Full Description
Being of African American, Native American, and white descent, erica lewis' poems recount her friends and family's--especially the women's--complex history with race, gender, and class in America, what it means to live with your own history, and how to move on. Each poem is framed by phrases from the lyrics of Stevie Wonder's Motown records, but the poems themselves are homages to her women kin, friends, and other contemporary women poets. And the dominant motif is brokenness. "By intertwining the public and the personal, Lewis's poems become a membrane through which pop culture permeates the most intimate experiences of selfhood." --Publisher's Weekly
Contents
contents
the wind screams mary
clap your hands just a little bit louder 2
baby, everything is alright 4
it's an awful hurting feeling 6
my baby loves me my baby needs me 8
i sit and wait in vain 11
your sweetie pie your precious one 13
i'm gonna patch up every single little dream 15
i ain't playin hard for nobody 17
warm like you 19
pretty little one 21
when we were dreaming 23
in my every dream i am 25
then that time i went and said goodbye 28
help the roses 31
the risk of knowing 34
i see the light of your smile 37
i thought the cold would leave by summer 40
voodoo child vintage church bird house/wood
when i needed you last winter 44
the world's put on me 46
ladders bout' to fall 48
i feel like this is the beginning 50
well, in my mind, we can conquer the world 52
but i ain't touched the sky 54
i lived to see the milk and honey land 56
in hard time mississippi 58
closing both my eyes 62
when all is put away 64
don't you worry 'bout a thing 66
so let it be 68
you can feel it all over 70
why did those days 72
i love you, i love you, i love you 74
living in a pastime 76
jammin'
through love we'd be 79
if it's magic 80
and i am you 81
there might be another star 82
all i do 83
took me riding in your rocket, gave me a star 84
tonight there will be a party 85
lately i've been staring in the mirror 86
i've been hurting for a long time 87
this is not a coincidence 88
my whole body 89
make me feel like paradise 90
i just called to say i love you 91
i've got to throw my castle away 92
up against the sun 93
all the gold in the world 94
a certain weakness 95
and so by the way i thank you 96
jelks/lawton/lewis 98
