The back of the book describes this as "an imaginative exploration of Black girlhood and womanhood through poetry, visual art, and narrative prose." This has been a useful sentence for me to think about the book, which I have been describing as poetry but, like, it's not all poetry. The use of form is super interesting in this. The font changes between pieces, visual elements are included, a few pieces are white text on black page rather than vice versa. A couple very memorable pieces are "retellings" which start as typeface recounting a true, disturbing memory of experiences of racism and then eventually morph into a fantastical ending for the tale, the text changing to scrawled handwriting as we leave reality. Obviously every book and especially every poetry collection engages with form and uses form intentionally but the choices made here are so bold and sometimes disruptive to the ease of reading that it is an almost visceral experience which forces you to really engage with the work.

In terms of content, I really loved Electric Arches. Several of the pieces made me chuckle, some gave me goosebumps, and others (or sometimes the same ones!) brought tears to my eyes. Ewing is a master. This book is 90 pages long and it packs in a lot of reflection and exploration. The hope and especially the love that really carries the work, even in its dark moments, is so vibrant and constant. This was an honour to read.