What Had Happened Was

The debut poetry collection by Pickens (Charles A. Dana Professor of English and Africana, Bates Coll.; Black Madness :: Mad Blackness) offers a powerful exploration of storytelling and Black experiences. Pickens addresses politics, race, and gender and intertwines personal narratives with prominent historical events to illuminate the obstacles that many Black Americans face. In the striking poem “On March 12, 2020, Breonna Taylor,” Pickens frames the setting as “a hustle she said she was going to make 2020 / the year of Breonna Taylor.” The line draws attention to violence and systemic injustice against Black people while inviting readers to reflect on Taylor’s legacy and broader implications. The collection’s strength lies in its content and form. Through intentional sentence structures—hyphens, periods, or strategic placement of text on the page—the collection encourages readers to pause and absorb the gravity of historical moments. Pickens employs a variety of styles, yet all her poems share a common thread: they create a space for reflection.