The Speaker

The speaker is haunted by her personal history, as well as the inherited history of Black women before her. While her gender is not disclosed in every poem, in many she is a woman. She shares many characteristics with Robin Coste Lewis, such as her race, her job as a college professor, her knowledge of the Hindi language, and her young son. Details from many of the poems in Sections I and III of the collection appear autobiographical, especially those pertaining to a childhood in Los Angeles, and motherhood.

In a number of poems, such as "On the Road to Sri Bhuvaneshwari" and "Summer," the speaker is grapples with the pressure of confronting the past. She knows that she must examine her history in order to go forward in life, and to heal from past traumas -- those both of her own life, and those inherited from...