Wild Beauty: New and Selected Poems

by Ntozake Shange

NAACP Image Award Finalist for Outstanding Literary Work

From the poet, novelist, and cultural icon behind the award-winning and extraordinary Broadway play, for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf, comes “a kaleidoscopic journey through black womanhood” ( Publishers Weekly , starred review) and a moving bilingual collection of new and beloved poems.

In this stirring collection of more than sixty original and selected poems in both English and Spanish, Ntozake Shange shares her utterly unique, unapologetic, and deeply emotional writing that has made her one of the most iconic literary figures of our time.

With a clear, raw, and affecting voice, Shange draws from her experience as a feminist black woman in American to craft groundbreaking poetry about pain, beauty, and color. In the bestselling tradition of Rupi Kaur’s Milk and Honey , Wild Beauty is more than a poetry collection; it is an exquisite call to action for a new generation of women, people of color, feminists, and activists to follow in the author’s footsteps in the pursuit of equality and understanding. As The New York Times raves, “Ntozake Shange writes with such exquisite care and beauty that anyone can relate to her message.”

Genres: Poetry, Feminism, Race, Nonfiction, Womens

288 pages, Paperback

First published November 14, 2017

About the author

Ntozake Shange (pronounced En-toe-ZAHK-kay SHONG-gay) was an African-American playwright, performance artist, and writer who is best known for her Obie Award winning play for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf.

Among her honors and awards are fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund, and a Pushcart Prize.

Reviews

[Beatrice]

Thank you Atria Books for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I like this collection. It was raw, straightforward and authentic. However, I had difficulties connecting on some poems.

[Krystal]

Impressive! This prolific collection of poems elucidate the brilliance that is literary icon, Ntozake Shange! Her writing takes all readers on an emotional journey of meaningful depth!

[Traci Thomas]

Some poems I get and some I don’t. Not ready to rate or review this book yet.

[Margaret]

"i am the voice of my selves who have
not/learned to speak
my mute & deaf dreams come thru
here
my silent daughters
why i speak at all"

This is my first collection of poems by Shange, though I was already familiar with some of her individual poems. With this collection, Shange shatters the space between the political and the personal. At times these poems are emotionally wrought, depicting uncomfortable truths and devastation. But at the same time, there's a joy to her writing and in her descriptions of the mundane:

"where we come from, sometimes,
beauty
floats around us like clouds
the way leaves rustle in the breeze
and cornbread and barbecue swing
out the backdoor
and tease all our senses as the sun goes down."

There are also translations of each poem in Spanish.

As a relative newcomer to Shange's poetry, I would say this collection is a great place to start. Feminist, biting, yet intimate, I would definitely recommend it.

Thanks to Netgalley and Atria Books for providing me with a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

[Beth]

Ntozake Shange is SUCH a powerful writer - you can feel the energy in her words, see vividly what she describes, hear and smell and FEEL what she is saying - and this collection is just more proof. Unsurprisingly, my favorites in this book were from Shange's "for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf," one of my favorite books of all time. THIS is the power of words.

*Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC, provided by the author and/or the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

[Carmen Slaughter]

Bittersweet yet lovely and inspiring read.

[Jess]

A beautiful, raw collection. I really enjoyed this!

[Karen]

I read this for PS prompt #47 - read two books that share the same title. I will read Wild Beauty by Anna-Marie McLemore for the second title.

This book was written by the author of For colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf. This book has poems from that work as well as a few earlier poetry books with a few new works. This is my first exposure to her.

Her work speaks to the experience of being black in America. Some of the poems I found very accessible and others I just wasn’t able to grasp either due to a similar cultural experience or lack of knowledge of that culture. This can be a difficult book to read. The topics cover difficult topics and if people have any triggers at all, I would express caution before picking up these poems.

Ntozake’s imagery is fresh and her lines filled with music. As described in the introduction, she writes using informal spelling mimicking the oral tradition. I encourage people to pick up this and try out her poems.

my father is a retired magician

my father was a retired magician
which accounts for my irregular behavior
everything comes out of magic hats
or bottles wit no bottoms & parakeets
are as easy to get as a couple of rabbits
or 3 fifty cent pieces/ 1958

my daddy retired from magic & took
up another trade cuz this friend of mine
from the 3rd grade asked to be made white
on the spot

what cd any self-respectin colored american magician
do wit such an outlandish request/ cept
put all them razzmatazz hocus pocus zippity-do-dah
thingamajigs away cuz
colored chirren believin in magic
was becomin politically dangerous for the race
& wasnt nobody gonna be made white
on the spot just
from a clap of my daddy’s hands

& the reason i’m so peculiar’s
cuz i been studyin up on my daddy’s technique
& everythin i do is magic these days
& it’s very colored
very now you see it/now you
dont mess wit me
i come from a family of retired
sorcerers/ active houngans & pennyante fortune tellers
wit 41 million spirits critters & celestial bodies
on our side
i’ll listen to yr problems
help wit yr career yr lover yr wanderin spouse
make yr grandma’s stay in heaven more gratifyin
ease yr mother through menopause & show yr son
how to clean his room

YES YES YES 3 wishes is all you get
scarlet ribbons for yr hair
benga balls via hong kong
a miniature of machu picchu

all things are possible
but aint no colored magician in her right mind
gonna make you white
i mean
this is bulk magic
you lookin at
& i’m fixin you up good and colored
& you gonna be colored all yr life
& you gonna love it/bein colored/ all yr life/ colored & love it
love it/ bein colored/

[mad mags]

"i am more dangerous than noreiga"

(Full disclosure: I received a free ARC for review through Netgalley. Trigger warning for rape.)

all things are possible
but aint no colored magician in her right mind
gonna make you white
i mean
this is blk magic
you lookin at
("my father is a retired magician")

i haveta turn my television down sometimes cuz
i cant stand to have white people/ shout at me/
("from okra to greens")

we need a god who bleeds now
whose wounds are not the end of anything
("we need a god who bleeds now")

Wild Beauty falls into that weird, nebulous category of "poems I'm not sure I completely understand, but am mostly smitten with anyway." A mix of new and previously published poetry from Ntozake Shange, Wild Beauty is enchanting and seductive and, occasionally, raw AF. Shange explores wide-ranging issues, including race, gender, sexuality, love, the military-industrial complex, the police state, the process of creating art, and the centrality of music in her life. As is par for the course with poetry, I wasn't convinced that I was always picking up what Shange put down, but I was happy to come along for the ride anyway. Well, more or less: it's true that I did skim a few of the pieces, but these were few and far between.

Among my favorites are "my father is a retired magician"; "toussaint"; "live oak"; "irrepressibly bronze, beautiful & mine"; "rise up fallen fighters"; "7 tequilas gone"; "the stage goes to darkness"; "crooked woman"; "about atlanta"; "who needs a heart"; and "pages for a friend." I fear that "crack annie" will stick with forever, though not in a good way; the poem is written from the pov of a mother who facilitates the rape of her seven-year-old daughter in exchange for drugs, and it is simply haunting. "ode to orlando" is as well, though in a more melancholy (as opposed to nauseating) way. Written in the days after the Pulse nightclub shooting, Shange reflects on how the tragedy did - and could have - impacted her own family. (Shange's daughter is gay and has in fact been to the club.)

 


CONTENTS

Preface • xi
Prólogo • xv

Translating Ntozake Shange • xix
Traducir a Ntozake Shange • xxv

we need a god who bleeds now • 3
from okra to greens • 5
my father is a retired magician • 9
for all my dead & loved ones • 13
once there were quadroon balls • 17
tango • 19
toussaint • 21
just as the del vikings stole my heart • 31
on becomin successful • 33
nappy edges (a cross country sojourn) • 35
i heard eric dolphy in his eyes • 41
expiriese girl wanted • 51
lady in blue • 57
take the A train • 59
dream of pairing • 61
lady in blue II • 63
lotsa body & cultural heritage/ • 65
loosening strings or give me an ‘A’ • 67
never mind sister • 71
a third generation geechee myth for yr birthday • 73
i live in music • 77
latin night is monday • 79
mood indigo • 81
lady in brown • 91
18 march 1984 • 95
live oak • 97
box & pole • 99
hands & holding • 101
tropical dance • 105
lovin you is ecstasy to me • 107
between a dancer & a poet • 109
new orleans nuptials • 113
irrepressibly bronze, beautiful & mine • 117
“if i go all the way without you where would i go?” • 125
rise up fallen fighters • 131
elegance in the extreme • 137
chastening with honey • 139
wrapping the wind • 143
in the blueness • 145
7 tequilas gone • 149
the stage goes to darkness • 151
telephones & other false gods • 155
the old men • 167
crooked woman • 169
dressing our wounds in warm clothes • 173
crack annie • 175
about atlanta • 185
who needs a heart • 191
people of watts • 193
lady in red • 197
new world coro • 199
walk, jump, fly • 203
fame on all fours • 207
lizard poem • 215
five • 223
pages for a friend • 231
these blessings • 233
a word is a miracle • 235
an actual poem • 237
ode to orlando • 239
mama’s little baby • 234
chicago in sanfrancisco & you • 245

Acknowledgments • 249
Credits and Permissions • 253

http://www.easyvegan.info/2018/01/29/...

[Desca Ang]

Wild Beauty is a poetry collection that explores Black womanhood through memory, history, family, and cultural survival. Ntozake Shange writes about childhood, racism, love, loss, and ancestry, presenting personal experiences as part of a shared Black and diasporic history. The poems show how identity is shaped by community, generational memory, and lived struggle rather than individual experience alone.

A defining feature of the book is Shange’s use of vernacular Black English. Through nonstandard spelling, grammar, and rhythm, she rejects “proper” English and affirms Black speech as a legitimate literary form. This vernacular functions as a marker of race, class, and cultural belonging, making identity audible on the page.

Shange’s language is also political. By refusing linguistic conformity, she resists white norms of intelligence and respectability. The musicality of her vernacular rooted in oral tradition, jazz, and blues - this part reminds me of Langston Hughes's I must say, turns language into both memory and resistance. In Wild Beauty, content and form work together to assert Black women’s voices as central, powerful, and unapologetically their own.

Des ✨

[Tena]

I received an ARC as an unsolicited gift from a publisher because, apparently, I like to read (and comment) A LOT! My thanks to Bianca in Atria Marketing. This is a collection of poems which have been converted into Spanish and are on the opposite side of each poem so they can be compared visually. I was very impressed with this structure and it prompted me to go ahead and read it. My honest opinion: Well, I never read Ntozake Shange's writings before, and truthfully, I probably won't again. However, I did not walk away unfazed by her writings. She is hauntingly direct; using her prose to shockingly point out truths, hypocrisy, dreams, and fate. Sometimes vulgar, often bittersweet, she is sharp edged and sharp witted. Her syntax of slang and spelling brings the poems vibrancy that usually isn't conveyed into words. I am disturbed and honored to have read this. Kudos to the author. <> side note: I have passed this on to a bilingual friend who is already immersed in it.

[Tara Lim]

This collection was lovely, and it included both selected previous poems and new ones she wrote after recovering from her 2004 stroke.

What I love about Shange is how she achieves raw takes on challenging issues and emotions, all while also pushing readers to forfeit their preconceived (and often Westernized) views of poetic form. The collection was also organized in a really thoughtful way, taking you through a remarkably cohesive journey given that these are poems spanning nearly 40 years. If you've never read Shange, my favorite poems are "toussaint", "crooked woman", and "walk, jump, fly", all of which appear in this book.

[Susie Dumond]

"rise up fallen fighters
unfetter the stars
dance with the universe
& make it ours"

I love love love Ntozake Shange, and this collection didn't disappoint. It includes some new work, along with selected poems from previous works, all translated side by side into Spanish. Shange's poetry is so visceral, so vivid, so deeply moving. Wild Beauty is fantastic for readers new to Shange and to those that have loved her for years. I'm sure I'll return to it again and again.

I received an ARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

[J.D. DeHart]

Wild Beauty by Ntozake Shange is an arrangement of powerful and beautiful words aimed at capturing culture and life. The poems collected here are first offered in English and then, in an interlinguistic move, paired with Spanish translations.

Shange shows a musicality in these poems, letting the words follow and suit her purpose, surrending to the whole of the poem. Sometimes vowels are elided so that the sound the poem makes when read works differently.

This was a fascinating and fully-developed poetry collection, and one which I recommend.

[Blair]

I came by this title because of the Spanish and translation related content. While well aware of For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf, I had never come to read any of Ntozake Shange's work. Her singular voice and style dug into me, the orthographic and lexical variety pulling me deep into the world created by each poem. I greatly enjoyed the window into the process of translator Alejandro Alvarez Nieves provided by his introduction. His creation is beautiful rendering of a monumentally difficult task.

[Susan]

I have been a fan since "for colored girls....", so when I read she had died, I sought out new works. I am so so glad I found this: a collection of Shange's poems from old to new. There are so many I loved when I first read them, and these retain their power on my much later re-discovery. Especially "we need a god who bleeds now" from "a daughter's geography", and "just as the del vikings stole my heart" from "nappy edges". Her newer poem "ode to orlando" is seared in my brain.

[Alissa BC]

I had trouble focusing on this collection. There didn’t see me to be a unifying theme and the style was a bit inaccessible. I felt like my reading would have been enhanced if I had read it in a college English class, where we could discuss the meaning line by line. As it was I found some lines really powerful, but caught myself skimming rather than reading a lot. I think that is a reflection of the type of poetry I prefer (straightforward, minimalist) more than anything else.

[Dina]

I have mixed feelings about this collection. Not everything is a hit, and there is a lack of structure and cohesion as a whole, but there are some true standouts. crack annie is one that made my stomach lurch and my heart hurt. Truly haunting.

other standouts:
toussaint
expiriese girl wanted
18 march 1984
dressing our wounds in warm clothes
these blessings
ode to orlando

Also, if you read this collection, please read the acknowledgements first. They are so lovely.

[Samantha]

This style of poetry for me is something new and expresses such an entirely raw perspective on many subjects some are afraid to touch upon. I think Strange's journey to recovery is inspiring and something to consider when reading her work.

[Connie M]

I’m still haunted by Ode to Orlando which is just one of the many powerful and unapologetic poems in this timely collection. I loved Wild Beauty because Shange doesn’t hold back and is honest about pain while also delicately and deliberately writing about hope within the same pages.

[Sam Mauro]

I always read “/ when the rainbow is enuf” as “for when the rainbow is enuf”

[Micki]

A beautiful collection. The new poems (and the acknowledgements) are just as moving as the tried and true work.

A beautiful talent gone too soon.

[Yasmin]

This book is utterly amazing! The poetry is so beautiful.

[Jbondandrews]

An entertaining collection of poems.

[Becky]

I was again blown away by Shange’s writing, and especially by the rhythm of her work. Her use of language and discussion of challenging topics and identity get me excited. Each poem in this collection was translated into Spanish, so I think it would be especially cool for someone who is fluent in both Spanish and English.⁣
⁣
I recommend this collection especially to people who love poetry, but cw for sexual assault, including the description of the rape of a child. ⁣

[Pilar Sofia]

phenomenal.

[Cubierocks]

Faves:

Take the A Train
Lady in Brown
Live Oak
Mood Indigo

[Qurratulain]

I was not a fan.

[Nicole]

3 to 4 stars. Some of these I really loved, a lot were not for me. However, Ntozake Shange is a poet I will definitely continue to read. This particular translation is in English and in Spanish.

[Celes]

got a tattoo of the title of one of her poems from this collection, having one side being written in spanish and the other side in english is so incredibly powerful and intentional.