Review: “A New Day Dawns” by Nikky Finney

Reviewed on 11/2/2024

★★★☆☆

“A New Day Dawns” celebrates America’s rebirth after centuries of divisions and oppressions. Set in South Carolina, imagery (“peral-blue” skies and “iridescent fireflies”) is mixed with hope, sorrow, and delicacy. Nature, in this dawning moment, both embraces transformation and suggests the potential of ruin. This explains Finney’s reverent, rather than joyous, tone. She doesn’t take this win as permanent, which reminds her only of our responsibilities to the future (“give our future the same honor”). 

Finney adds another layer to this “new day,” discussing the sacrosanctity of history. She laments, “We are not free to go on as if nothing happened yesterday.” Generations of the racially oppressed tinge the triumph with irony and guilt. Perhaps, above all, the flag’s fall italicizes our past wrongdoings; our identities are shadowed by “tears and jubilation.” Only by remembering history can we truly go on into the day. The intertwined past and present, losses and victories, hope and responsibility, characterize the central struggle of Finney’s narrative. 

On the contrary, Finney’s lyrical style seems largely metaphorical and on-the-nose. For me, expressions such as “Door ajar” and “undulating moment” make the poem flat and take the poignant intensity away.