Don't Call Us Dead: Poems | 
pickGave me chills.
What it is to be black, queer, HIV-positive in America; strong emphasis on discussing murder of black boys/men by police.
Grief, rage, hopeful imagination/escapism.
Not just mourning, also moments of reverent sensuality.
Grateful to this poet for sharing their beautiful words and lived experience.
⚠️Racism, homophobia
"...are we not worthy/of a city of ash? of 1,000 ships/launched because we are missed?"
HIV-positive poet
Huey‘s helping to keep me comfortable while I start this poetry collection. Been looking forward to this one all year for #readharder2022. #huey #catsoflitsy
pickPoetry isn‘t my forte. It is easier to digest in audio form. This was a beautiful scream of both rage and triumph.
pickI don‘t read much poetry so I‘m guessing I probably missed something in this collection, but what I did get was very powerful. Smith writes mostly prose poetry about discrimination, homosexuality and being HIV positive.
An excerpt from the poem “not an elegy” in the tagged collection.
An excerpt from the poem “every day is a funeral & a miracle” in the tagged collection.
Some powerful lines here.
#WeeklyForecast
I plan on continue my chapter a day reading of both Anne of the Island #KindredSpiritsBuddyRead and the Italian #ItalianBuddyRead
I want to finish the tagged poetry collection
I also want to read Under the Udala Trees from my #NewYearWhoDis list
pickThis poetry collection vividly explores love, queer identity, police violence toward black people, sex, living with aids, and other topics. Each poem has great flow to it, turning the pages into the lived experiences they reptesent. I highly recommend this, especially if you enjoy poetry.
Content warnings for societal trauma, themes of gun violence, and getting aids from someone who claimed to be negative.
#poetry #BLM #LGBTQ #LGBTQAuthors
“think: once, a white girl
was kidnapped & that‘s the Trojan war.
later, up the block, Troy got shot
& that was Tuesday. are we not worthy
of a city of ash? of 1000 ships
launched because we are missed?”
—from “not an elegy” by Danez Smith
”when i was born, i was born a bull‘s-eye.
i spent my life arguing how i mattered
until it didn‘t matter.
who knew my haven
would be my coffin?”
—from “summer, somewhere” by Danez Smith
”...here, there‘s no language
for officer or law, no color to call white.
if snow fell, it‘d fall black. please, don‘t call
us dead, call us alive someplace better.”
—from “summer, somewhere” by Danez Smith
pickPowerful collection of poetry 💚
Danez Smith deals with racism and homophobia, as well as other hard hitting topics, in this amazing collection. My heart was breaking as I read his words, but there was so much truth behind them.
pickA powerful and brave collection of poetry which reads as part memoir and part revolt. I read this on ebook and audiobook and my vote goes to the audiobook - having the author read his own work with the appropriate emotion and rhythm in which he intended it to be experienced was excellent. I was extremely uncomfortable for most of this book, but that's the power of art and it's up to me to deal with why one person's truth makes me feel that way.
"how much time do you want for your progress? i‘ve left Earth to find a place where my kin can be safe, where black people ain‘t but people the same color as the good, wet earth, until that means something, until then i bid you well, i bid you war, i bid you our lives to gamble with no more."
#blacklivesmatter #pride #minnesota
Listening to this book of poetry this morning from Hoopla. Super powerful and painful.
From Danez Smith‘s “summer, somewhere” series, which starts this book of poetry we‘re discussing for queer book club tomorrow.
pickThe craft and talent that Smith displays in this poetry collection is otherworldly. Theirs is a new voice I didn't know I needed to hear and I'm so regretful of not having discovered them before. Smith writes about being black in America, being gay in America, being HIV-positive to top it all off. This is a cry for an inclusive America that isn't anywhere to be found.
Five bleeding stars for one of the toughest texts I've ever read.
pick5/5
Powerful, humbling and penetrating. This is my first encounter with Danez Smith and it definitely won‘t be my last. Every line was thoughtful and full of energy, full of life. Fantastic book of short poems about black men, gay men and what it means to live in today‘s America.
#24in48
pickPassionate, heartbreaking, raw, honest. I don‘t have anything coherent to say about these poems, except recommend. #queerbooks #blackbooks
Even better the second time. #poetry
“how long / does it take / a story / to become / a legend? / how long before / a legend / becomes / a god or / forgotten? / ask the rain / what it was / like to be the river / then ask the river / who it drowned.”
so-soI seem to be the unpopular opinion on this one. There were a few poems where the language or subject leaped out at me and made me reread and reread but, by and large, this collection wasn‘t for me. Next up in poetry: The Sun and Her Flowers by Rupi Kaur. I loved Milk and Honey. #poetrymatters
Book 5/90 1/6/19
Some of the best poetry I read in 2018. I featured two of these volumes on the Best of 2018 Reading Envy Podcast, where others also share their best reads of the year. https://tinyurl.com/ReadingEnvy139
pickDanez Smith is a star. This book was tender, it was mournful, it was angry, it was funny, it was everything. Smith‘s vision is clear and fruitful. I will follow them wherever they go.
“When I was born, I was born a bull‘s-eye.
I spent my life arguing how I mattered
until it didn‘t matter”
This poem is so perfectly sculpted, yet lean and raw and pain filled. My brain is blown 🤯
pickPoetry books are very hit or miss with me, and although this one wasn‘t a favorite for me I have to have lots of respect for a volume that touches on such serious topics as sex, AIDS, and police shootings. This one may not be for everyone, but it‘s powerful and doesn‘t pull any punches.
“I‘ve left in search of a new God. i do not trust the God you have given us, my grandmother‘s hallelujah is only outdone by the fear she nurses every time the blood-fat summer swallows another child who used to sing in the choir. take your God back. though his songs are beautiful, his miracles are inconsistent.”
pickLaying sick on the couch right now, with a pile of books on my side and my work laptop on the other side. I tried to finish this yesterday to add 1 more book to my October read list, but only got halfway through.
I don‘t understand poetry. I never have and only read this for a challenge prompt. I understood that this was about black lives matter, living as a gay black man, and HIV.
#ReadingWomenChallenge - book of poetry
pickA powerful, intense body of poetry by a gay HIV-positive black man confronting violence, love, sex, and the places they are intersect. Highly recommended.
pickThis poetry collection is brutal & beautiful & amazing & made me gasp while reading it. It deserves all of the hype it has been getting.
Danez youngest winner of poetry prize! https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/sep/18/danez-smith-forward-poetry-collect...
pickHighly recommend. Intimate. Poignant. Necessary.
I'm really looking forward to reading this one. Peeked at the first poem and already impressed. Just picked it up at one of my favorite indie book shops in Tampa at their new location, Inkwood Books
I read so many books in April that I only have space to post the five star reads (easy to do during National Poetry Month!) The full list: http://readingenvy.blogspot.com/2018/05/books-read-april-2018-74-122.html
pickOne last post for National Poetry Month, one of the best poets I saw at AWP and one of the best collections I read this month.
pickWhat an amazing, powerful, unapologetic poetry collection. Smith‘s poems speak to the realities of living in a black, queer, HIV-positive body in our society. Quite possibly the best poetry collection I‘ve ever read, but damn is it hard on one‘s heart.
