Ghost Gestures

by Gabrielle Civil

How can you return to where you’ve never been? ( ghost gestures ) conjures diaspora hauntings and traces black bodies across space and time. In Dakar and Banjul, Detroit and Montreal, Tlaxcala and Río Piédras, Gabrielle Civil showcases black bodies dancing, hiding, and re-emerging. In performance writing, she invokes the doll, the queen, and the ghost to explore where black women have never and always been. She plays hide-and-seek with her own transforming body and tackles history, identity, art, and desire. “bring this here/ bring this back/ keep this here/ bring us back/ bring us here / bring us back to this.” Incorporating chants, notations, images, and scores, ( ghost gestures ) will spirit you away.

Genres: Poetry

85 pages, Paperback

Published July 1, 2021

Reviews

[Deana Ayers · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not a big poetry person, but I really enjoyed this! My favorite part was the story/performance of Anacaona

[Wyatt strawbridge · Rating 3 out of 5]

If three stars is just average, this is better than that. Not every “performance writing” was equally moving in this collection, but the imagery and prompted thought were good. I think having heard Gabrielle Civil speak some of her other work and on her life experiences helped me appreciate Ghost Gestures but was obviously not necessary. Corn, ghosts, and returning were the strongest moments, opening up space for sure.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Wiggling, twisting, grinding, holding onto their men, holding
onto each other, letting go, catching up, getting free, getting up,
getting down, doing their best to get to glory.
A party is a conjuring of magical space, an invitation, an
offering, a remembering."

I would love to know what Gabrielle Civil's thoughts were on Sinners.

[Brian Alarcon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful language, experiments and theory.