Melania Luisa Marte opens her collection with “Afro-Latina,” in which she asserts that Black and Latina are not two separate identities but, rather, one. However, she also makes clear to the reader the rampant anti-Blackness of this world and that her “Afro comes before Latina,” to recognize and uplift her Blackness.

With that said, the poems in this collection were a bit of a hit-or-miss for me. I enjoyed the themes that Marte explored, the love and strength that flowed in these pages, but the way she delivered them didn’t work for me, personally. I also found that, while the close focus on identity and culture were compelling, there were instances when I wanted her to go a little deeper.