I found the majority of poems for this collection to be hits-and-misses. While many left me speechless and impressed by Ramsey’s writing and storytelling ability, others seemed to miss the mark.

This could just chalk up to personal preference within the poetry genre. However, the specific poem titled “how to be beautiful” left a weird taste in my mouth. I understand that everyone’s experiences with eating disorders are different, and that I cannot criticize a poem for not perfectly matching up with my own experience, but it felt too self-helpy. As someone who has stood in front of a mirror as described in the poem, I know how impossible it is to say the words ‘i am beautiful” when every other part of me is saying the opposite.

I thought the illustrations were a good touch, and even found myself wishing for more. Overall, I enjoyed this poetry collection and would recommend it to all my poetry lovers out there who are looking for a quick read.

I really adored this collection of poetry, calling in black, by Nicholle Ramsey. Her poetry capture so many moments of the experience of being a Black woman and spoke to many different topics. From feelings of grief and the very relatable lines of "I manifested sadness as anger, until I do not know why I am crying" to how easy it is to forget to love yourself in the poems hairy legs to the anger surrounding the killing of Black folks by police in 'jesus' and 'stories'. Wise women spoke to me of hope. The poetry in this book reminded me that emotions are not the enemy, but are instead a vital part of life we have to give space to. Ramsey writes about eating disorders and learning to feel beautiful about taking a break and how sometimes the world won't let you. In addition, to the lovely poetry by Ramsey, there are many illustrations in the collection by Lukas Ramsey that I feel pair really well with the poems. All in all, this collection of poetry is very well done and I really enjoyed reading through them.

"she will fall
Stick your hand out to help her up
If she is too weak to grab hold
Just lie with her on the bathroom floor"

Thought provoking poems, that are written beautifully. It has some real stand out lines through out.

Wow, that book was... incredible. Nicholle Ramsey brings us her poetic perspective about life, mental health, love, self-discovery, race and being a woman (in her point of view). It was such a delicated book, so sensible and true that i just couldn't don't like it. My only problem with it was her view in "being a woman", that sounded a little too much 'cisgendered', but i understood what she meant. Anyway, it was such a great experience reading this book and i recomend it for anyone who likes poetry, specially the nayyirah waheed ones.

This poetry collection is a beautiful exploration of love, relationships, and self identity, accompanied by beautiful and simple illustrations that bring the poems to life. The narratives the author creates to bring certain ideas to light were vivid and imaginative. I am not the biggest poetry reader, but many of these poems resonated a lot with my life and my experiences, which I enjoyed.

Calling In Black is a thought provoking! It’s such a beautiful story, it’s definitely a must read for everybody!