Reviews with content warning for Police brutality - Don't Call Us Dead

"...we did not build your boats (though we did leave a trail of kin to guide us home). we did not build your prisons (though we did & we fill them too). we did not ask to be part of your America (though are we not America? her joints brittle & dragging a ripped gown through Oakland?). i can’t stand your ground. i’m sick of calling your recklessness the law. each night, i count my brothers. & in the morning, when some do not survive to be counted, i count the holes they leave. - dear white america

"anything is possible in a place where you can burn a body with less outrage than a flag" - every day is a funeral & a miracle

This collection had many beautiful, and reflective lines while focusing on difficult subject matter like police brutality, racism, HIV, mortality and sexuality. dear white america , every day is a funeral & a miracle and not an elegy were by far my favourite pieces in this collection, the anger and frustration that flows out of them was hard-hitting and raw. Poems like dream where every black person is standing by the ocean focused on the importance of remembering the hardships endured by the Black community while others emphasised caring past a hashtag/ momentary social media interest and aiming for real change. As in its opening poem (summer, somewhere) that imagines a world where all lost Black boys are resurrected, Smith offers moments of hope in between the more hard-hitting themes.

However, I really don't think that the type of poetry in the first half was really for me i.e. disjointed (line breaks at strange times that hinder reading and make it seem like words have just been thrown together) and written in a way that makes it difficult to grasp the full meaning. I personally prefer a solid structure /fully formed sentences (like in the second half) when it comes to poetry.

By no means was it a bad poetry collection though, it was personal and emotional in its subject matter, but I don't really know what to rate it so I'm going to leave it blank for now.

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writersrelief's review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny reflective medium-paced

5.0

Spoken word poet Danez Smith takes up the pen to write down their experience as a queer, nonbinary, Black person. From dating to growing up Black to police brutality to representation in media, Smith explores the full spectrum of their identity in verse. This award-winning writer doesn’t pull any punches or water down the message of what it means to be queer and Black in the United States.

In the poem “a note on the phone app that tells me how far i am from other men’s mouths,” Smith uses humor to describe the experience of using dating apps in queer circles. This is followed by a heart-wrenching poem about their HIV diagnosis, which repeats the phrase, “it’s not a death sentence.”

Smith uses stark imagery to describe the brutal reality of Black bodies, bullets, and blood in the poem “litany with blood all over.” There is also a nostalgic, humorous meditation entitled “a note on Vaseline,” where the writer reflects, while masturbating, on how petroleum jelly has been used in a variety of ways for maladies and cosmetics—and how Vaseline is passed down through families, almost like a tradition.

This poetry collection will make you smile, break your heart, and open your eyes to what it means to struggle with your identity in a world that doesn’t support you. It is both a condemnation of a nation that suppresses diverse voices and a call to hope and endurance.

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