Brilliant poetry by a Detroit writer / publisher / rock star
by JonesM
Sunlight Through Bullet Holes: POEMS (that will live) contains seven of Jessica Care Moore’s short collections. She is the youngest living Apollo Legend, first coming to national attention by winning the “It’s Showtime at the Apollo” competition a record-setting five times in a row. She has performed on Broadway, at Carnegie Hall, and at Lincoln Center, and she received the 2013 Alain Locke Award. She is CEO of Moore Black Press and Executive Producer of the outstanding Black WOMEN Rock! festival, and she lives and performs here in southeast Michigan.
Her poetry, much of it, cadences as if it were meant to be spoken aloud. Personal and political history, messages of love for children, self, and friends, tributes to musicians and poets, celebrations of Detroit culture and Blackness, and laments of loss and violence develop through breathtaking metaphors and surreal imagery. This is a beautiful, complex collection that's also enjoyable to read.
“I was born with stardust poems
& magic bones walking
inside stories of the children
of Bahia while drinking tears
I’ve swallowed whole in a torrential
Apartheid rain in the heart of Soweto.
I am fearless in this skin.”
Also by jessica Care moore
God Is Not An American: Poetry, Politics, & Love
Blog Post