Dark Testament: Blackout Poems

 

My Thoughts:

The metaphor of this cover is everything. We see the obvious blackout, but also the wall or even bars with the black male figure behind those bars as dark testament pushes out of the large middle white space. Even the cover is poetry. 

The clever, clever use of George Saunders's Lincoln in the Bardo, an experimental novel that centers on the grief Abraham Lincoln undergoes after the death of his eleven-year-old son, Willie, is the raw material for poet Crystal Simone Smith's celebration of black lives in the midst of mourning and grief. The timeliness of these poems seem so current, and the idea of gathering this kind of conscientization and despair through a novel featuring Lincoln as well as a cast of characters "living and dead, historical and invented" is really brilliant and cathartic. 

Smith in her introduction lays out a charge for us as readers, 

As the poet, I task you the reader with lighting a conscience flame in honor of those killed by violence and carrying that torch into a more just future. A better world is within our grasp.

The titles of Smith's poetry pay homage to individual victims. Many names are well known in the Black Lives Matter movement: Eric Garner, Trayvon Martin, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd.  But even more names were unknown to me until now. The majority of the poems carry victim names. Others connect to the movement, like "No Justice, No Peace" or "Justified Homicide." 

I found myself forgetting that these were blackout poems. They really felt like a conversation and collaboration between Saunders and Smith.  The conversation between the two authors at the end of this was especially meaningful to me as an English teacher. The writing process conversations with the authors is a gem that needs to be in our writing workshops as "advice from the trenches." 

George [Saunders]: For me, writing is a process of trying to revise the falseness and manipulation out of the prose, and, by association, out of myself. 

From the Publisher:

In this extraordinary collection, the award-winning poet Crystal Simone Smith gives voice to the mournful dead, their lives unjustly lost to violence, and to the grieving chorus of protestors in today’s Black Lives Matter movement, in search of resilience and hope.

With poems found within the text of George Saunders's Lincoln in the Bardo, Crystal Simone Smith embarks on an uncompromising exploration of collective mourning and crafts a masterwork that resonates far beyond the page. These poems are visually stark, a gathering of gripping verses that unmasks a dialogue of tragic truths―the stories of lives taken unjustly and too soon.

Bold and deeply affecting, Dark Testament is a remarkable reckoning with our present moment, a call to action, and a plea for a more just future.

Along with the poems, Dark Testament includes a stirring introduction by the author that speaks to the content of the poetry, a Q&A with George Saunders, and a full-color photo-insert that commemorates victims of unlawful killings with photographs of memorials that have been created in their honor. 

Publication information:

Author: Crystal Simone Smith

Publisher: Henry Holt & Co. (January 3, 2023)

 

I Rise

 

My Thoughts:

14-year old Ayo is raised by a strong, activist single parent who involves Ayo in her non-profit See Us. There is a large protest called "How Much?" against the rampant police violence towards African Americans in Harlem and although Ayo is the president of the youth branch, she really just wants to be a teenager and not have to carry the burden of carrying the injustices of a whole people on her young shoulders. She wants to hang out and laugh and maybe even fall in love.

But when her mother gets shot in the head during the protest, Ayo is looked at as the voice of the movement. Can she find the source of her motherʻs strength? Can she step forward in the role that she has been trained for and call forth the ancestors in order to be heard? This story is powerful and heart breaking. It is about sacrifice and love. Mostly it is about being heard.

This book could lead to or from books like The Hate U Give, and Dear Martin

From the Publisher:

Ayo's mother founded the biggest civil rights movement to hit New York City in decades. It’s called ‘See Us’ and it tackles police brutality and racial profiling in Harlem. Ayo has spent her entire life being an activist and now, she wants out. She wants to get her first real kiss, have a boyfriend, and just be a normal teen.

When her mom is put into a coma after a riot breaks out between protesters and police, protestors want Ayo to become the face of See Us and fight for justice for her mother who can no longer fight for herself. While she deals with her grief and anger, Ayo must also discover if she has the strength to take over where her mother left off.

This impactful and unforgettable novel takes on the important issues of inequality, systemic racism, police violence, and social justice.

Author: Marie Arnold

Publication date: August 2, 2022

Publisher: Versify

Ain't Burned All the Bright

 

My Thoughts:

This is a long disjointed poem, but it is not a novel in verse. It is just one long story where the art and the placement of words on the page are just as important as the pages with no words. 

"In through the nose. . .out through the mouth" That is how this book needs to be read, in through the nose, out through the mouth. The way certain lines and words repeat is so effective in the rhythm of this that as a reader it's hard to not also be an orator. It's difficult to not end up reading this out loud. Even when I wanted to stop reading out loud, I couldn't. 

This is an immersive experience of one black family's experience during this 2020 pandemic from the eyes of one of the kids/teens. The inside jacket calls this a heartbreaking-heartmaking manifesto and perhaps the double page spread image that most exemplifies that is the one with a male standing on the bottom corner of the left page facing the upper corner of the right page with his right hand up in a fist and a long shadow in front of him. Perhaps because I just read the memoir Victory. Stand!: Raising My Fist for Justice about the Olympic protest on the medal platform by Tommie Smith and John Carlos, this image with the words is so powerful:

ain't nothin but a fist with a face that looks like mine

I'm definitely giving this book away. I just have to figure out who will be able to find the student that needs this book. This book is profound. The art and words remind me of the picture book illustration styling of Harlem by Walter Dean Myers and Christopher Myers. It is a heavy book and a heavy subject. This is definitely a book you need to buy and own and come back to.

From the Publisher:

Jason Reynolds and his best bud, Jason Griffin had a mind-meld. And they decided to tackle it, in one fell swoop, in about ten sentences, and 300 pages of art, this piece, this contemplation-manifesto-fierce-vulnerable-gorgeous-terrifying-WhatIsWrongWithHumans-hope-filled-hopeful-searing-Eye-Poppingly-Illustrated-tender-heartbreaking-how-The-HECK-did-They-Come-UP-with-This project about oxygen. And all of the symbolism attached to that word, especially NOW.

And so for anyone who didn’t really know what it means to not be able to breathe, REALLY breathe, for generations, now you know. And those who already do, you’ll be nodding yep yep, that is exactly how it is. 

Author: Jason Reynolds

Illustrator: Jason Griffin

Publisher: Atheneum/Caitlyn Diouhy Books

Publication date: January 11, 2022