Magic Enuff by Tara M. Stringfellow, which will be released tomorrow June 25, sets the tone early with its poem, “Picking,” calling for the song of cotton and hemp pickers in the fields and the sorrow and pain of it, but also the beauty of God in it. There are these moments in tension with one another — pain and joy — intermingled and called to the present as a lesson in humility and pride. Stringfellow is weaving a narrative in which magic is born and Black femininity rises to the surface as a powerful force.
She recalls some of the most horrific moments in these poems — the death of Emmett Till, her mother’s first black eye — all to demonstrate the power of resolve and faith. But don’t be fooled that all of this is about race. It isn’t. It is an empowerment song for Black women.
Stringfellow tackles relationships with parents, lovers, etc., and these relationships often carry tension between pain and joy. The act of picking is revisited over and over, reminding the reader that we can choose how we react or interact, how we can proactively choose happiness and joy even in the midst of pain.
I love all of the haiku, but I have a certain love for unconventional haiku. But there are so many poems in here to ruminate on.
In My Godmother's Garden (pg. 55)
we picked
the roses
red
yellow
she held them gingerly
in her gloved fist
shaded by magnolias
we dug in red southern clay
for anything salvageable
bursting
ready
Black men, who will pick me
this wild
yellow thing
if you do not?
Stringfellow’s poems in Magic Enuff remind us that we have the power to see ourselves as we are and we must choose to see the best in ourselves. Too many try to tear us down or fail to see our beauty, why should we join them in the demolishing? We are each magic enuff.
RATING: Quatrain
About the Poet:
Tara M. Stringfellow is a former attorney, Northwestern University MFA graduate, and two-time Pushcart Prize nominee whose debut novel and national bestseller Memphis was a Read with Jenna pick and longlisted for the Women’s Prize in Fiction. A cross-genre artist, the author was Northwestern University’s first MFA graduate in both poetry and prose and her work has appeared in Collective Unrest, Jet Fuel Review, Minerva Rising, Women’s Arts Quarterly and Apogee Journal, among others. After having lived in Okinawa, Ghana, Chicago, Cuba, Spain, Italy, and Washington, D.C., she moved back home to Memphis, where she sits on her porch swing every evening with her hound, Huckleberry, listening to records and chatting with neighbors. Photo credit: Josh Looney Photography
This sounds like a great collection!