Cleansing My Mother’s Cold Body
Jacqueline Jones LaMon

Someone would have to do it, but I knew
that it couldn’t be me.
I was her only daughter, her only child,
her closest kin. For nights,
I dreamed the expression she would
have made when men unzipped
her body bag, lifted her onto that metal without warming
it first. They might eat a sandwich then.
They might call it a night.

They were professionals. They did this all
the time. They would say
she cannot feel temperature anymore.
And I would wonder where she was
and what she knew of light and humidity
and circulating air, if all that
knowledge leaves us and we have to
begin again. She would have nothing
on—this woman with three closets full of
good things she can’t wear anymore

and she would be alone in this chill
without anyone with her and I
didn’t know the new rules in this
convoluted world of death. And no one
would tell me what I needed to know. I
had taken off her earrings and put them
on my ears. I had kissed her
on her cheeks, moisturized her lips. I had told her
that I loved her, that I would, one day, be
okay. But I couldn’t decide

what she would want for all eternity—the
muu-muu, the sackcloth, the shroud…

*

A huge thank you to @NetGalley and @nupress for an ARC of ‘What Water Knows: Poems’ by Jacqueline Jones LaMon.

What Water Knows is a collection of powerful poetry that depicts the natural aspects that both unite us and divide us.
Jacqueline Jones LaMon compelling first poem talks about how we have evolved from drinking pure water from rain or river to labeled water and paying for it and showering cash on wise man.

‘It only costs a dollar to quench our deepest thirsts’, such a subtle expression depicting modern lifestyle.

What happens when a brother flees is one other remarkable poems. ‘I want to see my mother, I want to see the water rush between my fingers’.

Readers can well relate to an emotion like: ‘I remember the scent of death on and around my mother’.
‘And everything stands; so very, very still’
Such energetic and vibrant poetry.

"We’ll walk the shore, give names to birds, breathe and feel each other’s breath, this salty mist on every solid thing." sings the poet in this book - from the Garonne river in South West France to the nameless, slave aboard the 1786 Atlantic slaver Hudibras - whose friends are allowed a brief wake for her, we walk the waters of Jacqueline Jones LaMon's initiation into Walking through water.
This is a story told in breathless prose/poem fragments of a contemporary Black woman's experience; family history, facing up to racism, city life, moving home, friendship, are bundled together in a pulsating unwinding narrative. It needs reading in one sitting perhaps with some blues piano music playing softly alongside.

I received an ARC of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!

What Water Knows is a collection of poems that explore themes such as race, love, freedom, pain, and womanhood. LaMon uses water memory to depict the turbulence of our lives, as well as how people are all connected to each other. The passages flow together beautifully and describe what it truly feels to be human in the kind of world we live in. Reading through this book is an intimate and raw experience. The vibrant and lyrical writing easily put the reader in the shoes of people dealing with some of the most painful parts of the human experience. These poems will make readers feel the weight of the ocean, as well as the freedom of swimming on the surface.

Maybe just didn't read as close as I should about the description of this one. Expected more poetry, and expected a sense of waterways. Instead it was more prose, and a lot of darkness in stories and emotions. Well written for the most part, but not what I was expecting or light as I generally read.