Tara Betts
Arc
& Hue
$15.00
Tara Betts
received her MFA from New England College and is a
Cave Canem fellow. Her work appears in Callaloo,
Essence, Gathering Ground, and The Spoken Word
Revolution, among other publications. She teaches
creative writing at Rutgers University and lives in
the New York area. Arc and Hue is her debut
collection.
When the
words arc and hue come together they often make a
rainbow. In these illuminating narratives, from
personal to public, Tara Betts draws on a
“coalition” of rich urban heritages to not only
bring about the self-healing of a divided identity,
but the prismatic “further healing” of a divided
America, unearthing the linguist riches and myths of
the African Diaspora along her way. These bold and
engaging poems are the treasures of a caring writer
fully committed to her gift. Sistuh Lady cooks.
—Wanda
Coleman, poet & writer, Mercurochrome
Erasure
Every face slowly
dropping out of the world
like they never had breath, laughter or tears.
Chunks of history scooped out of the book of
life,
burned for kindling, tossed into landfills
buried in chips from obsolete computers.
Too many bodies
have been drawn
into centrifugal black holes, never to be seen
before they come clearly into view.
There must be
some weathervane willing
to announce a shift in the wind.
There must be a gust of hands willing to turn
the rooster’s iron head away from absence.
History is pulled
from my mouth
slow as a string of pearls, one bead at a time.
I stock the shelves with more substance than
porcelain figurines. I am raising my fists,
bareknuckled, tangling with omission.
Or it is an embrace caught again and again
between my fingers.
