Ifá. Nature. Illness. Love. Loss. Misogyny. Aging. Africa. Our wounded planet. In this sweeping yet intensely personal collection, Lauren Martin tells the untold stories of the marginalized, the abused, the ill, the disabled-the different. Inspired by her life's experiences, including the isolation she has suffered as a result both of living with chronic illness and having devoted herself to a religion outside the mainstream, these poems explore with raw vulnerability and unflinching honesty what it is to live apart-even as one yearns for connection.
But Night of the Hawk is no lament; it is powerful, reverential, sometimes humorous, often defiant-"Oh heat me and fill me / I rise above lines"-and full of wisdom. Visceral and stirring, the poems in this collection touch on vastly disparate subjects but are ultimately unified in a singular quest: to inspire those who read them toward kindness, compassion, and questioning.
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(@shewritespress, 14 May 2024, e-galley, 80 pages, #ARC from @PoeticBookTours, #BogTour 16 April)
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This is new poet for me. I really enjoyed Night of the Hawk. The poems cover a wide range of subjects so I never quite knew what to expect when I turned the page. The poems are well-written and engaging. I enjoyed the poet's use of language and imagery a lot. I could engaged with all of the poems. I especially liked As The Bow Breaks, the title poem, Impact, Ziggy and Dawn. I'd recommend this.
4/5
