4 Stars!

This poetry book was absolutely breathtaking. The writing was gorgeous and I was truly fixed on every word. The way Sumaya writes is beautiful, creating art out of pain. The poetry world has changed, but seeing such substance and beauty in writing has renewed my interest in the subject!

Every topic was handled with care while also not beating around the bush and being truly honest about the realities. I had to put the book down a few times as it cut deep, which is something I find vital in poetry.

I'll definitely be recommending this book to all my poetry-loving friends, as I think there are some beautiful takeaways, along with the ability to find yourself in the pages.

This is an introspective collection that invokes blackness and the author’s lived experiences. It’s moving and thoughtful, but it took me awhile to get through it. These poems are long and heavy with emotion. The author’s anger and sadness are palpable in every poem. It felt very much like the collection of someone with limited life experience. There isn’t anything wrong with that, but I personally struggled to connect.

Well paced and full of details. Dark a d heartbreaking I felt like I was right inside of the book.
Thank you Netgalley for an awesome arc in exchange for my honest opinion

Oof. This was indeed a heavy read, as the title suggests. Described as an "ode to girlhood, to Blackness, to generational trauma, sexual assault, and mental health." Sometimes beautiful, always powerful.

I’m very sorry to be giving this book such a low rating. From its title and the blurb (a poetry collection about girlhood, sexual assault, racism and mental health, celebrating blackness), I had very high expectations and went into it thinking I would love it.

However, as is always the case, poetic style and substance is highly subjective - and I’m afraid Enyegue’s just didn’t work for me.

While I’m sure that the author poured her heart and soul into these poems, she couldn’t get through to me. With the exception of a few lines, I didn’t feel this collection imparted anything new or outstanding, nor did it convince with exceptional literary prowess.

A lot of the poems read like an unformed stream of consciousness, which is a form of writing that I don’t enjoy. The collection was also quite long, when a smaller (and more edited) selection of poems would have worked better in my opinion.

Thank you NetGalley and Central Avenue Publishing for the chance to read and review Heavy is the Head by Sumaya Enyegue.

It's so strange to me that even as Sumaya Enyegue does nothing wrong in this collection, I found there to be a massive disconnect. I just couldn't get through the collection, some part of it kept me from being fully invested.

This is not to say there is something off about the poet, but just the unfortunate thing that sometimes something works for a person and sometimes it does not.

Such an emotionally charged, and amazing collection of poetry. It had me feeling all the emotions, and I will definitely be recommending this to all my friends. Incredible.

This is one of my first poetry reads in which I am glad because I thoroughly enjoyed. The raw emotions came through the words on the page. Some I will carry with me forever, and will refer back to for a long time. Heavy is the Head. When reading we realize how much we all have lived similar lives and empathize on so many levels. Each word written with purpose and loud in boldness of the sentence it was to create. I would recommend this to anyone willing to open their hearts to strikes these words will give and anyone willing to listen to this authors emotional words.

In Heavy is the Head, Sumaya Enyegue explores in her poetry themes of womanhood, Blackness, racism and sexism, love and heartache, and mental health.

Favorite poems:
- GIRLHOOD
- REARRANGING MY TRAUMAS
- CONFESSIONS OF A BEAST
- MISSING PERSONS REPORT
- IS THIS THE LIFE YOU WANTED?
- [WHEN A BLACK GIRL DIES, THE LAST THING TO DECOMPOSE IS HER HEART.]
- PEACHES
- GIRLHOOD PT. 3
- JUST ONE OF THE BOYS
- LANGUAGE
- POST-WAR
- PRETTY FOR A BLACK GIRL
- DELIRIUM
- HOW LOVELY IT IS TO BE BLACK
- HYPOTHETICALLY, OF COURSE
- SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL
- BLACK GIRL LOSES HER TEMPER
- SYMPTOMS OF WOMANHOOD

"The last person I adored made me
cry and then tenderly wiped the
tears of my face. It was the only
lesson he ever taught me; you can
love someone and still do horrible,
cruel things to them."

Honest, raw and beautifully written. Poetry is subjective but I believe everyone should read this collection of poems. This book isn't easy to read (check for TWs) and the poems cut and are raw but that's what is so important about this collection. Enyegue writes her truth in such a beautiful and honest way. I highly recommend this heavy but beautiful book. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for letting me read and review this ARC. All opinions are my own.

Thank you to NetGalley and Central Avenue Publishing for the advance reader copy.

Have you ever read someone’s words and found that they have said the things that you’ve been keeping hidden?
Because this is how this felt.

There’s a lot of feeling when reading someone’s truth especially in the form of poems. It feels a lot more personal and as though they’re snippets of thought.

I think saying you enjoyed reading this would be wrong, but I’m glad I did. It was heartbreaking and open and when I finished I just wanted to give Sumaya a hug.

Wow. Just wow. What a powerful poetry collection. Heavy is the Head by Sumaya Enyegue is bursting with love, heartache, anger, grief. It has these deep nostalgic moments of sadness, poems that pulsate with life. That’s really it—this poetry feels so alive, like it wants to leap from the page and burrow into your heart. I feel like so much of this book is relatable, in its girlhood, love and loss. I saved so many of these poems, they hit me in so many different ways—always with a startling punch, a line that surprises, something heavy and undeniable. Gorgeous. I loved every second of this, could have read it in one sitting but tried to stretch it out and let it linger. I’ll be buying the physical copy to annotate and reread again and again. A really special read and probably the best book of poetry I read this year.

Highly highly recommend.

Thank you to NetGalley and Central Avenue Publishing for the free advanced reader copy! Happy publishing!

2.0

I feel a bit bittersweet about this collection of poems. I know that art, especially poetry, can be very personal to an individual and I really really did not want to disparage an up-and-coming poet. HOWEVER, when I don't enjoy the poetry experience, I don't enjoy it. I'm new to poetry but I think poetry should first and foremost evoke emotion for me, I need to see imagery of an emotion, and I need to understand the message. A lot of the poems in this collection, I didn't really understand, I sympathised but again, it was a distant connection and it felt like it was keeping me at arm's length. I know what the poet was going for with their intent, but I didn't feel like they really backed up their words with emotion, imagery, or rhythm. Sadly, in my own opinion, this feels like a string of text posts that I would regularly see on my Tumblr dashboard - I feel that with a little more work, more care, and more spirit into the poems, this would have been a decent collection.

I have read poems by black people before (Maya Angelou, Audre Lorde), so I understand the intent the poet has, but I don't think it was translated well from her soul to the page. I'm really sorry, I really wanted to like this - the cover and the theme was really interesting and I was so excited, but I didn't like the poems enough to read them again and again to analyse them properly - there just wasn't much to analsye.

I will say that some poems were really good and I did enjoy because it felt like more care was put into them, and I think the author has potential to write amazing essays on the Black experience, especially through a Black woman's persepective. I think her tone and narrative colour is more suited to essays (that's just my opinion please don't hate me).

Vulnerable. Honest. Powerful. Thought-provoking. A collection of experiences lived through written word. As the reader, I felt sorrow, fright, empathy, and confusion at various times. I slowly consumed the words and let them sink into my heart and brain. This is the gift of poetry and this collection embodies what it means to have human experience. Thank you for sharing.

Thank you NetGalley, Central Avenue Publishing, and author Sumaya Enyegue for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Day 4 of @SealeyChallenge 2023. Heavy is the Head by Sumaya Enyegue published by Central Avenue Publishing.
@NetGalley @EnyegueSumaya @centavepub #TheSealeyChallenge

I’m grateful for the work of witness that has been accomplished on these pages. With great heart and emotion, Sumaya studies socio-cultural issues such as violence against women and cultural appropriation.

Some of my favorite moments:

Sumaya Enyegu

Without giving it a name, what do you call the first punishment? I

Someday I’ll get to go home: when I have mastered the art of not wearing grief so easily.

Our origin stories are the first time a white man finds us desirable and saves us from our third world countries and makes us take off cultures at the door.

"the goal is for us to grow up, right? boys morph into men and girls into gaping wounds" (Girlhood)

Sumaya Enyegue's debut poetry collection seeks to hurt - not heal. Tackling issues like girlhood, Blackness, generational trauma, sexual assault, and mental health, Heavy is the Head doesn't pull punches. It wants the reader to feel the collective hurt of the human experience, and to realize they aren't alone.

There wasn't a single poem I disliked in this collection. Out of the gate, Girlhood hits hard and the lyricism of Enyegue's writing is apparent with the way difficult topics are tackled. I adored the second poem in the collection and how the formatting varies from piece to piece. Each poem thereafter felt intentional and worthy of being included, which I appreciated. It felt cohesive in a way that both hurt and fit perfectly with the tone of the entire book.

I'm so happy to have received a copy of this! This is one of those poetry collections I need to have a physical copy of immediately so I can revisit it at-will and bury myself in the prose. I cannot wait to read more of Enyegue's work and will be eagerly awaiting what comes next.

Thank you to NetGalley and Central Avenue Publishing for providing me a copy of this book for an honest review.

I’m speechless after finishing this. I really can’t put into words how good this book was. It was so emotional and I loved every second of it. The poems were beautifully written, I re-read them a thousand times.

This is one of those poetry books that sits with you. It invites you to look at the trauma of black women. I've already recommended it - and will continue to do so. Powerful.

This was a solid read for me!

I thought each poem was strong, reflective, and the flow of consciousness created as you tie them together was very interesting and effective.

There was purpose and deliberate structure throughout and this allowed the collection to have good pacing, without repetitiveness.

One specific poem I found to be very moving was ‘Peaches’ which creates a gut-punching imagery of abuse. Other poems describing the struggles of being a BIPOC woman were extremely helpful in giving a spotlight to, in my case, a white woman.

All in all, though I’m not a big poetry reader, a very engaging and enlightening read.

So, so raw and honest and beautiful and heartfelt.

This collection tackles so many different issues and challenges that we of a different generation, race and age are facing today. I am so blessed to have read this book as I am in a very vulnerable environment for the past few months. I am not okay and I thought reading books that bring you the exact feeling of anxiety and uncertainty would not help much. How wrong I was!

No internet for the past three months and most of the precious advance reader copies have already expired by the time I had to reinstall the NetGalley app. This book was still hanging there and I read it on its publishing day! I am so glad and indeed glad that this book has been waiting for me the entire time.

If you love the writing of Rupi Kaur and Amanda Lovelace like I do, I am sure you will love this book. It has so much to offer. I read this book in a sitting which I usually do not recommend for such type of content but I just couldn’t help myself.

Pages after pages I wasn’t ready when the book ended.

There’s a lot of reality here which when others read would feel like it’s someone else’s story. But when you read this book and explore the themes each poetry/content has, you will find areas which fit into your reality as well. That’s what made this book so different and interesting.

I will not get enough of this book. Take your time. Treat yourself with care and kindness. That’s what the book is ultimately trying to convey. Do read this book and listen to what it is trying to tell you.

I feel so comforted and understood.

Thank you, Central Avenue Publishing, for the advance reading copy.