A review by the_eucologist
The New Testament by Jericho Brown

4.0

This was my first book of poetry and I really enjoyed it. Jericho Brown covers expansive terrain as a queer black author with poems touching on the loss of innocence ("Romans 12:1" and "Cain" ), the complexities of MSM and SGL relationships ("Host" and "Dear Dr. Frankenstein"), exploitation in safe spaces ("To Be Seen" and "1 Corinthians 13:11"), and the transiency of family ("N'em" and "Motherland"). In this collection "Cain" is probably my favorite not only because its cadence recalls spoken word, but because it positions black youth as innocent while offering the corrective that bearing witness to inhumanity is often a morally formative rather than corrosive experience. Little / Brothers tortured most / Of God's creatures, and small / Men watched them bleed. It always fascinates me how so few lines can contain such universal truths.