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Cave Canem Poetry Prize
Begin with a Failed Body
This collection of poems begins rooted in the landscape of the U.S. South as it voices singular lives carved out of immediate and historical trauma. While these poems dwell in the body, often meditating on its frailty and desire, they also question the weight that literary, historical, and religious icons are expected to bear. Within the vast scope of this volume, the poems arc from a pig farmer's funeral to Georges de la Tour's paintings and Toni Morrison's Beloved . With an ear tuned to the lift and lilt of speech, they wring song from sorrow and plant in every dirge a seed of jubilation. Rich in clarity and decisive in her attention to image, Natalie J. Graham writes resonant, lush poetry.
- GenresPoetry
88 pages, ebook
Published September 15, 2017
About the author
Natalie J. Graham
3 books2 followersNatalie Graham is a Ph.D, poet and hip hop scholar interested in the intersections of race, gender, class and geography. She is an associate professor at Cal State Fullerton.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
June 20, 2017
I don’t usually read a lot of poetry because I tend to be very picky about it, but I really enjoyed this collection.
Begin With a Failed Body contains poems spanning a variety of subjects, crafting skilled portraits of religion, family relationships, love, and loss. Graham’s writing is simply beautiful, shifting from colloquial slang to more elegant descriptions and back again in a blend that feels smooth and refreshing, like running water on a hot, humid day. She crafts powerful images in these lines, and leaves you with a stunning impression of life, woven closely with threads of the past. The lingering history of African-American slavery and oppression runs through poems set in both historical and modern times, a dark legacy that Graham seems highly conscious of. Throughout the whole collection, the use and descriptions of the human body play a central role in capturing scenes and relationships, in a way that makes them somehow more visceral and real.
The foreword was also beautifully written, and I think it did a lovely job of tying together the subject matter of all the poems and the topics they addressed. My personal favorites were Judas Kiss, Magdalen with the Smoking Flame, and Ophelia by Water…something about the imagery and emotion in those ones made them incredibly beautiful to me.
I received an ARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Begin With a Failed Body contains poems spanning a variety of subjects, crafting skilled portraits of religion, family relationships, love, and loss. Graham’s writing is simply beautiful, shifting from colloquial slang to more elegant descriptions and back again in a blend that feels smooth and refreshing, like running water on a hot, humid day. She crafts powerful images in these lines, and leaves you with a stunning impression of life, woven closely with threads of the past. The lingering history of African-American slavery and oppression runs through poems set in both historical and modern times, a dark legacy that Graham seems highly conscious of. Throughout the whole collection, the use and descriptions of the human body play a central role in capturing scenes and relationships, in a way that makes them somehow more visceral and real.
The foreword was also beautifully written, and I think it did a lovely job of tying together the subject matter of all the poems and the topics they addressed. My personal favorites were Judas Kiss, Magdalen with the Smoking Flame, and Ophelia by Water…something about the imagery and emotion in those ones made them incredibly beautiful to me.
I received an ARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
March 9, 2018
Thank you to The University of Georgia Press for gifting me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Natalie J. Graham has combined the old and the new to create a refreshingly accessible collection of poetry, Begin with a Failed Body. From the outside, this may look like just another book on race and religion, but it’s far more than that.
In the first section of this book, Graham explores the physical and psychological aspects of her body by exploring what it means to her to be African American. As an associate professor of African American studies, it is clear that she holds an abundance of knowledge on the subject. She captures not only what it means to be an African American in 2018, but she also explores the history. For me, the section heightened at “The Idea of Order”, a hauntingly unsettling portrayal of slave abuse. Graham also comforts and commiserates with her readers with poems such as “What Might Not Break Through” when she says,
“we lay tangled on a sagging air-mattress.
Your computer’s red light winked
The heating unit shuddered as cold eased
under the duct-taped window.
Things seemed willing to settle
into the midnight hush.”
With these clear, organic lines, Graham brings us readers with her into this intimate moment.
Throughout the first section, Graham does well exploring the lives of African slaves, and how that narrative fits into the lives of current day African Americans.
While the first section of this book focuses on race, the second explores a deeper concept – religion. Graham first talks about Judas, and eventually combines current day spirituality with more traditional religious beliefs. I enjoyed this because it opened up the conversation about spirituality to more than just those who are familiar with scripture. Graham humanizes God and makes the study of religious accessible to all.
The only criticism I had about this book as a whole, is the decision to add the forward. A brief forward may have worked well but the extensive 8-page introduction read more like a detailed review of the book than a true forward. For me, I don’t like to read reviews before I read a book for fear of someone else’s opinion affecting my own, so I wasn't too keen on the forward.
Besides that, I enjoyed this refreshing new look on some well-worn topics. I especially loved the raw, unpoetic parts that Graham weaves into her more lyrical lines. Within these unpoetic lines, she mentions boxers, tattoo, broken ceiling fans, boasting football players, alligator skin boots, a Haitian flag bandana, cut tomatoes, spoiled eggplant, and more.
I have several favorites poems and lines,
“the motel where a girl could stay
if she doesn’t mind a parking lot lit
with a couple of ghosts.”
“He delivers lukewarm pickup lies
to unseen loiterers,”
“Later, the first spectacular dollops of summer
erupt on the ashy windshield,”
“My dark body
cannot find a moment of rest
in this deep sea.”
“As summer persists,
everything exaggerates.”
“I am a scientist, dissecting
this heart like a greasy frog,
handling its limp tubes
with my metal fingers.”
“she will try to become something sacred,
rechristen herself.”
“Weak angels lurked,
hesitant to heal.
Gaggling sinners crushed
And shuddered forward.”
“Everyday griefs multiplied,
vines in a wretched, lush garden.”
Natalie J. Graham has combined the old and the new to create a refreshingly accessible collection of poetry, Begin with a Failed Body. From the outside, this may look like just another book on race and religion, but it’s far more than that.
In the first section of this book, Graham explores the physical and psychological aspects of her body by exploring what it means to her to be African American. As an associate professor of African American studies, it is clear that she holds an abundance of knowledge on the subject. She captures not only what it means to be an African American in 2018, but she also explores the history. For me, the section heightened at “The Idea of Order”, a hauntingly unsettling portrayal of slave abuse. Graham also comforts and commiserates with her readers with poems such as “What Might Not Break Through” when she says,
“we lay tangled on a sagging air-mattress.
Your computer’s red light winked
The heating unit shuddered as cold eased
under the duct-taped window.
Things seemed willing to settle
into the midnight hush.”
With these clear, organic lines, Graham brings us readers with her into this intimate moment.
Throughout the first section, Graham does well exploring the lives of African slaves, and how that narrative fits into the lives of current day African Americans.
While the first section of this book focuses on race, the second explores a deeper concept – religion. Graham first talks about Judas, and eventually combines current day spirituality with more traditional religious beliefs. I enjoyed this because it opened up the conversation about spirituality to more than just those who are familiar with scripture. Graham humanizes God and makes the study of religious accessible to all.
The only criticism I had about this book as a whole, is the decision to add the forward. A brief forward may have worked well but the extensive 8-page introduction read more like a detailed review of the book than a true forward. For me, I don’t like to read reviews before I read a book for fear of someone else’s opinion affecting my own, so I wasn't too keen on the forward.
Besides that, I enjoyed this refreshing new look on some well-worn topics. I especially loved the raw, unpoetic parts that Graham weaves into her more lyrical lines. Within these unpoetic lines, she mentions boxers, tattoo, broken ceiling fans, boasting football players, alligator skin boots, a Haitian flag bandana, cut tomatoes, spoiled eggplant, and more.
I have several favorites poems and lines,
“the motel where a girl could stay
if she doesn’t mind a parking lot lit
with a couple of ghosts.”
“He delivers lukewarm pickup lies
to unseen loiterers,”
“Later, the first spectacular dollops of summer
erupt on the ashy windshield,”
“My dark body
cannot find a moment of rest
in this deep sea.”
“As summer persists,
everything exaggerates.”
“I am a scientist, dissecting
this heart like a greasy frog,
handling its limp tubes
with my metal fingers.”
“she will try to become something sacred,
rechristen herself.”
“Weak angels lurked,
hesitant to heal.
Gaggling sinners crushed
And shuddered forward.”
“Everyday griefs multiplied,
vines in a wretched, lush garden.”
October 8, 2020
If I unravel this body
into a pool of black shimmering,
of ribbons, coils of dance, of flitting—
Begin with a Failed Body: Poems by Natalie Graham is the poet's first collection of published poetry and the winner of the 2016 Cave Canem Poetry Prize. Graham earned her MFA in Creative Writing at the University of Florida and completed her Ph.D. in American Studies at Michigan State University as a University Distinguished Fellow. Her poems have appeared in Callaloo, New England Review, Valley Voices: A Literary Review and Southern Humanities Review. She is a Cave Canem fellow and assistant professor of African American Studies at California State University, Fullerton.
This is a collection that I am not a typical audience member. The poems, without a doubt, are from the female and African American perspective. Nonetheless, I found the collection fascinating. In the first section, her work seems to capture Langston Hughes voice and language. The second section moves into religious topics with Judas and Mary Magnaline as subjects. The language of her poems flows well:
The oscillating fan shakes its rickety head.
She smoothes the raised black mane of a tattooed lion
and burns like Moses’s bush, fueled at four a.m.
by God-knows-what.
from "Palatka, Florida"
Graham seems to be greater than her actual age as references to items and activities seem to predate her in several instances. Perhaps this is more of an indication of the standard of living in poorer sections of Florida. This is also reflected in worn out shoes and Sunday dress as well as, for most of us, long vanished Datsun trucks. There is also a great sense of community from family and friends who take on the role as honorary aunts and uncles. Graham also presents a great deal of history included in the collection. Those who are neither not African-American nor from the South may have missed more of the personal references and history involved in the poems.
An excellent collection and an opening to a life that many have not experienced and perhaps a reminder that it should not exist in an enlightened and modern world.
into a pool of black shimmering,
of ribbons, coils of dance, of flitting—
Begin with a Failed Body: Poems by Natalie Graham is the poet's first collection of published poetry and the winner of the 2016 Cave Canem Poetry Prize. Graham earned her MFA in Creative Writing at the University of Florida and completed her Ph.D. in American Studies at Michigan State University as a University Distinguished Fellow. Her poems have appeared in Callaloo, New England Review, Valley Voices: A Literary Review and Southern Humanities Review. She is a Cave Canem fellow and assistant professor of African American Studies at California State University, Fullerton.
This is a collection that I am not a typical audience member. The poems, without a doubt, are from the female and African American perspective. Nonetheless, I found the collection fascinating. In the first section, her work seems to capture Langston Hughes voice and language. The second section moves into religious topics with Judas and Mary Magnaline as subjects. The language of her poems flows well:
The oscillating fan shakes its rickety head.
She smoothes the raised black mane of a tattooed lion
and burns like Moses’s bush, fueled at four a.m.
by God-knows-what.
from "Palatka, Florida"
Graham seems to be greater than her actual age as references to items and activities seem to predate her in several instances. Perhaps this is more of an indication of the standard of living in poorer sections of Florida. This is also reflected in worn out shoes and Sunday dress as well as, for most of us, long vanished Datsun trucks. There is also a great sense of community from family and friends who take on the role as honorary aunts and uncles. Graham also presents a great deal of history included in the collection. Those who are neither not African-American nor from the South may have missed more of the personal references and history involved in the poems.
An excellent collection and an opening to a life that many have not experienced and perhaps a reminder that it should not exist in an enlightened and modern world.
June 17, 2017
From an astonishing depth, as if sacred scriptures and biblical figures were always hovering over Graham's pages. Death a reckless way of hatching emotions. With the lucid notion of her spectrum of possibilities as a black female poet. As she posts "The black body becomes/ the carcass of an insect,/ splinters of branches."Subtleties and scenes of chewing hard, remarking an overwhelming simplicity as in: "A tornado of flies./ An empty fire pit.".A book that starts out as strange but as you dive into it, you realize that your only desire is to finish reading it.
July 19, 2017
Begin with a Failed Body
Poems
by Natalie Graham
University of Georgia Press
Multicultural Interest , Poetry
Pub Date 15 Sep 2017
I am reviewing a copy of Begin With A Failed Body through University of Georgia Press andNetgalley:
This books poems spell out life's traumas both Historical in the hear and now. It also speaks of Religious Icons, and the poems they inspire for Natalie Graham. The poems also speak loss.
The poems go on to talk about Judas and his betrayal.
I give Begin With A Failed Body five out of five stars!
Happy Reading!
June 8, 2017
I really enjoyed picking up this poetry collection. I always feel a little hesitant to read poetry by an author I'm unfamiliar with, but I must say that I'm glad I rolled the dice on this one. There is some truly lovely imagery in this collection. Natalie Graham is a skilled writer and I'd love to read more by her in the future.
October 26, 2017
Wow. Just wow. This was a beautiful collection of poetry from Natalie Graham and I am so thankful I was able to read it. There is so much depth and soul in each word that pours from her and it left me wanting more. Beautiful work.
*I received an advance reading copy in exchange for my honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.*
*I received an advance reading copy in exchange for my honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.*
August 3, 2019
(Reading as part of the 2019 #SealeyChallenge) 2/31
Begin with a Failed Body is spare, poignant, and resonant with its lyricism. Graham's poems are quiet but immensely powerful, and Kwame Dawes' introduction provides helpful ways to navigate through the essential gaps and leaps these poems make. The meditations/rewritings on Ophelia toward the end provided so much insight into this book.
Begin with a Failed Body is spare, poignant, and resonant with its lyricism. Graham's poems are quiet but immensely powerful, and Kwame Dawes' introduction provides helpful ways to navigate through the essential gaps and leaps these poems make. The meditations/rewritings on Ophelia toward the end provided so much insight into this book.
July 18, 2018
While there are strong pieces in this collection (“Death Song for Zong,” for instance), I hoped for more from this Cave Canem prizewinning book. Graham could reach more deeply into the emotional core of her topics. Many of her images lacked vitality.
November 12, 2017
Excellent poems that pack much into the clean lines. In dialogue with African-American experience, biblical stories, archaic myth, recent history, all blended through the body.
June 23, 2020
Stunning collection, with luscious imagery and an intimate dialogue of what it means to family: body, place, wound, wonder and love. A must read.
June 14, 2017
What an experience reading this! These poems elucidate the epic depths of historical trauma on one's body, with precision and clarity. Her work will especially resonate with the oppressed.
August 20, 2017
*I received an advance copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
The short version: This is a fantastic collection of poetry that absolutely deserves the award it was given! (Learn more about the Cave Canem Prize here.)
The long version:
Holy cannoli! This was an amazing poetry collection. I took so long to read it because I wanted to absorb every word!
This book explores what it means to live in a body that has failed the speaker by simply existing. Writing this exploration through a series of memories, dreams, and even biblical, historical, and fairytale figures, this collection makes the reader feel like they can relate to the speaker's struggles, while reminding them that they may never be able to fully understand it.
Natalie Graham is, without a doubt, a master of her craft. Her lines were incredibly lyrical; the assonance and internal rhyme and rhythm had me hanging on every word, not one of which was wasted. There were times when something was worded so perfectly, I actually got goosebumps and had to walk away for a little while.
With only 44 poems, this collection isn't too long, but there is so much meaning layered into such a short read! I will definitely be rereading this myself, and can't wait to get a hard copy to put on my shelves.
Seriously guys, for poetry veterans and newbies alike, I cannot recommend this collection highly enough.
**Find reviews and more book fun at Ryann the Reader
The short version: This is a fantastic collection of poetry that absolutely deserves the award it was given! (Learn more about the Cave Canem Prize here.)
The long version:
"We become terrain. First a body,
then a shrine,
then a road marker
furnishing a crowded landscape."
-"The Way of the Shrine"
Holy cannoli! This was an amazing poetry collection. I took so long to read it because I wanted to absorb every word!
This book explores what it means to live in a body that has failed the speaker by simply existing. Writing this exploration through a series of memories, dreams, and even biblical, historical, and fairytale figures, this collection makes the reader feel like they can relate to the speaker's struggles, while reminding them that they may never be able to fully understand it.
Natalie Graham is, without a doubt, a master of her craft. Her lines were incredibly lyrical; the assonance and internal rhyme and rhythm had me hanging on every word, not one of which was wasted. There were times when something was worded so perfectly, I actually got goosebumps and had to walk away for a little while.
"But, Keeper, all names are curses.
You know how my body arches for the faithful,
brutal touch of almost family,
how the skin hollers to be rubbed
quiet with hurting."
-"Cinderella Sends Her Godmother Away"
With only 44 poems, this collection isn't too long, but there is so much meaning layered into such a short read! I will definitely be rereading this myself, and can't wait to get a hard copy to put on my shelves.
Seriously guys, for poetry veterans and newbies alike, I cannot recommend this collection highly enough.
**Find reviews and more book fun at Ryann the Reader
November 24, 2017
What Natalie Graham did with this collection is to take me on a historical journey with vivid imagery. This is the kind of work that you not only read once, or twice, but you read as many times as you can because to be immersed in them is to fully grasp their depth. Thank you NetGalley for the arc.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews