Working the Roots
(By Amanda Bennett)
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| Author | Amanda Bennett |
-Chet'la Sebree, author of Blue Opening
In the poem, "Denial", Bennett writes: "And I am no conjure / woman / yet." but it is far from the truth. Working the Roots is an altar that summons even the shyest of ancestors, both living and deceased, to come and rest their weary spirits. It is a spiritual offering that sacrifices the blood born of loss, grief, intimacy, relationship, and Blackness. Anyone who has the opportunity to touch these pages and read these words should know they are encountering holy land-revere it as such.
-Najya Williams, author of ON A DATE WITH DISAPPOINTMENT
When I think of the kind of writing that really moves me, I think of the elements present in Bennett's poetry: honesty about Black women's interior lives, clarity (because we don't have time to talk around a thing), and a mean metaphor. Amanda Bennett has written a poetry collection squarely rooted in the legacy of Black feminists like Audre Lorde, Lucille Clifton, and June Jordan: this is my favorite kind of poetry. The feeling present in these poems welcomes you in to experience the world as the writer does, where "black is a place we carry" and "difficult women are like dynamite." Working the Roots is a book everyone should read, if for no other reason than we all need a little vulnerability to survive this world, and each other.
-Ariana Brown, author of We Are Owed.”
