Viscera

Felice Belle is a writer of brevity and power. <i>Viscera</i> is Felice Belle talking to us, and it is urgent and beautiful. —Jessica Hagedorn<br>

Whimsically masterful, moving, and profound, <i>Viscera</i> is a collection that captivates with every poem. Belle delves into the raw heart of magic and memory, pop culture and physics. Belle is a voice to be celebrated, who with every page turn breaks and then restores your ragged heart. —Jennifer Murphy, <i>First Responder</i>

I read the entire book with my hand clutching my chest. I laughed and I cried and I remembered people I’ve loved and lost and lost and loved—but that hand never left —Bassey Ikpi, <i>New York Times Bestseller, I’m Telling the Truth but I’m Lying</i>

The everyday and the ecstatic are both vividly rendered here, and the poems are vibrant odes to New York and to black music. <i>Viscera</i> is a collection built from an intoxicating range of references, beautifully constellated, delivered with intelligent soundplay and a powerfully beating heart. —Jamel Brinkley, <i>Witness</i>

Felice Belle is a visionary poet…Belle’s poems are wickedly funny, full of sharp dialogue and precise imagery. There is a casual conversational elegance in <i>Viscera</i> that brings me so deeply close to a poet who is on top of her craft spilling truths from the mug of shattering heartbreak. —Regie Cabico, <i>Nuyorican Poets Cafe Grand Slam Champion</i> and <i>Theater Artist</i>

Felice Belle writes, “but i am an against-the-odds kind of girl” and then admits “i don’t want the preacher / i want the pulpit.” Indeed, these poems—riding the ambitious spirits of Prince, Drake, and Whitman—speak into the soul and inspire us all to stand taller, and braver too, especially in times of distress and heartache. Belle triumphantly reminds herself (and us) that “you were born for such a time as this.” —Faisal Mohyuddin, <i>The Displaced Children of Displaced Children</i>