Tapping Out: Poems (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780810142091)

The relentless motions and blinding colors of lucha libre, the high-flying wrestling sport, are the arresting backdrop to Nandi Comer's collection Tapping Out. Mexican freestyle wrestling becomes the poet's lyrical motif, uncovering what is behind the intricate masks we wear in society and our search for place within our personal histories. Comer's poetic narratives include explorations of violence, trauma, and identity. The exquisite complications of the black experience in settled and unsettled spaces propel her linear explorations, which challenge the idea of metaphor and cadence.

The harsh realities of being migrant and immigrant, being birthright and oppressed, are as hard-pressed as the plancha move to the body. Each poem in Tapping Out is a "freestyle movement" of language and complexity put on full display, under the bright lights and roars of survival. Comer's splendid and barbed, Detroit style of language melts the masks with searing words.


Author: Nandi Comer
ISBN-10: 0810142090
ISBN-13: 9780810142091
Publisher: Triquarterly Books
Language: English
Published: 05/15/2020
Pages: 96
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.40lbs
Size: 8.80h x 5.90w x 0.50d

Review Citation(s):
Booklist 03/12/2021