When a book has a good backstory, be it how it was made, inspired or the author themselves I usually enjoy that as much as the book. And when my personal journey is the backstory, well of course I love that! The backstory to how I found Legacy: Women Poets of the Harlem Renaissance by Nikki Grimes (to me) was funny.
The library trip with my nephew had me in the wrong section (non fiction) when we first wandered into the children’s room. Well, I thought maybe there would be some non-fiction books he might like, but since I wasn’t feeling anything, I figured he wouldn’t either. But since I am easily distracted by shiny objects and squirrels, a shiny spine grabbed my attention. Next to it was Grimes’ poetry collection. I was not looking for poetry, I was not looking for anything for me really, but I knew and liked Grimes’ work and since I was unfamiliar with it figured it was fairly new. No, this book is actually several years old. And I believe that the right book comes along at the right time, and this was the right time (after all, I was going to go to the park afterwards and reading poetry in the park is supposed to be romantic and fun right? Well, I didn’t get to read it then as I was being entertained by the nephew reading Plants vs. Zombies Volume 1: Lawnmageddon, but was able to get cozy and read later).
So, I started reading and realized that it was a golden shovel collection of poems. This is when a poet takes a line or two from another poem and uses it to end each of their lines. So if the line in the original poem was: The boy throws balls, your poem lines would end with The; boy; throw; and balls. The poets Grimes was using were women authors of the Harlem Renaissance. Women who have mostly been in the shadows of their male counterparts, even though some helped make the men famous. Their works, and Grimes deal with contemporary issues from then and today. They deal with the themes we know about women and black people would have to face. Some poems are somber, and even when they might be lighter in presentation, they are not fluffy.
Grimes’ edited collection is emotional and reflective. Gorgeous illustrations accompany the poems by various illustrators. Many styles are used and each one really presents the message of the poem it is illustrating. Biographies of the authors and illustrators included.