what people are saying
Verse Wisconsin (written by Wendy Vardaman)
"The overlooked, the forgotten and the familiar are all here, transformed in the crucible of Spriggs' imagination. The poems are carefully made, deeply felt. This is a book of gems, needing to be read."
—David Cazden, Poetry Editor of Miller's Pond magazine, author of Moving Picture
In her stunning debut Kaffir Lily, Bianca Spriggs shines an unflinching light on every surface of a woman flaunts and celebrates her nakedness beneath a fur's caress, slurps butter from her lover's fingers, unleashes her rollicking and murderous 'fro to wreak terror on the unsuspecting citizenry of Kentucky. Forging an aggressive signature that is deftly crafted, insightful and often achingly lyrical, Bianca's next step should be to steel herself for an onslaught of attention and critical acclaim."
—Patricia Smith, author of Teahouse of the Almighty and National Book Award Finalist for Blood Dazzler
"This debut collection introduces Spriggs as the new standard bearer for the Affrilachian Poets."
—Frank X Walker, Editor of PLUCK!, author of Black Box and When Winter Come
"When you sit down to read Bianca Spriggs' Kaffir Lily, make sure you have some time, as you won't want to put it down. You'll laugh, you'll be moved, you'll share her outrage, you'll live through her poems just as she did.
Some are funny and raunchy: if, she says, she won 10,000, she'd buy a fur coat, wear it once in a glamour shop (a real one, not those photo booths at the mall), then sell "that carcass / for a plane ticket to as far away as people like me can go / before we stop" ("People Like Me").
Some are funny in a surreal horror movie way, like "The Afro That Ate Kentucky." After, "my hair mumbles in my ear / . . . / that it is too hungover, too untamed, too spent."
Spriggs has her own take on ecofeminism. Decrying yet more skyscrapers going up, she imagines "a giant vulva building," for "Perhaps we are closer to God / here on earth -- imagine how / much nearer we could become / if we sought Her center / Instead of Her face" ("Proposition").
There's a kind of bluesy tone to some of the poems, especially the ones concerning men. In "Old Habits" she writes, "maybe if I don't start nothiin / there won't be nothin / so maybe I let him grab me anyway /and put his fingers in my hair."
My favorite is the first poem in the book "Dirty Grace," in which Spriggs gives notice to one of the forgotten women of the world. Drawing on the list of servants in a 16th century country house and a quote by Virginia Woolf, she imagines a transplanted African in England making "laundering appear an act of grace."
This is the beginning of a career as a wordsmith for Spriggs, and we are the richer."
—Elizabeth Oakes, Professor, Western Kentucky University
"In How Swallowtails become Dragons, Bianca Spriggs proves herself to be a poet of metamorphosis— a shape shifter, a medium for the dead and imagined. She speaks for those long silenced and for those who remind us to never make a pact with our own silence. In these pages we meet Sweet Evenin’ Breeze; Orfeu Negro; the Baobab Girl; and even Eurydice Thomas, a lazarus slave sold dead for parts. But in these pages we also meet a poet who is willing to welcome the wild into her own house, and even into her sleep— a poet willing to reach deep into the dark depth and mine that bit of light last remaining. For me, then, these are poems not only of metamorphosis, but also of something more necessary, more like transformation, itself. Bianca Spriggs is a poet I watch eagerly— what exquisite danger will she next welcome to her sleep, her page? Or, to borrow from the poet’s own line: this is a girl who could get used to the world living in her center like a hymn. I hope that she does."
—Rebecca Gayle Howell, author of The Hatchet Buddha
"The overlooked, the forgotten and the familiar are all here, transformed in the crucible of Spriggs' imagination. The poems are carefully made, deeply felt. This is a book of gems, needing to be read."
—David Cazden, Poetry Editor of Miller's Pond magazine, author of Moving Picture
In her stunning debut Kaffir Lily, Bianca Spriggs shines an unflinching light on every surface of a woman flaunts and celebrates her nakedness beneath a fur's caress, slurps butter from her lover's fingers, unleashes her rollicking and murderous 'fro to wreak terror on the unsuspecting citizenry of Kentucky. Forging an aggressive signature that is deftly crafted, insightful and often achingly lyrical, Bianca's next step should be to steel herself for an onslaught of attention and critical acclaim."
—Patricia Smith, author of Teahouse of the Almighty and National Book Award Finalist for Blood Dazzler
"This debut collection introduces Spriggs as the new standard bearer for the Affrilachian Poets."
—Frank X Walker, Editor of PLUCK!, author of Black Box and When Winter Come
"When you sit down to read Bianca Spriggs' Kaffir Lily, make sure you have some time, as you won't want to put it down. You'll laugh, you'll be moved, you'll share her outrage, you'll live through her poems just as she did.
Some are funny and raunchy: if, she says, she won 10,000, she'd buy a fur coat, wear it once in a glamour shop (a real one, not those photo booths at the mall), then sell "that carcass / for a plane ticket to as far away as people like me can go / before we stop" ("People Like Me").
Some are funny in a surreal horror movie way, like "The Afro That Ate Kentucky." After, "my hair mumbles in my ear / . . . / that it is too hungover, too untamed, too spent."
Spriggs has her own take on ecofeminism. Decrying yet more skyscrapers going up, she imagines "a giant vulva building," for "Perhaps we are closer to God / here on earth -- imagine how / much nearer we could become / if we sought Her center / Instead of Her face" ("Proposition").
There's a kind of bluesy tone to some of the poems, especially the ones concerning men. In "Old Habits" she writes, "maybe if I don't start nothiin / there won't be nothin / so maybe I let him grab me anyway /and put his fingers in my hair."
My favorite is the first poem in the book "Dirty Grace," in which Spriggs gives notice to one of the forgotten women of the world. Drawing on the list of servants in a 16th century country house and a quote by Virginia Woolf, she imagines a transplanted African in England making "laundering appear an act of grace."
This is the beginning of a career as a wordsmith for Spriggs, and we are the richer."
—Elizabeth Oakes, Professor, Western Kentucky University
"In How Swallowtails become Dragons, Bianca Spriggs proves herself to be a poet of metamorphosis— a shape shifter, a medium for the dead and imagined. She speaks for those long silenced and for those who remind us to never make a pact with our own silence. In these pages we meet Sweet Evenin’ Breeze; Orfeu Negro; the Baobab Girl; and even Eurydice Thomas, a lazarus slave sold dead for parts. But in these pages we also meet a poet who is willing to welcome the wild into her own house, and even into her sleep— a poet willing to reach deep into the dark depth and mine that bit of light last remaining. For me, then, these are poems not only of metamorphosis, but also of something more necessary, more like transformation, itself. Bianca Spriggs is a poet I watch eagerly— what exquisite danger will she next welcome to her sleep, her page? Or, to borrow from the poet’s own line: this is a girl who could get used to the world living in her center like a hymn. I hope that she does."
—Rebecca Gayle Howell, author of The Hatchet Buddha
