woke up no light

March 1, 2024
Mottley, a former Oakland Youth Poet Laureate whose first novel, Nightcrawling (2022), was an Oprah Book Club pick, presents a captivating debut poetry collection that scrutinizes the complexities of a Black woman's coming-of-age and growth into womanhood. From childhood to adolescence, from being present to looking backward to thinking of the future, these poems take various forms, but each draws forth powerful scenes. There is an indelible connection between the natural world and humanity, whether the body is itself an extraordinary landscape--"If she is the flower / moved only by wind / they are the bees / seeking only her yellow"--or the world invades, "Forgetting is in our bones, black as wood rot." Descriptions throughout feel urgent, as in the striking "summer 2020," in which the turmoil of the world competes with the unrelenting necessity to carry on with day-to-day life. There are also poems that ruminate on and long for ancestral connections, as in the sublime "On Fried Chicken and Watermelon," in which the relationship to food is the most powerful link between generations. The four distinct sections, taken together, are a vivid mosaic that illustrates both the internal and external aspects of becoming a person. A beautiful, multifaceted collection by a talented writer.

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