Check the Rhyme: An Anthology of Female Poets & Emcees

DuEwa M. Frazier
Lit Noire Publishing (2006)
ISBN 0971905231
Reviewed by Beverly Pechin for Reader Views (10/06)

To find such a wonderful collection of poetry and prose under one cover is truly a gift.  To find it so easily is a tribute to the hard work and dreams of one woman, DuEwa M. Frazier.

Ms. Frazier has found quite a diverse group of women to share their inner most thoughts, dreams, desires and aspirations of their world and somehow grouped them all together in one beautiful piece of literature that says it all.

Broken up into sections that denote the basic ideas of the prose that follows, each writer orchestrates her pages with words to bring the reader into the author's own world and open it wide for a viewing like many have never seen before.  From subjects as sad as abuse to as beautiful as love, each author has their own way of sharing what they've experienced in life through writing.  Various formats are used, from Haikus to Rhyme.  Song writing is brought onto the pages without the use of music, yet easily puts a beat in your mind as you read through a rap style piece of poetry.  Simple three and four line poems can easily share the pages with poetry created in many stanzas and come together as one great work of art by many artists.

There are so many aspects of life covered under this one book that you simply become amazed at the differences in our world while touched by the common ground many of those different worlds may have.  While some may speak of the ghetto and hard life for a woman who's expected to fail, others translate their stories of 'making it' into the pages while sharing similar aches and pains of life.  Is the glamour of a rapper truly so glamorous?  Are girls from the ‘hood’ really too tough to cry?  Is there really any particular type of woman who should feel at ease with being herself or should we all be proud?

As you read through the pages and experience some of the authors' own life, you will quickly realize that there is a lot of talent out there just waiting to be found.  Lucky for us, Ms. Frazier has not only found it but shared it with us too!

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