The Devil’s Garden

Winner of the 2002 New York / New England Award Selected as one of the "Five Best Books of Poetry in 2003" by Black Issues Book Review


Using musical allusion and metaphor, juxtaposing history and autobiography, Matejka navigates a triracial identity. In these poems, having too many heritages means having no heritage at all. As a result, cultural identifiers—be they afros, war paint, or William Shatner—take the place of identity. Vibrant narrative lyrics use image as riff, syllable as note, to improvise on a personal history severed from tradition.