Welcome to Litsy!

From Danez Smith‘s “summer, somewhere” series, which starts this book of poetry we‘re discussing for queer book club tomorrow.

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.

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

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

Library haul💖

#haul #bookhaul #Librarybooks #anticipatedreads #poetry #historicalfiction #tbr #goodreads

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.”

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

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

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.

“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 🤯

Finals are officially over! I managed a 3.9 this semester and I am thrilled. It was an absolutely brutal semester filled with unexpected family emergencies and material that had me scratching my head quite a bit (Digital Curation?!) But alas it is over and I am now left with my internship and a seminar, then graduation in May! For now I am going to enjoy quiet time with poetry, catch up on Jemisin and coffee! #mlis #archives #gradschool

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.

“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.”

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

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.

This 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...

Highly recommend. Intimate. Poignant. Necessary.

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

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

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4/5

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

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

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.

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.

Wow.

Heart-wrenching but beautiful poetry. This volume deals with race and queerness and living with HIV.

I love this book so far and I think the cover is beautiful but also I don‘t really want to have to deal with explaining what I‘m reading to my coworkers.

Danez Smith: genderqueer, African American, HIV positive. “i got this problem: i was born / black and faggoty.” Their poetry counterbalances bleakness with humour; rage with celebration; fatalism with determination; and sorrow with hope. It‘s powerful stuff. #LGBTQ #poetrychallenge2018

Dear White America is in this collection. I also found it online as a powerful spoken word piece:
https://youtu.be/LSp4v294xog

each night, i count my brothers. & in the morning, when some do not survive to be counted, i count the holes they leave. i reach for black folks & touch only air. your master magic trick, America. now he‘s breathing, now he don‘t. abra-cadaver.

-dear white america

#poetrychallenge2018 #LGBTQ #ownvoices

I really liked hearing this poet read yesterday so I bought their collection!

This kind of poetry is the reason people should read poetry, should listen to poets read poetry, should share poetry. Smith's work is raw and open in a devastating sort of way. Definitely among the best I have read this year.

Recommended.

I'm not a big poetry reader, but if poetry is defined as "good" based on it's ability to evoke emotion or craft a reaction based on word choice and form, then this is powerfully good. Smith's poems are gritty and the images aren't always beautiful, but they feel open and honest even when they are brutal. Much of his work in this collection centers around race and sexuality and what it means to be black and HIV positive in America.

Compassion for those unlike us: this is why we read. To educate.

"history is what it is. it knows what it did."
-from "summer, somewhere"
#poetrychallenge2018 #blacklivesmatter

Absolutely loved this moving poetry collection. Danez writes about being queer, black, HIV positive, and Black Lives Matter. #5book5bingo

From “Seroconversion”

But this whole collection is gorgeous so far.

#5book5bingo

Here are my picks! Who are you reading in February? #poetrychallenge2018

Very excited about my #bookmail today 💖

Looks like it‘s snuggles and reading to welcome in the new year. Not complaining.

This collection is a complex examination of existence for a black, gay, HIV-positive man. Stunning and humbling to read as a cishet white woman.

I am not a reader of poetry but I can see why this volume has garnered such a positive response. Smith tackles racism, HIV, and his own struggles as a gay black man. I didn‘t understand all of it but found it very affecting. And some passages are quite erotic, which helps add buoyancy to the heaviness.

Next up!

This poetry collection is undoing me.