember
and when I don't lie they'll say I'd hate to be you.
I've lived long enough to be scared my kidneys
will give out on me. I've lived long enough to know just
when they should. I have never shared my fears
with anyone; I am scared they will map the land
and take liberties. Will the women be ashamed?
I'm scared to ask. What will live again? What will die with me?
Room Swept Home serves as a gloriously rendered magnifying glass into all that is held in the line between the private and public, the investigative and generative, the self and those who came before us. In a strange twist of kismet, two of Bingham-Risher's ancestors intersect in Petersburg, Virginia, forty years before she herself is her paternal great-great-great grandmother, Minnie Lee Fowlkes, is interviewed for the Works Progress Administration Slave Narratives in Petersburg in 1937, and her maternal grandmother, Mary Knight, is sent to Petersburg in 1941, diagnosed with "water on the brain"―postpartum depression being an ongoing mystery―nine days after birthing her first child. Marrying meticulous archival research with Womanist scholarship and her hallmark lyrical precision, Bingham-Risher's latest collection treads the murky waters of race, lineage, faith, mental health, women's rights, and the violent reckoning that inhabits the discrepancy between lived versus textbook history, What do we inherit when trauma is at the core of our fractured living?
[sample poem]
XI. the more ground covered, the more liberated you became
I am scared my mind will turn on me.
I am scared I will be naked in a burning
house. I am scared my children won't outpace me.
I am scared my children (who aren't made by me)
believe I am a sad imitation of the others.
I am scared I will gather in a room
where everyone will ask me to remember
and when I don't lie they'll say I'd hate to be you.
I've lived long enough to be scared my kidneys
will give out on me. I've lived long enough to know just
when they should. I have never shared my fears
with anyone; I am scared they will map the land
and take liberties. Will the women be ashamed?
I'm scared to ask. What will live again? What will die with me?
- GenresPoetry
140 pages, Hardcover
Published February 6, 2024
7 people are currently reading
99 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
April 13, 2024
Second Review (2024): I listened to the audiobook in my second reading of the book and I enjoyed it even more. The author narrates and does it so well. I've heard it said that poetry is meant to be read aloud, which is true, but it is also important to hear the poet read their work because the reader can hear how the poems are meant to be read. This is especially true for Remica's experimental poems. Also, you get to hear Remica's beautiful singing voice in the audio as well.
My favorite poems: "Rioting Breaks Out at Norfolk, Virginia"; "Perhaps Minnie Sees Mary and Prays for her Safekeeping"; "Dear Doll"; "June 18, 1941"; "The Two White Women I Cleaned for Send Checks Until the Day I Die or Until They Do, Whichever Comes First"; "25 days after I am born", "XV."; "XVI. Saidiya's Cento"; and "Minnie and Mary Live to 84".
Original Review (2023): Another great book by Remica Bingham-Risher. This poetry collection is not just about her 3rd great-grandmother and grandmother's lives but it also gives a glimpse of America's history and its treatment of Black women writ large. So many lines in this collection are powerful. I found the Lose Your Mother Suite to be very interesting and I think Saidiya Hartman fans will especially love that part. I'm also a fan of the experimentalism that she does with the poems in this collection.
Thanks to Remica Bingham-Risher and Wesleyan University Press for the uncorrected proof.
My favorite poems: "Rioting Breaks Out at Norfolk, Virginia"; "Perhaps Minnie Sees Mary and Prays for her Safekeeping"; "Dear Doll"; "June 18, 1941"; "The Two White Women I Cleaned for Send Checks Until the Day I Die or Until They Do, Whichever Comes First"; "25 days after I am born", "XV."; "XVI. Saidiya's Cento"; and "Minnie and Mary Live to 84".
Original Review (2023): Another great book by Remica Bingham-Risher. This poetry collection is not just about her 3rd great-grandmother and grandmother's lives but it also gives a glimpse of America's history and its treatment of Black women writ large. So many lines in this collection are powerful. I found the Lose Your Mother Suite to be very interesting and I think Saidiya Hartman fans will especially love that part. I'm also a fan of the experimentalism that she does with the poems in this collection.
Thanks to Remica Bingham-Risher and Wesleyan University Press for the uncorrected proof.
April 9, 2024
Read for National Poetry Month April 2024
Lovely poems!
Lovely poems!
December 31, 2024
A very moving poetry collection set in the south during slavery. The author set out to write reimagined narratives of her ancestors: her great-great-great grandmother and her maternal grandmother (different sides of the family). The poetry collection is beautiful and emotional. It brings the true stories alive through the author’s creativity and detailed family research.
February 17, 2024
I loved it!
January 23, 2024
General:
Room Swept Home by Remica Bingham-Risher is a new nonfiction poetry collection that put me in the expansive headspace of a family saga. The poems are steeped in archival research, spiritual imagination, interlinked imagery, and stunning lines. I thought of The Man Who Could Move Clouds by Ingrid Rojas Contreras, The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers, and Ancestor Trouble by Maud Newton often while reading Room Swept Home.
Structure:
The collection spans the timeframe of 1859 to present (and, I’d argue, even extends into the future). Poems depict the imagery and emotions of daily life and the images of American history. The 140-page collection is divided into 5 main sections, 69 poems total. I felt like the individual poems read like short chapters and that the overall collection was like a sweeping family saga. The storytelling in the poems is linear, reflective, visual, and creative.
The collection has 3 main POVs: First, Minnie Lee Fowlkes, Remica Bingham-Risher’s paternal great-great-great grandmother, born enslaved in 1859. Second, Mary Etta Knight, Remica Bingham-Risher’s maternal grandmother, born in 1922. The third POV is the poet herself, an xennial, who is, of course, present in and the subject of many poems.
My favorite poems:
(1) because the scale of our breathing is planetary, at the very least
(2) Minnie and Mary Live to 84
(3) I. Unlike my grandparents, I thought the past was a country to which I could return
(4) XV.
(5) XVI. Saidiya’s Cento
Something Special:
I keep wanting to describe the visual reading experience as undulating. This has to do with the changing shapes of the poems. I could study the formatting in this collection endlessly. Two poems I read over and over again to be sure I was really seeing what I thought I was seeing. These two poems are about the poet’s grandmothers and have separate columns, one column for each of their POVs. You can read the columns separately, one by one. Then, amazingly, you can start over, ignore the divide between the columns, and read them together as one poem. The collection is full of wondrous moments like this. Check out: “Minnie and Mary Live to 84” & “I. Unlike my grandparents, I thought the past was a country to which I could return.”
Tip:
My recommendation is not to skip or skim the introductory materials or the after materials. The creative letter and introductory essay are incredible scene setters for the collection. If you’re into artistic lineage, you’ll want to comb through the Notes section. Remica Bingham-Risher is so generous with details about how she made her poems and what inspired her.
Thank you to Wesleyan University Press and Remica Bingham-Risher for an e-arc.
Room Swept Home by Remica Bingham-Risher is a new nonfiction poetry collection that put me in the expansive headspace of a family saga. The poems are steeped in archival research, spiritual imagination, interlinked imagery, and stunning lines. I thought of The Man Who Could Move Clouds by Ingrid Rojas Contreras, The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers, and Ancestor Trouble by Maud Newton often while reading Room Swept Home.
Structure:
The collection spans the timeframe of 1859 to present (and, I’d argue, even extends into the future). Poems depict the imagery and emotions of daily life and the images of American history. The 140-page collection is divided into 5 main sections, 69 poems total. I felt like the individual poems read like short chapters and that the overall collection was like a sweeping family saga. The storytelling in the poems is linear, reflective, visual, and creative.
The collection has 3 main POVs: First, Minnie Lee Fowlkes, Remica Bingham-Risher’s paternal great-great-great grandmother, born enslaved in 1859. Second, Mary Etta Knight, Remica Bingham-Risher’s maternal grandmother, born in 1922. The third POV is the poet herself, an xennial, who is, of course, present in and the subject of many poems.
My favorite poems:
(1) because the scale of our breathing is planetary, at the very least
(2) Minnie and Mary Live to 84
(3) I. Unlike my grandparents, I thought the past was a country to which I could return
(4) XV.
(5) XVI. Saidiya’s Cento
Something Special:
I keep wanting to describe the visual reading experience as undulating. This has to do with the changing shapes of the poems. I could study the formatting in this collection endlessly. Two poems I read over and over again to be sure I was really seeing what I thought I was seeing. These two poems are about the poet’s grandmothers and have separate columns, one column for each of their POVs. You can read the columns separately, one by one. Then, amazingly, you can start over, ignore the divide between the columns, and read them together as one poem. The collection is full of wondrous moments like this. Check out: “Minnie and Mary Live to 84” & “I. Unlike my grandparents, I thought the past was a country to which I could return.”
Tip:
My recommendation is not to skip or skim the introductory materials or the after materials. The creative letter and introductory essay are incredible scene setters for the collection. If you’re into artistic lineage, you’ll want to comb through the Notes section. Remica Bingham-Risher is so generous with details about how she made her poems and what inspired her.
Thank you to Wesleyan University Press and Remica Bingham-Risher for an e-arc.
March 3, 2026
After reading “Room Swept Home” I’m convinced I need more poetry in my life. In my professional world of academia and in my more private entertainment and relaxation, I gravitate towards long form storytelling. @remicawriter’s collection reminded me of the depth of character and the breadth of narrative that is possible through poetry.
Room Swept Home traces the poet’s lineage through two significant women; her paternal great great grandmother Minnie, born in 1859, and her maternal grandmother, Mary, born in 1922. In doing so, she takes the reader on a 150 year journey of the everyday experiences of black women through the larger historical backdrop of slavery, emancipation, the turmoil of 20th century and Bingham-Risher’s own search for identity and history in the present.
Whether by coincidence, fate, or divine design, in 1941 Minnie,age 84, lived her final years within 5 miles of Mary, age 19, when the latter was committed to the Central Lunatic Asylum “for coloreds” (that name seems unreal, and yet, says so much) for what would now be understood as post-partum depression. Their narrative arcs converge here in Petersburg VA, through the poem “Perhaps Minnie Sees Mary and Prays for Her Safekeeping”. Two disparate women, connected only through their future descendants. . .
Their stories culminate in Remica’s own in her final sets of poems, including “Where did you come from/ how did you arrive?”, “There is Nothing in Your Story That Says You Should Be Here,” and the final titular poem “Room Swept Home”.
“Sweep porch steps,no steps, dirt path—pristine;
any small patch of earth were given: Godstruck, bare, but so clean.”
It’s a profound, heartfelt, historical journey through personal experiences, both researched and imagined, of the black domestic women who lived it; daughters, mothers, wives, aunts, & Nana’s.
I learned more in these 100 pages than any history book could tell ❤️
**I have the privilege & joy to work with Remica at my university. She is as amazing in person as she is on the page.
Room Swept Home traces the poet’s lineage through two significant women; her paternal great great grandmother Minnie, born in 1859, and her maternal grandmother, Mary, born in 1922. In doing so, she takes the reader on a 150 year journey of the everyday experiences of black women through the larger historical backdrop of slavery, emancipation, the turmoil of 20th century and Bingham-Risher’s own search for identity and history in the present.
Whether by coincidence, fate, or divine design, in 1941 Minnie,age 84, lived her final years within 5 miles of Mary, age 19, when the latter was committed to the Central Lunatic Asylum “for coloreds” (that name seems unreal, and yet, says so much) for what would now be understood as post-partum depression. Their narrative arcs converge here in Petersburg VA, through the poem “Perhaps Minnie Sees Mary and Prays for Her Safekeeping”. Two disparate women, connected only through their future descendants. . .
Their stories culminate in Remica’s own in her final sets of poems, including “Where did you come from/ how did you arrive?”, “There is Nothing in Your Story That Says You Should Be Here,” and the final titular poem “Room Swept Home”.
“Sweep porch steps,no steps, dirt path—pristine;
any small patch of earth were given: Godstruck, bare, but so clean.”
It’s a profound, heartfelt, historical journey through personal experiences, both researched and imagined, of the black domestic women who lived it; daughters, mothers, wives, aunts, & Nana’s.
I learned more in these 100 pages than any history book could tell ❤️
**I have the privilege & joy to work with Remica at my university. She is as amazing in person as she is on the page.
October 13, 2024
In a time when we battle against a viral attempt in our nation to erase history, Remica Bingham-Risher provides us with a well-researched family history that sheds light on critical personal experiences that some would want us to be ignorant of. Her work is a gift.
In "Room Swept Home," Remica Bingham-Risher traces her family's lineage, focusing on the lives of her paternal great-great-great-grandmother, Minnie Lee Fowlkes, and her maternal grandmother, Mary Etta Knight. Minnie was interviewed for the WPA Slave Narratives in 1937, preserving her voice through history. Meanwhile, Mary was institutionalized in 1941 at the Central Lunatic Asylum for Colored Insane, struggling with what is now understood as postpartum depression.
Though these two women did not know each other, their shared geography in Petersburg, Virginia, and the systemic struggles they endured highlight intersections of race, mental health, and historical oppression. Bingham-Risher uses personal storytelling and historical research to challenge sanitized versions of history, emphasizing resilience and survival across generations.
In "Room Swept Home," Remica Bingham-Risher traces her family's lineage, focusing on the lives of her paternal great-great-great-grandmother, Minnie Lee Fowlkes, and her maternal grandmother, Mary Etta Knight. Minnie was interviewed for the WPA Slave Narratives in 1937, preserving her voice through history. Meanwhile, Mary was institutionalized in 1941 at the Central Lunatic Asylum for Colored Insane, struggling with what is now understood as postpartum depression.
Though these two women did not know each other, their shared geography in Petersburg, Virginia, and the systemic struggles they endured highlight intersections of race, mental health, and historical oppression. Bingham-Risher uses personal storytelling and historical research to challenge sanitized versions of history, emphasizing resilience and survival across generations.
April 12, 2024
Such a powerful collection! The way Remica shares her family with us allows you to feel that you too know them personally. With the way that this book is constructed, it almost feels like a memoir, or bio, in verse. I also really appreciated the photos that were included. It adds to the history, but doesn’t do it in a way that makes it feel like it’s a crossover from poetry to a textbook. It’s cleverly academic, without losing its art.
Many themes are covered: living Black in America, enslavement, motherhood, PPD, love, familial ties…I highly recommend it!
Much gratitude to the author for sending me a copy!
Many themes are covered: living Black in America, enslavement, motherhood, PPD, love, familial ties…I highly recommend it!
Much gratitude to the author for sending me a copy!
October 12, 2025
I don’t know what I was expecting from this collection, but I was completely blown away. Remica joins a long line of Black women poets engaging with archive and pulls from it something so incredibly musical & sincere & new. Our histories are alive in this book, in her hands. This collection shines a light not just on the daily injustices of this country, but also on the way our lineages persevere how we all make it back to a home swept clean. This book is a great example of received forms working to reinforce content, and a masterful consideration of archive.
November 24, 2025
I met this author at a writing field trip from my school and she was possibly one of the nicest people I’ve ever met. She is an extremely talented person along with being a poet as well. I was truly thrilled to read this book and get it free. I hope to see more of her writing in the future.
March 2, 2024
A stunning collection, formally innovative & heartfelt. This book of poetry will make you ache, cry, and love.
April 28, 2024
I'm in awe of these poems, the stories, and this poet.
May 22, 2024
In this collection, Remica Bingham-Risher gives voice to inherited trauma, passed from grandmothers to mothers to daughters. Embodying time and place, Bingham-Risher places the reader in the day to lives of women in her lineage—highlighting struggles of race, violence, and complicated love. Mental illness—both the internal experience and external speaking of it—is handled with care and research as she explores the voice of Mary. It was the last section, The Lose Your Mother Suite, that really swept me away. Speaking to Saidiya Hartman’s work, Bingham-Risher builds a series of poems that build lines from each other; these lines that make up their own narrative within the series. I’ve read it through twice and am still processing the brilliance.
As a family historian, as a researcher, as a writer of Black feminist traditions—this book has been an indispensable companion. A way into reimagining the voices of ancestors I was unable to meet. A way of considering the power and pain inherited from grandmothers.
As a family historian, as a researcher, as a writer of Black feminist traditions—this book has been an indispensable companion. A way into reimagining the voices of ancestors I was unable to meet. A way of considering the power and pain inherited from grandmothers.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews