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Song of My Softening
Recommended by Cosmopolitan, USA Today, Shondaland, & Book Riot
A profound and intersectional text, Song of My Softening is a queer, fat, love song of the interior. A late-bloomer’s coming of age lyric.
This collection is a study in tenderness, vulnerability and candor. James provides a window into what perseverance looks like, ungilded: a mirror for anyone born into a culture outside of their identity. These poems hum with multitudinous survival.
Each poem is a celebration of sound. Born from revolutionary praise songs of Yoruba culture, Trinidadian Soca and Calypso, British Pop and Punk, American Gospel and R&B, Song of My Softening will sing itself into your soul.
“It’s not often that fat women feel such thorough representation of themselves not only in poetry but in any media and not only in the beautiful moments but in the sorrowful ones, ranging throughout life. James does a brilliant job of portraying this and all her themes brilliantly; highly recommended.”
—Starred review by Library Journal
“James is a master of song, as adept at the minimalist line as she is with sweeping lines that span the page, continually surprising with turns of phrase that are equal parts prophetic and musical. This is a tremendous first collection.”
—Ronnie K. Stephens, The Poetry Question
"[Song of My Softening] is a siren song, a brilliant, harsh indictment of the way we communicate ideas about the body, sex, and womanhood to our young girls, and how we grow up into the women we are, as queer women of color. And even more than that, it is a poet’s handbook, viciously interrogating what makes a poem, and how to expand and contract the poem’s form into something useful and even something revolutionary. Finally, Song Of My Softening is a sharp, beautifully-wrought collection of poems, as well as a tool for grieving, a personal diary of loss."
—Joanna Acevedo, The Adroit Journal
“Song of My Softening is ultimately a journey toward love and an inspection of the burdens we bear in order to arrive there, in that unknown room we can only name for ourselves. This prosodic and nuanced formation-story-in-poems leaves me both speared and softened, like the “bent knife through pear.” Which is to say: James’s poems are as sharp as the knife, as soft as the pear. I leave this book like the speaker, in paradox: punctured, wounded, but ultimately more whole.”
—Julie Marie Wade, Tupelo Quarterly
“Omotara James is a poet of the body, and Song of My Softening moves us emotionally as it reminds us of our physical and sensual selves. These poems beg to be spoken aloud as one sister might to another, or as one sister might to an audience of sisters. These are daring poems from a poet brave enough to take the kind of risks that lead to beauty: ‘Your fat spills soft across the moonlit crown of grass./Your soulmates are a gaggle of fish, shoaling thick,/until you are schooled enough in this love.’”
—Jericho Brown
"Omotara James has used the page, the word and this wonderful book, Song of My Softening, to etch a particular achy wandering silence that is as loud and brilliant as any book I've read. One can only argue whether an abundance of skill or will was most necessary to pull off this literary feat. One cannot, and should not, ever argue about the book's multilayered longing boom."
—Kiese Laymon
"A sumptuous, unforgettable debut, Song of My Softening relentlessly unearths and acknowledges the pains of the past, though its work is ecstatic in equal measure. James wields language masterfully, not as a weapon but as an instrument that can transform pain into a song of praise, for pleasure and survival, for the body and its bounties. It is a song that rings and rings, that will ring in me for a very long time."
—Melissa Febos, bestselling author of Body Work and Girlhood
A profound and intersectional text, Song of My Softening is a queer, fat, love song of the interior. A late-bloomer’s coming of age lyric.
This collection is a study in tenderness, vulnerability and candor. James provides a window into what perseverance looks like, ungilded: a mirror for anyone born into a culture outside of their identity. These poems hum with multitudinous survival.
Each poem is a celebration of sound. Born from revolutionary praise songs of Yoruba culture, Trinidadian Soca and Calypso, British Pop and Punk, American Gospel and R&B, Song of My Softening will sing itself into your soul.
“It’s not often that fat women feel such thorough representation of themselves not only in poetry but in any media and not only in the beautiful moments but in the sorrowful ones, ranging throughout life. James does a brilliant job of portraying this and all her themes brilliantly; highly recommended.”
—Starred review by Library Journal
“James is a master of song, as adept at the minimalist line as she is with sweeping lines that span the page, continually surprising with turns of phrase that are equal parts prophetic and musical. This is a tremendous first collection.”
—Ronnie K. Stephens, The Poetry Question
"[Song of My Softening] is a siren song, a brilliant, harsh indictment of the way we communicate ideas about the body, sex, and womanhood to our young girls, and how we grow up into the women we are, as queer women of color. And even more than that, it is a poet’s handbook, viciously interrogating what makes a poem, and how to expand and contract the poem’s form into something useful and even something revolutionary. Finally, Song Of My Softening is a sharp, beautifully-wrought collection of poems, as well as a tool for grieving, a personal diary of loss."
—Joanna Acevedo, The Adroit Journal
“Song of My Softening is ultimately a journey toward love and an inspection of the burdens we bear in order to arrive there, in that unknown room we can only name for ourselves. This prosodic and nuanced formation-story-in-poems leaves me both speared and softened, like the “bent knife through pear.” Which is to say: James’s poems are as sharp as the knife, as soft as the pear. I leave this book like the speaker, in paradox: punctured, wounded, but ultimately more whole.”
—Julie Marie Wade, Tupelo Quarterly
“Omotara James is a poet of the body, and Song of My Softening moves us emotionally as it reminds us of our physical and sensual selves. These poems beg to be spoken aloud as one sister might to another, or as one sister might to an audience of sisters. These are daring poems from a poet brave enough to take the kind of risks that lead to beauty: ‘Your fat spills soft across the moonlit crown of grass./Your soulmates are a gaggle of fish, shoaling thick,/until you are schooled enough in this love.’”
—Jericho Brown
"Omotara James has used the page, the word and this wonderful book, Song of My Softening, to etch a particular achy wandering silence that is as loud and brilliant as any book I've read. One can only argue whether an abundance of skill or will was most necessary to pull off this literary feat. One cannot, and should not, ever argue about the book's multilayered longing boom."
—Kiese Laymon
"A sumptuous, unforgettable debut, Song of My Softening relentlessly unearths and acknowledges the pains of the past, though its work is ecstatic in equal measure. James wields language masterfully, not as a weapon but as an instrument that can transform pain into a song of praise, for pleasure and survival, for the body and its bounties. It is a song that rings and rings, that will ring in me for a very long time."
—Melissa Febos, bestselling author of Body Work and Girlhood
160 pages, Paperback
First published February 13, 2024
20 people are currently reading
660 people want to read
About the author
Omotara James
3 books17 followersOmotara James is the author of the poetry collection, Song of My Softening, (Alice James Books, 2024). Her chapbook, Daughter Tongue, was selected by African Poetry Book Fund, (Akashic Books, 2018), for the New Generation African Poets Box Set.
James’ poems appear in print and digital journals, including the Poetry Foundation, The Nation, BOMB Magazine, the Paris Review, American Poetry Review, the Los Angeles Review of Books Quarterly, the Believer, Literary Hub, Guernica, Poetry Society of America and elsewhere. Her poetry has been featured in the Academy of American Poets Poem-A-Day series.
She has performed on various stages including The 92NY, The Brooklyn Books Festival, The New York City Poetry Festival and The Poetry Project. Her work has been anthologised and selected for inclusion in various publications.
James is the recipient of the 2023 J. Howard and Barbara M. J. Wood Prize from the Poetry Foundation. She has received residency fellowships from Cave Canem Foundation and Lambda Literary, among other awards and recognitions.
Born in Britain, she is the daughter of Nigerian and Trinidadian immigrants. She has lived in England, Scotland and was raised primarily in America. She holds a BA in Creative Writing from Hofstra University and an MFA in Poetry from New York University.
James’ poems appear in print and digital journals, including the Poetry Foundation, The Nation, BOMB Magazine, the Paris Review, American Poetry Review, the Los Angeles Review of Books Quarterly, the Believer, Literary Hub, Guernica, Poetry Society of America and elsewhere. Her poetry has been featured in the Academy of American Poets Poem-A-Day series.
She has performed on various stages including The 92NY, The Brooklyn Books Festival, The New York City Poetry Festival and The Poetry Project. Her work has been anthologised and selected for inclusion in various publications.
James is the recipient of the 2023 J. Howard and Barbara M. J. Wood Prize from the Poetry Foundation. She has received residency fellowships from Cave Canem Foundation and Lambda Literary, among other awards and recognitions.
Born in Britain, she is the daughter of Nigerian and Trinidadian immigrants. She has lived in England, Scotland and was raised primarily in America. She holds a BA in Creative Writing from Hofstra University and an MFA in Poetry from New York University.
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
July 17, 2023
Loved this whole collection, the way James writes about fatness, and about fat Black bodies and queer bodies, is just so beautiful and revelatory.
July 13, 2024
This was such a heartfelt collection that I know will touch certain readers more than others. I loved the way Omotara reflected on the intersections of being Black, fat, and queer in her poems with such grace and care. I also appreciated how her poems invited the reader to reflect on how they perceive their own body, how one can make space for themself in the world with the body they have.
October 26, 2025
i have desired to read this book for ages and it did not disappoint. this work and its preciseness were exactly what i needed without even knowing it
April 7, 2024
I’ve been a fan of Omotara’s work for a while. This book of exquisite poems did not disappoint.
Read
March 6, 2024this collection was not for me but I think that it would resonate with a lot of people so I’m not rating
July 30, 2024
Alot of these did not so much for me but a few were truly wonderful. The collection explores the body as in the flesh, as in fat, as in heart, as in memories, as in growing up, as in identity, as in belonging and in the self. The style is matter of factly with embelishments of place, body and emotion. The poems feel sparse in language even when they describe the vast, the unruly, the beautiful. I liked how this depicted and portrayed fat.
My favourites:
• Autobiography of Thud
• Ceremony
• Proverb
• Bang and a Whimper
• Morbid Subtraction
• Proper Fat
• Portrait of an Uncaged Child on Easter
• Last Days of Summer
My favourites:
• Autobiography of Thud
• Ceremony
• Proverb
• Bang and a Whimper
• Morbid Subtraction
• Proper Fat
• Portrait of an Uncaged Child on Easter
• Last Days of Summer
February 24, 2024
A stunning, expertly crafted collection. James is a graceful thinker with a smarting heart who’s clearly done The Reading (and more). Give her her flowers. Hers is a name to watch.
May 25, 2024
In the first three poems of this collection, James offers us a naming ritual "The body is an unmarked grave before it is given a name ...;" a self-made creation myth "I made of myself a world / and swelled // bearing it alone ...;" and an elegy for the eventual death of that name "... because / a name is a stake in the grave."
This cyclical nature of birth, life, and death repeats throughout the five-part instrumentation of the collection's Song (brass, string, drum, wind, piano), while the speaker's Softening also cycles from tender innocence and infancy to grief and a mild disgust associated with the soft earth of an open grave - "a kiss to mark the divine boundary // betwixt shit and soil ..."
Throughout each poem, I especially loved the collection's insistent focus on the body as subject of that birth/death.
These poems revel in the best kind of gluttony, "... plying each other all day / with reasons to devour. Desire must be chewed before it's consumed ..." And at 139pgs, the author definitely made me work for it.
I loved the heft of this collection which felt longer than most full-length debuts without being frivolous. I had to sit with, or return to, more than one poem several times. Among my many favorites, I found that Part Two: The Feast held some of the most resonant poems. Of course, I probably loved the Hidden Track best!
This cyclical nature of birth, life, and death repeats throughout the five-part instrumentation of the collection's Song (brass, string, drum, wind, piano), while the speaker's Softening also cycles from tender innocence and infancy to grief and a mild disgust associated with the soft earth of an open grave - "a kiss to mark the divine boundary // betwixt shit and soil ..."
Throughout each poem, I especially loved the collection's insistent focus on the body as subject of that birth/death.
These poems revel in the best kind of gluttony, "... plying each other all day / with reasons to devour. Desire must be chewed before it's consumed ..." And at 139pgs, the author definitely made me work for it.
I loved the heft of this collection which felt longer than most full-length debuts without being frivolous. I had to sit with, or return to, more than one poem several times. Among my many favorites, I found that Part Two: The Feast held some of the most resonant poems. Of course, I probably loved the Hidden Track best!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 6, 2024
A collection of poems about identity, queerness, the body, family, and survival.
from Twice a Month on Sundays with Maxine, My Tender Head and the Truth: "There are things only a hot comb and your mama can tell you / about yourself. Sorry, but you better listen, child. Sure, it's hard // to stand up on that block that leaves nothing to the imagination. / I had to damn well invent my own escape. Who wants to rub tits // with the truth, morning, noon and night. This shit ain't / consensual."
from On Repetition: "No one gives a damn about a poem / until they need a poem. The poet / is a poem. My mother is a poem. / Women are poems. Black women / are poems. Black people are poems / who need poems."
from Bang and a Whimper: "A Black mother will tell you, / with a straight face and stretched belly, that she didn't want you to be a statistic. / Math makes a poet of us all. Made me homeland and diaspora. Half ship and half sea. / Love catches up to loss, eventually, follows the arc of failure."
from Twice a Month on Sundays with Maxine, My Tender Head and the Truth: "There are things only a hot comb and your mama can tell you / about yourself. Sorry, but you better listen, child. Sure, it's hard // to stand up on that block that leaves nothing to the imagination. / I had to damn well invent my own escape. Who wants to rub tits // with the truth, morning, noon and night. This shit ain't / consensual."
from On Repetition: "No one gives a damn about a poem / until they need a poem. The poet / is a poem. My mother is a poem. / Women are poems. Black women / are poems. Black people are poems / who need poems."
from Bang and a Whimper: "A Black mother will tell you, / with a straight face and stretched belly, that she didn't want you to be a statistic. / Math makes a poet of us all. Made me homeland and diaspora. Half ship and half sea. / Love catches up to loss, eventually, follows the arc of failure."
December 4, 2022
"The day you were born [...], we received you, pulled you through, held you, made an opening and whispered, shouted, urged, pleaded. You are welcome, you are welcome, you are welcome. There were no requirements, no identification, or documentation, you were born without restriction. Not even the supernatural could hold you back from this oblivion. You were born a bold thing. A higher being. A love spell."
I wanted to love this collection desperately, but unfortunately, it just didn't click for me in the way I wanted it to. There were a few lines that stood out to me, like the one quoted above, but overall I feel like I just wanted *more* from each poem. Many of them felt surface-level to me. But I'm hoping that this book can find the audience it deserves!
I wanted to love this collection desperately, but unfortunately, it just didn't click for me in the way I wanted it to. There were a few lines that stood out to me, like the one quoted above, but overall I feel like I just wanted *more* from each poem. Many of them felt surface-level to me. But I'm hoping that this book can find the audience it deserves!
February 22, 2024
I can't remember where I initially heard about this book, but I got it out from the library this week, and was the first person to read this new copy. I read it in an afternoon, sinking deep into James' lyrical writing and not emerging until an hour or two later. Some of the poems, I read twice in a row to fully absorb her beautiful writing. I especially appreciated her poems about fatness, and sent two of them to a friend who shares about body positivity. I looked up a couple of the people that she referenced and dedicated pieces to. You know a book is good when it gives you a new perspective to see the world in a different light.
March 17, 2024
These poems will knock you out of your seat
Omotara James has written a stunning debut collection - powerful, lyrical, and full of love, I mean real love. What does it mean to reclaim oneself in a world that insists on making us small, thin, palatable, white, or otherwise denying of our true ourselves? This book is lyrical, lamentful, joyful, funny, and full of the courage expressed in beautiful language and song that insists on being seen. In awe and grateful to have read this necessary and beautiful work. The poems in this collection have left me speechless and I’ve returned to them again and again and again.
Omotara James has written a stunning debut collection - powerful, lyrical, and full of love, I mean real love. What does it mean to reclaim oneself in a world that insists on making us small, thin, palatable, white, or otherwise denying of our true ourselves? This book is lyrical, lamentful, joyful, funny, and full of the courage expressed in beautiful language and song that insists on being seen. In awe and grateful to have read this necessary and beautiful work. The poems in this collection have left me speechless and I’ve returned to them again and again and again.
November 16, 2024
James, though still young, has had a hard life (judging from her autobiographical poems). But she finds beauty and thoughtful consideration in it (we will cry out into the insurmountable," she writes). She apparently is obese, and the poems reflect an obsession with that, as well as with racial oppression and pride, abuse and rape, and a homosexual love that it seems her parents frowned on. Her connection to Black history and contemporary culture is also rich (she says in an epilogue, "I devoured everything"). The last section of the book has a more positive tone, but even the references to suicide and other "dark" ideas are a celebration of life.
April 11, 2025
I wanted to love this collection more than I did. Song of My Softening by Omotara James is a collection of poems about Black bodies, fatness, queerness, Black womanhood, survival, trauma, and so much about the experience of all of these things intersecting. This seemed right up my alley and while many of these poems are exquisitely written, I did not feel great about reading this. It might just be the head space. I have a complicated relationship with my body right now and I don't think I was fully prepared to read this at the moment. This is a bit too real and relatable so I was hoping for something a bit brighter.
December 12, 2025
omotara’s work is honest and raw, the kind of voice I always appreciate hearing from. that being said, the first half of the book did not hit for me. it felt like many of the poems didn’t earn their ending—the middle lines fell flat and then suddenly the poem was over.
I started to connect more of with the poems in the second half. I especially loved the poems in the “drum” section because I felt like they were taking me on a ride with each word, each line. I also noticed more skillful musicality in word choice in the second half of the book.
overall, this gave me some great things to keep in mind while I’m writing, but wasn’t for me!
I started to connect more of with the poems in the second half. I especially loved the poems in the “drum” section because I felt like they were taking me on a ride with each word, each line. I also noticed more skillful musicality in word choice in the second half of the book.
overall, this gave me some great things to keep in mind while I’m writing, but wasn’t for me!
August 26, 2024
few works tap dance on the complicated reality of my girlhood. the denials, the challenges, the distancing from my girlhood and femininity. the haunting double edged sword of how my value is affirmed. the convoluted feelings that i'm only now able to immediately honor.
thank you for continuing the valuable metaphor of a bull. i'm excited to see how language is used in your hands.
thank you for continuing the valuable metaphor of a bull. i'm excited to see how language is used in your hands.
October 16, 2025
a little tenderness
Moose / Leaving Philadelphia
Rufus, I never met you, but I want to tell you
A Mother Can See More Sitting Down than a Child Standing Up
The Butcher: A Love Poem
Sonnet of the Bull
White Cliffs of Dover
A Flair for Language
Bodies Like Oceans
To the Mother of the Boy Found Floating Asleep on the Lake
Moose / Leaving Philadelphia
Rufus, I never met you, but I want to tell you
A Mother Can See More Sitting Down than a Child Standing Up
The Butcher: A Love Poem
Sonnet of the Bull
White Cliffs of Dover
A Flair for Language
Bodies Like Oceans
To the Mother of the Boy Found Floating Asleep on the Lake
December 10, 2025
This was beautiful. It's also the kind of poetry where I feel like my reading comprehension is low, not because I don't understand her messages, but because the construction is very specific and at times I was struggling to follow the choices of a specific word or stanza. AJB loves a book with a strong message and a line that challenges me. <3
March 25, 2024
These songs in poetry form speak so boldly of love, joy, pain and sorrow. Omotara explores complex feelings and topics with courage and deep understanding. I’ll be reading these poems again and again - exploring their many dimensions and messages. An amazing collection!
April 17, 2024
Magnificent. Truly a work of art. I knew that I would be diving into a masterpiece when I read “Water, for it has no enemy” in the first poem, “Prologue to a Name”. James’ perspectives and unique takes on the world around us are welcoming and fresh to a beginner reader of poetry. Fantastic!
November 23, 2024
I picked this up randomly from the library and I am so glad I did.
Read
January 9, 2025Rating this when I read it again this year. Some very poignant prose in most parts of this.
February 21, 2025
Reminiscent of Warsan Shire & Roxanne Gay
August 9, 2025
James's poetry collection is a must-read for anyone exploring their own relationship with their body—as well as those interested in the larger systems of oppression that tell so many folks to shrink themselves and quiet their voice.
The narrative quality of many of her poems makes her work accessible even to those who don't think of themselves as readers of poetry. The imagery is at once familiar and fresh—at times, it can take your breath away.
As a former English teacher, I especially appreciated the way this collection gives space and voice to those who haven't always been given permission to be expansive and to celebrate themselves. If I were back in the classroom, I would be pairing poems from this collection along with Whitman's "Song of Myself" and Langston Hughes's "I, too, sing America."
The narrative quality of many of her poems makes her work accessible even to those who don't think of themselves as readers of poetry. The imagery is at once familiar and fresh—at times, it can take your breath away.
As a former English teacher, I especially appreciated the way this collection gives space and voice to those who haven't always been given permission to be expansive and to celebrate themselves. If I were back in the classroom, I would be pairing poems from this collection along with Whitman's "Song of Myself" and Langston Hughes's "I, too, sing America."
December 10, 2024
A throughly stunning debut collection. I keep picking it up, rereading sentences and stanzas and pages, in awe.
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews