I started listening to Ebony Stewart’s spoken word poetry several years ago and she’s since been one of my favourites. When I got the chance to read this advanced epub copy I was excited and it didn’t disappoint! The best thing is how much it reads with a strong sense of Ebony’s voice, I could hear her saying each word she’d written. It also comes with a bunch of lovely prompts for students or readers in general to answer, analyze, and engage better with the work which is really nice. Check out some of her performances on Instagram and YouTube. Home.Girl.Hood is set to be released February 15th, 2022 and can be ordered at most retailers now 📚January 26th, 2022

What a beautiful, raw, honest collection of poetry. Such a beautiful collection.

My favourites were "On The Way Back To Myself" and "Compassion Fatigue."

On The Way Back To Myself is such a wonderful, incredible, tough ode to getting over someone (or something!).
"Remember when I though I'd never get over you? Remember?"
All the way to
"Na, excuse me, while I put back into myself,
all the attention I been needing."

Compassion Fatigue was the kind of poem where you (as in me) feel a little called out. And I think that's part of the point, you should feel called out.
I'm not sure if compassion fatigue happens
because no one taught you how not to be the oppressor."

I felt a lot of things while reading this. I've seen comments about people feeling like they're not the "right audience" for this. And I understand that, but I also feel like maybe that makes you the right audience to read it. I think sometimes reading something that makes you uncomfortable or makes you feel tested, like this is out of your comfort zone is part of the point.

On top of the wonderful poems and the incredible way they are collected together, the drawings/illustrations were really gorgeous and beautiful additions to the collection.

Thank you Netgalley for sending me this Arc.
I'm not much of a poetry person but this was to die for.
5 stars

Gorgeous poetry collection. Feminist, strong, important. Powerful.

#ownvoices

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for letting me access an advance copy of this book in exchange for my feedback.

Gorgeous poetry. Very empowering as a woman. As I am trying to diversify both the types of content I read and I loved the perspective and the medium of this. Can't wait for this to come out so I can purchase it and add to my collection. Thank you for the early look at the book.

I REALLY ENJOYED THIS BOOK. I read it in the perfect moment, and i recommend it to anyone who might be deliberating if they read it or not.

There were a lot of parts that were incredibly straightforward and there were parts where you would definitely be uncomfortable. Though it seems like a reason to take a star or two off it really isn’t. If anything that’s what makes these poems so good and what made this entire book so incredibly moving.

These topics are uncomfortable and sometimes you just have to be straightforward and it’s done well here.

I think this would be even better in audio! Not sure if it was the format on my kindle but found it sometimes tricky to read. Ebony's poems are heartfelt and powerful, you can almost imagine shouting the words. I am not the intended audience but I still found it a learning experience.

I love reading poetry, even if I don’t do it often enough. I’ve also been trying read more books I haven’t heard about yet, because I want to discover more books than just those that have a huge marketing budget to work with.

I am really glad I read this poetry collection. Some lines and poems were quite uncomfortable for me to read, some of what was written in the poems wasn’t my truth and some I could relate to. Plus I didn’t really care for such a graphic language. BUT this is what was so intriguing about this book. It definitely kicked off a lot of thought processes and isn’t this what we all want from poetry?
I don’t go into poetry just to hear my story, values etc. reconfirmed. It’s generous of the author to share her world view, her struggles and story with us. And what she shared was so raw and real. It’s not supposed to make you feel comfortable, it’s supposed to make you think and broaden your horizons. It was her truth and it’s ok if this was „one-dimensional“. Because it is the author’s dimension and she lets us immerse into it.

As always, I don’t really know what to say when I review a poetry collection. I know nothing about what makes poetry ‘good’ or ‘bad’, I just know if I enjoyed it or not.
I did enjoy this collection but I couldn’t really tell you why. This was a powerful, raw book that had a lot of impact and I look forward to reading more from this author.

Thank you NetGalley and Button Poetry for allowing to receive this ARC in exchange for an honest review. Home.Girl.Hood may turn away most but the messages written in these words will open up and nourish the minds of those who are woke. The poetry in this book is raw yet empowering and full of nothing but truth relatable in every way.

I am so thankful to #Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of this book of poetry. I should first say that I am not a big reader of poetry, but every year I make a decision to read a little more out of my comfort zone. When I saw this book of poetry by a black woman, I literally couldn't wait to read it. I actually started reading it as soon as I downloaded it. I loved this collection. I can say there were only maybe 2 poems that I didn't enjoy. As a black woman, I related to a lot of the poems and some of them were so relatable that I felt it couldn't have been written by me if I had any writing talent at all. The first poem, Cultural Appropriation vs Appreciation, immediately drew me in with its accuracy. Some of my other favorites include, How to Write a Poem About Sexual Assault, How to Properly Flirt with Someone You're Attracted to and want to Be Your Boo, What We Become, I Got Some Black Friends when it's convenient, and Compassion Fatigue. It should be noted that this collection was clearly written for black women and I highly recommend it to all black women. That's not to say that you wouldn't enjoy it if you are not a black woman, but it won't be as relatable however you will/may learn some things.

This was on the heavy side but beautifully written. I really enjoyed the author’s style. Button Poetry poets never disappoint.

Special thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I’m a person that likes routine so I’m trying to start a new one: poetry on Mondays. I think it will help me begin the week in a contemplative, thoughtful, peaceful frame of mind.
This is my second reading through this collection of poetry. It feels…cathartic. Happy Father’s Day and Happy Mother’s Day are the poems that made me want to go back and re-read, as well as How To Write a Poem About Sexual assault.
How to Properly Flirt made me chuckle but there’s no humor in it. More… yeah I know how that goes.

I somewhat enjoyed this book. The writing wasn’t my favourite, however I enjoyed getting a look at a life from a perspective of somewhat quite different from me.

Home.Girl.Hood by Ebony Stewart

Thank you @netgalley for this eARC.
Pub date: February 15, 2022

First off, a moment for this cover!!!😍😍😍 Not going to lie, this is what grabbed me and convinced me to check out this poetry collection dedicated to Black girls”that take up space.”

While every poem didn’t speak to me, one of my favorite poems from the collection is 𝘖𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘞𝘢𝘺 𝘉𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘵𝘰 𝘔𝘺𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧. It felt like that conversation you have with yourself when you’re looking in the mirror reminding yourself of who tf you are. We’ve all been there lol. Other standouts to me were 𝘐 𝘓𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘔𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘢𝘺𝘴,𝘛𝘰𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘔𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘉𝘦, and 𝘏𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘺 𝘍𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳’𝘴 𝘋𝘢𝘺.

As someone who doesn’t read poetry often, there were times when the formatting and writing style threw me and I needed to reread a poem again to fully understand it. But this collection has me considering adding more poetry to my reading list this year.

Description:
Rings on every finger. Hood and educated AF. You’ve met her. Wearing all her feelings and responding with a side-eye or a tongue-pop. You’ve seen her. At the grocery store. In restaurants. On the subway. At the bus stop. In a car you pulled up next to blaring whatever matches her mood. Ebony Stewart. An around the way girl. One part human, all parts womxn. You know these poems because they be familiar. They be your grandmama, mama, auntie, and sis stories. Welcome to Home.Girl.Hood.

This book of poems is written specifically for black women, Ebony Stewart says so up-front.

As a black female queer author, Stewart understands being treated as lesser, being stepped on, looked over, teased and disliked, all for simply existing, These are much milder words than her experience.

I, as a white hetro female in her late 30's living in the UK can only begin to scrape the surface of what it must mean to have lived Stewart's life or to have experienced her emotions.

The poems I can fully understand are about being female, and these I thought were perfect. I will not pretend to know what it is to be black or queer in 'modern' society and don't feel right to 'judge' the poetry that results from that,, but I do know how reading all the poems in Home.Girl.Hood made me feel. Like all art, poetry should evoke feelings, good or bad.

Stewart's poems are full of such pain and rage and sadness that it is impossible not to be swept along with her in experiencing those feelings too. I cannot feel her rage, but I can rage for her, with her and if she'd let me alongside her, I could never experience the pain she talks about but I can try my hardest to stop it, to prevent it and not to cause it. .

Home.Girl.Hood is a book of poems about todays society seen through the eyes of a woman with a powerful soul. Our world needs to change and Stewart is a voice that is shouting this to anyone who wishes to pause and listen.

I am asked to write about the birth of my demons.
To tell how fear is born, the way it came into existence.

Home.Girl.Hood is a poetry book written by Ebony Stewart, that comes out on the first of February. It’s also now my first book in the ThisYearInNetGalley challenge!

Ebony Stewart is a fairly well-known poet in Texas, a top touring poet, and the only poet to perform in front of 200,000 people at the 2018 Seattle Pride Festival. I was able to read her other book Bloodfresh through NetGalley, late last year, and afterward requested this one too! I shouldn’t have done that, because while I really liked several of Stewarts' pieces, her style is not one that I really love.

That being said, I'm going to sit down and look for some of her poetry readings online because I think that might make me appreciate her style more!

Thank you NetGalley for the chance to read and review this!

Home. Girl. Hood

There is much to like about this collection. The author has a strong passionate voice, which I liked a lot. Her message is a call to arms. Black girl empowerment. By any means necessary. The poems scream and shout at you. There are some things I did not like though. Perhaps it is the loud and shouting voice. The author practices some literary devices and she uses them well. Which breaks up the monotony of the verse at times. A strong and solid collection. Very topical, about the things that are going on today.

I felt that Home.Girl.Hood was not only written by Ebony Stewart, but for Ebony Stewart--and what I mean by that is that she took snapshots of her own life experiences plus her own special writing voice and created a collection that is authentically her own. Furthermore, I agree with her when she writes in her preface that "it's quite possible, this body of work might not be for you--and that's okay" because it is, in fact, not for any and everyone to critique.

I can't speak for anyone else, but Home.Girl.Hood was for me to read. I might not have loved every single poem, but I did love Ebony's unique and strong voice in each one. My favorite poems were "An Ode To My P*ssy", "Interlude", "I Love Mondays" and "Happy Father's Day". And lastly, the cover is lovely!