McBride’s free verse brings specificity, fresh metaphors and language, and transformation and revelation with each poem. I feel filled, like a caterpillar gorged It is like only the water & wind live here. With his hands & it starts to rain (again). “Sani lifts his arms above his head, making a mountain In an excerpt from “Pinnacle Mountain State Park, Arkansas” captures moments of resonant teenagerhood that shows the range of emotionality the two achieve. The Constitution licked the lips of slaveryĭusty slave quarters with earth for floorsĪmerica cleared her throat & yelled, Jim Crow.”Īlong the road, there is pain, hope, and beauty as the two also find time for joy and existence. “The enslaved were one-third of the population in the South,īut their souls were not given any space. In the poem “Things My Grandfather Taught Me About The South,” McBride pulls in generational trauma with travel. The two make many stops along the way in various towns and motels while coming to terms with their ghosts, ancestors, generational trauma, and selves in a slow-burn, deep literary narrative. Sani struggles with depression and they embark on a road trip to his reservation the Navajo nation in New Mexico. In the pain of feeling incredibly alone, Moth befriends Sani at school and the two connect deeply. The ancestors took the energy from the food.

Below is an excerpt from a poem titled “At Least They Were Hungry.” McBride’s poetry beats with meaning, layers, specificity, and proximity to Hoodoo practices.

She often reflects about her late grandfather, a Hoodoo root worker, and the lessons he taught her about relationships with those who are beyond. Before her family was lost, she had been a dancer, but now the art feels far away and out of reach. Moth finds herself hopeless and living with her aunt. The book chronicles Black high school junior Moth, a girl whose entire immediate family died in a tragic accident. When you lose everything, what lingers? Poetry, ancestors, new love, and friendship are all woven into this beautiful debut verse-novel by Amber McBride that snagged the Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe Award along with being a Morris Award and National Book Award Finalist. Feiwel and Friends | Release Date: August 17, 2021

Me moth by amber mcbride