Imagine Being More Afraid of Freedom Than Slavery

By Pamela Sneed

Book Overview

An incendiary literary work more relevant now than ever.

"if anger were an ax/it would split me open/and if this is a sermon/let it be my granddaddy's sermon/my grandmother's foottapping/steady rocking/choir singing" --from "It Is Not a New Age"

First published in 1998, Imagine Being More Afraid of Freedom than Slavery is the debut collection by acclaimed poet and performer Pamela Sneed. Provocative and potent, it tackles the political and personal issues of enslavement, sexuality, emotional trauma, and abuse. These poems chart the journey of an artist trying to escape cycles of dependency and reclaim lost self and identity. Drawing parallels to Harriet Tubman's journey on the Underground Railroad, Sneed's explora-tions of the woods are a metaphor and emotional path one must explore to attain self-ownership. Sneed's poems are bound by the search for love, freedom, and justice--from images of lesbian love to Emmet Till's bloated body, they offer a raging cry and a roadmap for those interested in transforming the personal into social justice and abolitionist practices.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1531504841
• ISBN13: 9781531504847
• Release Date: September 2023
• Publisher: New York Relit
• Length: 80 Pages
• Weight: 0.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.2" x 6.1" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Truthful Emotions for all

The poems allow you to journey into a soul rarely touched by contemporary poetry. Regardless of sexual preference, color, or religion-Ms. Sneed writes with truth. A truth that is uncomfortable and relentless, but needed.

Redefining the "angry black lesbian" cliche

This is exactly what Nikki Giovanni is shooting for, and doesn't reach. Pamela takes her rage, fear, and helplessness and transfers it directly to the reader, and does so with a sense of beauty and language that rivals the best of the traditional poets. She brings the world of radical feminism to everyone's doorstep, while never losing the sense of her own irony and philosophical limitations. I hold this book in the same reverance that I hold my copy of Dickenson.

I really love Sneed's work. It caresses the cord of culture.

Pamela Sneed is a true artist. Her poetry portrays the struggles of Black lesbians, lonliness,what it is to suffer abuse, and what it is to find oneself, love oneself, and continue on. I really enjoyed this collection of poems. I would also like to give it the highest recommendation possible. Her work touches the depth of a specific culture as well as the human condition. Not only that, it enthralls readers and brings experience to life. Again, I give this work the highest praise possible, and I encourage all people to read it, know it, analyze it, and abosorb it. Ms. Sneed's poetry is vibrant, no nonsense, in your face, and true to life. Her words open up an adventurous, as well as educating avenue that exposes readers to a feared culture that lives right inside the walls of mainstream society.

POWERFUL!!

As an avid poetry lover, I didn't know what to expect. By accident, I came across this book. Pamela Sneed's poetry is raw and imaginable. I laughed, cried, meditated and felt empathy. There's certainly no more slavery for Pam. With the spirit of Harriet, among others, this sister is truly free...free to be herself. More power to you!!!

Not bad!

Perhaps someone who demands the rigid classicism of a T.S. Eliot would be put off, but I liked it fine. To me, her poetry felt like a mix between Allen Ginsburg's frenetic images/speech rhythms and Pat Parker's stripped, precise rhetoric. " . . . a symphony of sound/strummed on broken guitar strings,/an echo of words overturned/sweetness swallowed, spit/and whispered in my ear . . . I repeat/ each song you quote like scriptures/ poetry is the only gospel/ I know." Sometimes I could almost imagine her on stage, her glorious diatribe still hanging in the air, the audience absolutely quiet. Or in her monologue to God: "This is the end/ of an extremely unfulfilling relationship." Who would've guessed? Humor in poetry after Frank O' Connor. All in all, it wasn't Sir Edmund Spenser, but it was an experience. I recommend it.