I couldn't get through this title. It ended up not being for me, but I hope it finds a hope with other readers.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

This was fascinating. I didn't have a chance to read the entire thing, but I will be purchasing a final print copy for myself, because it's something I want to work my way through slowly over time.

A beautiful and important book, not necessarily for me, but for those who need it. I particularly appreciated the breadth of experiences covered and the wealth of narrative voices; there are lots of writers here I'd like to look up and read further.

Mouths of Rain is an beautiful compilation of essays, poems, prose, letters, and articles written by Black lesbians and queer folks. It spans decades - from Harlem Renaissance poet Angelina Weld Grimke to contemporary Black lesbian feminist scholar Alexis Pauline Gumbs. This is a definitely must read for the LGBTQIA and allies.

Mouths of Rain Showcases the Diversity of Black Lesbian Thinkers
Author: Charles Green
Mouths of Rain is a diverse anthology of writings from Black lesbian intellectuals, showcasing the creativity and depth of thought in the community over the last century. Edited by Briona Simone Jones, a doctoral candidate at Michigan State University’s English department, it features academic essays, personal recollections, short fiction, and poetry from both well-known figures as Audre Lorde, Alice Walker, and Ma Rainey, as well as less prominent but just as thoughtful authors. The title is inspired by Lorde’s “Love Poem”, included here, with its line “carved out by the mouth of rain”. As Cheryl Clarke writes in her Foreword, “Lorde’s generation of Black lesbian writers showed us how to talk and write about sex.” Some works have been published before, while others, including an Alice Walker poem, appear here for the first time.
The book is divided into five sections, each exploring a different topic. Part I, “Uses of the Erotic”, starts with an excerpt from Ma Rainey’s song “Deep Moaning Blues”, “I went out last night with a crowd of my friends, /It must’ve been women, ‘cause I don’t like no men”, then moves to a moving, explicit sex scene by Harlem Renaissance writer Alice Ruth Moore Dunbar-Nelson. Alice Walker’s “You! Inez” continues the eroticism with lines like “Red mouth; flower soft, /Your soul leaps up”. These poetic works of sensuality ground us in the physical and emotional power of lesbian love, serving as a nice segue way to Cheryl Clarke’s “Uses of the Erotic: The Erotic as Power”, which asks women to reclaim their eroticism, so often “vilified, abused, and devalued within Western society.” Clarke argues that the erotic is “an assertion of the lifeforce of women” and allows for deeply profound connections between women. Because eros is “born of Chaos”, it has the power to inspire creativity and “give us the energy to pursue genuine change within our world”, perhaps the greatest means of resisting “racist, patriarchal, and anti-erotic society.”
In Part II, “Interlocking Oppressions and Identity Politics”, Anita Cornwell’s “Three for the Price of One: Notes from a Gay, Black, Feminist” relates the challenges she has faced in navigating these different identities. Growing up “Black, poor, and female in the Deep South”, she grappled “with…battles, fears, phobias, and anxieties continually raging within me” Even her first female lover did little to help, for “if she knew other Gay womyn, she kept them rather well-hidden from me.” After several more lesbian relationships, she realized she was “irrevocably Gay” which drew her more into feminism, finding “straight men too sexist” and wondering why straight women “continued to let men use and abuse them”. Sadly, she found the feminist movement racist and unwelcoming, commenting that “fear of encountering racism seems to be one of the main reasons that so many Black womyn refuse to join the Womyn’s movement.” She also had to contend with “the extreme conservatism” within the Black community, so that even relationships with other Black lesbians became “such a harrowing experience.” Even with all the prejudice she has experienced, Cornwell writes that “I am sure glad I will never have to find out” what her life could have been had she not been lesbian.
Ann Allen Shockley “A Meeting of the Sapphic Daughters” tells, in fictional form, a similar tale to Cornwell’s essay. Lettie and Patrice are a Black, professional couple who attend an all-white lesbian group. The “bouncer” at the event stares at Patrice “long, hard, silent”, and the group’s president asks them if they “live around here”, which they take as a “subtle warning”. While confronting racism, they also question their own stances, asking themselves, “Have we come out to our colleagues, friends – students?” after lamenting their inability to find other lesbians of color. This story and others highlight the prejudices still within these different groups, and the work still needed to make them more welcoming places.
Part V, “Radical Futurities”, contains some of the more academic pieces, with essays such as Bettina Love’s “A Ratchet Lens: Black Queer Youth, Agency, Hip Hop, and the Black Ratchet Imagination” which looks at how queer Black hip-hop artists use the concept of “ratchet” as a way of challenging the idea of “respectability”. Cathy Cohen’s “Deviance as Resistance: A New Research Agenda for the Study of Black Politics” suggests that those in the Black community who are “different” might have other ways of engaging in political struggle that are worthy of study. Lay readers might find these later essays, with their academic jargon and more removed tone, less approachable than the more personal works; still, they address important issues. Susana Morris’ “More than Human: Black Feminisms of the Future in Jewelle Gomez’s The Gilda Stories” is a compelling look at Gomez’s science fiction novel about a Black lesbian vampire whose ethics, Morris suggests, might present an alternative to humanity’s self-destructive impulses.
The selections are wide ranging enough so that every reader can find something of interest, from scholars and students to those just casually exploring the subject. One minor drawback, though, is a lack of publication dates for the older, “vintage” pieces. While reading them usually makes the era apparent, providing dates at the start might give a more immediate sense of the historical development. Still, the diversity of pieces, from across time and labels, written by “dykes, queer women, butches, femmes, and lesbians”, as Cheryl Clarke writes in her Foreword, is impressive and helps to show the richness of Black lesbian intellectual life. Mouths of Rain is a timely anthology of writings that will hopefully spark conversations, connections, and ideas, both within the community and beyond.

This text will be canonical for Feminist courses in the future. It is necessary for situating sexuality and race within the context of historical Feminism. Jones curated a collection that will expand every course to inclusivity and the equity they need to teach future students of literature and feminism,

4.5 stars

As an anthology, I really did enjoy "Mouths of Rain" there was incredible diversity in thought, time period and works gathered to construct this anthology. I definitely think that this is something I would like to pick up as a hardcover and read all over again.

Where this anthology may lose readers because of the structure, in terms of how this work is compiled, I do think it is an incredibly valuable read and something I would recommend to anyone who is looking to read more Queer, specifically Black queer, non-fiction and doesn't know where to start.

Thank you to NetGalley and The New Press for allowing me to read this arc in exchange for an honest review..

This is a book to have on the shelf to consult at all times. Such a beautiful research by Briona Simone Jones.

It is very academic in a way, so it must be take in small doses. Even though it is a must-read book, it is not for everyone.

The arc was provided by Netgalley.

Anthologies are getting big right now. They are a nice package of a variety of source material on a topic, and Mouths of Rain is an excellent anthology on the Black Lesbian experience.

Filled with poetry, prose, and Black feminist thought, Mouths of Rain attempts to describe the Black Lesbian experience from a variety of different perspectives and disciplines. Whether this text is being used in an academic setting or for someone learning more about their own identities or the identities of others, this book can meet the needs of many different audiences. One does not have to read the anthology from beginning to end to learn, and there is something accessible for everyone.

For me, the variety of different types of texts was a major strength, but I can see how this might also be a hinderance for some. Because of it's wide appeal and adaptable usage, I could see how someone might want something more uniform, especially for those who seek to read the book in order. This is a book best used for reference to find what you need later.

Overall, I really enjoyed this read. It took me a bit longer to get through the more academic pieces, but this perspective helped provide context to the experiences articulate in the prose and poetry. I highly recommend this text to everyone seeking to learn more about marginalized folks.

Amazing anthology by Black lesbian women. Early pages reminded me of caribbean thunderstorms and the calm that comes with them. I felt myself reminiscing about growing up in a Caribbean island and a non-lgbtq friendly space. Def a must read for any ally and lgbtq person. So important to learn about our past and present.

Received ARC from NetGalley for review.

The poetry in this collection was fantastic. I was also impressed with the different styles of writing and how they were combined within one work. That being said those twisting styles personally did not make reading it more enjoyable. The premise and purpose of this book was great, I just wasn’t grabbed as hard as I thought I would be.

Unfortunately my mobi file was completely unreadable (random numbers & spacing, missing words or sentences), but I bought a copy at an indie bookstore in Brooklyn & requested copies at Brooklyn Public Library and will leave reviews there & B&N! Happy launch week to New Press & all the authors. As a Black queer woman I’m so grateful this anthology exists.

Really well done immersive look into this world. Would recommend to all young adult and adult readers looking to expand their world view.

I got an ARC of this book from the author.

I was stoked for this book. I needed it as soon as I read the title. I always see white lesbian writing, so getting Black lesbian writing was a need in my life.

The issue is, I just didn’t get this anthology. I know I am not the target audience, that is not the issue. My issue is it went from poetry to academic pieces to essays to short fiction to memoir. It was so all over the place that I was often lost to what I was reading and how to engage with it. I feel like this would have been better as a series of anthologies, each focusing on a genre or two so it really could dig into the genre and hit just the right audience.

The writing itself was pretty fantastic. There were essays I devoured. The memoirs always got me. It was often hard to tell what was memoir and what was short story though. There were some very clear short stories, but some could have been memoir. Not having this context was difficult. Kept me at arms length.

I knew there would poetry excepts at the very least based on the title and the name of some of the contributors. I figured I could skip those and be fine, or attempt them if they were short enough. The issue is there was so much poetry. SO MUCH. I felt like I ended up skipping half the book just so I could even pretend I understood what was happening.

So my main issue is the editing and compiling of materials. This is a clear example of why I don’t like anthologies. They are so scattered and make it hard to engage. The writing itself and the authors were great when I could engage. It just felt like this was not the best way to show case things.

A fascinating book on the black lesbian experience filled with diverse viewpoints and stories. Very thought-provoking and intriguing.

I'm so thankful I got an ARC copy of this one. It took me awhile to get through because I often read one piece at a time to really process it, and there's so much here. So much to learn and so much to love. My favorite poem in it was "Sunshine" by Pat Parker, but there's so many writers in this book that I'd never heard of, and it meant the world to me that I was introduced to all of them. I'll definitely be buying this when I get the opportunity to.

This book is exactly what you would expect as an anthology. The editor has done a great job curating this collection. I really enjoyed the essays in this collection. I didn’t love the arrangement. For instance I wasn’t convinced by the explanation to begin with a section on eroticism, and seemed to have far more poetry than the other sections. It seemed kind of gimmicky to open the collection that way. Otherwise, no complaints and would recommend.

4 stars!!! (coming out Feb 23!!!)

**ARC provided by NetGalley for an honest review.**
#MouthsofRain #NetGalley

Pros:
+ an amazing gathering of lesbian, queer, feminist, and Black voices
+ intersectional non-fictional and fictional stories
+ so many new-to-me Black lesbian creators
+ read Audre Lorde for the first time (wow, I've been missing out!)
+ just a sheer deluge of IMPORTANT topics I hadn't previously been aware of but need to know (Universities refusing Black professors' health-based placement requests, the historical context of Black lesbian/queer phrases, Black lesbian/queer women throughout history, how Black lesbians are left out of movements DESPITE BEING INTEGRAL the entire time, how Afrofuturism reframes Black experiences, etc.)
+ a variety of content (academic essays, poetry, memoir, short stories, opinion pieces)
+ the inclusion of Black lesbians from all over the world (not just from the US)

Cons:
- to be completely honest, quite a few of the more complicated academic essays were hard to get through (elaborate syntax made it feel sloggy)

TW: homophobia, racism, misogyny, murder, assault

This book is just what it says, an anthology of different authors. This was like reading a college professor’s lectures? The editor covers Black Politics, Queer Youth, Lesbianism, and several other topics all relevant to Black Relationships. It was a very difficult book to get through since it wasn’t in its final form with numbers all over the place even in the middle of words, no clear paragraphs,, incomplete words and unrelated paragraphs. It was very confusing and that’s why I gave it only 2 stars. It was very interesting and meticulously researched.. However, I would think I was at the end of the book with footnotes and all only to find there was another story or poem.. I must say I learned a lot about LBGTQ relationships and the black community.. it would have been much more enjoyable if it had been better organized and in its final form..

Truly beautiful and life changing but also sexy. I enjoyed every page and learned several new things with each chapter. I never wanted to put it down. Covering everything from erotic to identity politics truly shows how complex life is.