There Are More Beautiful Things Than Beyonce

The only thing more beautiful than Beyoncé is God,

and God is a black woman sipping rosé and drawing a

lavender bath, texting her mom, belly-laughing in the

therapist’s office, feeling unloved, being on display, daring to survive. Morgan Parker stands at the intersections

of vulnerability and performance, of desire and disgust,

of tragedy and excellence. Unrelentingly feminist,

tender, ruthless, and sequined, these poems are an altar

to the complexities of black American womanhood in

an age of non-indictments and deja vu, and a time of

wars over bodies and power. These poems celebrate and

mourn. They are a chorus chanting: You’re gonna give

us the love we need.