Some of the poems in here are just incredible. Waheed's ability to do what many can't and distill vast concepts into just 4 lines, without losing the magnitude of the idea, is phenomenal. The best poems in here are some of the best poems I've read in a long while. And then there are other poems which say very little, or are basically carbon copies of about 8 other poems in the collection, and those were so disappointing because of the juxtaposition between those and the moments of brilliance. There are 5 star moments and there are 2 star moments here. Maybe a more brutal edit would have helped to cut out some of the more repetitive ones.

Still, I've yet to read a collection which says so much. As a white person, there are themes here which I can't and will never personally relate to, and to have them put so starkly and unapologetically on a page was eye-opening, particularly the poems about tourism and diaspora. I can see why these poems are taught in schools. They should be.