They are, she says, “love letters” gathered in six groups in
her book, beginning with a photo of her fierce grandmother.
Hill admits that Harriet Beecher Spruill-Hill was never
incarcerated in the physical sense; instead, she was the
victim of “Jane Crow styles of oppression…” The photo kicks
off the first segment, which honors ancestors.
Based on a book by history professor Kali Nicole Gross, the
second section of Hill’s book deals with historical
African-American women, in poems that “attempt to create
first-person testimonies…” They were women who weren’t
necessarily incarcerated, but were instead directly, often
instantly punished for crimes committed.
Hill’s third portion focuses on writers such as Ida B. Wells
and Zora Neale Hurston,
and women like Eartha Kitt and Sonia Sanchez, who used their
talents and networks for political activism. Her fourth
segment “focuses on what it means to hurdle; to spring
forth” beyond the bonds that held this chapters’ subjects
back. The fifth section is devoted to Assata Shakur, a woman
Hill calls “a second Harriet Tubman…”
Hill’s final chapter is devoted to connections and how there
is an arc between “bound” women and their families and
children today. In this chapter, Hill includes “an
autobiographical journey,” as the mother of a black man, and
her heartache over his addictions.
Looking much like a historical narrative, the front cover of
A Bound Woman is a Dangerous Thing is very
misleading. Readers will want to know that this is not
strictly a history book. Yes, there’s history inside it –
brief, fascinating history; biographical clips; and
wonderful period photos – but that’s not the focus.
Instead, author DaMaris B. Hill offers too-short
introductions to various black women throughout history
before presenting poems she wrote, based on each individual
woman’s situation. Names may be familiar, while others are
not, and the poems vary: a few are wry, almost biting, with
just the barest touch of modern sarcasm. Most are loaded
with symbolism and metaphor, made to make you think. For
lovers of poetry, that mix here will be welcome and powerful
but for readers expecting something else, the presentation
could be a head-scratcher.
All your life, you’ve been warned not to judge a book by its
cover, and that’s appropriate advice for a poetry book that
masquerades as history. Browsers who aren’t cautious, beware
of that before putting A Bound Woman is a Dangerous Thing
in your hands. |