Legacy

Starred review from December 7, 2020
In this expansive introduction to Harlem Renaissance women poets, Grimes utilizes the Golden Shovel poetry technique, which Terrance Hayes conceived in homage to Gwendolyn Brooks, wherein one takes “a short poem in its entirety, or a line from the poem... to create a new poem using the words from the original.” The result is a thoroughly contemporary, compassionate collection in three parts (“Heritage,” “Earth Mother,” and “Taking Notice,”) that juxtaposes the work of poets—including Mae V. Cowdery, Alice Dunbar-Nelson, and Esther Popel—with Grimes’s innovative feminist remixes. Acclaimed Black women artists—such as Vanessa Brantley-Newton, Cozbi Cabrera, and Vashti Harrison—illustrate, making for an abundantly layered landscape of Black female experiences. Front matter includes a preface and introductions to the Harlem Renaissance and the poetic form; back matter includes an author’s note, poet biographies, sources, and an index. Ages 10–14.