Kahdeidra Monét Martin is a fresh voice in American literature with an old soul. Her debut poetry collection Saltwater Rivers is a bildungsroman unique to this time, deftly employing translanguaging and trandialecting to engage readers in questions of glocal concern. The audience for these poems is an urban professional who speaks with a southern accent, whether southern U.S. or southern hemisphere. The audience for these poems is religious and spiritual, traditional and eclectic, militant and nurturing.

Kahdeidra’s carefully crafted poems are deeply introspective and observant. These poems “go there.” They provoke, rekindle, probe, and inspire. They remember for you, recollecting memories and recollecting that which has been dispersed through time and geography. Largely autobiographical, these poems reveal a search for identity, inviting readers to uncloak insecurities and fears to see themselves and their neighbors more clearly.