Book Review:
I Didn't Come Here to Tap Dance
5.0 out of 5 stars This Collection is a Universe of Storied Truth-Telling
“I Didn’t Come Here to Tap Dance” is a self-portrait painted in poetry. And like a photomosaic, the larger picture derives the brilliance of its clarity from a carefully crafted tapestry of smaller images. Each one, a voyage to a world all its own. To experience, to explore, to savor. This collection is a universe of storied truth-telling about identity, freedom, war, religion, politics, music, and faith, starting in the Jim Crow South and ending at the Corona Virus question mark. Individually, these poems are blueprints for critical thinking in a world of hypocrisy and illusion. Paradigm shifting history lessons that provoke and connect the unaware to the unafraid. But together, they comprise a face so warm, a voice so strong, a sensation in my stomach so familiar, I recognize the messenger as my friend. In the lake of life, some choose to hurl heavy rocks with all their might, reveling in the size of a short-lived splash. Others aim and complain before skipping their turn, blaming the fear to let go on a frozen shoulder or limp wrist. But Ngoma Hill was born with a slingshot for a sidearm, and he’s been skipping stones for seventy-five years. Why would someone spend their life making waves? Because only the ripples reach the other shore.
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