Literary Analysis Of Head Off And Split By Nikki Finnby

When one hears the title “Head off and Split,” it has pragmatic meanings. Nikki Finney fills the book with facts on womanhood, identity, and growth. Finney explains her life, sexual orientation, and more in Head off & Split.

The title “Head Off & Split” is a phrase used when one goes to the fish market. When the fisherman cleans the fish; he then ask, “Head Off & Split.” Finney explains. Finney is from the South, therefore, every Friday was Fish Friday. The book opens up as whole fish, then it splits into three sections. The head, the body, and the tail are the parts of the fish. In addition, Finney split the book into the three sections, The Hard Headed (head), The Head over Heels (body), and The Head Waters (tail). Finney teaches on the idea that life is the process of splitting off from childhood and growing into adulthood. Life is about splitting off and finding your own. “What it means to learn is something from the beginning to end.” Finney stated. When teaching one how to build an object, learn about life, or general they need to be taught from the beginning. On the cover, the photo is a fish with its head off and split wrapped in newspaper. Finney left the fish as a whole with the guts, scales, and head, to look closely into someone. One has to accept the parts they cannot deny because it is the parts one

Newcomers to poetry can see that Finney is different from Dwayne Betts, Sonia Sánchez, and Terrence Hayes. She changes up her tone from passionate, to empowerment, to blunt, and uniformed. Compared to other poets Finney’s poems have deep and meaningful messages. In the poem, “Red Velvet” Finney focuses on Rosa Parks and during the segregation era when blacks had to sit in the back of the bus. Red Velvet is generally referred too as a sweet dessert. However, Finney turned the term into empowerment and using women who are in tough situations but