Levitation

In Monument, Natasha Trethewey’s poems circle around sainthood and race. In “Calling,” the speaker’s mother is conflated with “the Black Virgin,” “a dark Madonna.” This artist’s book, “Levitation,” honors St. Martin de Porres, who was born in Peru to a white father and a black mother who was a freed slave. The cover mimics a reliquary, with its figurine of St. Martin and tiny skull behind a mica window.