KINDS OF GRACE: POEMS
Available Now!
Kinds of Grace is a poetry collection that explores the the trials and triumphs of mental illness, Afro-Latinidad and the search for love, home and self-ownership. The collection shows the power of healing racial wounds, the arc of discovering womanhood and the grace that we must show ourselves as we journey on our road to self-discovery.
Listen to the playlist at LargeHearted Boy here.’
Cover Image: Evie Shaffer
Work inside: Maritza González Cintrón and Carol Ward
INTERVIEWS
Read interviews about the collection at The Chapter House Journal, here at Speaking Marvels and at Letras Latinas (University of Notre Dame) here.
Listen to Yael Valencia Aldana read poems from KoG and listen to an interview about the book on her podcast.
Check out an interview with South Florida Poetry Journal.
Check out an interview on Kindred Stories’ YouTube Channel about WTTRH, KoG, creating representation, identity and mental health here.
PRESS
Named one of 15 Titles to Read for Latine Heritage Month by Bookshop.
Named a Must-Read by Columbia Daily Tribune.
Named one of 15 titles to read during National Poetry Month by Hip Latina
One of 29 Titles to Read by Letras Latinas.
The Acentos Review lists it as a Recommended selection for the Sealey Challenge.
“Love Songs for Oceans” from Kinds of Grace, received a Pushcart Nomination.
“McCauley writes through and around expressions of tangible love, seasons of grappling with mental health, moments when a person knows they exist as both a perfect image of their family and someone wholly set apart.
As in previous collections, these poems are supremely musical, but here the sound expands. Sensual Latin dance rhythms and tender torch songs sit next to unsettling Penderecki vibrations and quietly resolving—and resolved—cadences. To sit with these poems, to bear witness to the sounds they make, is a privilege…”- Aarik Danielsen, The Friday Five blog.
Available now! Here
The sweeping lyricism of these poems sing like arias through the many woes and wonders of womanhood, race, cultures, and homelands. With resolute emotional authority, Kinds of Grace inspirits us to not merely exist, but to thrive with dignity and virtue.
-Richard Blanco, Presidential Inaugural Poet, author of Homeland of My Body
Jennifer Maritza McCauley’s new book of poems Kinds of Grace is “huge, hot and shining.” This collection is a fearless exploration of that which we cannot always name and that which has been buried and silenced for far too long. Using lyrical language, fresh alliteration and anaphora McCauley explores mental health, ancestral memory and what it means to reconnect to and reclaim “Mami’s island” as her own. These poems move like tidal waves at times fast and full other times gentle and soft. As we journey through rivers, oceans, graveyards and meadows we see McCauley trying to make sense of her family’s past in order to feel rooted in the present as a “panther-soft” Black woman who is learning how to love (herself and others) and be loved. This poignant and timely collection is an affirmation of modern day Black Latina womanhood in all its complexity, humanity and wholeness. This is a book that sings and sighs, offers us grace and light and a field of flowers that reminds us we are still “Alive alive/Alive.”
— Jasminne Mendez, author of Aniana Del Mar Jumps In and CITY WITHOUT ALTAR
”These days, I don’t read poetry to cry or feel helpless. I read it to feel what it feels, to live it deeply and holler its lines like some proud Caribbean woman. That’s why I’ll read anything Jennifer Maritza McCauley writes. Her poems will as soon hug you loose as shake you tight, have you popping and wincing in beats, singing all kinds of love before morning’s arrived.”
—Anjanette Delgado, Editor, Home in Florida: Latinx Writers and the Literature of Uprootedness
McCauley skillfully incorporates an economy of language with evocative imagery and inspiring storytelling. An empowered, engaging voice. Masterful code-switching: honoring Black and Boricua cultures. Never apologizing. McCauley is always comfortable in protest and song. McCauley is a must-read poet and author; a rising star in the literary world!
-Jose Hernandez Diaz, author of “The Fire Eater” and “Bad Mexican, Bad American.”