Anarcha Speaks

September 17, 2018
In this 2017 National Poetry Series–winning collection, performer, educator, and activist Christina (This Is Woman’s Work) revives the voice of the long-silenced Anarcha, an enslaved black woman who was subjected to numerous painful medical experiments by 19th-century physician
J. Marion Sims. Often referred to as the “father of modern gynecology,” Sims achieved his whitewashed legacy through implementing physical, mental, and emotional violence on black women without consent. The names of these victims have been all but lost to the passage of time, with the exception of three, including Anarcha. With lyrical descriptions that showcase emotional vulnerability, Christina captures the voice of Anarcha and writes, “i been hungry so long/ famine my only song// i split by an ocean/ i torn up by longing.” The poet’s rendition of Anarcha challenges the idea of resilience as resistance, painting death as the ultimate relief: “we lost our mouths/ ’cross a mighty mighty ocean./ coulda died but we don’t know how.” For his part, Sims acts as a malevolent shadow, a predator pretending to be God who is determined to “learn the diabolical complexity/ Of woman: a synonym for ruin.” Subverting the white gaze, Christina rejects the idea of Anarcha, and all the other nameless enslaved women, as mere footnotes in the success of Sims.

September 15, 2018

Called the father of modern gynecology, Dr. J. Marion Sims arrived at his methods through painful experimentation (without anesthesia) on African American slave women who obviously had no choice. One such woman was Anarcha, rescued here from history (as she never can be from Sims) by the award-winning Christina (This Is Women's Work). Christina gives her a history, from the Middle Passage ("we bottom of the boat heavy heavy") through sexual abuse by her master ("he take what he want/ he keep a hot hand"), her pregnancy ("how you translate a bludgeonin to/ a birth?"), a vaginal fistula ("we caint shut up the piss, the blood") to intervention by Sims ("doctor/massa makin science 'tween my legs"). While he inflicts suffering ("ain't enough language/ for the hurt of me," cries Anarcha), Sims coldly observes, "But Anarcha, the cougar-eyed gal/ split clean from end to end/ is where the work is." VERDICT As befits a Women of the World Slam Champion and 2011 National Poetry Slam Champion, Christina uses rhythmic, throbbing, vervy language that lets readers live Anarcha's tragic story.

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 1, 2018
An award-winning performer at numerous National Poetry Slams, Christina centers her fourth collection around the horrifying case of Anarcha, an enslaved black woman subjected to cruel experiments at the hand of Dr. J. Marion Sims, the so-called father of modern gynecology. Based in historical fact and composed primarily in the voice of Anarcha, the verses explore the punishing mental, emotional, and physical anguish that many enslaved women experienced at the hands of this brutal physician, who cut into them, pried them apart, and stitched them together ( Every time you see a black girl bleeding / Think: Progress ). In beautifully sparse lines and unsparing imagery, Christina captures the harrowing effect of these operations on Anarcha: my own body i just leave til he done / cuz pain is a house you caint never get the door closed on. And yet, despite the sacrifices of Anarcha and others, black women are still three times more likely to die from complications related to childbirth than white women, a discrepancy that underscores the timeliness of Christina's work. A harrowingly visceral, incomparable poetry collection.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)