Dr. Martina McGowan
978-1-7282-4507-2
2021, Sourcebooks
$15. 112 pages, paper
Reviewed by Teresa Gallion
i am the rage is an invocation, a meditation, and a reminder of what people of color have carried for generations. The resonance is powerful to read, hard to swallow, speaks historical truth, and introduces the current generation to the wound of carrying suppressed pain and suffering through time.
In the piece “Human Enough,” McGowan raises a question that rubs many generations raw: “Tonight and every night is watch night vigil for my child / Prayerfully asking / On this night / Will my child be human enough / To return to me unharmed.”
In “In My Rearview Mirror,” McGowan writes the psychology of fear for any person of color is strong when you see a police car in the rearview. “They finally pass me by / I almost drop my head to the steering wheel in relief / A trickle of sweat running down my back.”
In “Why We Beat Our Children,” McGowan notes what we learned from prior generations is still needed today as a survival strategy: “We use what we have learned / We beat them / We restrain them / We hold them in check.” Despite our efforts to keep our children safe, the question remains raised, “How do you keep a child safe and alert / How do you corral a free spirit / Without destroying it.”
McGowan points out with clarity how all of our legacies are blended. The implications underlying the piece, “We Are Alike, You and I,” tells us to take a close look at one another and come to terms with hatred. She instructs us to work as a unit to heal and eliminate the negative energy in our world:
We are alike
You and I
And until you see this with clarity
This grand democracy we call home
This nation
Will never cease to burn
In the fires of hatred
McGowan tells the story of deep pain with grace and elegance. She does not preach. She challenges you to hang your biases on the coat rack for a while, read deeply and hear a human cry for people living in the shadow of color. It is the dawn of the age of taking notice. i am the rage touches earth space just in time to impact us as the consciousness of the human race rises.
Read i am the rage and be informed of the great need for positive change in how we treat one another as human beings. We are the Negro Spirituals, the survival lyrics of our ancestors because we refuse to give up hope. As McGowan says in the title poem, “I Am the Rage,” that is destined to become a classic to read and recite: “I am the melody that lies inside every Negro spiritual / That sings praises of diminishing hopes in this life / And a brighter, fairer world in the next.”
Published in Cider Press Review, Volume 24, Issue 1.
Teresa E. Gallion is a seeker on a journey to work on unfolding spiritually in this present lifetime. Writing is a spiritual exercise for Teresa. Her passions are traveling the world and hiking the mountain and desert landscapes of the western United States. The land is sacred ground and her spiritual temple where she goes for quiet reflection and contemplation. She has published four books: Walking Sacred Ground, Contemplation in the High Desert, Chasing Light, a finalist in the 2013 New Mexico/Arizona Book Awards and her most recent book, Scent of Love.
Martina McGowan is a physician, poet, writer, artist, advocate, activist in the wars against social, racial, and sexual injustices. She is the author of i am the rage, published by SourceBooks, 2021. i am the rage was the 2021 International Book Award winner in the Social Change category. The book was an Honorable Mention Book Royal Dragonfly Award (2021), and a Goodreads Choice Award Nominee. Martina McGowan is a poetry editor for The Elevation Review Magazine. Her work has been published in several literary magazines and anthologies.
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