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Don't Call Us Dead
Don't Call Us Dead: Poems | Danez Smith
The highly anticipated second collection by Danez SmithHallelujah is an understatement (Patricia Smith) Award-winning poet Danez Smith is a groundbreaking force, celebrated for deft lyrics, urgent subjects, and performative power.Dont Call Us Dead opens with a heartrending sequence that imagines an afterlife for black men shot by police, a place where suspicion, violence, and grief are forgotten and replaced with the safety, love, and longevity they deserved here on earth. Smith turns then to desire, mortalitythe dangers experienced in skin and body and bloodand a diagnosis of HIV positive. Some of us are killed / in pieces, Smith writes, some of us all at once.Dont Call Us Dead is an astonishing and ambitious collection, one that confronts, praises, and rebukes AmericaDear White Americawhere every day is too often a funeral and not often enough a miracle.
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TheSpineView
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dabbe A whoah one. 💙❄️💙 12mo
TheSpineView @dabbe Agree 👍 12mo
41 likes2 comments
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Robotswithpersonality
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Pickpick

Gave 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

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Robotswithpersonality
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"...are we not worthy/of a city of ash? of 1,000 ships/launched because we are missed?"

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Robotswithpersonality
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HIV-positive poet

TheBookHippie When I read HIV + I still panic and think death .. then I right my brain. Such a sad awful angry frustrating time, so many beautiful souls lost. 1y
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Robotswithpersonality
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😣

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jen_hayes7
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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

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TheSpineView
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Nebklvr
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Pickpick

Poetry isn‘t my forte. It is easier to digest in audio form. This was a beautiful scream of both rage and triumph.

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AnneCecilie
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Pickpick

I 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.

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AnneCecilie
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An excerpt from the poem “not an elegy” in the tagged collection.

BarbaraJean This is such a powerful collection. Heavy, and powerful. 4y
TheSpineView 💜 💜 💜 4y
Reggie Wow. 4y
42 likes1 stack add3 comments
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AnneCecilie
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An excerpt from the poem “every day is a funeral & a miracle” in the tagged collection.

Some powerful lines here.

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AnneCecilie
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#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

Cinfhen Nice!!! You‘re off to a great start to 2021 4y
70 likes1 comment
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Kenyazero
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Pickpick

This 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

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Amandakay
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Pickpick

❤️

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BarbaraJean
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“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

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BarbaraJean
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”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

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BarbaraJean
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”...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

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MsLeah8417
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Pickpick

🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩
Their poetry is heartbreaking and mandatory reading for ALL.
#DanezSmith

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Addison_Reads
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Pickpick

Powerful 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.

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sophierayton
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Pickpick

A 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.

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derr.liz
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"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

Emilymdxn I want to read this so badly! 4y
12 likes2 stack adds1 comment
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silentrequiem
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Listening to this book of poetry this morning from Hoopla. Super powerful and painful.

LauraBrook I‘m reading this now, and it‘s really packing a punch. 5y
readordierachel Yes, such a powerful collection 5y
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kgriffith
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From Danez Smith‘s “summer, somewhere” series, which starts this book of poetry we‘re discussing for queer book club tomorrow.

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ephemeralwaltz
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Pickpick

The 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.

TrishB Stacked, what a great review. 5y
ephemeralwaltz @TrishB thank you!! 5y
Kalalalatja I wish I could double stack this based on your review! 5y
40 likes1 stack add4 comments
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nelehelen
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Pickpick

5/5
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

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NeamhainHughes
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Pickpick

Passionate, heartbreaking, raw, honest. I don‘t have anything coherent to say about these poems, except recommend. #queerbooks #blackbooks

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megnews
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Niso
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Theaelizabet I have my eye on the Porter and the Yiyun Li 5y
Niso @Theaelizabet Lanny is on the top of my TBR along with Don‘t Call Us Dead 5y
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tamaria
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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.”

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shawnmooney
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Reggie ❤️ 6y
Lindy This whole collection is a treat, isn‘t it? 6y
38 likes2 comments
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megnews
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Mehso-so

I 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

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ReadingEnvy
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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

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beccaaruba
Pickpick

Danez 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.

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megnews
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Centique
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“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 🤯

batsy Oof. 💔 6y
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Riveted_Reader_Melissa
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Pickpick

Poetry 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.

Angitron Totally agree! I couldn‘t always relate to the poems in this one, but the one‘s I could were like a punch to the gut. Beautifully written. I saw him and Eve Ewing at a reading last year, and it was a perfect match! 6y
Riveted_Reader_Melissa @Angitron That is awesome, and I‘d bet the ones read by him where even more powerful spoken! And yes, I felt that way too, some I know went over my head, but the ones about love and loss... so emotionally charged. The one about the missing friends, uh punch to the gut for sure. 6y
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Expandingbookshelf
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“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.”

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Laughterhp
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Pickpick

Laying 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

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Thndrstd
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Pickpick

A powerful, intense body of poetry by a gay HIV-positive black man confronting violence, love, sex, and the places they are intersect. Highly recommended.

TrishB Glad it‘s good! I‘ve just included this in my poetryswap parcel and I was keeping my fingers crossed it would be good as I haven‘t read! 6y
36 likes1 comment
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Loralie
Pickpick

This poetry collection is brutal & beautiful & amazing & made me gasp while reading it. It deserves all of the hype it has been getting.

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Tonton
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amma-keep-reading
Pickpick

Highly recommend. Intimate. Poignant. Necessary.

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deathmetalcardigan
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that time Danez borrowed my copy of his book for a reading

Suet624 Great photo. 💕💕 6y
113 likes1 comment
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DannyOlda
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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

saresmoore I love this cover and have heard amazing things about this book. Thank you for reminding me of it! 6y
DannyOlda Awesome, @saresmoore -- I'm curious to hear what you think of it! 6y
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chlolovesbooks
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Pickpick

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4/5

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ReadingEnvy
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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

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readordierachel
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Pickpick

I was not planning to read this entire collection today but that's what happened. Incredible.

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ReadingEnvy
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Pickpick

One 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.

Lindy 👍 7y
vivastory Did you see Kevin Young on the Daily Show tonight? I love his work. Both as a poet & an anthologist. 7y
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dastevensish
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Pickpick

What 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.