Appalachian Elegy By Bell Hooks (Grade 10+)

When bell hooks died in 2022, she left behind an ouevre of interdisciplinary essays on race, feminism, queer identities, and love. Though most well-known for her work in non-fiction, hooks was also a poet of works such as the poem of today, "Appalachian Elegy." Similar to the sentiments of her essays, this poem carries the usual 'bell hooks' intensity of deeply intimate language, powerful emotions, and the transcendance of boundaries--whether it be grammatical, syntaxual, or those separating us from each other.