“In Jasmine Mans’ “ Black Girl, Call Home”, heaven is on a corner somewhere in Newark and God is in the face of every black woman who graces it. Here be poems that explore the lush interiors of black queer womanhood and extent that particular and wonderful love to Black girls and boys in verses of justice, mourning, wonder and glory. Mans takes up the tools of Brooks and Sanchez into her good hands and chisels us an urgent and grand work, proving why she’s the favorite poet of all the girls in the back of the bus.”
-Danez Smith National Book Award Finalist / Author of “Homie” & “Don’t Call Us Dead”
“These poems will leave a warmth that will emblazon your chest with all the hills and valleys of love and maturity throughout this often cold world. This book is a haven for all the Black daughters out there, hoping to make sense of the power and powerlessness in their bodies, the connection to others' bodies, and the moments of everyday life that comprise so much of our identities.”
-Morgan Jerkins New York Times Bestseller / Author of “This Will Be My Undoing”
“ In “Black Girl, Call Home”, Jasmine Mans asks the reader difficult questions and does not offer simple answers. Each poem is a meditation on a moment, a memory, and a history that guides the reader through the experience of Black womanhood in a way I’ve not experienced before. These poems both explode and glimmer on the page. They demand to be read, to be shared, to be revisited time and time again. I have admired Jasmine Mans’ work for more than a decade and this book demonstrates that such admiration will only continue to grow.”
-Clint Smith Harvard University / Author of “Counting Descent”
“Black Girl Call Home is a testament to Jasmine Mans’ talent and contribution as a spoken word artist. More than that though, it’s a book that means to trek the possibility of love in a life from childhood to adulthood and all the way back home: “I will love/you even/after you/change your/mind//about me.” You are carrying in your hands a black woman’s heart.”
-Jericho Brown Pulitzer Prize Winner collection of Poetry for “The Tradition”