Title: Summer of 2020
Author: Karla Sutton-McKinney
Publisher: XlbirsUS
ISBN: 9781664154179
Pages: 110
Genre: Poetry/Self-Help
Reviewed by: Ella Vincent
Pacific Book Review
Summer of 2020 is a collection of poems that summarizes the tumultuous summer of social upheaval. Karla Sutton-McKinney has written a book that will resonate with readers.
Summer of 2020 shows Sutton-McKinney coping with the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and other unarmed Black people at the hands of police. She writes about her feelings of the world over the course of the summer, with each poem named after the day she wrote the poem. The author writes about being unsettled in
poems like “June 4”: Accept the balance will never be leveled / Accept the world will never be settled / Accept there will always be those who have a need.
While Sutton-McKinney does not have faith in the world changing its racist history, there is hope that there will eventually be racial justice in poems like “July 9”: Justice Does Not Echo / It is the Voice / Justice is Living / BELIEVERS have no Choice. She also wrote about how justice can be won through protest and action in her poem “July 16:“ Justice INHABITS the earth / Pray and Watch/then Get to work!!!”
Summer of 2020 perfectly captures the conflicted feelings that Sutton-McKinney felt during the summer of social unrest. The contrasting feelings of anger, powerlessness, resilience, and faith are encapsulated in Sutton-McKinney’s poetry. Even though she is angry about the deaths of unarmed Black people at the hands of police, she always keeps her faith in God in poems like “June 27”: HE has not moved / HE will not change / HE has refused / to change the game.
Sutton-McKinney’s emotion and faith will come through to readers by her evocative writing. Her writing is evocative and conviction in her faith in a better future will resonate with readers.
Sutton-McKinney’s poetry about the harsh realities of that summer is juxtaposed with Bible verses that ground her views about politics with spiritual beliefs that transcend the volatile summer of 2020. The unrest of that time is also contrasted with calming pictures of water and the sun in the text.
Summer of 2020 would be best for those who want to read about how people navigated the turbulent summer of social change. The Summer of 2020 would also be best for people who want to read socially conscious and spiritual poetry from poets like Maya Angelou or Sonia Sanchez. The Summer of 2020 is a poetry book which will make readers think and give them hope.
