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I Done Clicked My Heels Three Times takes its inspiration and concept from the cult classic film The Wiz to explore a Black woman's journey out of the South Side of Chicago and into adulthood. The narrative arc of The Wiz—a tumultuous departure from home, trials designed to reveal new things about the self, and the eventual return home—serves as a loose trajectory for this collection, pulling listeners through an abandoned barn, a Wendy's drive-thru, a Beyoncé video, Grandma's house, Sunday service, and the corner store. At every stop, the speaker is made to confront her womanhood, her sexuality, the visibility of her body, alcoholism in her family, and various ways in which narratives are imposed on her.
Subverting monolithic ideas about the South Side of Chicago, and re-casting the city as a living, breathing entity, I Done Clicked My Heels Three Times spans sestinas, sonnets, free-verse, and erasures, all to reimagine the concept of home. Chicago isn't just a city, but a teacher, a lingering shadow, a way of seeing the world.
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
February 20, 2024 -
Formats
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OverDrive Listen audiobook
- ISBN: 9781696614351
- File size: 53652 KB
- Duration: 01:51:46
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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Starred review from August 21, 2023
In this ecstatic debut, Byas chronicles a Black woman’s coming-of-age in Chicago, the city that shaped her. The collection takes its structure from the layered narrative arcs of the 1978 film The Wiz, a Black reinterpretation of The Wizard of Oz, to weave a story of the speaker’s path from the South Side to the wider world and back again. Byas has a knack for lyrically capturing small details that make the speaker’s South Side community unique, as in the poem “Corner Store”: “These aisles I can’t forget;/ the quarter bags of chips I’d buy and flip/ for profit in our sock-rot locker rooms,/ the frosted glass doors with their fingerprints/ and drinks I dreamed to taste-test on porch steps.” In her portrayal, the South Side may be full of tough love, but love nevertheless abounds: “—the women cooking/ on their balconies and patios to side-/ eye all the young folks slinking past… this is a form of love as well,/ the way they judge the length of your daisy dukes/ and feed you, send you home with a plate.” These nuanced and complex poems offer unforgettable snapshots of Black life in a vibrant city.
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