“These potent poems of Sherrard’s travel through time to give us the receipts of history in the twenty-first century. In conversation with, or riffing off of, Paul Laurence Dunbar, Shakespeare, and Gilligan’s Island among others ‘each line works its alchemy’. The longest conversation is with Mrs. Malinda Russell and her cookbook from 1866, one of the earliest published by a Black woman. Here you’ll find recipes for survival and spells to ward off what evil may come at you or your family. I’m truly grateful for the magic Sherrard weaves in this book.” (Sean Hill, author of Blood Ties & Brown Liquor)

"Evoking a mother’s love for a son 'disabled by life’s whimsy', these appealingly down-to-earth poems cite everything from Shakespeare’s sonnets to Gilligan’s Island to African-American history." (New York Times)

"Cherene Sherrard reminds us that poetry, like cooking, is as much about ingredients as ingenuity. Her ingredients are positively cornucopian, but it’s Sherrard’s keen, enlivening spirit that gives this remarkable book its flavor. She makes poems out of fiddle duos, Funkadelic dance-offs, 'sequins of spun sugar', and especially the first cookbook published by an African American woman. She finds poetry in restoring hair color; she transforms food and people with ginger. Sherrard shows us how to make language, wherever we find it, both tool and weapon. The fabulous Grimoire offers recipes, spells, and instructions for survival."(Terrance Hayes, author of American Sonnets for My Past and Future Assassin)