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Working the Roots
Bennett's Working the Root propels readers into the visceral materiality of our lives, as she implores that we not only observe but celebrate the complexities of our existences. Bennett's speaker "recreates the story of [the] body" in poems that explore self-love's intersection with desire, grief, and the power to create. As these poems cascade into each other, blood is the ligature, the life force, the root that binds them together. I will continue to return to these poems for not only their vitality but their viscosity-the way they stick with me.
-Chet'la Sebree, author of Blue Opening
In the poem, "Denial", Bennett writes: "And I am no conjure / woman / yet." but it is far from the truth. Working the Roots is an altar that summons even the shyest of ancestors, both living and deceased, to come and rest their weary spirits. It is a spiritual offering that sacrifices the blood born of loss, grief, intimacy, relationship, and Blackness. Anyone who has the opportunity to touch these pages and read these words should know they are encountering holy land-revere it as such.
-Najya Williams, author of ON A DATE WITH DISAPPOINTMENT
When I think of the kind of writing that really moves me, I think of the elements present in Bennett's poetry: honesty about Black women's interior lives, clarity (because we don't have time to talk around a thing), and a mean metaphor. Amanda Bennett has written a poetry collection squarely rooted in the legacy of Black feminists like Audre Lorde, Lucille Clifton, and June Jordan: this is my favorite kind of poetry. The feeling present in these poems welcomes you in to experience the world as the writer does, where "black is a place we carry" and "difficult women are like dynamite." Working the Roots is a book everyone should read, if for no other reason than we all need a little vulnerability to survive this world, and each other.
-Ariana Brown, author of We Are Owed.
-Chet'la Sebree, author of Blue Opening
In the poem, "Denial", Bennett writes: "And I am no conjure / woman / yet." but it is far from the truth. Working the Roots is an altar that summons even the shyest of ancestors, both living and deceased, to come and rest their weary spirits. It is a spiritual offering that sacrifices the blood born of loss, grief, intimacy, relationship, and Blackness. Anyone who has the opportunity to touch these pages and read these words should know they are encountering holy land-revere it as such.
-Najya Williams, author of ON A DATE WITH DISAPPOINTMENT
When I think of the kind of writing that really moves me, I think of the elements present in Bennett's poetry: honesty about Black women's interior lives, clarity (because we don't have time to talk around a thing), and a mean metaphor. Amanda Bennett has written a poetry collection squarely rooted in the legacy of Black feminists like Audre Lorde, Lucille Clifton, and June Jordan: this is my favorite kind of poetry. The feeling present in these poems welcomes you in to experience the world as the writer does, where "black is a place we carry" and "difficult women are like dynamite." Working the Roots is a book everyone should read, if for no other reason than we all need a little vulnerability to survive this world, and each other.
-Ariana Brown, author of We Are Owed.
- GenresPoetry
30 pages, Paperback
Published July 11, 2025
13 people want to read
About the author
Amanda Bennett
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
June 11, 2025
*2.5
this one wasn't my favourite, but i still found a few poems that i liked! i'm sorry if i'm not that good at reviewing poetry collections, they're genuinely the hardest. 😂
the poems that i liked were: black is a place we carry, this heat is for feeling and i was there in the future. these were the ones that i enjoyed and appreciated! i could also relate to them which is always nice.
while it wasn't a favourite book, i'm still glad i read it!
this one wasn't my favourite, but i still found a few poems that i liked! i'm sorry if i'm not that good at reviewing poetry collections, they're genuinely the hardest. 😂
the poems that i liked were: black is a place we carry, this heat is for feeling and i was there in the future. these were the ones that i enjoyed and appreciated! i could also relate to them which is always nice.
while it wasn't a favourite book, i'm still glad i read it!
May 16, 2025
3.75✨
I have mixed feelings with this writing. I loved the poems but I felt like there was something missing. The poems were raw but for some reason most of the time the feelings and emotions didn't bleed through the words. Maybe it's because I'm not a black woman in her thirties and can't/don't relate to the struggles.
My favourite poems:
THE HEAT IS FOR FEELING
I WAS THERE IN THE FUTURE
Some quotes:
There is so much of me I am hard to dilute.
what we love comes most freely to a self cracked open with joy
our only task is to listen
What we carry is only as old as our youngest dreams long-lost but remembered at our first kiss.
Please don't see me this tiny pile of women
Overall it was a good creation. The poems got more intense the more I read and I started to feel some sort of a connection to the author.
I have mixed feelings with this writing. I loved the poems but I felt like there was something missing. The poems were raw but for some reason most of the time the feelings and emotions didn't bleed through the words. Maybe it's because I'm not a black woman in her thirties and can't/don't relate to the struggles.
My favourite poems:
THE HEAT IS FOR FEELING
I WAS THERE IN THE FUTURE
Some quotes:
There is so much of me I am hard to dilute.
what we love comes most freely to a self cracked open with joy
our only task is to listen
What we carry is only as old as our youngest dreams long-lost but remembered at our first kiss.
Please don't see me this tiny pile of women
Overall it was a good creation. The poems got more intense the more I read and I started to feel some sort of a connection to the author.
July 8, 2025
Yakoke, thank you, to Querencia Press for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
With poetry, I typically include a disclaimer about traditional vs modern poetry and how my lack of adoration or relation doesn't necessitate a low rating. With "Working the Roots" by Amanda Bennett, I can easily and immediately give 5 Stars with no additional thought processes shared. This poetry collection was real and raw; a love letter to the body and to the ancestors. The grittiness of girlhood, womanhood, and motherhood all highlighted right from page one. Themes of mental health (anxiety) and what I interpreted as miscarriage, love and the grief emotions we so often view as negative.
In "god is in the nectar" Amanda mentions Ntozake Shange – the late Black playwright and poet, most known for "For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf". I truly believe Ntozake would have been a fan of this collection being that her own work explored Black womanhood and sisterhood. And what is more powerful within sisterhood than love and support? I think that maybe one day I will have a poem referencing Amanda Bennett in this way after looking at the notes I took for "Difficult Women are Like Dynamite". The line "the braid that remembers": pulls me back out of reading a Black poet as a Native reader and into the words, stories, similarities of our communities. Marginalized because of our beauty, your knowledge a threat just as much as mine.
When Ariana Brown, author of "We Are Owed", said "Amanda Bennett has written a poetry collection squarely rooted in the legacy of Black feminists like Audre Lorde, Lucille Clifton, and June Jordan: this is my favorite kind of poetry.", they were right. She was right on the nose with the mention of Audre Lorde, Lucille Clifton, and June Jordan. Fans of these historic Black women and their poetry will no doubt enjoy "Working the Roots".
"but then i found her and learned how good blackness feels when it's intimate"
"The melodrama of my memory cannot compare to. the worldly weight of thread in my palms"
"an old quilt telling picture-stories / of Africa and mojo and / griots gone to rest"
These words made me understand so many different things all at once. Far too many to go over them all here. But things make sense – like why Black women want to surround themselves with Black women, date Black men, work for Black communities, guard Black culture, so many other things; and how similar our communities are because we want those same things.
"To speak the hurt will make it real / And I am no conjure woman yet" is perhaps one of the most powerful lines in this collection. As far as I see it, she absolutely is both by word and by blood. "I Was There in the Future" is a piece I would love to see performed as spoken word, because there was power in the pain and harsh realities told here that feels as if it was meant to be performed and not just read. The same is true of "rest is the part in the waterfall"
What Amanda has done here may not be palatable to the masses but I think that's because she didn't write it for the masses. And that's okay. We all have stories to tell, love letters to our people and ancestors, and as readers we need to consider this; consider that we are lucky to be invited to read words that might not be meant for us, but that we are being welcomed to find a home in as I did.
With poetry, I typically include a disclaimer about traditional vs modern poetry and how my lack of adoration or relation doesn't necessitate a low rating. With "Working the Roots" by Amanda Bennett, I can easily and immediately give 5 Stars with no additional thought processes shared. This poetry collection was real and raw; a love letter to the body and to the ancestors. The grittiness of girlhood, womanhood, and motherhood all highlighted right from page one. Themes of mental health (anxiety) and what I interpreted as miscarriage, love and the grief emotions we so often view as negative.
In "god is in the nectar" Amanda mentions Ntozake Shange – the late Black playwright and poet, most known for "For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf". I truly believe Ntozake would have been a fan of this collection being that her own work explored Black womanhood and sisterhood. And what is more powerful within sisterhood than love and support? I think that maybe one day I will have a poem referencing Amanda Bennett in this way after looking at the notes I took for "Difficult Women are Like Dynamite". The line "the braid that remembers": pulls me back out of reading a Black poet as a Native reader and into the words, stories, similarities of our communities. Marginalized because of our beauty, your knowledge a threat just as much as mine.
When Ariana Brown, author of "We Are Owed", said "Amanda Bennett has written a poetry collection squarely rooted in the legacy of Black feminists like Audre Lorde, Lucille Clifton, and June Jordan: this is my favorite kind of poetry.", they were right. She was right on the nose with the mention of Audre Lorde, Lucille Clifton, and June Jordan. Fans of these historic Black women and their poetry will no doubt enjoy "Working the Roots".
"but then i found her and learned how good blackness feels when it's intimate"
"The melodrama of my memory cannot compare to. the worldly weight of thread in my palms"
"an old quilt telling picture-stories / of Africa and mojo and / griots gone to rest"
These words made me understand so many different things all at once. Far too many to go over them all here. But things make sense – like why Black women want to surround themselves with Black women, date Black men, work for Black communities, guard Black culture, so many other things; and how similar our communities are because we want those same things.
"To speak the hurt will make it real / And I am no conjure woman yet" is perhaps one of the most powerful lines in this collection. As far as I see it, she absolutely is both by word and by blood. "I Was There in the Future" is a piece I would love to see performed as spoken word, because there was power in the pain and harsh realities told here that feels as if it was meant to be performed and not just read. The same is true of "rest is the part in the waterfall"
What Amanda has done here may not be palatable to the masses but I think that's because she didn't write it for the masses. And that's okay. We all have stories to tell, love letters to our people and ancestors, and as readers we need to consider this; consider that we are lucky to be invited to read words that might not be meant for us, but that we are being welcomed to find a home in as I did.
November 20, 2025
Working the Roots by Amanda Bennett is a debut poetry chapbook that immediately caught my attention for the way it centers Black Southern womanhood, self-love, grief, intimacy, and ancestral memory. Reading it felt like opening a door into someone’s private emotional landscape while also recognizing so many familiar echoes from my own community and cultural lineage. Bennett leans into the idea of “root work,” both in the literal sense of ancestral healing practices and as a metaphor for grounding, repair, and growth. That framing gives the entire collection a sense of spiritual coherence.
Stylistically, the poems rely on free verse and a conversational, intimate tone that makes the reader feel invited into moments of vulnerability. Bennett explores longing, intergenerational trauma, sensuality, and the ways Black women and femmes move through a world that requires constant transformation. Her use of natural imagery, foodways, and ritual gives the collection a texture that feels lived in. The emotional clarity is one of the book’s greatest strengths, and the poems describing the fractures and repairs of being Black and femme are thoughtful and resonant.
At the same time, I found myself wanting more range. Some subject matter appears more than once without being expanded, and the collection tends to stay within similar tones and structures throughout. I would have loved to see more experimentation in form or more variation in craft to push the themes into new spaces. The foundation of the work is strong, and because it is so strong, I kept wishing the chapbook took bigger risks or explored a wider arc.
Even with those limitations, Working the Roots offers a meaningful contribution to conversations around Black feminist poetics, ancestral knowledge, and the everyday work of healing. It is accessible, grounded, and heartfelt, and it will resonate with readers who gravitate toward poetry rooted in Southern Black identity, personal restoration, and spiritual inquiry. For a debut, it is promising, emotionally honest, and guided by a clear love for the communities and traditions that shaped it.
Stylistically, the poems rely on free verse and a conversational, intimate tone that makes the reader feel invited into moments of vulnerability. Bennett explores longing, intergenerational trauma, sensuality, and the ways Black women and femmes move through a world that requires constant transformation. Her use of natural imagery, foodways, and ritual gives the collection a texture that feels lived in. The emotional clarity is one of the book’s greatest strengths, and the poems describing the fractures and repairs of being Black and femme are thoughtful and resonant.
At the same time, I found myself wanting more range. Some subject matter appears more than once without being expanded, and the collection tends to stay within similar tones and structures throughout. I would have loved to see more experimentation in form or more variation in craft to push the themes into new spaces. The foundation of the work is strong, and because it is so strong, I kept wishing the chapbook took bigger risks or explored a wider arc.
Even with those limitations, Working the Roots offers a meaningful contribution to conversations around Black feminist poetics, ancestral knowledge, and the everyday work of healing. It is accessible, grounded, and heartfelt, and it will resonate with readers who gravitate toward poetry rooted in Southern Black identity, personal restoration, and spiritual inquiry. For a debut, it is promising, emotionally honest, and guided by a clear love for the communities and traditions that shaped it.
July 3, 2025
Thank you to Querencia Press and Netgalley for this e-ARC. This is an honest review and all opinions in it are my own.
Working The Roots is a poetry collection about birth, womanhood, queerness, blackness, the body, and blood. Lots and lots of blood, actually.
I did not enjoy it, unfortunately. The only poem I will keep with me is Black Is A Place We Carry because I thought it was both just succinct and lush enough and it brought forth meaning really really well. Especially the lines ‘for a while we were just faint strokes of memory in a frame of white milk’ re: a polaroid described in an earlier passage.
I thought this collection as a whole was a little bit messy, overexplained its themes / points and didn’t even *try* to be subtle, which I think is essential to an engaging poem. If you’re too on-the-nose I just get frustrated and sad. There’s no interpretation, there’s no metaphor, no interest.
Very few phrases stood out to me, and when they did, it was usually because the grammar was a little off or because it was a very very strong description (but not strong as in it caught me, rather, strong as in malplaced, off-putting, odd). *If* I liked a more subtle line, or there was a good metaphor / simile, the experience was often soured by the following sentences overexplaining it, or simply stating its meaning – unnecessarily halting the rhythm of the poem.
A lot of the time, metaphors and descriptive words just didn’t feel like they fit together at all, no common theme or purpose behind their choosing. The same with form. Even in the one poem I thought form was well utilised – This Heat Is For Feeling – where anxiety is represented by run-on sentences and breakneck speed, there were still periods indicating ends that didn’t need to be there, not for clarity nor for the sake of the meaning.
Still, I can see the point of the collection and I certainly hope it was cathartic to write for the poet! And that other readers like it – because everything can’t be for everyone. That would just be boring.
Working The Roots is a poetry collection about birth, womanhood, queerness, blackness, the body, and blood. Lots and lots of blood, actually.
I did not enjoy it, unfortunately. The only poem I will keep with me is Black Is A Place We Carry because I thought it was both just succinct and lush enough and it brought forth meaning really really well. Especially the lines ‘for a while we were just faint strokes of memory in a frame of white milk’ re: a polaroid described in an earlier passage.
I thought this collection as a whole was a little bit messy, overexplained its themes / points and didn’t even *try* to be subtle, which I think is essential to an engaging poem. If you’re too on-the-nose I just get frustrated and sad. There’s no interpretation, there’s no metaphor, no interest.
Very few phrases stood out to me, and when they did, it was usually because the grammar was a little off or because it was a very very strong description (but not strong as in it caught me, rather, strong as in malplaced, off-putting, odd). *If* I liked a more subtle line, or there was a good metaphor / simile, the experience was often soured by the following sentences overexplaining it, or simply stating its meaning – unnecessarily halting the rhythm of the poem.
A lot of the time, metaphors and descriptive words just didn’t feel like they fit together at all, no common theme or purpose behind their choosing. The same with form. Even in the one poem I thought form was well utilised – This Heat Is For Feeling – where anxiety is represented by run-on sentences and breakneck speed, there were still periods indicating ends that didn’t need to be there, not for clarity nor for the sake of the meaning.
Still, I can see the point of the collection and I certainly hope it was cathartic to write for the poet! And that other readers like it – because everything can’t be for everyone. That would just be boring.
June 13, 2025
[2 stars]
A collection of 21 short poems, Working the Roots is an exploration of black womanhood, growing up, grief, and friendship. It is very short, around thirty pages total, and a nice and comfortable collection to weave in a poem or two a night. Though there are some gems of lines across the poems, most were very underwhelming and had a very first draft or notes app feeling to them.
My favorite was “TWENTIES CHILD”. I felt that the grief present in this poem (made even more explicit by the following five works being named after the stages of grief) came across beautifully. ”this is the child of my twenties//a small hard clump of cells//that multiplied as i divided myself//that grew as i shrank from who i was”, pushes the feeling of grief and longing for what could have been, interrupted by a newly found tumor, forward very well.
Quick taster of some more of my favorite bits:
• ”i thought being unreal would keep me safe//nobody hurts a hologram” (“HOLOGRAMS IN THE BUTTERMILK”) A perfect description of a rationalization of self isolation or hiding yourself from another of my favorites from the collection.
• ”for a while we were just faint strokes of memory//in a frame of white milk//we were there i knew underneath it all//but the pregnant gap between the moment and the memory it becomes is//a particular canal of agony” (“BLACK IS A PLACE WE CARRY”)I love this imagery of a polaroid developing.
• ”my life is just one tight tunnel of anxiety, one big fear of falling into the hole I’ve made for myself that fits just my body and not one ounce more” (“THIS HEAT IS FOR FEELING”) I love those last few words especially. Most writing about anxiety has becomes overdone to me at this point, but I think Bennett’s way of describing it as a sort of self fulfilling prophecy, complete with the imagery of digging your own grave, works wonderfully.
• ”my mother rested enough to give me life//i will rest enough to give you life//and you//and you//and you//and you//and me”(“REST IS THE PART IN THE WATERFALL”)(Side note: I love this title so much) The final lines of the collection end in a beautiful cushion as opposed to a bang. A very good note to leave us on.
Beyond these lines, most of this collection really did not stick out to me. For full disclosure, I am not the target audience of this poetry collection, being a nonblack man. Though I wholeheartedly believe that anyone can read any work regardless of topic, author, or target audience, there are just some things that will come through better to certain audiences over others. I think that this is partially what happened to me with this collection, but I also found some of the poems almost trite or just tired. I’ve read much better poems about many of these topics before and there is nothing new or impressive enough about what the author does with them to warrant much praise.
Alongside this, I personally prefer poems with stronger, more constricting structures. Of the few poems in this collection that are structured in stanzas, they have little rhyme or reason to determine where the blocking is. “DIFFICULT WOMEN ARE LIKE DYNAMITE” is an exception to this, as I greatly enjoyed the rhythm that the structure created. Beside these, the rest are written in paragraph format (usually just one long paragraph). These work better with Bennett’s style and lack of rhyme scheme and allow
A last comment that does not affect my rating but I wanted to include because it bothered me: I wish that the author could have provided a proper description to the story, as every listing for the collection only gives advanced reviews and praise. I’m sure that this is because there are still months until the book releases (at the time of writing this review), but it leaves me missing out on some of the context of the work. But, maybe the author wants readers to go in with no preconceived notions of what they are about to read.
If the mentioned themes or, especially, any of the quotes stick you to you, go for this collection. If not, though, than this is not a necessary collection to pick up by any means.
A collection of 21 short poems, Working the Roots is an exploration of black womanhood, growing up, grief, and friendship. It is very short, around thirty pages total, and a nice and comfortable collection to weave in a poem or two a night. Though there are some gems of lines across the poems, most were very underwhelming and had a very first draft or notes app feeling to them.
My favorite was “TWENTIES CHILD”. I felt that the grief present in this poem (made even more explicit by the following five works being named after the stages of grief) came across beautifully. ”this is the child of my twenties//a small hard clump of cells//that multiplied as i divided myself//that grew as i shrank from who i was”, pushes the feeling of grief and longing for what could have been, interrupted by a newly found tumor, forward very well.
Quick taster of some more of my favorite bits:
• ”i thought being unreal would keep me safe//nobody hurts a hologram” (“HOLOGRAMS IN THE BUTTERMILK”) A perfect description of a rationalization of self isolation or hiding yourself from another of my favorites from the collection.
• ”for a while we were just faint strokes of memory//in a frame of white milk//we were there i knew underneath it all//but the pregnant gap between the moment and the memory it becomes is//a particular canal of agony” (“BLACK IS A PLACE WE CARRY”)I love this imagery of a polaroid developing.
• ”my life is just one tight tunnel of anxiety, one big fear of falling into the hole I’ve made for myself that fits just my body and not one ounce more” (“THIS HEAT IS FOR FEELING”) I love those last few words especially. Most writing about anxiety has becomes overdone to me at this point, but I think Bennett’s way of describing it as a sort of self fulfilling prophecy, complete with the imagery of digging your own grave, works wonderfully.
• ”my mother rested enough to give me life//i will rest enough to give you life//and you//and you//and you//and you//and me”(“REST IS THE PART IN THE WATERFALL”)(Side note: I love this title so much) The final lines of the collection end in a beautiful cushion as opposed to a bang. A very good note to leave us on.
Beyond these lines, most of this collection really did not stick out to me. For full disclosure, I am not the target audience of this poetry collection, being a nonblack man. Though I wholeheartedly believe that anyone can read any work regardless of topic, author, or target audience, there are just some things that will come through better to certain audiences over others. I think that this is partially what happened to me with this collection, but I also found some of the poems almost trite or just tired. I’ve read much better poems about many of these topics before and there is nothing new or impressive enough about what the author does with them to warrant much praise.
Alongside this, I personally prefer poems with stronger, more constricting structures. Of the few poems in this collection that are structured in stanzas, they have little rhyme or reason to determine where the blocking is. “DIFFICULT WOMEN ARE LIKE DYNAMITE” is an exception to this, as I greatly enjoyed the rhythm that the structure created. Beside these, the rest are written in paragraph format (usually just one long paragraph). These work better with Bennett’s style and lack of rhyme scheme and allow
A last comment that does not affect my rating but I wanted to include because it bothered me: I wish that the author could have provided a proper description to the story, as every listing for the collection only gives advanced reviews and praise. I’m sure that this is because there are still months until the book releases (at the time of writing this review), but it leaves me missing out on some of the context of the work. But, maybe the author wants readers to go in with no preconceived notions of what they are about to read.
If the mentioned themes or, especially, any of the quotes stick you to you, go for this collection. If not, though, than this is not a necessary collection to pick up by any means.
June 1, 2025
Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book!
Have I found a new favorite poet to watch? Bennett's collection not only screams feminist, but also healing through self-forgiveness. Each poem has such powerful lines that I wish I had the physical book to underline and highlight and mark with love! If you're a fan of Ocean Vuong, Andrea Gibson, or Jennifer Maritza McCauley, you'll enjoy Amanda Bennett.
Although I wish the description had set us up with what to expect (self-elegy, mental illness, family, motherhood?) rather than author blurbs, this is typical of poetry collections and the overall themes are quick to jump out. Bennett's enjambments and different forms create plenty of white space, visual interest, and makes her works fun to read aloud... as long as you're not reading through NetGalley's app. I've never been a fan of reading poetry through ebooks since formatting is often a large part of the form, but NetGalley's in-browser reader does a much better job at handling the enjambments. Poetry should be read more than once, and I'm ready to read this collection all over again.
Have I found a new favorite poet to watch? Bennett's collection not only screams feminist, but also healing through self-forgiveness. Each poem has such powerful lines that I wish I had the physical book to underline and highlight and mark with love! If you're a fan of Ocean Vuong, Andrea Gibson, or Jennifer Maritza McCauley, you'll enjoy Amanda Bennett.
Although I wish the description had set us up with what to expect (self-elegy, mental illness, family, motherhood?) rather than author blurbs, this is typical of poetry collections and the overall themes are quick to jump out. Bennett's enjambments and different forms create plenty of white space, visual interest, and makes her works fun to read aloud... as long as you're not reading through NetGalley's app. I've never been a fan of reading poetry through ebooks since formatting is often a large part of the form, but NetGalley's in-browser reader does a much better job at handling the enjambments. Poetry should be read more than once, and I'm ready to read this collection all over again.
July 22, 2025
A collection of poetry that describes the very being of femininity and what it all means, or rather, what we understand it to mean, to the best of our abilities. There is a lot of graphic and descriptive talk about blood and periods right out the gate, as well as talk of a few other heavy topics that left me wanting.
There are themes here that I will never fully understand as I have not lived them, however, as much as I try to engage with poetry in general to broaden my horizons, I did not feel welcomed into the narrative. I struggled with the poetry formatting at times as it felt like it was just a block of text with no direction. Overall, I respect the honesty of the author but this wasn’t really for me.
Thank you to Querencia Press and NetGalley; all opinions are my own.
There are themes here that I will never fully understand as I have not lived them, however, as much as I try to engage with poetry in general to broaden my horizons, I did not feel welcomed into the narrative. I struggled with the poetry formatting at times as it felt like it was just a block of text with no direction. Overall, I respect the honesty of the author but this wasn’t really for me.
Thank you to Querencia Press and NetGalley; all opinions are my own.
May 16, 2025
Thank you Net Galley for the opportunity to read this book.
I had a rollercoaster of emotions with this book. The first half of the book made me, at first, a little uncomfortable. Maybe it's me being uncomfortable with my own body or maybe the writing was too straight forwrad for me... I am not sure. But the second half of the book I loved it, I think the writing improved a lot and the concepts became more vague but also so close to reality that I could feel much more engaged.
Art IS supposed to make you uncomfortable but I do believe the writing on the first part could have used a little more refining. Over all I liked it tho, would love to read more pieces from this author.
I had a rollercoaster of emotions with this book. The first half of the book made me, at first, a little uncomfortable. Maybe it's me being uncomfortable with my own body or maybe the writing was too straight forwrad for me... I am not sure. But the second half of the book I loved it, I think the writing improved a lot and the concepts became more vague but also so close to reality that I could feel much more engaged.
Art IS supposed to make you uncomfortable but I do believe the writing on the first part could have used a little more refining. Over all I liked it tho, would love to read more pieces from this author.
June 3, 2025
Tuve sentimientos muy encontrados con este libro. Al principio me resultó algo incómodo, no sé si por lo directo del lenguaje o por cómo abordaba ciertos temas corporales—quizás fue más una incomodidad personal, pero sentí que la escritura en esa primera mitad necesitaba más pulido. Algunas piezas me parecieron algo simples o incluso trilladas, especialmente considerando la potencia del mensaje feminista que intenta transmitir.
Sin embargo, la segunda mitad me gustó bastante más. La prosa se volvió más ambigua y poética, pero al mismo tiempo más cercana a la realidad, lo que me permitió conectar mejor. En ese tramo, sentí que el estilo crecía y encontraba su voz.
Es un libro corto, así que no se pierde mucho dándole una oportunidad, pero no fue del todo lo que esperaba. Hay algunos buenos poemas, aunque en general no es mi tipo de poesía. Aun así, me interesa ver cómo evoluciona la autora en futuros trabajos.
Sin embargo, la segunda mitad me gustó bastante más. La prosa se volvió más ambigua y poética, pero al mismo tiempo más cercana a la realidad, lo que me permitió conectar mejor. En ese tramo, sentí que el estilo crecía y encontraba su voz.
Es un libro corto, así que no se pierde mucho dándole una oportunidad, pero no fue del todo lo que esperaba. Hay algunos buenos poemas, aunque en general no es mi tipo de poesía. Aun así, me interesa ver cómo evoluciona la autora en futuros trabajos.
September 3, 2025
Working the Roots is a powerful collection of poems that boldly proclaim: I am woman. I am Black. I am queer. I know myself, inside and out. The poet celebrates identity, heritage, and ancestry with unapologetic pride.
Some of these poems are uncomfortable—many made me uncomfortable—but that’s part of their strength. They challenge, they unsettle, and they invite reflection. At the same time, they offer moments of celebration: of womanhood, of resilience, of the beauty of living boldly and pushing through setbacks.
This is a collection worth reading, especially for women, as a reminder to stand proud in who we are and where we come from.
Some of these poems are uncomfortable—many made me uncomfortable—but that’s part of their strength. They challenge, they unsettle, and they invite reflection. At the same time, they offer moments of celebration: of womanhood, of resilience, of the beauty of living boldly and pushing through setbacks.
This is a collection worth reading, especially for women, as a reminder to stand proud in who we are and where we come from.
September 17, 2025
Working The Roots is a poetry collection that explores themes of birth, womanhood, queerness, blackness, the body, and blood.
I found the collection to be beautifully written, raw, and vulnerable. I enjoyed Amanda Bennett’s writing style. Unfortunately, it wasn’t quite my cup of tea, I found some of the poems were a bit graphic, especially those focused on blood and bodily functions. Understandably I couldn’t relate to majority of the poems, with that said though, I know many people who will adore this collection.
Thank you Netgalley and Querencia Press for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I found the collection to be beautifully written, raw, and vulnerable. I enjoyed Amanda Bennett’s writing style. Unfortunately, it wasn’t quite my cup of tea, I found some of the poems were a bit graphic, especially those focused on blood and bodily functions. Understandably I couldn’t relate to majority of the poems, with that said though, I know many people who will adore this collection.
Thank you Netgalley and Querencia Press for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
May 16, 2025
Thank you Netgalley, Querencia Press, and Amanda Bennett for sending me this advanced review copy for free. I am leaving this review voluntarily.
This book does not hold back. It is raw, and holds so much weight. Full the heaviness of Black womanhood, and all that entails. There is a lot of blood on these pages, and a feeling of anger at times.
The poems varied in format, each one a little different with the spacing, punctuation, and whether letters are capitalized. I found that interesting, and gave them different vibes.
This book does not hold back. It is raw, and holds so much weight. Full the heaviness of Black womanhood, and all that entails. There is a lot of blood on these pages, and a feeling of anger at times.
The poems varied in format, each one a little different with the spacing, punctuation, and whether letters are capitalized. I found that interesting, and gave them different vibes.
May 16, 2025
Thank you NetGalley for this ebook in exchange for an honest review.
Unfortunately this was not for me. I liked a few lines here and there, but overall I think it was a miss for me. Not what I was expecting when I read the blurb that said the reader would be “propelled into the visceral materiality of our lives, as she implores that we not only observe but celebrate the complexities of our existences.”
Unfortunately this was not for me. I liked a few lines here and there, but overall I think it was a miss for me. Not what I was expecting when I read the blurb that said the reader would be “propelled into the visceral materiality of our lives, as she implores that we not only observe but celebrate the complexities of our existences.”
July 8, 2025
Hot damn. In a sea of bulk reading a bunch of poetry, this short collection really snagged me. The voice and the content were so exceptionally crafted. While it is a small collection (about 30 pages), the works felt incredibly relatable and innate. I just love when someone voices something that connects to me personally, no matter what that is, and this felt very drenched in the matrilineal knowledge women seem to get, know, observe, hone, pass, experience.
Thanks for the ARC.
Thanks for the ARC.
May 24, 2025
It's my first encounter with Amanda Bennett's work, and this collection does have some relatable poems.
Given that it is a short collection, I believe that most readers can get immersed in it, some of the poems that stood out for me were Black is a place we carry, Difficult women are like dynamite, Denial and Mojo Bag.
Thanks Netgalley for the eARC.
Given that it is a short collection, I believe that most readers can get immersed in it, some of the poems that stood out for me were Black is a place we carry, Difficult women are like dynamite, Denial and Mojo Bag.
Thanks Netgalley for the eARC.
August 2, 2025
This is a short collection of poems that weave themes of womanhood and self love in a beautiful and unexpected way. I especially loved the poems “This heat is for feeling” and “I was there in the future.” The imagery of the author talking to her younger selves was so powerful, as was the imagery of blood as life force.
May 13, 2025
Though I appreciated the feminist message of this book of poems, I couldn't help but feel that a handful of the pieces were a bit trite.
My favorite line in the whole book was "she isn't a person yet because she is only colors"
My favorite poem is "Difficult Women Are Like Dynamite"
My favorite line in the whole book was "she isn't a person yet because she is only colors"
My favorite poem is "Difficult Women Are Like Dynamite"
May 21, 2025
Arc review.
This is a short poetry book.
There are not a lot of poems so it definitely worth a try!
It's not really my kind of poetry, and while reading the description I had different expectations.
But there are some good ones in there.
Thank you to everyone involved for the arc.
This is a short poetry book.
There are not a lot of poems so it definitely worth a try!
It's not really my kind of poetry, and while reading the description I had different expectations.
But there are some good ones in there.
Thank you to everyone involved for the arc.
July 27, 2025
Not bad
Not a fan of free bleeding
Not sure if I like that she can stretch her fingers in further when she’s ovulating; like I wouldn’t tell people that
Not particularly exciting for me
I did like the poem depression
Not a fan of free bleeding
Not sure if I like that she can stretch her fingers in further when she’s ovulating; like I wouldn’t tell people that
Not particularly exciting for me
I did like the poem depression
August 19, 2025
I am disappointed to admit that I could not really get into this book. I do like Bennett's writing style, and her words have impact as I feel they were meant to. Poetry is a personal journey, after all. I wonder if my lack of connection to this work may be generational: I feel that I am much older than Bennett, and while some experiences of womanhood are universal, others are wildly different. I do recommend "Working the Roots" as I believe what Amanda Bennett has to say is of value, and I am sure that other readers will not only fully appreciate her work, but see themselves in her words.
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