Description
Book SynopsisSHORTLISTED FOR THE FORWARD PRIZE FOR BEST COLLECTION 2018
A New York Times Notable Book of 2018
Even the men in black armor, the ones
Jangling handcuffs and keys, what else
Are they so buffered against, if not love''s blade
Sizing up the heart''s familiar meat?
In Wade in the Water, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Tracy K. Smith''s signature voice - inquisitive, lyrical and wry - turns over what it means to be a citizen, a mother and an artist in a culture arbitrated by wealth, men and violence. The various connotations of the title, taken from a spiritual once sung on the Underground Railroad which smuggled slaves to safety in 19th-century America, resurface throughout the book, binding past and present together. Collaged voices and documents recreate both the correspondence between slave owners and the letters sent home by African Americans enlisted in the US Civil War. Survivors'' reports attest to the ex
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Smith's new book is scorching in both its steady cognizance of America's original racial sins . . . and apprehension about history's direction. . . . These historical poems have a homely, unvarnished sort of grace * The New York Times *
The poems in Wade in the Water are full of memorable images nimbly put together by Smith's exquisite sense of timing and her feel for the kind of language appropriate to the poem. * The New York Times Book Review *
Smith brings great intelligence and sensitivity to her poems, leading readers deeper into other people's stories and ultimately into their own humanity. * The Washington Post *
Smith's poetry is an awakening itself * Vogue *
In lines that are as lyrical as they are wise . . . Smith makes connections between the current state of American culture and its history * BuzzFeed *
Smith is the country's poetic caretaker, calling both for collective reckoning and collective empathy * The Atlantic *
On a craft level, these poems are impeccable. . . . I know brilliance when I read it and this book is brilliant -- Roxane Gay
For Smith, poetry is hospitable: accommodating whatever she is moved to write. Her work witnesses, protests and raises its own roof. . . . Smith emerges as a poet in charge of her own creation myth and a recorder of destructive realities * The Observer *
Her work witnesses, protests and raises its own roof.... Excellent and bracing -- Kate Kellaway * Observer *
Powerful and tender * Elle *
Unmissable... a collection of poems exploring what it means to be a woman and a citizen in a culture directed by wealth, men and violence * Stylist *
Personal and ambitious * Porter *
