A review by thecolourblue
Cannibal by Safiya Sinclair

4.0

In this wet season my gone mother 
climbs back again 
and everything here smells gutted- 
bloodtide, sea grapes in thick bloom, 
[…] 
How night comes raw, open-wounded, 
her gills wafting in the iron's heat, sea's marrow 
unrelenting, my heart one coiled mass 

I absolutely loved the first half of this collection. The fishing and ocean imagery are perfect — especially when rendered so disgustingly, dripping with salt and blood and viscera. 

The second section becomes more political (”Where a bald insurrection of tongues. / Then squashed rebellion, scrutiny. Indoctrination. / To live here we know precisely how to be hunted.”) and angry. I still like it a lot, just not as much as the heights of the first. 

Some favourites: 
  • Pocomania
  • Fisherman’s Daughter
  • Hands
  • Mermaid
  • Notes on the State of Virginia II
  • How to be an interesting woman: a polite guide for the poetess
  • Spectre
  • Chimera