This book is three long sentences arranged on 300 pages of illustration done in a pocket-sized moleskine. It is a powerful rendition of what it felt like to be black in America during the pandemic and the violence that spawned the Black Lives Matters movement. The metaphor used is that it was hard to breathe, and you feel it in this visceral work.
Ain’t Burned All the Bright is beautifully published on heavy, shiny paper, and is a total delight to hold in your hands. It will take you only a half hour to read it if you really go slow and take your time to absorb it. You could check it out from a library, or like me, buy a copy to never forget. I just love that something like this was taken seriously, then published so beautifully, and is being so well received. It gives me hope for the world that people do care about each other’s feelings after all.
Jason Reynolds wrote another strong book of poetry titled Long Way Down, which I reviewed in 2020. I give this new one done in collaboration with artist Jason Griffin (love the creative use of duct tape!) five stars too. They really captured the powerless feeling of a difficult time in a raw but real way , which we all can relate to. Check it out!
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3 Comments
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I will look for it….
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This will help me look for more, ever more, compassion for that in me and others that seems so bound in fetters, yet as I am glimpsing, are as thin as gossamer web….mortal illusion…………
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