Published posthumously, this powerful second collection is a raw dialogue about being black in today's society, exploring injustices survived by using a dream-like consciousness to take on multiple personas: DiVida, who wants to assimilate into the larger culture, and Sapphire, who refuses to follow at the expense of her self-actualization.
"The imaginary character who carries the name and sings her life is both DiVida and Sapphire, who sometimes replies to her musings, as one voice speaking for a universe of black women. Like syncopated masks, the voices of Hand's book offer a new sense of double-consciousness. Her untimely death at the zenith of her career lends the last few poems, which anticipate death, a special fullness and poi
