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Book Cover Artwork: "The Story of Us" by Alice Y. Traore
Praise for Digging Beneath Bones
What an incredible work here. Such territory.... This is a song, a lament, a tribute, a B-side, a photo album, a celebration of all that makes up the bones of this woman’s strength and resolve.
There are poets whose debuts announce themselves not with clamor but with an authority so assured, so undeniable, that the reader can only surrender. teri elam is such a poet.
teri elam goes digging beneath the bones to make a song of herself, her family, her people. She goes digging through trouble and tragedy, through family stories and the wreckage of love, to render a history that’s shot through with music.
about the book
Digging Beneath Bones, teri elam’s debut poetry collection travels through memory, lineage, rupture, and return, illuminating the body that navigates this rite of passage—a Black, Southern woman of a certain age—moving through the comfort and discomfort of relationships, dysfunction, family, truth, and self. It explores memory as a concept, a need, and a loss. A portrait of caretakers, aunties, nieces, and Black boy joy, it highlights meaning through music, television, myth, prayer, and the small altars of daily life. Above all, it is a love letter to a mother from a daughter, looking through their kaleidoscope, shining light on the broken bits of colored glass that create an infinite number of shapes, holding their testimony and memory.