I: New Selected Poems

by Toi Derricotte

The story of Toi Derricotte is a hero’s odyssey. It is the journey of a poetic voice that in each book earns her way to home, to her own commanding powers.

“I”: New and Selected Poems shows the reader both the closeness of the enemy and the poet’s inherent courage, inventiveness, and joy. It is a record of one woman’s response to the repressive and fracturing forces around the subjects of race, class, color, gender, and sexuality. Each poem is an act of victory, finding a path through repressive forces to speak with both beauty and truth.

This collection features more than thirty new poems as well as selections from five of Derricotte’s previously published books of poetry.

Genres: Poetry

224 pages, Hardcover

First published March 26, 2019

About the author

Toi Derricotte is the author of The Undertaker’s Daughter (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2011) and four earlier collections of poetry, including Tender, winner of the 1998 Paterson Poetry Prize. Her literary memoir, The Black Notebooks (W.W. Norton), received the 1998 Anisfield-Wolf Book Award for Non-Fiction and was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. Her honors include, among many others, the 2012 Paterson Poetry Prize for Sustained Literary Achievement, the 2012 PEN/Voelcker Award for Poetry, the Lucille Medwick Memorial Award from the Poetry Society of America, two Pushcart Prizes and the Distinguished Pioneering of the Arts Award from the United Black Artists.

Derricotte is the co-founder of Cave Canem Foundation (with Cornelius Eady), Professor Emerita at the University of Pittsburgh and a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets.

Reviews

[Jerrie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was my last read from the National Book Award longlist for poetry, and it took me a long time to finish it. Her poems focus mainly on her relationship with her father, who was at turns caring and abusive, and her identity as a POC who people often assume is white. Many of the other poems relate to her past or are more mundane. This is a large collection, and I was so-so on it overall.

[Chuck · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection was my final read of my project to read all the National Book Award poetry finalists for 2019. I give my wrap-up assessment of that list below. But first, my thoughts on "I":

This collection turned out to be my least favorite of the group. This was also my introduction to Derricotte, so taking on a poetry collection from an author new to me that spans almost 300 pages was intimidating from the start. Despite my ignorance of Derricotte's work, she clearly is highly esteemed in the writing and academic community and this collection seems to be the kind of large career retrospective, with recent pieces thrown in, that is offered to star poets - sort of a lifetime achievement collection.

I may be guilty of generalizing, but I found some strong similarities between Derricotte and Carmen Giménez Smith, the author of another NBA finalist, Be Recorder: Poems. Both writers write very vulnerable and often literal accounts of their experiences as women of color. For my taste, Derricotte's style is so close to prose, especially in its linear and literal approach to the experiences portrayed, that it barely seems like poetry. In fact, I often felt like I was reading fascinating passages from someone's personal diary or transcripts from therapy sessions.

This is not a criticism of the value of the topics she addresses. Derricotte's experiences as a multi-racial girl and woman who experiences not only social intolerance but significant neglect and abuse by her parents come across as genuine, vital, and harrowing. While the sub-collections that open and close the book were interesting (the former) or hard to stay with (the latter), there are a couple of sets of poems that really grabbed me.

"Tender" kicks off with a recount of a visit to a Portuguese fortress which served as a collection site for African slaves taken from their home at the start of the African slave trade. The juxtaposition of the fortress, the tour guides and self-guided tour signs with the hovering awareness of being a possible ancestor of those slaves is painfully beautiful. Derricotte continues to explore her relationship to her blackness and her African heritage, moving through memories from childhood to recent past, subtly continuing and connecting the themes throughout.

By far the most impacting and often transcendent set is "Natural Birth", which focuses fully on the experience of the pregnancy and birth of her son and the results of her decision to have a fully drug-free natural birth. Every man should read these poems to experience a vulnerable and intimate journey of the birthing experience for a woman. I think what makes these poems stand out for me is that Derricotte sounds so touched by her own material that, despite the periods of unrelenting pain portrayed, there is a buoyancy, much tenderness, and genuine ecstatic joy that is carried by the form and detail of her poems.

This collection seems like a fans only kind of collection that is a lot to digest for those new to Derricotte. As mentioned above, try "Natural Birth" or "Tender" as a starting point if you're inclined.

Finally, here's my ranking of the NBA finalists:

1. Sight Lines
2. The Tradition
3. Deaf Republic
4. Deaf Republic
5. I: New and Selected Poems

I think NBA got it right with Sight Lines. Sze's collection of very often transcendent, the work of a master. For quite a while I would have said that Deaf Republic was the one to beat, but if we're assessing pure poetry, Kaminsky's searing fable straddles the boundaries of poetry in creating something beautiful and unique. In its own way, I adored The Tradition just as much. Initially, I think I let the almost unrelenting pain turn me off, but then having the chance to see a video of Jericho Brown recite his own poetry, I was able to hear weaves of hope and joy that I had missed - a lesson in the value of hearing poems recited by the author to really "hear" the poems voice. I feel that the later win of the Pulitzer for The Tradition was well deserved.

[Dree · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection is an anthology of Derricote's self-selected writings--with some new poems as well. And though these poems are all very personal, there are some sections that just didn't feel like they "fit"--the styles are different, the formats are different, obviously her age and life experiences were different at the time of writing. That said, they are very good.

The themes here vary: her childhood with her abusive father, mother, and favorite aunt; knowing her father as an adult; losing her parents; her husband and their relationship; life after her husband's death; poetry; life as a black woman who can "pass" (accidentally or on purpose), and what that has meant for her, her mother, and other relatives who have either chosen to or chosen not to.

This book was a finalist for the National Book Award in Poetry in 2019. Derricotte was the only poet of the finalists that I had heard of--though I could not tell you what I had read by her. Possibly selection in an anthology or other collection. I do want to read one of her books that has a more cohesive theme or style, based on the strength of these poems.

[Bill O'driscoll · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent retrospective of five decades of work by Derricotte, who plumbs her personal life for deep, moving insights into race, family and much more. There is some fine new work, too. Highly accessible, highly rewarding stuff from Derricotte, who grew up in the Michigan area but has lived and taught in Pittsburgh since the 1980s.

[Danni Green · Rating 5 out of 5]

Toi Derricotte is just...one of the most incredible poets I've ever encountered, and I've read a lot of poetry by a lot of poets.

[Emily Shearer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This woman is a national treasure, and I have treasured this collection all throughout this last month--National Poetry Month, as it happens. After hearing her speak at a conference at the end of March, I chose this book to study, getting to know the writing of this special poet who made such a difference in the poetry world. The book is difficult, brave, unsettling, inspirational, deceptively simple. It's not; life never is. But her writing is relatable, accessible, straight up, harsh, love-filled, no bones. And humble. She is humble, with a smile three times her height. in her presentation, she charged her audience to take up a habit she had, setting her intention through writing a morning haiku. To honor her, I did begin this practice. I hope everyone can have an intimate reading experience with these special selections. Favorites include: "Lauds," "Pantoum for the Broken," "Allen Ginsberg," and "On the Turning Up of Unidentified Black Female Corpses." Like I said, these are difficult, and worth it.

[Camille Dungy]

Reading “i” is like sitting next to a woman I’ve known for years, have loved for years, and love even more in this moment. I am ever grateful she trusts me enough to whisper secrets she’s never told anyone, sometimes not even herself. Everyone seems familiar to the “i” of these poems. Even the palmetto bug, who terrifies her but who she will not kill, and who returns with a larger brood, not to terrorize the poem’s speaker, but to sing her a song. In this new and selected collection, Derricotte writes with her characteristic candor and grace. And Telly! Telly! Telly the goldfish, “his swishy tail a magisterial emblem/ of the Living God.” The “i” of these poems is not afraid to love a goldfish, not afraid to write that love into poems full of trusting sincerity and deep connection. She knocks me out every time.

Review published originally with Orion Magazine: https://orionmagazine.org/2022/02/twe...

[Kassy Lee]

Wow. Toi Derricotte is my hero. I love this book. It's a bit long compared for poetry books, but it's well worth it to be led through her decades of work and poetry in the way that she saw fit. This collection is brave and honest when sometimes those words feel like fillers for what may be misconstrued as bravery but is merely artifice. This book is the real deal, and I highly recommend it.

[Ben · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent collection

Part memoir, part piece of art, all poetry… excellent book and exploration of pain, humanity, and resilience.

I am not normally a reader of poetry. I think this mixture of styles worked for me. Midnight was especially good, but all of the book was crafted so well I was held throughout.

[Rachel Harding · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this collection a great deal. I have so much respect for Toi Derricotte's willingness to say the difficult things. To lead us into the uncomfortable places. I found the poems very helpful.

[Mills College Library]

811.54 D438i 2019

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an amazing book. One to be read many times over.

[Liaken · Rating 4 out of 5]

There's some really good stuff in this collection. Lots of heart-breaking reading.

[Julia McDaniel]

A beautiful, disturbing, and piercing book.

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Poetry makes me think, reflect and learn in different ways. Why has it been so long since I picked up a book of poems? This selection reminded me to make this a regular habit.

[Sangeetha · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had heard the famous quote "joy is an act of resistance", but I had never read any of Derricotte's poems, so I decided to give her work a try. This collection is aptly named as it explores Derricotte's life – the abuse she suffered in her childhood, the joys of her marriage, and the multiple incidences of racism and sexism she dealt with. Her poems are explicit, which feels kind of novel. I feel like people often use metaphor to discuss taboo or difficult things like sex, especially in poetry. I wish more poetry collections had summaries before the different sections like this work did. You gain more insight into why certain poems were associated with one another and the manner in which they were meant to be read.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this much better than I thought I would.

[Wyrd Witch · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Imagine Toi Derricotte is your best friend, and she’s invited you over to her house for tea or coffee and several hours of good conversation. This book feels like that.

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Poetry