Please

I love how authentic this book of poetry is to read! It will take you through some real and suprising emotions.

Very powerful, very creative, important work and voice. I saw Jericho Brown at UMass Amherst and he answered questions after his reading. He noted he builds a poem line by line ("stacks" them). He does not journal on his work because after he would reread his entries, who thought he 'sounded' very depressed. Writing such works, with such a voice, is difficult as it is a difficult subject. It's hard to stay positive; he was a very upbeat, charismatic, young professor. Very engaging. I also purchased The New Testament from which he read one March evening at UMass's The Visiting Writer lecture series. Fabulous - bravo, Jericho!

A collection of poems about identity, desire, family (bonds and breaking from them), and survival.from Track 1: Lush Life: "The woman with the microphone sings to hurt you, / To see you shake your head. This mic may as well / Be a leather belt. You drive to the center of town / To be whipped by a woman's voice. You can't tell / The difference between a leather belt and a lover's / Tongue."from Herman Finley is Dead: "Then, / Tell them what God loves, / The truth: the disease / Your mother's mouth won't mention / Got bored with nibbling away / At the insides of his body / And today decided / To swallow Herman Finley / Whole."from Pause: "I who hate for people to comment / That I must be happy / Just because they hear me hum. / I want to ask / If they ever heard of slavery, / The work song—the best music / Is made of subtraction, / The singer seeks an exit from the scarred boy / And opens his mouth / Trying to get out."

Jericho Brown is one of the best poets today. I was floored when I read this. And I immediately picked it up again the next day.

After reading this book first, but having purchased both his books together, how radically delighted I was to have in my hands, such a transformingfeast of life and words. Being a poet myself, and knowing the undeniable need to nurture, destroy, and lay myself down on and in the words of other poets who literally ignite my mind into flames, I am warmer now, braver now, and more committed to allowing my work to become something not even I had imagined, walking the road to Jericho. Forever grateful.... I am.

Interesting

Jericho's poems are literary genius. He takes you into his heart and his mind and leaves you yearning for more.Can't wait for the next book!

The depth & breadth of these poems amazes me. Transcending work