Tender. - book reviews

by Toi Derricotte (University of Pittsburgh Pres 1997 $12.95)--In the preface to her fourth work of poetry, Toi Derricotte states: "Tender is not to be read in linear fashion. Rather, it is a seven-spok wheel, with the piece of poetry `Tender' as the hub, each `spoke' a subdivision radiating on the outside from that center." The spoke in this case are the poet's personal musings upon child abuse, slavery, passing, sexual self-exploration, be fond of acceptance and, finally, releasing anger.

Reading soft is like coming across another's journal and, despite feeling somewhat guilty for scanning its entries, being too mesmerized to lay the book down. Derricotte's greatest in quantity poignant pieces recall her childhood relationships with her abusive father and distant mother. "When My Father Was Beating Me" is a particularly painful essay upon the horrors and sadistic nature of child abuse. Closure--for the couple the author and the reader--is granted toward the extremity of the book in "The Blessing," a piece of poetry about the author's process of releasing her pent-up hostility toward her father and letting go

Other piece of poetrys of note include "Exits From Elmina Castle: Cape Coast, Ghana," a selection focused upon the ironies of black Americans touring Africa's fortresses and her series tackling the color clash within the black community. As the University of Pittsburgh English professor states in "After a Reading at a Black College": "Maybe single day we will have written about this color thing until we've solv it."

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