Florida Water

By turns bracing and delicate as gossamer, monet’s latest (after My Mother Was a Freedom Fighter) is a vulnerable exploration of love, loss, and the revolutionary spirit of community. Water is a central theme, which monet uses to craft vivid imagery and striking symbolism, from her declaration of awakening, “i dripped from my mother’s arms/ tiny tears of the wide-eyed cosmos,” to her evocation of “the rage of rivers dressed as comrades.” The collection centers on the poet’s decision to move to Florida to develop a relationship and community with a fellow activist, and many entries address the need for political action and love in increasingly fraught circumstances. In the prose poem “the foreshadowing furlough,” monet focuses on the Florida of her childhood, recalling a favorite uncle who was often in trouble with the law, fleeing an abusive stepfather with her mother and brother, and “church sundays with my aunt sabrina and the holy ghost like a janitor of souls.” Monet’s quietly insistent collection gracefully demonstrates that love can be the most radical political act, particularly for a marginalized person in a hostile environment. (June)