gather them & give them back to me by Renia White
gather them & give them back to me
Renia White(after Toni Morrison)
I don’t have the wherewithal to die today,
not with you here. (thank you for that)
you say things could be simple, and sometimes
they are. it’s true, we only need what we need
in order to have all we need. nothing more,
but love, which is a texture you say you don’t
understand. but look at this bread in my mouth
and your hand in mine although we barely touch
because how outlandish—to feel even further? beyond
the sure blessing? so your hand isn’t in mine, but I feel
it there—when I am asleep, awake, inside my mind room.
I touch everything I walk by or into. but, you here?
and us with hands in case we need them? I think this is it,
but if you want to make it more complicated, I agree.
KEEP READING
SHARED WITH GRATITUDE
This poem appeared in Casual Conversation by Renia White, published by BOA Editions, Ltd., 2022. (Available direct from BOA Editions, Ltd. • Also on: Amazon • Bookshop)
DESCRIPTION
“A Blessing the Boats Selection with a Foreword by Aracelis Girmay, Renia White’s debut poetry collection pushes against state-sanctioned authority and societal thought while ruminating on Black joy.
Renia White’s debut poetry collection strikes up a conversation, considering what’s being said, what isn’t, and where it all come from. From her vantage point of Black womanhood, White probes the norms and mores of everyday interactions. In observations, insights, and snippets of speech, these poems look to the unspoken thoughts behind our banter, questioning the authority of not only the rule of law but also of our small talk itself—the concepts we have accepted and integrated without pause.
Casual Conversation imagines a new way of knowing, a way that encourages us to think through how we structure and stratify ourselves, inviting something strange and other to spill out. White challenges us to question whether there is anything casual about this life, even as she invites us to consider other logics and to think alongside each other. This book gives space to hold what we fear out of formality: consequence, embarrassment, anger. It plays, it tarries, it disrupts. It pulls apart what seems sound in an effort to see: what did we make here? How’s it going?” (Source)
ABOUT RENIA WHITE
Renia White is the author of Casual Conversation (BOA Editions, 2022), selected for the Blessing the Boats series. The recipient of a 2021 Philip Freund Prize, she lives in Brooklyn, New York. (Source)
Read more poems by Renia White • Find books by this poet on Amazon • Bookshop • Follow on Instagram • Website • Or view my library
ENDNOTES
- Explore other works in pursuit of: presence • intimacy • love • Or browse the index
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