Roadmap

by Monica Prince

In this radical twenty-first century choreopoem, Dorian, a young American Black man, is tasked by an ancestral spirit to thwart his inevitable murder. He traces his family tree, from his grandmother to his offspring, uncovering secrets of sex work, self-harm, and assault alongside snapshots of #BlackBoyJoy. Guided by The Novelist, an omniscient muse, and her troupe of dancers, Dorian must interrogate his legacy, forgive his past, and reckon with being Black in modern America. He tries on different selves and possible futures in his increasing desperation to experience the luxury of growing old and finding solace despite institutional racism declaring him a threat. Through the poetry, dance, and song of Roadmap , will Dorian overcome the odds or become another hashtag?

Genres: Poetry

102 pages, Paperback

Published July 1, 2023

Reviews

[Sarah Cavar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Prince once again hits it out of the park with this lively choreopoem, which explores legacies of familial and collective trauma and what it means to break cycles of racialized, gendered abuse, even as social violence escalates worldwide. Her characters –– and particularly the main character, Dorian –– are philosophical technologies as much as they are people, and yet still experience rich development over the course of the piece.

[Chelsea Catherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

"You do not need to believe in a god
to see me. I exist between blinks,
during the early hours of dawn,
right before sleep leaves your lungs."

I read these first four lines of Monica Prince’s choreopoem, Roadmap, put the book down and said, “Damn.” Then started reading again. This piece is one of the most impactful and important pieces to come out in the last few years. Monica’s signature voice and style is present throughout, yet this choreopoem (a form of dramatic expression that combines poetry, dance, music, and song) is one of her starkest, most heartbreaking, and hopeful.

Roadmap follows main character, Dorian, a young Black man. Monica weaves in his specific story and the story of his parents, grandparents, and partners, with stats and facts about being Black in America:

Heart disease is the number one killer of Black individuals in the United States.
Black males represent the highest documented incidence and mortality rates for prostate cancers.

There is so much here in less than 90 pages. The piece talks about intergenerational trauma, self-harm, societal violence and stereotypes, medical discrimination, hashtags, and so much more. Everything is so stark and beautiful and terrifying at the same time. I’d never read a choreopoem before and wasn’t at all sure what to expect. But this form works so well for the subject matter and the characters, who somehow become so real and lifelike in such a short time, we can see them moving across the page.

Dorian is polyamorous and pansexual and so are four other characters in the piece. Our community has SO little poly representation that this felt huge to me. It also felt huge to see a Black pansexual man on the page. There are also two nonbinary/characters of indiscriminate gender which was super cool and very rare to see.

All in all, this is one of the best pieces I’ve read in many years.

[Julie Duffy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Intriguing. A 'choreopoem' is a dramatic work with choreography, poetry and music. On the page it reads like a play and like poetry, with stage directions and music cues.

"Roadmap" tracks the life of Dorian, a young Black man in America, and his family, as he faces the likelihood of 'becoming another hashtag' or overcoming the odds and living a full, long life.

It is lyrical and powerful and rooted in its own literary and cultural 'family tree'. The story is punctuated by a chorus of dancers and ancestors who share the harsh statistics of life as a Black person in the US (in, approximately, 2019).

At first I wanted to stop reading and see the piece performed, but then I realised I WAS seeing it performed (thanks to the stage directions and line breaks) in my imagination. It's really well done!

There's a young White man in my neighborhood who etched a 'get over it' message about racism on his car's door, that enrages me every time I walk down the street. For people like him, who can't understand why people are "still complaining" about racism, this should be required reading. It took me inside a life I can never live, and made me see just a hint of what that life might be like.

Life's not easy, for anyone, but society makes it harder in specific ways, for specific groups. We need work like this, to help us confront, empathize, and question the way things are...and begin to work against it.

[Hildie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Insanely powerful.

[Jennifer Beard · Rating 5 out of 5]

⭐️ ARC review⭐️

Roadmap: A Choreopoem by Monica Prince

“I've been looking for joy in books and lovers and television for as long as I've known how to laugh.
I won't stop being scared, stop wondering if Blackness makes me predisposed to violence, frailty, and loss. It does.”

In this powerfully raw choreopoem, Monica Prince bends between genres of fiction and nonfiction, between poetic ancestral legacies and current day statistics. It features an almost entirely queer cast of actors and dancers in a lyrical, slam poetry styled play that tells the raw truths of systemic oppression of Black Americans that is an absolute must-read.

Did I immediately send this to my friends in our local Black theater troupe? Absolutely. I hope to one day see this piece performed on stage.

CW: sex work, rape, self-harm, suicide, domestic abuse, gun violence, police brutality, racial slurs

[Lindsay Stenico · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was my first time reading a choreopoem, so I will admit that I was a little nervous diving into Roadmap by Monica Prince. I didn't know what to expect, but these nerves existed for no reason because it only took a few stanzas to engulf me into the world that Monica created. While at the same time, we (the readers) are forced to acknowledge a hard truth: that this world already exists, and we're currently living in it.

Roadmap is both haunting and beautiful. It's an artistic depiction of the reality that Black Americans face daily, intertwined with poetry that sings and demands to be remembered, even when the book has been closed. Intended to be performed on stage, I can only imagine the power and love the actors have put into bringing this choreopoem to life.

When you read Roadmap, be prepared for it to stay with you.

[Jamie Beth Cohen · Rating 5 out of 5]

this book is so beautiful and heartbreaking and moving. i love everything monica does.