One Last Word by Nikki Grimes

genre: poetry

In this slim book, Nikki Grimes has introduced me, as a white woman and Harlem Renaissance novice, to a collection of incredible poetry from that age.  Poetry that blew my mind with its imagery and depth, with its boldness.  Then she takes it a step farther and from each of those poems written a hundred or so years ago, she writes a "golden shovel poem," using those same words to create something new and dynamic, something often from within our current context and grappling with the issues that people of color in our country are dealing with today. 

I loved this in all the ways you can love a book.  The words, both those from poets past and from Ms. Grimes, spoke to me and made me feel something, exposed me to the nuanced and powerful underlayers of African American thoughts and ideas, emotions and struggles that are not a part of my experience.  The IMAGERY.  Masterful.  The illustrations are incredible and wrapped me into the text from each poem.  I loved that the author shared some history and some of the technicalities of writing the poems so I could more fully appreciate the work of art that this is.   I finished wanting to hand it to people, I liked it that much.