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tshepiso 's review for:
Don't Call Us Dead: Poems
by Danez Smith
As someone new to poetry collections I was unsure how I would do with Danez Smith's Don't Call Us Dead. But I was gladly blown away by their masterful writing
This collection details poems centring on police brutality and Smith's HIV and queerness. I will admit this collection is sombre death and dying are central themes in the collection but also hope love and community.
A favourite of mine, dinosaurs in the hood, sees smith imagining the perfect black film and it's filled with wit and a subtle but searing critique of the ways blackness is presented in films and the boxes black media are sorted into. All while being absolutely hilarious.
Their poems despite this unpretentious style are still undoubtedly poetry. Their phrasing and metaphor and imagery are beautiful but always grounded to earth I absolutely adored Smith's writing their sense of rhythm especially enchanted me and reading their poetry felt almost conversational at times.
Their style made me so comfortable as a newer poetry reader and while I didn't pick up on every detail the unpretentious yet graceful writing made such an impact. I think their work is particularly suited to conveying both beauty and violence. They have a way of conveying the visceral emotions on the page that makes their sentiments loud and clear without being cliche
Smith includes their fair share of unconventional and long poetry. I will admit I was daunted by the first poetry in the collection summer sometime being around 20 pages long. while the individual stanza wasn't long I didn't quite have the stamina for that piece. they also play with form. Poems like elegy with pixels and cum and litany with blood all over are great examples of the way they use spacing to evoke mood. the latter especially does a fantastic job of overwhelming the reader with words in a way that feels like being submerged.
Ultimately what I took away from this collection is Danez Smith's absolute reverse for black life. every page is a send-up of the beauty of black people and the decry of the violence that strips those lives away. Their poems are personal and political and absolutely beautiful.
This collection details poems centring on police brutality and Smith's HIV and queerness. I will admit this collection is sombre death and dying are central themes in the collection but also hope love and community.
A favourite of mine, dinosaurs in the hood, sees smith imagining the perfect black film and it's filled with wit and a subtle but searing critique of the ways blackness is presented in films and the boxes black media are sorted into. All while being absolutely hilarious.
Their poems despite this unpretentious style are still undoubtedly poetry. Their phrasing and metaphor and imagery are beautiful but always grounded to earth I absolutely adored Smith's writing their sense of rhythm especially enchanted me and reading their poetry felt almost conversational at times.
Their style made me so comfortable as a newer poetry reader and while I didn't pick up on every detail the unpretentious yet graceful writing made such an impact. I think their work is particularly suited to conveying both beauty and violence. They have a way of conveying the visceral emotions on the page that makes their sentiments loud and clear without being cliche
Smith includes their fair share of unconventional and long poetry. I will admit I was daunted by the first poetry in the collection summer sometime being around 20 pages long. while the individual stanza wasn't long I didn't quite have the stamina for that piece. they also play with form. Poems like elegy with pixels and cum and litany with blood all over are great examples of the way they use spacing to evoke mood. the latter especially does a fantastic job of overwhelming the reader with words in a way that feels like being submerged.
Ultimately what I took away from this collection is Danez Smith's absolute reverse for black life. every page is a send-up of the beauty of black people and the decry of the violence that strips those lives away. Their poems are personal and political and absolutely beautiful.