Malcolm Tariq conceives a political uprising in a lyrical form, as every poem in Heed the Hollow is imbued with a cultural charge that races through the body. This current culminates in a thought inducing and worldview shattering change in perspective about the meaning of race and sexuality. Coming from a white and heterosexual background, I have attempted to look at this collection objectively. I have read Tariq’s work with my own biases and privilege kept in mind as the poems are heavily influenced by a culture different from my own.

That said, Tariq refuses to hold back in Heed the Hollow initiating a constant flow of boundary breaking poems. Each piece focusses on expressing a move forward in the world with every intention to recognize previous African American struggles. The poems fight for a reconciliation between the poet’s future and the ruptured history of his ancestors.  He issues an undercurrent of amicable love permeated throughout the text cultivated from his cultural identity. These two forces are gathered together in a swirling hurricane contained only by the eloquence articulated in each poem. His language is remarkable, not so much in the description and imagery, though that itself is very notable, but more in the lyrical sound and syllabic beat that is ensconced within the lines. This is displayed in the first instance of “Malcolm Tariq’s Black Bottom” with the repetition of “cake.” Each line follows a continuity with “cake,” but it also acts as the bass drum grounding the poem. Cantos such as “on the serving place/ in its birthday suit/ in the birthday suite/ the sweet birthday/ cake cake,” situate a beat that pumps a person’s eardrum full of music. The prowess of Tariq’s flow fluctuates the instrumentality of the piece with one word, one phrase, “cake,” repeated and integrated at intervals in the work.

The titular poem, “Heed the Hollow,” formulates the complexity of the poet’s work as he presents a journey to find identity in a mix-match of historical oppression. This piece stands out because it captures Heed the Hollow’s theme of blending African American and queer identities. Tariq utilizes erotic and sexual language to proclaim the harassment he has experienced, but also the harassment on his culture. He finds the cultural intersection, some kind of space that revitalizes each social context, which comes to fruition through his language. Impassioned phrases paint his struggle. With lines like, “I take my own pills as I once learned/ to sign for my mother’s birth/ control” to “I’ll swallow everything,” and “I’ve heard/ women in my family talk of assault/ as I’ve heard men/ talk of assaulting,” Tariq captures the perverse nature of America. Each line grips the reader in a chokehold meant to arouse and frighten. With every piece, it’s another method of coping with colonialism as Tariq states “I am trying to remember/ to forget the colonizer’s name.” Tariq picks his scars from a wounded past. Like a professional peeler, he reveals over a century’s worth of pain with precision.

Heed the Hollow propels the reader beyond the easy reparation to position an identity far beyond a simple narrative. Each poem reiterates a complexity of emotion, history, and self that refuses to be denominated by colonizers. Tariq rejects, yet embraces, history. The intricacy of finding love between the water and oil mixture of his psyche wraps the reader in the social context. Contextualized in American society, Heed the Hollow is a timely response to current affairs. As a Canadian, I have an outside perspective on the USA’s racial issues. Tariq reminds me that he resides in epicenter of these issues, and he continually erodes the hierarchical narratives in an outlook entwined with history. As a lyrical maelstrom, this text asks the reader to begin enacting social change. And if they are, it encourages them to keep fighting.