Thanks to NetGalley and Random House for the eARC.

A haunting poetry collection. Truly beautiful, heart wrenching, and memorable.

An inventive, poignant, moving poetry collection about beloved Black women we lost too soon, from Minnie Riperton to Whitney Houston to Aaliyah. Weaving in headlines, lyrics, and interview quotes, m. mick powell explores love, loss, grief, queerness, and possibility in a way you'll never forget.

5 stars

The title is giving emotional roller coaster, and this is an accurate depiction of the contents. That's a plus, in this case, because a book of poems about women lost all too soon could be a grief spiral, and while that's part of the journey, there is also a running theme of celebration and reverence threaded throughout.

I enjoyed the poems independently, especially as an incoming fan of so many of these artists. I also enjoyed getting to learn more about those who were less familiar to me. While the poems are gripping and stylized in conjunction with each subject's specs, there are also some fascinating added inclusions (news clippings, for example) that force readers out of the romanticized icon worship and back into the harsh reality of their various demises.

I always appreciate a widget but never more so than when it's for a book I love that I know I'd never have encountered without the personal invitation. This is a great example of that circumstance, so I'm extra grateful for the access to this one and look forward to recommending it to my students.

Powerful poetry collection dedicated to the early passing of iconic, talented women of color. Evocative and heartbreaking.

Don’t mind me, I’m just over here crying about Aaliyah at 7am on a Tuesday.

dead girl cameo is a sensuous and heart achingly beautiful tribute to fandom, interrupted girlhood, sapphic love, and the cruelty of fame. Poems that serve as a requiem for lives cut short in the most cruel and tragic of circumstances, interspersed with tributes to queer joy in teenage bedrooms, in locked hotel rooms, in memories of has been and never will be. Part diary, part eulogy and above all full of reverence and defiance, this is a haunting collection that I look forward to purchasing a copy of for my shelves upon release.

Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me an e-arc in exchange for an honest review. Please seek this out if you can!

I did like this book but the format was a bit all over the place for me even for a free verse poetry book. I honestly did like the poems themselves but wish the book was put together a bit better. Thanks NetGalley and Random House for this ARC read.
3/5

Dead Girl Cameo was a unique, little book of poems that I thoroughly enjoyed. I'm not much of a poetry reader, but the topic called to me when I saw some of my favorite female, Black vocal artists were featured. It's short, not always easy to follow, but if you're into the subject matter, I think it will resonate. If you're not, this is not the book for you.

Dead Girl Cameo uses clippings from the headlines about the famous womens' deaths, interviews, and m. mick powell's own prose to tell the 'dead girl's' perspective. I found it interesting and fun, and totally sad. All of these women died young, in a blaze of glory and notoriety, and were victims of a world that gobbled them up.

If you are into the best of Black women in R&B, Whitney Houston, Billie Holiday, Aaliyah, and more, pick up this book. It will only take you an hour or so to read and it will definitely give some food for thought.

Recommended. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.