Long Eye

by Kwoya Fagin Maples

In Long Eye, Kwoya Fagin Maples brings us a sea-bound collection that channels the mythic, defiant voice of a Black Mermaid.


Inspired by Mami Wata, a water spirit of West African folklore, Maples explores the power and divinity of being a Black woman, a mother, a thinker, a protector, and creator. The poems emerge from a neurodivergent mind navigating writing, parenthood, and the Atlantic waters of the South Carolina Lowcountry. The sea and its many creatures serve as guides—for survival, resistance, and transformation.


As she explores the intersection of science, poetry, and mythology, Maples also seeks to depict Black familial bonds in societies structured against them. Woven through the book is the voice of the mermaid, reminding us that “every underwater being exists in relation.”


At turns wonderstruck and irreverent, these poems pulse with human longing. Maples is a poet whose work is both musical and meticulous. Her eye somehow equally trained on the world at large and her own inner workings. The result is an astonishing, immersive experience.

Genres: Poetry

96 pages, Paperback

Published March 10, 2026

Reviews

[S.A. Green · Rating 5 out of 5]

In Long Eye, we meet via poetry a protective mother and wife. We see, too, a Black mermaid who circles the text. She is one who will move how SHE chooses. Some of us know exactly what is meant when Kwoya Fagin Maples, an amazing poet, mentions the "braids, wave and puffs" that are also stirring certain waters. We know, too, what it is like to clap back at those blindsided. I could smell the sea and the surf as well as feel the grit of this Low Country child-woman who, like me, was raised in the church. She is also one who repeatedly orders "things to open." We will cry with her for a cousin who sprays Chanel No. 5 -- incidentally, my mom's favorite perfume -- into a grandma's casket before that cousin passes, too. She salutes those who also get how her joy mustn't be questioned. We salute her back, feeling the same. Congrats, Kwoya, on this great read the sea baby-turned-woman shall devour again and again.

[Talulla Shaughnessy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love the concept and motivation behind this volume and I really like what is happening thematically in SC literature rn, I think just a matter of I'm not in love with a lot of conventions that are common in poetry rn. Some of the language was really evocative and lovely and I found that other language was way too on the nose for me and too distinctly post -pandemic/millennial (the influencer themed ocean poem, etc...). A rlly interesting blend of personal/natural (aquatic)/mythological/black feminist writing that I'm glad is a thematic intersection that exists but I often found that structurally/visually (as in, the poetic images and metaphors) some of the verse wasn't doing anything new. In any case, I was glad to mix it up and read a current poetry volume and I hope a lot of ppl will enjoy it!

[Jewels · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this collection! The various iterations of “Autobiography of A Black Mermaid” and poems about motherhood were so wonderfully written.