Stepmotherland

Holnes’s ecstatic debut transforms an immigrant’s dislocation into a newly discovered sense of belonging. Crossing borders and languages, these poems speak a truth about identity that’s more complex than mere labels can capture. His joyful prosody comes through in such lines as, “our moreno swing-hips, dips, and spins to the two-beat/ carimbó drum rhythm stronger than the pulse/ thumping through my little boy body/ until I can’t tell the difference/ between my corazón and the radio’s ton-ton.” The collection moves from the speaker’s youth in Panama to a reimagined self and his relationship to America as he comes into adulthood. Poems question an authorized “African American” version of Blackness: “Now I like that boom boom pow, chickens jackin my style/ Now can I get a hey? Can I get a yo?/ You can get with this or—wait—is that how it goes?” Other poems celebrate the vulnerability of transformation: “A king,/ I queen so hard my earth-quaking rule/ breaks the laws of nature; flesh-colored spanx and/ control-top leggings tuck it away/ where the sun don’t shine.” This impressive work dazzles with songs for a shared humanity. (Feb.)