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Absence in the Palms of My Hands: & Other Poems
Absence in the Palms of My & Other Poems [Paperback] [Nov 01, 1996] Bandele, Asha
- GenresPoetry
96 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 1996
About the author
Asha Bandele
14 books130 followersAn award-winning author and journalist, asha bandele first attained recognition when she penned her 1999 debut book, The Prisoner’s Wife, a powerful, lyrical memoir about a young Black woman’s romance and marriage with a man who was serving a twenty-to-life sentence in prison. With the hope that they would live as a couple in the outside world, she became pregnant with a daughter. A former features editor for Essence Magazine, she returns with her latest memoir, Something Like Beautiful, the continuation of her love with Rashid and its ultimate loss, with another emotional disappointment and a serious bout of depression. She is also the author of two collections of poems and the novel, Daughter. She lives in Brooklyn with her daughter, Nisa.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
December 31, 2019
Powerful, unflinching, unforgiving, real, honest.
Although this collection is much more, those five words should prep you for what you will read. This collection has death, it talks about death, and rape, and sex, and things you couldn't begin to imagine. It speaks to the hypocrisies of a society that too often turns a blind eye and who see black and white from a skewed perspective. It was published in 1999 and feels as current 20 years later. That's a scary prospect with what you read in this collection but doesn't make it less true.
Asha Bandele floats in rhythms, breaks form, and favors truth and substances, to form and flowers. It's the type of book I'd gift someone to show them what poetry could be. This is poetry that hurts and heals, that can move the soul to action, that calls us out on our apathy and can connect with people who need to read something that reflects the pain they've felt.
Although this collection is much more, those five words should prep you for what you will read. This collection has death, it talks about death, and rape, and sex, and things you couldn't begin to imagine. It speaks to the hypocrisies of a society that too often turns a blind eye and who see black and white from a skewed perspective. It was published in 1999 and feels as current 20 years later. That's a scary prospect with what you read in this collection but doesn't make it less true.
Asha Bandele floats in rhythms, breaks form, and favors truth and substances, to form and flowers. It's the type of book I'd gift someone to show them what poetry could be. This is poetry that hurts and heals, that can move the soul to action, that calls us out on our apathy and can connect with people who need to read something that reflects the pain they've felt.
March 6, 2012
Reread 2012. A good impetus if you want to cry on the bus. This book is so meaningful to me.
Read January 2010.Letter supplement 2010. Birthday gift to Bret. Thank you Ocean.
Something about there will never be enough love in a world of traded out souls where profit and greed are more important than human life.
Read January 2010.Letter supplement 2010. Birthday gift to Bret. Thank you Ocean.
Something about there will never be enough love in a world of traded out souls where profit and greed are more important than human life.
January 2, 2008
asha pushes the boundaries of poetry, and also, essentially, language. i enjoyed her critical perspective of america.
October 2, 2011
I don't particularly like poetry. But I liked this.
August 12, 2012
Great book of poems. I keep it in my purse so that whenever I have a little time, I can pull it out and become familiar with one of the poems again.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews