This is a must have!
Tarriona “Tank” Ball has long had a way with words—channeling joy, vulnerability, and soul into every verse, beat, and performance. Now, the Grammy-winning frontwoman of Tank and the Bangas is inviting readers into her most personal transformation yet with The Thing About Falling, a searingly honest and soul-stirring second collection of poetry.
“I find so much power and strength in your wakest moments, I also write through my pain, and apparently some of my happiness too. I’m comforted knowing that I get to connect with you all in this special way and bring you with me, and ‘me’ with you,” Ball captioned a post to social media.
Known for her electric stage presence and genre-blending artistry, Ball has built a career on pushing boundaries and telling stories that pulse with rhythm and realness. But this time, the mic drops inward. After baring her soul on her 2021 “Vulnerable AF” book tour, she realized something life-altering: she was finally ready to let go of her first love. What followed was more than heartbreak—it was a full-blown unraveling, one that led to the kind of growth you only find when you’ve lost the version of yourself that no longer serves you.
In The Thing About Falling, Ball captures that journey in vivid, witty, and resonant prose. Organized into three poetic chapters—heartbreak, rebound, and renewal—each section reveals another layer of what it means to love deeply, lose boldly, and find your way back home to yourself. Whether she’s reflecting on the sting of goodbye or the unexpected joy of new beginnings, Tank’s voice is unmistakably her own: honest, humorous, and overflowing with heart.
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This collection isn’t just for those fresh off a breakup. It’s for the teenager nursing their first real ache. The thirty-something debating whether to leap again. The grown woman in the mirror, remembering that her love is worthy of the same devotion she gives others.
Now, the New Orleans native and renowned slam poet offers readers a reminder steeped in wisdom and rhythm: the fall may hurt—but it’s always worth the leap.
With The Thing About Falling, she doesn’t just write about love. She reclaims it. For herself. For every woman still learning that healing can be messy, magical, and most of all—hers.
Tank’s The Thing About Falling is currently available for pre-sale now at Barnes & Noble.
Cover photo: Grammy Award Winning Artist Tarriona “Tank” Ball of Tank & the Bangas to Release Second Poetry Book/Photo credit: @ThinkTank20/Instagram