Call Her by Her Name: Poems

by Bianca Spriggs

In Call Her by Her Name , the poet and performance artist Bianca Lynne Spriggs creates a twenty-first-century feminist manifesto suffused with metaphoric depth. This collection is a call-and-response of women—divine and domestic, legend and literal—who shape-shift and traverse generations. Through these narratives and cinematic poems, a chorus emerges of stories and lives rarely told. Call Her by Her Name seeks to give voice to the voiceless, including lynched black women, the biblical "Potiphar’s wife," and women who tread the rims of phenomenal worlds—the goddess, the bird-woman, the oracle. While these poems reflect an array of women and women’s experiences, each piece could be considered a hue of the same woman, whether home-wrecker, Madonna, or midwife. The woman who sees dragons was perhaps once the roller-skating girl-child. The aging geisha may also be the roots woman next door. The woman who did not speak for ten years could have ended up sinking to the ocean floor. Spriggs gives each one life and limb, breath and voice, in a collection that adds up unequivocally to a poetic celebration of women.

Genres: Poetry

96 pages, Paperback

First published April 30, 2016

Reviews

[Ariel Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

While this was assigned for a class, I easily devoured the book before I even received the syllabus. The cover art was so beautiful and complements the tone of the book well. She comes out swinging with her poem "Pedicure," a poem about a post-mortem pedicure given to her loved one. It is beautiful and haunts your the rest of the day and I found myself texting my siblings I hadn't spoke to in a while. My other favorites were Witness, All That Glitters, and this is not a self portrait. The rest of the collection is brilliant and draws you in-- twisting your original thoughts about what the poem would be about. Her use of epigraphs are well placed and poignant, offering insight to her inspiration. I highly recommend this book if you are looking to break up the monotony that sometimes accompanies some of the classics or if you are wanting to read some work by someone who continues to crank out quality pieces.

[Alexandria · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had to read this in college, and at the time, understood it perfectly. Now, that I'm older, and it has been such a chaotic year, maybe I'm not in the right headspace to read it.

The collection of poems are very deep and require a specific headspace and time to really "get them".

[Laurel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh, wow. The words you wish you could find yourself, for all the things you feel. I've never been good with symbolism, but these are poems you feel in your viscera, in your heart and soul.

[Lydia · Rating 5 out of 5]

fantastic. beautiful. beyond brilliant. a must-read for everyone.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Damn that last poem was fierce!

[Kira Gold · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have to remind myself not to read so fast. I gobbled this poetry collection like a teenager running through her first art museum. I'm lucky, I've heard Bianca's voice in person. I can catch her smile in some words, heavy thunder in others, a mystic's question, a-not-so-subtle pointed glance.
(All those sentences started with I.)
(The words pull me inside myself, turn me inside out.)
They're all women, these poems, and they shine, and have a flavor. Sometimes they're rough. Sometimes they're sharp. Some are sex and guts and glory and longing. They all tell stories.
My favorites are the witchy ones, like "Alchemist," though they all have a touch of that, the woman-magic-power.
The book sits on top of the stack by my bed; a folded page corner on "Recess: A Bop," because Mami Wati makes me grin, and I will go back and read her for comfort when I need it.

[Kalyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I will say that I was never pulled into the book, but attached myself to many of her poems such as "introducing", because it remind me of home. But then there are poems like "This is Not a Self-portrait" where the sounds are just so jarring and captivating that you have to read it again, not because you missed something, but because of the way the words fall out of your mouth which make you want to hear them again. My over all favorite poem was "Call Her By Name", and nor because it is the title poem, but because of the acrostic, but because of the way the words begin to sound. The repetition of the phrase "Not your ___" becomes aggressive and soft and quiet and strong depending on the noun that comes after.

I recommend this book to anyone who is looking for strong images and powerful Lagrange. You won't be disappointed.