The Second Stop Is Jupiter

Writing as upfromsumdirt, visual artist and poet Ronald Davis (To Emit Teal) delivers a surrealist African American poetic mythology that weaves diasporic narratives, stories of heroes, and allusions to other writers. The book is divided into three sections (“I Don’t Know Who Needs To Hear This But,” “The Girl With The Frantz Fanon Tattoo,” and “The Underground Rubaiyat”) that reflect on canonical texts and make room for Black artists and historical figures, including Harriett Tubman, Amos Tutuola, and Eunice Waymon. The collection opens with “The Hero With an African Face”: “as a child I slayed the dragon/ dashed// through all the flames to kill the witch, ending// a curse/ freeing the village.” Titled after the painting by Édouard Manet, “The Death of Olympia” begins: “you’ve slaved, Sweet Queen, toiling at the feet/ of empire.” Elsewhere, Harriet Tubman is memorably described in “Tangerine Tubman”: “Harriet’s eyes, aquiver, see/ everything—all & at once: the/ sun & the shadowlands, the/ pain & the promises.” Filled with historical and invented voices, this is a sprawling and imaginative collection. (Sept.)