Thank you to Harper360YA for sending me this digital copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was a beautifully edited and well put together anthology of poetry. Tackling a multitude of themes with honesty and vulnerability, this collection tugged on my emotions in a variety of different ways.

I really loved how this collection included pieces by both contemporary and historical poets!

Despite having an undergraduate and postgraduate degree in Literature, I still struggle to understand the majority of poetry. I will often google the meaning after I’ve read a poem and realise my interpretation was apparently completely off bass. Now, I know some people will argue that there is not one fixed meaning of a poem, and to attempt to assign one is to go against the very nature of poetry. While, to an extent, I do agree (we can all find different meaning in things depending on our own experiences) I do think there is always a theme or a message the poet was trying to convey. This a whole big conversation and I’ve got lots of thoughts but this is me attempting to sum it up.

MY point is, with the above, is that I like how this anthology explains the meaning behind the poems at the end. I think this does a great job of making the poetry more accessible to people like me who generally struggle to read it, or to young audiences who are only starting out with poetry and may need an extra bit of help. It even provides a great insight/counter to those who may have a different interpretation. So, I do love that that the editors decided to include this. Again, people who may not like meaning explained to them may dislike this, but seeming as it’s quite clearly marked at the ending of the poem it can simply be skipped.

Overall, a great selection of poetry,

My favourites:

Track 3: Colours (Fatima Stephens)
Track 4: Textured (Kandace Fuller)
Track 5: 10:32pm (Courtne Comrie)
Track 6: Views for Damani (Tony Keith Jr)
Track 6: A Hymn to the Evening (Phillis Wheatley)
Track 11: Hottentot Girl Summer (Ibi Zoboi)
Track 4: This Is Not a Small Voice (Sonia Sanchez)
Track 10: Middle Passage: Day One (Kwame Alexander)
Track 11: New Curriculum on Water (Taylor Byas)
Track 2: A Fable (Etheridge Knight)

Thank you so much to Harper360YA for an e-arc in exchange of an honest review.

Poemhood: Our Black Revival was an absolutely beautiful collection of poetry from many talented poets. Focusing on History, Folklore and the Black Experience this is an anthology that you should definitely reach for.

One poem that personally stood out to me was “Track 8: Grandmother Goddess” by L. Renée. My Grandma is very very dear to me and always will be and I don’t think enough light is ever shone on how extraordinary grandparents are. I’ve always said that grandmothers have something special – magical in fact – running through their veins. I will always speak about how special my grandmother is and this poem truly made me very emotional and reflective on the love that I will always have for her even if she is no longer physically with me, she will always be there in spirit. My Grandma is a goddesses and I will forever feel extremely blessed for her.

“And I’ve got the rivers of my Grandmother Goddess flowing through me”.

I can’t even begin to explain just how much this line absolutely moved me, this whole poem in fact. I would highly recommend this anthology.

Thank you to Harper360YA and Netgalley for providing me with an eARC for review!

What a powerful anthology! I'm not the biggest poetry fan but I found this collection to be really accessible, with a short outro following each poem to explain a bit more about it, and I thought that the way the poems were divided up into four "volumes" was a great call as it made me look for a common vein or theme while each poem remained so unique. This anthology did an amazing job of giving us readers a taste of just how vast and rich the history of the Black experience is. I found that not every poem in the collection particularly resonated with me, but I came away with so much to think about and would highly recommend this book to poetry and non-poetry readers alike! Happy Reading :)

This poetry collection was similar to a lot of anthologies that I read, in regards to the fact that some poems really hit and really resonate, whereas some I just felt "eh" about. I did really like that there was an outro after each poem, explaining it or giving context for those who may not understand (not only not understanding the Black experience, but also not understanding the poem itself), and therefore I think this would be a great poetry collection to use in high school classrooms.

An interesting insight into the lives of Black people. While I found some of the poems shocking, I believe that may be what the author was going for. Not my kind of book unfortunately, but still an interesting read.

Many thanks to Harper360YA for the digital review copy!

This is one of those books that should be taught in schools. It's an amazing introductory resource into both historical and contemporary Black poetry. I'm not the hugest poetry reader, but this was a really interesting experience for me. I especially loved the context added to the poems, which made the poems more accessible and invited the reader to read the poems more attentively and critically. In this way it made some more complex poetry more accessible for young adult readers, not by "dumbing down" the reading material, but my creating a bridge of knowledge and understanding between the poem and the reader. I think teaching (part of) this collection in literature lessons would make for a really valuable learning experience and can lead to really important conversations.

An ode to the numerous Black experiences! Contrary to what society tries to believe, the Black experience, though similar for most, is not the same for all. I thoroughly enjoyed reading poems from familiar heavy hitters like Wheatley, Giovanni, Hughes, and others, along with poets that are newer to my memory. I especially love the background information providing the meaning and/or inspiration of the poems included. I will be purchasing a copy of this book for my personal library collection, my classroom library, and even one for my school's library.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC of this novel. 4/5 stars.

I really like verse novels, and I love how this combines older (ancestral) poets with modern day. I also really liked how each poem had an outro with it that explained the content and how it tied into the overall theme and purpose of the collection of poems in the anthology. The outro is not only unique because I haven't seen one before, but I also think it definitely helps to understand the context and purpose of each of the poems. There are a lot of topics covered in the anthology, and I only wish it could've provided more context for each of the sections and more connections between the selections.

This anthology is unique with history, folklore, and experiences from Black poets; especially the interwoven poetry from the past (James Baldwin, Audre Lorde, Lucille Clifton, etc.). The juxtaposition of past and present writers depicts pain, joy, and resilience. The "outro" following each poem serves to break down the metaphors/messages and engage readers with context some may not know or may not have picked up on while reading. This book is a fantastic choice for classroom or book club use with the outro information as a discussion point or writing prompt. Students can also try out new poetic forms described, such as a bop or a villanelle.

This deep and touching collection of Black poetry creates a joyful, painful, and emotionally rich experience. It should be in every library and classroom across the country.

This was such an interesting read. I don’t read a lot of poetry but I loved the format of this book. I found the Outros really helpful in explaining some meaning I may have missed. I enjoy reading about perspectives that are different than my own and I found this very informative and moving and enlightening.

This poetry collection is full of profound, wonderful poems from Black authors. I have already recommended it to several friends as I believe it provides great insight into racism and Black culture.

An amazing, powerful collection of poems celebrating the Black experience.

My students are asking more and more for poetry collections, and I've been working to build my library's collection. This one is a perfect addition, as it not only includes pieces from long-time favorites like Gwendolyn Brooks and Langston Hughes, but many current poets that my students will recognize: Kwame Alexander, Nikki Grimes, and Amber McBride (just to name a few).

I love how the poems each include an "Outro" at the end. A brief explanation of what the poem is saying and/or what the poet was thinking when he/she wrote it. I love this not only because it will help my students with interpretation, but also because it's interesting to see how my interpretation as a reader compares with the author's own.

this poetry anthology explores what it is to be black in america. this includes modern authors and poets as well as classic authors and poets. i really enjoyed how this collection was structured. each poem was accompanied by an outro which makes this more accessible for those who have trouble with poetry or may not know the history behind the poem.

I LOVED this collection!!! I think reading poetry can often be daunting because it references specific ideas/times/notions, without giving much context. By far my favorite thing about this collection is that for every poem, there’s a blurb after that explains its significance, what it’s referencing, and the context within which it was written. This collection includes some poems I’d read previously, but I now understand them in a completely different way. It also includes a lot of poems/poets unfamiliar to me. I love the variety in topics, authors, and writing styles. Really an incredible collection that I think everyone could enjoy.

Apart from the outros-- short, often clunky and confusing attempts to explain each poem, at times so unnecessary as to be intrusive-- Poemhood: Our Black Revival is an excellent collection of poetry focused on Black experiences and traditions. Despite the outros, I think every high school library should purchase it.

Poemhood is a celebration, a mourning, and monologue of the black experience through verse. You got poems from all angles of being a person of color.


From inside the house we open the doors


Broken down like mixtape. In volume and track listing.

Theres some that will tear you apart and then there are some that will cut the funk in your vibe and appreciate the language laid out to you. Raw. Unfiltered. With Feeling. With Love.

Collection of Poems on Black experience, celebrating the beauty of Black folklore and history.

Heartbreaking and eye opening at times, this is sadly beautiful.

I would call this more ‘serious’ poetry. The raw emotion is a bit reigned in but definitely still there. Each poem has a slightly different format, spanning different but related topics.

There are two things I'm looking at here. One: the collection itself, which is easily a five-star assortment of poems arranged around four central themes. I have slightly mixed feelings about how much this anthology draws from past authors, but it worked for the interwoven themes of the anthology.

Then there's the other element, which frustrated me: each 'track' is accompanied by an outro that, allegedly, explains something about the poem. Nearly all of these are written in an oddly upbeat and tautological style that may be appropriate for middle schoolers, possibly. Often they'll include lines like, "The poet even goes so far as to say..." and then includes lines of the poem that are quite literally on the same page. There were only a few cases in which I felt like the outros added anything. They read as though they were written for a much younger audience than the poems themselves, specifically in terms of language and content. I really like the idea of presenting outside information that a younger reader may not know about historical facts, symbolism, etc., but the specific details often didn't work for me.

Outros aside, there were some truly lovely and heartbreaking poems in here, which address a variety of topics about Blackness in general, our about specific experiences of the poets. Some of the pieces exist in conversation with other poems and/or poets. Even though I didn't care for the outros themselves, I think this book was designed to engage with younger readers who may feel that most poetry isn't accessible to them or doesn't speak to their experiences. Overall, I believe it did a good job of that.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this book as an ARC.

A great collection of poems that bring light to important topics. Great for every reader! These poems would be great for class projects and poetry lessons.