Terrance Hayes

Hayes is undoubtedly a skilled poet, arguably one of the US' best current living poets. Many of these poems flow with a naturalness and energetic wordplay that should be envied. His voice comes through as both artful and purposeful, and the rhythm in these poems speak of an intuition about language and its power that many poets will just never possess.

But where these poems fail me is how they often feel that they are retained in the same overly careful mental space, which gives the collection the feeling that there is an unused potency in these poems that is being kept caged and inert. Every time I read the title "American Sonnet for My Past and Future Assassin" it had this sense of being reset, of going back to a starting place, with a kind of anticipation of what would come next, which grew over the repetitions of that increasingly familiar refrain. I found that a bit exciting with its potential, but overall, as a collection, a feeling of slight inhibition come over me as I progressed through those "resets," as if Hayes was trying too hard to not have one poem be more engaging or stand out more than the one prior or following it. Hayes' powerful voice over the course of these poems became more like a museum guide who needs to maintain a steady pace through the museum, not letting the group linger too long at any one exhibit, and I'm not sure Hayes' gift for luscious wordplay and intense emotional response that invite the reader to engage his poetry more deeply is best served by that carefulness.… (meer)

A deeply moving and disturbing collection of poems from the perspective of post-2016 election. These poems examine race, America, manhood and the political climate after Trump’s inauguration.

I'm not gonna pretend that I *got* all the references. I'm not well-versed in poetry and find the genre very abstract. This was a collection that challenged me in a way that encouraged me to slow down and reflect. This was bleak at times but poignant and a wonderful collection with plenty of reread value.… (meer)