White, Renia: Casual Conversation

BOA Editions, paperback Publication Date: April 19, 2022 Publisher Marketing: Renia White’s debut poetry collection pushes against state-sanctioned authority and societal thought while ruminating on Black joy. A Blessing the Boats Selection with a Foreword by Aracelis Girmay Renia White’s debut poetry collection strikes up a conversation, considering what’s being said, what isn’t, and where it all come from. From her vantage point of Black womanhood, White probes the norms and mores of everyday interactions. In observations, insights, and snippets of speech, these poems look to the unspoken thoughts behind our banter, questioning the authority of not only the rule of law but also of our small talk itself—the concepts we have accepted and integrated without pause. Casual Conversation imagines a new way of knowing, a way that encourages us to think through how we structure and stratify ourselves, inviting something strange and other to spill out. White challenges us to question whether t