Toi Derricotte: 4 books

Toi Derricotte’s fourth collection of poetry. Tender  probes sexuality, spirituality, emotion, child abuse, mother hatred, and the physical and psychological ravages of violence. These poems are raw and upsetting in subject matter, yet extremely readable.

In Derricotte’s own words: “How do you gain access to the power of parts of yourself you abhor, and make them sing with beauty, tenderness, and compassion?   This is the record of fifty years of victories in the reclamation of a poet's voice.”  

“Poems that stick with you like a song that won’t stop repeating itself in your brain, poems whose cadences burrow into your bloodstream, orchestrating your breathing long before their sense attaches its hooks to your heart.” —Washington Post on Captivity

What are the forces that cause us to strike out and harm each other?  Captivity explores the way in which the individual is held hostage by society; how the forces of racism, sexism, and classism frequently express themselves as violence within the family.  The book also explores a deeper captivity, like the Jews in Egypt yearning for the Promised Land, the soul trapped in exile from God.