Synopses & Reviews
Nicole Homer's first full-length poetry collection, Pecking Order, is an unflinching look at how race and gender politics play out in the domestic sphere. Homer challenges the notion of family by forcing the reader to examine how race, race performance, and colorism impact motherhood immediately and from generation to generation. In a world where race and color often determine treatment, the home should be sanctuary, but often is not. Homer's poems question the construction of racial identity and how familial love can both challenge and bolster that construction. Her poems range from the intimate details of motherhood to the universal experiences of parenting; the dynamics of multiracial families to parenting black children; and the ingrained social hierarchy which places the black mother at the bottom. Homer forces us to reckon with the truth that no one — not even the mother — is unbiased.
Review
"This is a stellar collection, one that speaks to every edge of an experience and echoes out, leaving a harsh and beautiful longing in its wake. "
Hanif WillisAbdurraqib, author of The Crown Ain't Worth Much
Review
"Nicole Homer is our Matron Saint of 'Mothers Bring Your Weary Self & Get Free or Laugh 'til You Cry' — and she didn't even apply for the gig."
Mahogany L. Browne, author of Redbone (NAACP Nominee 2015)
Review
"The poems in Pecking Order are electric with interrogation and revelation....[Homer] always lets vulnerability take center stage, confronting race and motherhood with equal parts ferocity and introspection."
Rachel McKibbens, author of Pink Elephant
About the Author
Nicole Homer is a writer and educator. Combining the intimacy of a whisper and the nonchalance of a bus station confession (with a helping of humor), she tells stories that examine gender, race, relationships and the minutia of life in a way that invites the reader to come in, pull up a chair, and stay awhile. Her writing has appeared in Muzzle, The Offing, FreezeRay Poetry, Cease Cows, The Boiler Journal, and elsewhere. She is an Editor and regular contributor at BlackNerdProblems. She has an MFA from Rutgers-Newark and currently lives in New Jersey where she teaches. http: //nicolehomer.com/