Bestiary
Poems
Donika Kelly
myself body enough for two, for we.
Found comfort in never being lonely.
What burst from my back, from my bones, what lived
along the ridge from crown to crown, from mane?
to forked tongue beneath the skin. What clamor
we made in the birthing. What hiss and rumble
at the splitting, at the horns and beard,?
at the glottal bleat. What bridges our back.
What strong neck, what bright eye. What menagerie
are we. What we’ve made of ourselves.
–from “Love Poem: Chimera”
Across this remarkable first book are encounters with animals, legendary beasts, and mythological monsters–half human and half something else. Donika Kelly’s Bestiary is a catalog of creatures–from the whale and ostrich to the pegasus and chimera to the centaur and griffin. Among them too are poems of love, self-discovery, and travel from “Out West” to “Back East.” Lurking in the middle of this powerful and multifaceted collection is a wrenching sequence that wonders just who or what is the real monster inside this life of survival and reflection. Selected and with an introduction by the National Book Award Winner Nikki Finney, Bestiary questions what it is that makes us human, that makes us whole.
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Details
| ISBN | 9781555977580 |
| Genre | Poetry |
| Publication Date | 11-Oct-16 |
| Publisher | Graywolf Press |
| Format | Paperback |
| Notes | Longlisted for the 2016 National Book Award for Poetry
Winner of the 2017 Hurston/Wright Legacy Award for Poetry Winner of the 2018 Kate Tufts Discovery Award Lambda Literary Award Finalist, Lesbian Poetry |
| LoC Classification | PS3611.E445935 .A6 2016 |
| Language | English |
| Rating | Good |
| Subject | American poetry; American Poetry – African American Authors |
| BookID | 1070 |
