Otherwheres

by Akua Lezli Hope

Otherwheres is a chapbook of 12 speculative poems by Akua Lezli Hope

Genres: Poetry, Fantasy, Science Fiction

25 pages, Unknown Binding

Published January 1, 2020

About the author

Akua Lezli Hope is a creator and wisdom seeker who uses sound, words, fiber, glass, metal, and wire to create poems, patterns, stories, music, sculpture, adornments, peace and change. She wrote her first speculative poems in the sixth grade and has been in print every year since 1974. She is published in numerous literary magazines and national anthologies, including the ground-breaking firsts Dark Matter, Erotique Noire and Keeping the Faith.

A third generation, African Caribbean New Yorker, her honors include the National Endowment of the Arts fellowship, two New York Foundation of the Arts fellowships, a SFPA award, several Best of the Net, Rhysling and Pushcart Prize nominations, among other scholarships and grants. She twice won Rattle’s Poets Respond. Her first collection, EMBOUCHURE, Poems on Jazz and Other Musics, won the Writer’s Digest book award. A Cave Canem fellow, her collection, THEM GONE, was published 2018. She launched Speculative Sundays, an online poetry reading series in 2020. She won editorship of NOMBONO, an anthology of speculative poems by BIPOC creators, a historic first, (Sundress Publications, 2021). She is editor of history-making largest Eye to the Telescope #42, The Sea (SFPA, 2021). Her micro chapbook of scifaiku, Stratospherics, is in the Quarantine Public Library.

A paraplegic, she founded a paratransit nonprofit. Her chapbook, Otherwheres (ArtFarm Press) won the 2021 Elgin award.

An avid hand papermaker and crochet designer with over 130 patterns published, she exhibits her artwork regularly.

She sings songs from her favorite anime in Japanese, practices her soprano saxophone, and prays for the cessation of suffering for all sentience.

Reviews

[DivaDiane SM · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nominated for the 2021 Elgin Award

This is an excellent collection of fantastical poetry. It seems to me it should’ve been called Otherwhos, because many of the poems are about hybrid people/beings. There’s a lot of wonderful imagery in this book. More like 4.5 stars

[E.D.E. Bell · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a wonderful, short, and beautiful collection of poetry. Stirring and suited to be read aloud in a room with a pleasant echo or over a warm tea. Content notes of gentle womb and death references.

I hope this book gets more eyes on it. This poet is absolutely lovely, and I will look for more of her work.

[Mary Soon Lee]

This short, beautiful book won the 2021 Elgin Award for the best speculative poetry chapbook. It contains only a dozen poems, but they are *good* poems: lyrical, imaginative, articulate, emotive, wide ranging. I loved the dragon poem (of course), but liked the cat poem ("Watch") still better. There's a scifaiku that paints its otherwhere in three scant evocative lines. The poem "Metis Emits" is a wonderfully-crafted revisiting of Greek myth with an immensely satisfying ending. "Sisko" passionately expresses what the actor Avery Brooks achieved in his portrayal of the captain of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. "Mysticeti" powerfully, hauntingly weaves together Inuit, whales, and ghosts of those thrown into the sea from slave ships, reminding me of another excellent poem by Akua Lezli Hope, not included in this collection, "Igbo Landing." Overall: highly recommended.

About my reviews: I try to review every book I read, including those that I don't end up enjoying. The reviews are not scholarly, but just indicate my reaction as a reader, reading being my addiction. I am miserly with 5-star reviews; 4 stars means I liked a book very much; 3 stars means I liked it; 2 stars means I didn't like it (though often the 2-star books are very popular with other readers and/or are by authors whose other work I've loved). In the case of poetry books, for various reasons, I often omit a rating altogether.

[Shari Heinrich · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I was young, I enjoyed the snippets of speculative poetry and song by such authors as Anne McCaffrey and J.R.R. Tolkien. When I attended a virtual bookfair in 2021, I had the opportunity to chat with poet Akua Lezli Hope. Afterwards, I bought this book, interested in dipping my toes back into speculative poetry. Most of these were poems previously published in magazines, and Hope has collected them into this slim volume. The bite-sized reads are one or two pages, making this slim volume an easy read.

Hope builds worlds in microcosm, an imaginative feast of the senses. The way she plays with words and concepts lured me into re-reading several of the poems to enjoy them all the more. One of my favorites is “Watch.” If you have pets, that poem will surely speak to you. Pieces range from depicting the mundane in a new form, painting cryptids, and introducing deities. “As Yemayaah” lured me into the sea and left me wanting to learn more of this being.

If I had more recent experience in spec-fic poetry than my childhood, I likely would have given this collection five stars. It won the 2021 Elgin Award.

Akua Lezli Hope is active in the Science Fiction Poetry Association (https://www.sfpoetry.com). You can also find her on her website, https://akualezlihope.com/

[Carol · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable speculative chapbook. Especially fun that she included poems about an anime character and a DS9 character. Her use of language and imagery is masterful.