The World Is Round

I just discovered Nikky Finney in the early part of 2005. I read Rice -- which is also incredible -- and now The World is Round. I think they are both some of the best books of poetry I've ever read. They are rich with deep thoughts, insights, verbal beauty, humor. There are so many really great poems in this book ... but I'll pick one piece to mention: "Hurricane Bea". When I feel down or isolated, I read "Hurricane Bea" to make me feel connected to humanity again. That piece has so much richness to it. It's like a beautiful prayer and a love poem rolled into one. I re-read Finney's books all the time. I was raised in the middle of Canada and the Northeastern part of the U.S. Her poems have given me another look at the South. She's given me a view of herself, her family, and others that I will carry with me always.

If you are not already a lover of poetry you will be after reading The World is Round, Nikky Finney's latest contribution to the literary world. Her collection of poetry and prose Finney reintroduces the reader to her world created with images that captivate the readers mind and heart and render them unable to stop turning pages until the entire book is gobbled up in one sitting, leaving the reader full but still wanting more. Never have I encountered a writer with such an ability to embrace all of the reader's five senses with such an unassuming and melodious manner. With her words, Finney takes the reader on a journey on which she intimately sketches out life's details and comes to the conclusion that everything in the world is connected and the world is in fact round. In The World is Round Finney gives the reader those moments in life that should have been cherished but that many of us take for granted. Some of the most poignant poems are those in which she talks about her childhood and love for her family in "The New Medicine" she writes of how she goes home not to see her family but to touch them: I am left a mere daughter driving on sheer blacktop desire to put my hands on them again. That night I slump, in a mother-daughter nest of repose, repossessed once again on her loud flowery couch. My long fingers, delirious, spread, lost in between her bare brown feet that underneath are sleeping jellyfish, on top squirming fiddler crabs. Finney is a master of exploring both the sweetness and bitterness of the world in a candidly. In her lyrical, entrancing way Finney also approaches difficult subjects like the objectification of Black women in an understated yet intense and honest manner. In her poem The Greatest Show on Earth Finney writes: We don't have to be dead first to be cut into manageable size, one that fits their measuring rods their medicine chests will not rest until we are properly pried, it has always been about opening us up, experimenting with Black women but never dissecting their own desires. Finney's poetry reads like the score to a beautiful film. She is a master of intensifying and subduing our emotions with every word, stanza and line break. Her work is a song worthy of being sung for generations to come.

In her new book of poetry and prose, The World is Round, Nikky Finney glimpses into the human ventures of birth, death, family, work, murder, sexuality, and worth. Each entry sheds a progressively brighter light on the book's overarching theme: the propensity of the universe to replace itself in continuous cycles. As we sadly read in "My Old Kentucky Home," a poem about a black teenager's death by gang violence and his disengaged mourners, some of these cycles have self-destructive qualities. Another entry, Hurricane Beulah, considers familial cycles in the form of short story. We watch the author sit patiently in a Salvation Army store as her aging Grandmother Beulah wanders down every aisle. We're in the same room as the poet when her grandmother passes, and we understand their relationship. In the poem "Mean Nina," recompense is presented as the cycle of justice, as Finney lies to a vegetating aunt, telling her that evil will not go unpunished. The World is Round is a celebration of the many facets of humanity. It is unique because it enlarges everyday occurrences and casts them onto the larger canvas of life.

Nikky Finney's poetry truly steps beyond the boundaries of vivid imagery. In her words she is able to capture the truest emotions of human nature while making it seem that you are right beside her experiencing her words first hand. 'The World is Round' is a great look into life's most important questions. She expresses thoughts on family in "The New Medicine" and, "Hurricane Beulah" and the relationship between present day African Americans and their ancestors in "Shark Bite" and "The New Cotton". She goes on to write about love and sexuality in "Sex" and "The Turtle Suite Poems", and the struggle and duty of the poet in "The Girlfriend's Train" and "The Making of Paper". From beginning to end the reader is certain to stay engaged. Nikky Finney is truly a most talented and most inspiring writer.

Too many times in the hip-hop generation, we use the television for a source of knowledge. There's no more reading, only watching. Reading this book began as an assignment for a Poetry class, but after the first couple of poems, I was hooked. Finneys lyricism is amazing; it rivals that of most rappers in popular music today (eclipses many of them.) Her themes are diverse, but its when she discusses the black man/woman that I was most captivated. My favorite poem in the book is called "The New Cotton." In it, Finney describes a chain gang on the side of a road picking up trash. She uses the images to parallel those of slavery. The young men chained together, the work, the opression. Lines like "...in this land where a chain around a Black man's ankle is the state jewel..." give the reader such great visuals, as well as biting metaphors. The book is also laid out beautifully. Long, epic pieces separated by a few shorter poems, which give a feeling of "flow" to the overall work. "Labor Strike" is a great poem about a young woman fed up with her job. Only 32 words, but the feelings are expertly expressed.I recommend this book to anyone. The poems are great, the ideas are refreshing, and Nikky Finney's lyricism is awesome. As a child of hip-hop, this book has begun to open my eyes to other forms of expression through the written word.