Miracle Thornton

« Rattle Chapbook Prize Winner »

 
In her debut chapbook, Miracle Thornton offers an imaginative portrait of black girlhood. In an effort to understand how we come to know ourselves, the poems interrogate fraught intimate and communal spaces. From the pews of a Baptist church or shushing through the halls of a home in the night, Thornton’s poems are sensitive to the at once suffocating and wonderful complexities of love, the body, and home. Inspired in part by the Aesop fable “A Jackdaw and Peacock Feathers,” the figure of a dejected black bird haunts the page. The jackdaw acts as a mirror or a window which the speaker runs against and away from at turning points in her life. Tender and gilded, plucked thrums with a delicate force.

From the Author

When I encountered the Aesop fable, the moral of the story—an individual caught between pride and loyalty—immediately resonated with me. Growing up, I always felt pulled between the environment of my home and my hometown. It was difficult to understand who I was when it changed depending on the room, depending on whomever else occupied the space. The bird was a powerful conduit and spoke to the illusive aspects of my ever-evolving sense of self.

Sample Poems

• “In the Kitchen” in Rattle #74
• “Praise Dance” in Rattle (Online)
• “On My First Day of Kindergarten” in Rattle (Online)
• “Among Peacocks” in Rattle (Online)

About the Author

Miracle Thornton is a writer from New Jersey. Her work has appeared in or is forthcoming from Rattle, DREGINALD, Silent Auctions, UpNorth Lit, and elsewhere. She’s been recognized by the National YoungArts Foundation and Princeton University, among others. She currently studies Literature at Bennington College.

Details

Cover art by Chuna A. Chugay
ISBN: 978-1-931307-55-0
Cover price: $6.00
Chapbook: 32 pages
Size: 6″ x 9″