Ghost in a Black Girl's Throat

(Paperback)

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"Khalisa RaesGhost in a Black Girls Throatis like a newborn scream thats been held in for eons. Sharp, strong, unapologetic, beautiful, and angry, the writing in this collection is a celebration of language and rhythm, and the words on the page run like the blood from a wound caused by racism. . . . this collection is not just one all fans of poetry should read; its one we should be assigning in schools."Gabino Iglesias, PANK Magazine

What happens when a Midwestern girl migrates to a haunted Southern town, whose river is a graveyard, whose streets bear the names of Southern slave owners How can she build a home where Confederate symbols strategically stand in the center of town Can she sage the chilling truths of her ancestors What will she do to cope with the traumatizing ghostliness of the present-day South

Ghost in a Black Girls Throat is a heart-wrenching reconciliation and confrontation of the living, breathing ghosts that awaken Black women each day. This debut poetry collection summons multiple hauntingsghosts of matriarchs that came before, those that were slain, and those that continue to speak to us, but also those horrors women of color strive to put to rest. Ghost in a Black Girls Throat examines the haunting feeling of facing past demons while grappling with sexism, racism, and bigotry. They are all present: ancestral ghosts, societal ghosts, and spiritual, internal hauntings. This book calls out for women to speak their truth in hopes of settling the ghosts or at least being at peace with them.

Reviews

"If storytelling in the griots hands is a form of resistance, thenGhost in a Black Girls Throatis a form of control. Khalisa Raes poetics are unbreakable glass knives that own uncharted and unmarked underground burrows, providing refuge for righteous indignation.

Unapologetic, slippery, but cautious language weaves inside, over, and under the remnants of sacrifice and atonement. We recoil to remember that our ancestral mothers once had a voice and now our voices are our bodies . . . 'And thats what they will come / for firstthe throat.'

Ghost in a Black Girls Throatpursues agency, selfhood, and disturbing meditations on inhumanity. These poems deliver truth and rage with the precision of a visionary heart and the rancid tears of a poisoned ghost.

This powerful collection bears witness to the fraught overlap between womens bodies and minds.Ghost in a Black Girls Throatreframes the Black body politic as sacrament, benediction, delicacy, and tenderness.

These verses are timeless refrains sizzling on parched tongues. All praises for the testament of these poems that bring a full communion of blessed assurances to wise women daring oceans to erase our footprints and to wild girls chasing winds that steal the scent of herstory."Jaki Shelton Green, author ofI Want to Undie You

"Ghosts in a Black Girls Throatresurrects the ancestral spirits of the not-so-distant past. In the poems of Khalisa Rae, ghosts become guardiansprotectors of black healing, black truth, and black power. They live in the boldness of 'Counterfeit,' as chants that proclaim, 'This black be authentic. This black be original. This melanated music be off the market.' They live in the graces of 'Body Apology,' as roots that require nurturebodies to be 'planted,' not 'plucked.' They live in the lands of 'Our Pastoral Blues'stolen, appropriated, 'broken' but 'locked in formation, weaving.'

Our hauntings, our ghosts, our painthe deepest of hues, heavy and harrowinglive as we do in the here and now, awaiting rest.Ghost in a Black Girls Throathonors the dead as the living, speaking new life into all that weighs on black womenby freeing the voices of those who have been silenced, bringing peace to the restless who are powerless no more."Denise Nichole Andrews, Editor in Chief,The HelleborePress, and Founder, HUES Foundation

"Rae considers the intersection of history and modernity in the American South in her provocative debut. Readers will be taken by the sometimes dangerous world Rae conjures."Publishers Weekly

"The title of this blew me away instantly. For people who may struggle with poetry, Raes gift of using words to visualize the history of trauma that Black womanhood entails will leave a lasting impression on you. Rae takes readers on a journey on the different issues, conversations and roadblocks that Black women encounter throughout their lives."Book Riot

"Khalisa Rae is one of those electrifying speakers you hear about. Theres just something riveting about her work on and off the page."The Poetry Question

"Ghost in a Black Girls Throat, the stunning debut poetry collection by Khalisa Rae, captures the trauma and triumph of Black queer identities."The Hellebore

"Ghost in a Black Girls Throat is a heart-wrenching reconciliation and confrontation of the living, breathing ghosts that awaken Black women each day. This debut poetry collection summons multiple hauntings ghosts of matriarchs that came before, those that were slain, and those that continue to speak to us, but also those horrors women of color strive to put to rest."Southern Review of Books,Shade Literary Arts,Write or Die Tribe,andThe Rumpus

"While some look to the past as a guide to prepare us for the future, Rae gives us that future and reminds us why it matters. This is not a dinner time read. This is not a bedtime story. This is biblical."The Poetry Question

"A remarkable chronicle of agency and prophetic voice."Yes Poetry

"In Ghost in a Black Girls Throat, published by Red Hen Press last month, Khalisa Rae has written a haunting and holy gospel. At once a book of genesis and revelation, Raes full-length debut collection unveils white supremacys forging by fire of Black girls into circus, freak show, tightrope walker, stage performer, crazy. Rae does this through the lens of a Black woman who journeys from the Midwest to find a home in the American South, chronicling the inescapability of misogynoirs violence."The Rumpus

"Ghost in a Black Girls Throat is a searing confrontation of the living and reconciliation with the ghosts that exist deep within Rae as she examines the racism, sexism and bigotry she is subjected to on a daily basis. The book calls out to women and asks them to speak on their experiences with their ghostsancestral spirits, internal hauntings and the ghosts that plague them in society."The Root

"A fiercely vibrant offering reminiscent of Southern Gothic style, Khalisa Raes Ghost in a Black Girls Throat takes an unflinching look at the racist legacy that undergirds the idyllic images of Southern domesticity, and explores the complicated relationship between home and the Black body specifically, the Black Girls body that is traumatized by slavery. This collection confronts us with the painful, enraging dilemma: Where can a Black Girl go when her home is the source of her trauma, when the architecture of the place, from foundation to furniture, stands as a monument to her oppression"Maras at Sampaguitas

"The expertly-crafted poems are mournful and simmering with unexpressed rage. They illustrate quiet resignation, peaceful protest, and grave desperation."NewPages Blog Review

"Rae shows an incredible attention to form and design, her work structured around the five elements of Fire, Wind and Water, Earth and Spirit. Each element exhibits rage, elation, fear, and hope; each a kind of presence that builds up to a full and complete understanding of housing the ghost(s) one may venerate, invoke, or hope to understand." EcoTheo Collective

Author Bio

Khalisa Rae is a poet, queer rights activist, journalist, and educator in Durham, North Carolina, and a graduate of the Queens University MFA program. Her chapbook, Real Girls Have Real Problems, was published in 2012, and her recent work has been seen in PANK, Sundog Lit, Crab Fat, Damaged Goods Press, Red Room Poetrys New Shoots poetry anthology, Glass Poetry, TERSE., Luna Luna, The Hellebore, Homology Lit, Dancing Bear Books: WOMXN Anthology, Tishman Review, and Obsidian, among others. She was a Furious Flower Gwendolyn Brooks Poetry Prize finalist and a winner of the Fem Lit Magazine Contest, Voicemail Poetry Contest, White Stag Publishing Contest, and Bright Wings Poetry Contest. She is Managing Equity and Inclusion Editor of Carve Magazine and Consulting Poetry Editor for Kissing Dynamite. Unlearning Eden is forthcoming from White Stag Publishing in Summer 2021. She is currently the Writing Center Director at Shaw University and the newest writer for NBC-BLK and Black Girl Nerds.