This essay analyzes Claudia Rankine’s first book, Nothing in Nature is Private, showing that although the book is formally dissimilar to her later work, it includes themes that continue to be foundational to her writing practice. From the title of the first poem, “American Light,” in this first book, to the subtitle of her two most recent books of poetry (“An American Lyric”) Rankine has dwelt in the history and multiple meanings of the “American.” Nothing in Nature is Private allows us to deeply consider a black female subject’s relationship to the American landscape, history, and literary lineages. Moreover, this analysis enlarges debates both about how subjectivity is framed and how it is related to poetic form.