I need to spend more time with this poetry which is also called a novel written by Gitan Djeli, a London based Mauritian writer. All I know is I was in the presence of greatness. I loved the allusions to nature, to language, to worldwide colonialism, to slavery, to individuals and creators. Here is a quote from poet and leader Alexis Pauline Gumbs:
“Can you read a kreol text without colonizing it? As I read unrest in the nebula, I experienced the beauty of refusing to consume or colonize language while finding myself at the edge of geological layers, and compacted histories of earth. These prose poems document a conversation far too old for any one lifetime, charting violence and possibility, rupture and healing. This book is reteaching me how to read.”
And from the book
lalang twist my body dances to metric syllables deranging the par- ataxis archive it stirs links kicks with no syntactic connector blows from the mind of visc e ra li ty
Thank you to Edelweiss for the E-ARC! This E-ARC was sent to me in exchange for an honest review.
This collection is a reminder not to forget the histories and languages of people that are being erased more and more each day. In history books, in the news, on the internet. A reminder that lives can never be truly erased for good as long as the language is still spoken, the people still laugh, and the stories are still told. The feminism that is outlined boldly in this collection, as well, is just perfection. Women are the key focus and the key narrators of every poem. Never spoken over, never written out. My absolute favorite out of this collection was "Djinn". Please read this when it comes out, or if you can get your hands on an early copy. You will not regret it!