Street Smarts [Paperback]

devorah major (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 1996

A stunning new voice in African-American poetry, Devorah Marjo in street smarts explores the hardships of life in the streets, the damage that is done there, and the strategies for survival. Hers is a powerful, affirmative voice that is joyful and proud.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Rooted in an African American urban culture marked by racism and violence, novelist major's first poetry collection charges a take-no-prisoners spirit with stubborn optimism. Musical and energetic, major's work calls for a live voice to release its emotional power. On the page, subjects are presented as deeply felt, but they are not deeply investigated. Generalized references to Africa, offered as shortcut answers to difficult problems, weaken important messages. Predictable imagery also limits her work's effectiveness. It is, for example, unclear how calling up "the benin bronze/ almond queen mother eyes" will rescue an addicted 13-year-old prostitute (in "cracker jacks"). Still, major's stance as community witness pulling hope from painful realities is compelling, as in "'what we gonna do bout dem youth?'": "dem sees the mama and thinks her nuthin'/ but a locked up heart and a empty room of a future/ dem sees the daddy and thinks him nuthin'/ but a street walker with a drug blanket memory.../ soon dem gonna take off dem glasses with the backwards lenses.../ and pull the earth into a righteous orbit."
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Major's poetry is a potpourri of street jive, scat singing, blues, hip-hop, and rap-a decidedly nonliterary style that perfectly matches a world of "saturday night specials" and "two-bit twenty twos" firing in "hip-hop ranting rhythms/ with a bass oozi coming in." Always engaging and direct, major sees herself as the voice of African Americans and "mixed breeds" of Creole, Choctaw, or Fulani extraction, in skin tones of "auburn, cinnamon, copper/ cafe au lait, ginger, dun." She constantly reminds her mainstream Caucasian readers that these marginalized folk inhabit a "somewhere you don't live." Yet she refuses to glamorize a black street culture of physical abuse and incest where rape "is always a family affair" and the cocaine addict "roll[s] a crisp bill," inhaling the "snow queen" up his nose. Major (author of the novel An Open Weave, LJ 9/1/95) has a finely tuned ear that perfectly captures the idiom of the street, like the plaintive speech of the young woman whose friend "don't like the color a my mama." Recommended for all general collections.
Daniel L. Guillory, Millikin Univ., Decatur, Ill.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 56 pages
• Publisher: Curbstone Books; 1 edition (April 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1880684276
• ISBN-13: 978-1880684276
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.6 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,156,742 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars REVIEW QUOTES, September 26, 2001

By 

Curbstone Press, Jantje Tielken, Editorial As... - See all my reviews

This review is from: Street Smarts (Paperback)

"STREET SMARTS bridges the gap between past and future, and Major's powerful, musical language and subtle, wry wit make her poetry immediately accessible to readers." --MultiCultural Review

"...engaging and direct...Major...has a finely tuned ear that perfectly captures the idiom of the street...Recommended." --Library Journal

"Each poem is like a musical composition, flowing with melody and resonance. Never caustic, sometimes playful, occasionally echoing with longing and melancholy, Major's work demonstrates a dynamic range of tonality and emotion." --The Bay Guardian