Plantains and Our Becoming by Melania Luisa Marte

Welcome Back, Booklovers! I'm not usually one to pick up poetry collections but I've been following Melania Luisa Marte since she did the audiobook for Clap When You Land. I have watched some of her poetry videos over the past couple of years and a few of them appear in this collection. Knowing I liked her vibe when I saw this poetry collection announced I knew I needed to check it out. Tiny Reparations/Penguin Random House provided me with an arc in exchange for review.

This collection is split into 3 parts. The first part titled Daughter of the Diaspora really focuses on Mela as she grows and changes throughout the years. She talks about what it means to her to be Afro-Latina. How her hair and skintone can sometimes make her feel like an outsider even within her own community. She also talks about what it means to a Black woman living in America but also the daughter of immigrants struggling to make their own way. I felt this part was the most raw and vulnerable part of the collection as she gives up a glimpse into the dynamics of her family and neighborhood.

In the second part A History of Plantains she gets into the history between the Dominican Republic and Haiti. She calls out her people for Anti-Haitian sentiments and anti-Blackness. She talks about the harsh beauty standards that have women running to the surgery table. She also gives her thoughts about the American Dream and how Black and brown people are left out of that narrative. And she makes the act of mashing plantanos so much more with lyrical prose.

And Part 3 On Becoming is like a blend of parts 1 and 2. It's about love, friendship, motherhood, and self-care. They're poems about being free to be you're most authentic self and it felt fitting to end a collection like this on themes of love and liberation. It's raw and honest and most of all relatable to Black millennial woman especially those of us who are navigating that space between different identities. It's part memoir, part cry for liberation, part ode to pop culture and so much more.

Check out I Am Rooting For You