Currents by Kendall A. Bell

Curling up with a brilliant poetry collection is like conversing with a long lost friend. Kendall A. Bell’s collection, Currents, is a late night discussion divulging what it means to be “the unread/novel left in a thunderstorm on/a backyard table.” This is another stunning collection by Bell, poignant and thought provoking. It’s easy to identify with the reflections of Bell’s speaker with lines like “I hollowed my/chest so that there was only space/for you.” One of the most powerful pieces is Currents, written for the late actress Naya Rivera. Bell laments how a “collective breath/became caught, was/extracted to the bottom/of the lake, to forever/mourn the theft of your/voice.” Do not sleep on Bell’s poetry.

- Marisa Silva-Dunbar, author of Allison and When Goddesses Wake