“Acclaimed poet, playwright, and novelist Shange, takes readers on a kaleidoscopic journey through black womanhood in her first selected volume.The poems showcase vibrant narratives of black women who are neither solely saints nor sinners.”
– Publisher’s Weekly Starred Review
"These powerfully swinging, jabbing, lamenting, testifying, and protesting poems deliver an array of voices sharing experiences sensual and violent, personal and communal, all catalyzed by the traumas and tragedies of racism and sexism and the transcendence of art, love, and hope.”
– Booklist Review
“A revelation . . Shange is as fearless as ever in poems that reveal our humanity and pain.”
– Essence