If you have yet to discover the work of Nate Marshall, you should know he’s one of the most important poets of the 21st century, period. Those already familiar with his work, in particular his debut collection of poetry Wild Hundreds, will find more of the Nate Marshall we know and love. In his new collection Finna, Marshall retraces formative experiences growing up in the Wild Hundreds of Chicago, again there’s a handful of heartbroken love poems, even another Harold’s Chicken Shack poem. All are delivered in his distinctive style: frequently dodging capital letters, the use of numbers rather than the spellings of numbers, the easy comfort of his hometown tongue, a Chicago African American vernacular. Each poem still knocks with forms that will make you flip the book upside down (literally) and ghazals with Chicago slang.
The collection is framed by two quotes. One from Chicago poet Malik Yusef, from “Crack Music,” a song he is featured on in Kanye West’s sophomore album Late Registration. In the song, West illustrates how the same forces of misery, violence, and oppression that have created the crack industry and addiction in Black communities are the same forces that have shaped Black music. Both West and Yusef draw -parallels between the crack game and music game. The song is forceful ars poetica that argues against the whitewashing of Black language and experience. It insists you wrestle with the gravity of history, warts and all, rather than sanitizing and commodifying it, as Black culture is often repackaged for the consumption of non-Black folks. The line Marshall borrows is “this dark diction has become america’s addiction.”
The second quote comes from Thomas Jefferson, who Marshall rightfully refers to as “some white boy”; it’s from his “Notes on the State of Virginia”: “Among the blacks is misery enough, God knows, but no poetry.” Dig a bit further into this text and you’ll see that Jefferson was particularly interested in discrediting the work of poet Phillis Wheatley, the first African American author of a book of poetry, whose work often engaged Christian themes. If you are new to her work, read this, then this. Marshall’s book is a direct response to the Jefferson quote, as Finna is very intentionally rooted in the poetry of the Black vernacular.
Being rooted in the Black vernacular means more the incorporation of words like finna. Rather, Marshall is interested in interrogating the way Black language has been used, as a means of comfort and as a weapon, and exploring how far it can be pushed. Poems like “landless acknowledgement” and “the valley of its making” look at home our language becomes our home. Poems like “my mom’s favorite rapper was Too $hort” and “the homies ask if i’m tryna smash” look at the ways patriarchal violence is embedded in language. Poems like “Finna,” “Aubade for the whole hood” and “what it is & will be” dream of better worlds and the language that it would take to get there.
I don’t think I got much more to say about the book other than its a relief to know poets like Nate Marshall exist in the world. His work is a testament to the fact that as an artist there are ways of creating without compromising yourself or your soul.
I recommend this book for anyone interested in poetry and hip-hop.