Savings Time: Poems

The Bronx born activist and poet Roya Marsh returns with a riveting exploration of Black joy, collective action, and healing.

what will come of what you leave behind?
do you
remember that time
you survived?

The poems in Roya Marsh's second collection, savings time, wear their raw feeling and revolutionary forcefulness on their sleeves. Alternating between confrontation and celebration, Marsh trains her unsparing eye on the twinned subjects of Black rage and Black healing with practiced, musical intention.

In poems flitting between breathless prose and measured lyricism, Marsh contemplates the contradictions and challenges of Black life in America, tackling everything from police brutality and urban gentrification to queer identity, presidential elections, and pop culture, all while calling for a world where self-care, especially for Black women, is not just encouraged but mandated. "no one told the Black girl," she writes, "'see you later' was a prayer / begging us survive our own erasure."

As unforgettable on the page as when recited in Marsh's legendary spoken-word performances, the poems in savings time are focused on both revolution and self-love, at once holding society accountable for its exploitation of Black life and honoring the joy of persisting nonetheless.

Author: Roya Marsh
Publisher: MCD
Published: 02/04/2025
Pages: 128
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.25lbs
Size: 7.50h x 5.00w x 0.50d
ISBN: 9780374615796


Review Citation(s):
Booklist 01/01/2025 pg. 20

About the Author
Bronx, New York native, Roya Marsh is a poet, performer, educator and activist. She is the author of dayliGht, a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award in Lesbian Poetry and savings time (MCD/FSG). Roya works feverishly toward Queer liberation and dismantling white supremacy. She is the co-founder of the Bronx Poet Laureate, and leads creative writing workshops with NYC DOE, PEN America Emerging Voices, Lambda Literary's LGBTQ Writers in Schools and Poets & Writers. Roya is the awardee of the Lotos Foundation Prize for Poetry and 2024 Bronx Recognizes Its Own (BRIO) Award from Bronx Council on the Arts. Roya and her work have been featured widely including, The Academy of American Poets, The Poetry Foundation, Poetry Magazine, GLAAD, Electric Literature, The Village Voice, Nylon, Huffington Post, The Root, Button Poetry, BAM, Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center, The Apollo Theater, Joe's Pub, Lexus Verses and Flow, On One with Angela Rye, BET and The BreakBeat Poets Vol 2: Black Girl Magic (Haymarket 2018).