Head Off & Split: Poems [Paperback]

Nikky Finney (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 2011

WINNER OF THE 2011 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FOR POETRY

The poems in Nikky Finney's breathtaking new collection Head Off & Split sustain a sensitive and intense dialogue with emblematic figures and events in African American life: from civil rights matriarch Rosa Parks to former secretary of state Condoleezza Rice, from a brazen girl strung out on lightning to a terrified woman abandoned on a rooftop during Hurricane Katrina. Finney s poetic voice is defined by an intimacy that holds a soft yet exacting eye on the erotic, on uncanny political and family events, like her mother s wedding waltz with South Carolina senator Strom Thurmond, and then again on the heartbreaking hilarity of an American president s final State of the Union address.

Artful and intense, Finney's poems ask us to be mindful of what we fraction, fragment, cut off, dice, dishonor, or throw away, powerfully evoking both the lawless and the sublime.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Nikky Finney has been a fine poet much too long to say that this latest treasure is her promise coming into being. She exploded with so much talent with On Wings Made of Gauze and beautifully matured with Rice, yet Head Off & Split takes the promise of youth with the control of adulthood to bring her greatest exploration. Honest, searing, searching. We all, especially now, need this book of poems; we all, especially now, need this poet. --Nikki Giovanni, author of Bicycles

Beginning with the sweepingly inclusive and powerful 'Red Velvet,' a Middle Passage poem for our times, Nikky Finney takes the reader to a wonderfully alive world where the musical possibilities of language overflow with surprise and innovation. Finney has an ear to go along with the wild-ness of her imagination, which sweeps through history like a pair of wings. Her carefully modulated free verse is always purposeful in its desire to move the reader in a way that allows us intimate access to necessary observations about ourselves. These poems, in other words, have the power to save us. --Bruce Weigl, author of What Saves Us

With Head Off & Split, Nikky Finney establishes herself as one of the most eloquent, urgent, fearless and necessary poets writing in America today. What makes this book as important as anything published in the last decade is the irresistible music, the formal dexterity and the imaginative leaps she makes with metaphor and language in these simply stunning poems. This is a very, very important achievement. --Kwame Dawes, author of Hope's Hospice

About the Author

Nikky Finney was born at the rim of the Atlantic Ocean, in South Carolina, in 1957. The daughter of activists and educators, she began writing in the midst of the Civil Rights and Black Arts Movements. With these instrumental eras circling her, Finney's work provides first-person literary accounts to some of the most important events in American history.

In 1985, and at the age of 26, Finney's debut collection of poetry, On Wings Made of Gauze, was published by William Morrow (a division of HaperCollins). Finney's next full-length collection of poetry and portraits, RICE (Sister Vision Press, 1995), was awarded the PEN America-Open Book Award, which was followed by a collection of short stories entitled Heartwood (University Press of Kentucky, 1998). Her next full-length poetry collection, The World Is Round (Inner Light Books, 2003) was awarded the Benjamin Franklin Award sponsored by the Independent Booksellers Association. In 2007, Finney edited the anthology, The Ringing Ear: Black Poets Lean South (University of Georgia Press/Cave Canem), which has become an essential compilation of contemporary African American writers. Her fourth full-length collection of poetry, Head Off & Split, is a National Book Award Winner.

Finney and her work have been featured on Russell Simmons DEF Poetry (HBO series), renowned chef Marcus Samuelsson's feature The Meaning of Food (a PBS production) and National Public Radio. Her work has been praised by Walter Mosley, Nikki Giovanni, Gloria Naylor and the late CBS/60 Minutes news anchor Ed Bradley. Finney has held distinguished posts at Berea College as the Goode Chair in the Humanities and Smith College as the Grace Hazard Conklin Writer-in-Residence.

Finney is currently a Professor of English and Creative Writing at the University Kentucky. She is a founding member of the Affrilachian Poets.

Product Details

• Paperback: 80 pages
• Publisher: Triquarterly; First Edition edition (February 1, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0810152169
• ISBN-13: 978-0810152168
• Product Dimensions: 6.1 x 0.6 x 8.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 0.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #143,201 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Nikky Finney was born at the rim of the Atlantic Ocean, in South Carolina, in 1957. The daughter of activists and educators, she began writing in the midst of the Civil Rights and Black Arts Movements. With these instrumental eras circling her, Finney's work provides first-person literary accounts to some of the most important events in American history.

In 1985, and at the age of 26, Finney's debut collection of poetry, On Wings Made of Gauze, was published by William Morrow (a division of HaperCollins). Finney's next full-length collection of poetry and portraits, RICE (Sister Vision Press, 1995), was awarded the PEN America-Open Book Award, which was followed by a collection of short stories entitled Heartwood (University Press of Kentucky, 1998). Her next full-length poetry collection, The World Is Round (Inner Light Books, 2003) was awarded the Benjamin Franklin Award sponsored by the Independent Booksellers Association. In 2007, Finney edited the anthology, The Ringing Ear: Black Poets Lean South (University of Georgia Press/Cave Canem), which has become an essential compilation of contemporary African American writers. Her fourth full-length collection of poetry, Head Off & Split, is forthcoming from Northwestern University Press (2011).

Finney and her work have been featured on Russell Simmons DEF Poetry (HBO series), renowned chef Marcus Samuelsson's feature "The Meaning of Food" (a PBS production) and National Public Radio. Her work has been praised by Walter Mosley, Nikki Giovanni, Gloria Naylor and the late CBS/60 Minutes news anchor Ed Bradley. Finney has held distinguished posts at Berea College as the Goode Chair in the Humanities and Smith College as the Grace Hazard Conklin Writer-in-Residence.

Finney is currently Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Kentucky.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Winner of the 2011 National Book Award for Poetry! November 17, 2011

By Evelyn A. Getchell TOP 500 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Professor Nikky Finney's Head Off & Split: Poems, so private and so intimate yet so open and candidly American, is a book of penetrating poetry that left its mark on me like a tattoo's ink under my skin. Professor Finney's clear-eyed, expansive vision opens a window into her heart, her intellect, and her soul, transporting us into the piercing, smart, sensual interior landscape of an African American woman.

This is a volume of poetry that exposes the tender personal sensitivities of the poet as well as the raw edges of the outside world of history and society. With the music of an exquisite language that rolls around your mouth and in your mind, Finney reveals deeply touching, private emotions and at the same time expresses keen social observations, both with an accomplished storyteller's lyricism, a gifted poet's metaphors, and an engaging wordsmith`s eloquence.

Head Off & Split: Poems has a visceral power which is both incidental and intrinsic to the African American experience. With tough minded admissions and gentle refusals, Nikky Finney's versification propels us from one line to the next, sharing meditative personal experiences, expansive social commentary, honest historical insight, and the sensuality of the living world as she feels it.

The following verses are favorites of mine and come from her poem for Rosa Parks- "Red Velvet" :

You cannot keep messing with a sweet-looking
Black woman who knows her way around velvet....
A woman who can take cotton and gabardine,
seersucker and silk, swirl tapestry, and hang
boiled wool for the house curtains, to the very
millimeter. A woman made of all this never to
be taken for granted, never to be asked to move
to the back of anything, never ever to be arrested.

A woman who believes she is worthy of every
thing possible. Godly. Grace. Good. Whether you
believe it or not, she has not come to Earth to play
Ring Around Your Rosie on your rolling
circus game of public transportation.

I am so thrilled that Professor Finney has been awarded the 2011 National Book Award for Head Off & Split: Poems! Even though the perspective of this poetry is distinctly that of an African American woman, it is still poetry that is for every American, no every lover of great poetry! My first reading of this book took my breath away. I know I will return to it again and again and will continue to find this stunningly powerful volume of poetry a very moving and deeply rewarding reading experience.

Congratulations, Professor Finney, for your beautiful and important literary accomplishment! Read more ›

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Words that Pierce July 5, 2011

By pjoriley

Format:Paperback

I am struck by the passionate power herein, Finney's illuminating of a world parallel to my own that is at once foreign and familiar. These are words to marvel at. I bought this volume in order to own a copy of an excerpt I'd read titled "Instruction, Final: To Brown Poets from Black Girl with Silver Leica." But the whole volume could be dedicated "To Poets and Writers and Readers, and You Who are Alive."

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars An Amazing Work from Nikky Finney September 12, 2011

By Bruce Wasserman

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Nikky Finney's incredible collection, HEAD OFF AND SPLIT, is hard hitting and will take your breath away. The impact of her poetry has the power to transform your thinking into a place words rarely venture. I highly recommend this book!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Nothing Fishy About This Book November 29, 2011

By Charles B. Taylor

Format:Paperback

I caught Nikky Finney's speech on Book TV at the National Book Awards. Her speech was so powerful I had to get the book that day. The title "Head Off and Split" might make you think this is a book about running away, but no, this is a book that ends with coming back. The final poems in the book are spectacular and will stick in my mind and heart forever. I won't give them away but just mention that the poems in a way are work poems--about preparing fish for sale and about the conditions of that work--but of course the work becomes a beautiful original metaphor for what we do in life.
Kudos to my alma mater and its press for publishing this great book.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Head Off & Split June 19, 2011

By Singing Leaves

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

This book is amazing! Deep and rich poetry, touching on human emotions I didn't even know existed. A uniquely African American viewpoint that is naked and enlightening with nothing held back. I found myself in tears not as much because of the poetry's story line but because of the power and use of language.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Great poetess March 21, 2012

By G. Fowler

Format:Paperback

So glad to have this genuis poetess from my home area Horry County, SC. We are so proud of her talent. Buy her other book of poems Rice for another great read.

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent March 1, 2013

By Bernard Parham

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I went to high school with the author and knew her works to be good. This book was exceptional. I had trouble getting it from my wife to have my turn at reading.

5.0 out of 5 stars Modern Poetry February 21, 2013

By L. Dolan

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Nikky Finney, nationally recognized poet, has earned her keep in this beautiful book. Very thought-provoking, a must read, highly recommend it!