A review by mells_view
Black Girl You Are Atlas by Renée Watson

emotional reflective

5.0

Black Girl You Are Atlas is a beautiful book of poetry (in many forms) highlighting the strengths, the heartaches, the joys, the realities, and the celebrations of being a Black girl coming of age and in life in general. I was able to listen to an early copy from Libro.fm and listening to the poet Renée Watson read her work to us with feeling and passion made her art that much more beautiful and could feel how much of her own life and experience she poured into her work. That said, I am certainly planning to buy a hard copy of the physical book because I want to see the art. The cover art is so beautiful that I can only imagine the interior is just as stunning.

Favorite pieces; Black Like Me, King, Turning Sweet Sixteen, and That Girl.

Here are a few quotes, but please know I have an audio copy so the grammar and blocking are most likely not correct.

that girl - “that girl wants to move to a place where the watermelon she eats is seedless, so there will be no disappointment from fruitless harvests.”

turning sweet sixteen - “but what if I want to be sour? what if when you ask me, ‘how are you?’ I tell you the truth.”

King: for Roy - “and when there’s all this talk about what Black men are not, I think about all he is.”