American Sonnets for My Past and Future Assassin

Liked hearing him perform his own poems, but weirdly the audiobook was missing a few sonnets (??) so went back to the book. There are a few that I will want to read again, some really powerful pieces here.

The first ever book of poems I've read that gives the same title to each poem, and each poem is a sonnet. Confined within that same structure, and with continuous themes of blackness and artistry in a post-Trump era, each poem feels a little the same, a little different: one can't help but think of a bird singing in a cage.

I laughed, I said “oh damn,” I felt my(white)self challenged, I read poems out loud to feel the sounds. Hayes' wordplay is as much serious sonic genius as it is wonderfully playful. It's heavy and light. It's political but not polarizing.

Long and short is I loved it. Loved the concept, loved the poems, can't wait to read more Terrance Hayes.

A black mans truth, pain and ramblings. I felt the intensity of his words (I listened to the audio book). This book of poems is on the way to me, as we speak. I will refer back to these poems, again.