“Throughout this collection, Maples is preoccupied with endearing depictions of nurture and protection that ‘infect us with hope’ even when she acknowledges the ways in which family can cause pain and disappointment. And because Maples’s viewfinder is never long averted from the symbiosis of the clownfish and anemone, the banner over Long Eye is love.” —Cedric Tillman, author of In My Feelings “Attentive to ancestors, siblings, children, and a beloved, and punctuated by pieces entitled ‘Autobiography of a Black Mermaid,’ this collection of praise songs and elegies is awash with bodies of water, and a current of gorgeous, oceanic vocabulary. —Rebecca Hart Olander, author of Singing from the Deep End“‘There is mercy in water, relief // for evil on land,’ observes the Black Mermaid whose oracular vision guides Kwoya Fagin Maples's stunning second collection Long Eye. Indeed, as these poems move from wave to shore, they are rich with blue whales, oysters, dolphins, parrotfish, and all the creatures of the roaring Atlantic. What I admire most about these poems is their keen gaze at both human horror and natural beauty, bound together by the tender intimacies of family and love.” —Nancy Reddy, author of Pocket Universe“In poems that are lush, seductive and finely crafted, Kwoya Fagin Maples takes a long clear-eyed look at what it means to be a Black woman navigating American waters both serene and stormy. In this poet’s capable hands, the sea becomes the ‘Womb from which/We all spring,’ the source of our rhythm, language, tribulation, and hope. Like children in the shallows, we, too, dart in and out of the waves, sometimes renewed, sometimes overcome, but always delighted. This book feeds my soul, fulfilling the author's pronouncement, ‘I was born with a job to record.’” —Jacqueline Allen Trimble, author of How to Survive the Apocalypse, Poet Laureate of AlabamaPraise for Mend“Maples’s skill as a poet pours through every page of this book. This is difficult material, but she illuminates it with carefully shaped lines and flowing prose poems. Her voice is vivid, urgent. Every line is powerful.” —New York Journal of Books “Maples’s masterful image-making magnetizes and mesmerizes [...]. Art hurts and it heals. Kwoya Fagin Maples is a visionary doctor. History is humbled in her hands.” —Abraham Smith, author of Destruction of Man“Mend is a brutal story, lyrically told in the voices of three of those women, and its author has memorably created both a painful reminder and a beautiful tribute.” —Kim Addonizio, from the runner up citation for The Donald Hall Prize“With Mend, Kwoya Fagin Maples is equal parts teacher and poet: releasing a part of history that needed to be told, she's brought dignity and light to the women of Mt. Meigs; further, she's urging readers to learn and listen, to not repeat the ugliness hidden in our white-washed past. This is a must-read book for anyone, timeless and worth any praise Maples may yet garner for it.” —Alabama Writers’ Forum“Maples does not flinch to enunciate the disgusting truths of racism and misogyny; neither does she neglect the possibility of beauty. These poems carry an unbearable weight of witness: so much suffering, but also the joy of survival, the survival of joy.” —Joel Brouwer, University of Alabama“Maples’s poems are narrative-driven, yet clear-voiced and lyrical; she writes us a world, a history, with her vision and leans back into a past to write herself into the story.” —DéLana R. A. Dameron, author of Weary Kingdom: Poems
