Resting Bitch Face

The penetrating latest from Byas (I Done Clicked My Heels Three Times) addresses the conflict between the observer and the observed. Through poems, essays, and other hybrid forms that engage with photography, painting, film, and television, Byas explores the power of the image to restrict and control Black women. In “Essay on Shuttering,” the speaker describes the gendered dynamics of a photo shoot in eerie, mechanical terms: “He who holds the camera has the say. The photographer says smile and I obey. He motions how he wants me to shift my body and my body follows. Under the bright studio lights of the photo shoot, I begin to sweat—my body’s only rebellion.” Other entries consider the consequences of a society that silently condones the objectification of the Black female body. In “Sculpture Study #1,” a man sexually assaults a woman on her way to the subway, prompting the speaker to ask, “What are we allowed to really be when we hurt in public: human or statue?” An aura of unease permeates these poems as they ruminate on the false fixity of the image: “I still couldn’t become myself.” This astute and ingenious collection shines. (Aug.)