Full Description
In Long Eye, Kwoya Fagin Maples brings us a sea-bound collection that channels the mythic, defiant voice of a Black Mermaid.
Inspired by Mami Wata, a water spirit of West African folklore, Maples explores the power and divinity of being a Black woman, a mother, a thinker, a protector, and creator. The poems emerge from a neurodivergent mind navigating writing, parenthood, and the Atlantic waters of the South Carolina Lowcountry. The sea and its many creatures serve as guides—for survival, resistance, and transformation.
As she explores the intersection of science, poetry, and mythology, Maples also seeks to depict Black familial bonds in societies structured against them. Woven through the book is the voice of the mermaid, reminding us that "every underwater being exists in relation."
At turns wonderstruck and irreverent, these poems pulse with human longing. Maples is a poet whose work is both musical and meticulous. Her eye somehow equally trained on the world at large and her own inner workings. The result is an astonishing, immersive experience.
Contents
Autobiography of a Black Mermaid Blue Whale Chimera
When We Get to the Ocean, I Don't See It
Attention Deficit Pastoral
The Beach is Host to Small Things
Autobiography of a Black Mermaid
Should You Love a Poet
Another Severe Weather Warning
The Next-Door Neighbors, 1990
Atlantic Origin
Thinning Sea-Bed of Clouds
Autobiography of a Black Mermaid
Folly Beach
((Quiet.))
Seeing You See Me
Autobiography of a Black Mermaid
I Am Seagoing
Owed to the Atlantic
Autobiography of a Black Mermaid
The Proposal
Oyster Meditation
The Bee
The sound of gravel sinking under my tires
Autobiography of a Black Mermaid
Nature vs. Nurture
Unfold a Chair in the Front Yard of My Childhood Home
Autobiography of a Black Mermaid
Word Choice
Passover for a Marriage
Flash of Sister Shanna & Brother Jared
Soon After Dad Starts Going to Church with Mom the TV Set is on the Trash Heap
There are No More Lighthouse Keepers
Autobiography of a Black Mermaid
The Plan
Nine Years Later We Ride an ATV Out in the Country
Expeecting
Sleep Deprived in the Waiting Room
Sex After Baby
Shadow Monster
Ms. Midriff
How the Atlantic Became an Influencer
The Miracle of Us
Autobiography of a Black Mermaid
Putting on her perfume nightly
For Natylie
Elegy For Larry Freeman
Blackberry Winter
Autobiography of a Black Mermaid
! The Looking War of Pisa !
Table for Black Family of Five in Firenze, Italy
Autobiography of a Black Mermaid
Birthday
As If There is An Art to Losing
Autobiography of a Black Mermaid
Black Heart
Three Heads of Hair to Comb
Attention Deficit Anti-Pastoral
Autobiography of a Black Mermaid
The Ritual
Invisible Work
Autobiography of a Black Mermaid
