I felt bad rating this book a 3.75 at first so I changed it to a 4.0. It doesn't resonate with me as much as BLACK MOVIE did by this same author, and while they do an incredible job at writing most of this comes from my own relationship with poetry. However, I would still tell people to read this book and give it a chance, it's a book I feel a lot of people still should take the time to read even if they don't like it themselves.

This was not an easy book to finish. It’s less than 100 pages, but it is extremely heavy. Danez Smith is a master poet who knows how to weave humor and dark topics together beautifully, but the heaviness often outweighs the humor in this one. This collection is poignant and relevant, but not wholly enjoyable. That’s not to say this is a bad collection by any means whatsoever — it was just hard to get through. Be thoroughly aware of the trigger warnings for this book before reading.

Buy it! Read it! If you’re white, use it to develop some empathy! I’m white and my heart grew ten times the size. Off to go buy their other poetry collectives. 

Overall this book is basically Angry Poems, and an aggressive theme. But most of it is fair. Like the line "poeming some men's hands off,  they know what they did" (paraphrase not exact words) is aggressive but fair. There is a poem in the beginning about a whole group beating one kid up though so maybe don't have young kids read this. 

There's also themes of racism, bigotry, etc. There are also the  related slurs. 

The nature poems are so fresh! I love the completely new to me imagery for nature.

The poverty poems are also completely relatable. 

I'm not a huge fan of poems that jump all over the place like a lot of modern literary poetry does, but each poem is usually about some topic and mostly continues the same conversation. There's still a little bit of chaotic unrelated subject changes but very little. 

Smith has a way with words. I am glad that I listened to the audiobook as I got a lot more out of the poet performing his poems. They are full of allusions, current events, and personal stories and demonstrate the power of poetry. Language warning.

 

 

This collection, and Smith's poetry in general, were put on my radar by @booksteahenny. I don't read a lot of poetry, as you know, so I added this to the list for the next time I was in the mood for it. And then, after a suggestion from @lifeofgabriellejane after I posted about the last collection I read (Citizen) and struggled with comprehending, a bit (if I'm honest), I grabbed both the physical and audiobook and holy hell was the ever the right call for this collection! So thanks and shoutout to both those readers/reviewers. 

 

This is likely to be a short review, overall, but don't let that fool you. Smith's poetry is spectacular. From the very first poem, and consistently throughout the rest of the book, they write with an intensity that just blew me away. There's a movement, a motion, in the words, both visually on the page and in the flow of the writing, that sweeps the reader with it in a way that's impossible to resist (not that you'll want to). It's enhanced even more by the audiobook, if you go that route. Smith reads it themselves and makes it truly something special - their intonation and tone and rhythm and emphasis, the feeling imbued into the words, and just the general vibe from their voice is mesmerizing. 

 

Back to the writing itself, for just one more moment...it is, like I said, spectacular. The wordplay (the freaking wordplay!) is simply on another level, so intricate and complex, and it was both fascinating and a joy to read it. If you love language, then this is definitely a collection for you. And at the same time, it is so approachable. I am a poetry novice-ish and I felt like I both understood and could follow Smith's messages and emotions and was therefore able to sink into them, be enveloped by them, and really experience them. The intermingling of the word play and formatting with the sense of culture and identity and people was a combination that was steeped together to perfection. So much emotion comes through in these poems, grief and sorrow and fear and regret, and it's delivered with all the strength and anger that it deserves.You can feel it in the words. It's a very visceral reading experience, especially considering the topics range from (a content warning note here) violence and gun violence to racism (interpersonal and systemic and historical) to mental health and suicide to grief to LGBTQ+ experiences (including being HIV+) and pride and phobias and more. But there is also so much about belonging and family (blood and found) and friends and faith and love and connection, with people and culture. 

 

I don't know if this is a thing that's ok or makes sense to do, or not, but there are a few full poems that were really standouts for me and I guess I just want to recognize them. And if you've read this collection and had any of the same favorites - let me know! There was something about jumped!, the sort of prayerful, painful need and belonging in it that was so affecting. Oh my goodness fall poem was...whoa; perfectly angrily tragic. There was some deep introspection and personal emotions in sometimes i wish i felt the side effects - emotion that I don't really think I can put into words but could feel within them, an almost wistful regret that held such depth. shout out to my n***** in Mexico - the recognition and representation here thrummed with life. C.R.E.A.M. hit the reader hard with reality. I cried a little reading waiting on you to die so I can be myself - and honestly, the title says why better than I ever could. The message in my poems about the way we all talk about the power of words and yet, are Smith's words really having the intended effects, the way they would have if, instead of the titular poems in the situations listed in the poem, they used actual weapons? Who knows... 

 

Overall, this collection was straight dynamite. There is so much life in these poems that they’re almost vibrating with it. I recommend it hardcore.    

 

Here are a few lines that really grabbed/stood out for me. But also, take these few with a giant grain of salt because there were so freakin many lines that I was blown away by, but since they built so much on previous lines/wordplay, they wouldn't make sense pulled out on their own, I'd have to transcribe the whole poem for the impact to remain. So basically, what I'm saying is to go read this, or listen (of course), because it is well worth the hour or so that it will take you. 

 

“i did not come to preach of peace / for that's not the hunted’s duty” (from say it with your whole black mouth) 

 

“& i’m sorry the world is so good at making / us feel like we have to fight for space / to fight for our lives” (from what was said at the bus stop) 

 

"what do you do when a boy lynches himself / when the mob isn't after his skin / but under it, when anything that can hold / his weight becomes a tree" (from for Andrew) 

 

“you made coming out coming in from the storm” (from acknowledgements)