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Reviewed by Jamie Michele for Readers' Favorite
Breathing Life Into Words Where Pain Becomes Power by Ranisha Masters is a poetry collection about surviving painful experiences and finding the language to speak about them. Masters begins with poems addressed to her younger self and God, where betrayal and self-blame sit beside learning to value herself again. Motherhood then brings that pain into the lives of children trying to understand a father’s absence, before family relationships open into poems about parents and siblings. Masters also turns toward Black men and women as she writes about community violence and the responsibility people have to one another. Spirituality runs through the collection as organized religion is questioned alongside a direct relationship with God. Alongside these subjects, Masters speaks to younger generations about their futures and the decisions that can protect what they build for themselves.
Ranisha Masters’s Breathing Life Into Words Where Pain Becomes Power is a fantastic poetry collection, and I love how directly Masters speaks to readers in language that feels completely natural. Her imagery is especially strong when she takes an everyday object and gives it another meaning. Dial Tone in Heaven is a perfect example, and Masters has the speaker reach for a saved phone number after someone has died, only for her thumb to stop when she remembers nobody can answer. I also liked how Masters brings that same voice into social criticism, giving the collection a wider reach. Thrown, Not Chosen looks at foster children through files, contracts, and fluorescent rooms as adults make decisions around their lives. Well written and full of raw honesty, readers who enjoy poetry drawn from lived experience will adore this.
