Finna by Nate Marshall

fin-na /ˈfinə/ contraction: (1) going to; intending to. rooted in African American Vernacular English. (2) eye dialect spelling of "fixing to." (3) Black possibility; Black futurity; Blackness as tomorrow.

dispatch from the 6th circle

Crawfordsville, IN

I count the Confederate flags

around town, a surprise considering the geography.

what earnest confusion, honest mistake it takes

to fly a rebel flag in the North. this makes the most

sense: us turning against us, the cannibal instinct, the

vote against self. self-hate is something i've known.

hear the way my voice lilts too many 

ways, my vocabularies wrestle themselves, scrap

amongst the street in between my teeth. watch my mouth slang

& stutter into eloquence. watch my mouth whistle

this simple Dixie.

~p. 86

If you hang around my blog much, you might remember that I accidentally bought the wrong book entitled Finna. I mean . . . you wouldn't think there'd be two by that name, would you? Here's a link to the other Finna, by Nino Cipri.

Finna by Nate Marshall is the book I intended to buy, a book of poetry from which I read an excerpt online somewhere (Instagram, maybe?) that I absolutely loved. Although I didn't buy it specifically because of the fact that the author is Black, that's a definite side benefit because I am trying to buy more books by people of color to amplify their voices. 

You can see the author is both serious about racism and playful. I enjoyed his ability to stab the heart with irony.

Highly recommended - An outstanding poetry collection. Sharp, insightful, descriptive of both pain and anger but with humor. I love this collection of poetry about blackness and claiming one's name, place, and people. I gave it 5 stars and am so glad I bought a copy so I can return to it. 

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