Chrome Valley: Poems - Hardcover

by Mahogany L. Browne (Author)

Boldly lyrical and fiercely honest, Mahogany L. Browne's Chrome Valley offers an intricate portrait of Black womanhood in America. "We praise their names / & the hands that write / Praise the mouth that speaks," she writes in tribute to those who came before her.

Browne captures a quintessential girlhood through the pleasures and pangs of young love: the thrill of skating hip to hip at the roller rink, the heat of holding hands in the dark, and, sometimes, the sting of a palm across the cheek. Friendship, too, comes with its own complex yearnings: "you ain't had freedom / 'til you climb on bus 62 / & head to the closest mall / for a good seat at the girl fight."

Reflections of Browne's mother, Redbone, bolster the collection with moments of unwavering strength: "give me my mother's bone structure / & her gap tooth slaughter / give me her spine--Redbone got a spine for the world." Other moments explore the inherent anxieties shared among Black mothers, rhythmically intoning names like the tolling of a church bell: "Because Kadiatou Diallo / Because Sybrina Fulton / Because Valeria Bell / Because Mamie Till."

The characters in Chrome Valley grapple with the legacies of inherited trauma but also revel in the beauty of the undaunted self-determination passed down from Black woman to Black woman. Transcendent and grounded, funny and furious, Chrome Valley brings depth to a movement, solidifying Mahogany L. Browne as one of the most significant poetic voices of our time.

Back Jacket

A deeply felt and kaleidoscopic display of skill, compassion, innovation, and daring verve from one of our most dynamically-talented and beloved poets, Chrome Valley is a searching and expansive exploration through familial and state-sanction wounds, and how we don't always merely find our voices--but survive into them.
--Ocean Vuong

"Mahogany Browne's legacy is one of generosity, a legacy that once again shines through in Chrome Valley which acts as a booklong ode, a love song to both place and people, so rich in image and narrative clarity that the place could be your place. And, for our folks, the people could be your people. This book is a gift. A kingdom of touchable joys."
--Hanif Abdurraqib

"Mahogany L. Browne's poetry is the outstretched arm holding innocence in its seat as we approach a sharp, violent red light. It is an honor to continue to have her language in the driver's seat, telling us where to look and when to close our eyes."
--Camonghne Felix, author of Build Yourself a Boat, longlisted for the National Book Award

"Mahogany L. Browne has long established herself to be one of the great living poets. But what is clear upon reading her luminous new collection, Chrome Valley, is that she is a master historian as well: of the heart, of lineage, of the griefs and joys that come with Blackness, girlhood, and motherhood in this country--and all their intersections."
--Hala Alyan, author of The Arsonists' City

"If you want to know what it feels like to truly celebrate the magic of Black womanhood, Mahogany L. Browne's Chrome Valley should be your starting point. Imagine the lyrics to a ratched opera, Jesus meeting his maker -- a Black woman -- and you will fall deep inside this vivacious, tender, high-voltage collection. This is the poetry of the side eye, the adventures of Redbone, the beautifully and aptly named catastrophe, and the grace of a good question. Chrome Valley is not just a book; it's a destination, a practice, a memory, a corner of deliverance. This book is fire with a table of contents."
--Willie Perdomo, State Poet of New York, The Crazy Bunch