RaveThe RumpusWhat is remarkable about Trethewey’s approach to these issues is the emotional distance she maintains from the incredibly personal subject matter. She deals with what it means to be a biracial woman in Mississippi through filters and layers, which in the end deliver a more emotional punch than if she addressed her experiences directly ... Through these pieces of art, Trethewey couches her own, making her experience and wisdom transcend her time and her place ... Trethewey renders us to ourselves as well, showing how the search for identity of one woman can represent our American search for identity ... Her choices and distance are masterful. She employs no direct righteous indignation, lectures, blame, or self-pitying. Not here. Instead we are given art, like Williams, Hurston, and Villanueva before her, that shows us a specific situation, how difficult finding and maintaining one’s identity in a malicious environment can be ... American poetry is incredibly lucky to have her.
