"Finally at peace or so I thought
A blast from the past left
Me and my thoughts distraught
All the self control that I taught
Was not only misconstrued
But intertwined with pieces of half truths"
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Her Muse Overfilled with Ink by Shavá Quiñones Trafford Publishing
book review by Sheila M. Trask
It may look like poetry, but it sounds like music. Even in print, these poems by young Bronx poet Quiñones carry the rhythms of rap music. Writing on themes as universal as love and fear, Quiñones creates poems that evoke a particular time, place, and frame of mind. Each poem in Her Muse Overfilled with Ink moves urgently through images of life on the streets. Quiñones gives us babies born, boys killed, and a young mind trying to understand. The structure of the poems keeps the eye moving, with no pauses for stanza breaks. Short, staccato phrases borrow the cadence of rap music and jazz poetry. When she writes, "Soaring the skies/Letting go of all the lies/your signals once implied" you can almost see the fist in the air at the end of each line.
Pop culture references appear throughout Quiñones' work. She refers to Michael Jackson dance moves and Facebook status updates, establishing the cultural backdrop of the times. Mentions of the activist rapper Mos Def confirm her interest in music and politics. While she uses the internal and slant rhymes familiar to rap fans, Quiñones doesn't rely on the violent images and profane word choice of many rap stars. Her tone is more introspective, as she ponders the meaning of relationships and world events. Her inner world comes through when she writes lines like: "I look up in the sky and wonder/How big the holes in the ozone layer are now/And how children that are under the age of 3/Could pronounce such big words/that I wouldn't dare repeat in church." With such words, Quiñones uses her specific situation to illuminate universal questions.
RECOMMENDED by the US Review