Status
Checked out
Genres
Publication
Minneapolis, MN : Graywolf Press, 2018.
Description
In Wade in the Water, Tracy K. Smith boldly ties America's contemporary moment both to our nation's fraught founding history and to a sense of the spirit, the everlasting. These are poems of sliding scale: some capture a flicker of song or memory; some collage an array of documents and voices; and some push past the known world into the haunted, the holy. Smith's signature voice - inquisitive, lyrical, and wry - turns over what it means to be a citizen, a mother, and an artist in a culture arbitrated by wealth, men, and violence. Here, private utterance becomes part of a larger choral arrangement as the collection widens to include erasures of The Declaration of Independence and the correspondence between slave owners, a found poem comprised of evidence of corporate pollution and accounts of near-death experiences, a sequence of letters written by African Americans enlisted in the Civil War, and the survivors' reports of recent immigrants and refugees. Wade in the Water is a potent and luminous book by one of America's essential poets.… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member bookwyrmm
This collection of poems was very approachable, the sections were easily understandable, and all would make for great discussion.
LibraryThing member jnwelch
This is the best book yet from our poet laureate [[Tracy K. Smith]], even better than her Pulitzer Prize-winning [Life on Mars]. Trumpsters will want to avoid it, as she burns the pages with tales of racism and dismay with the current regime.
The worst in us having taken over
And broken the rest
(From "An Old Story).
They plundered her youth, then moved on.
These awful, awful men. The ones
Whose wealth is a kind of filth.
(From "The World is Your Beautiful Younger Sister"). Her amazing "Angels" poem, with two "grizzled" angels in "leather biker gear", is one you're going to want to read.. This book also features a number of found poems based on heavily researched letters and other documents from African-American Civil War soldiers and their families (complete with original spellings).
From, "I Will Tell You the Truth About This":
Mr abarham lincon
I wont to know sir if you please
whether I can have my son relest
from the arme he is all the subport
I have now his father is Dead
and his brother that wase all
the help I had he has been wonded
twise he has not had nothing to send me yet
now I am old and my head is blossaming
for the grave and if you do I hope
the lord will bless you and me
tha say that you will simpethise
with the poor he be long to the
eight rigmat colard troops
he is a sarjent
mart welcom is his name
Some poems are wonders from her childhood, including this one, "Urban Youth", that ends with her learning to ride a bike:
But it was you and Dad and Mike teaching me to ride,
Running along beside until you didn't have to hold on.
Who was afraid? The hedge thrummed with bees
That only sang. Every happy thing I've known,
You held, or ran alongside not having to hold.
****
This is a beautifully composed book; I loved it.
The worst in us having taken over
And broken the rest
Show More
utterly down.(From "An Old Story).
They plundered her youth, then moved on.
These awful, awful men. The ones
Whose wealth is a kind of filth.
(From "The World is Your Beautiful Younger Sister"). Her amazing "Angels" poem, with two "grizzled" angels in "leather biker gear", is one you're going to want to read.. This book also features a number of found poems based on heavily researched letters and other documents from African-American Civil War soldiers and their families (complete with original spellings).
From, "I Will Tell You the Truth About This":
Mr abarham lincon
I wont to know sir if you please
whether I can have my son relest
from the arme he is all the subport
I have now his father is Dead
and his brother that wase all
the help I had he has been wonded
twise he has not had nothing to send me yet
now I am old and my head is blossaming
for the grave and if you do I hope
the lord will bless you and me
tha say that you will simpethise
with the poor he be long to the
eight rigmat colard troops
he is a sarjent
mart welcom is his name
Some poems are wonders from her childhood, including this one, "Urban Youth", that ends with her learning to ride a bike:
But it was you and Dad and Mike teaching me to ride,
Running along beside until you didn't have to hold on.
Who was afraid? The hedge thrummed with bees
That only sang. Every happy thing I've known,
You held, or ran alongside not having to hold.
****
This is a beautifully composed book; I loved it.
Show Less
LibraryThing member ecataldi
Broken into three parts; this stunning collection of poetry is lyrical and deep in intensity. From motherhood to slavery to contemplation each poem sucks the reader in and deserves to be savored. Tracey K. Smith is master of contemplation and care and this slim volume of poetry conveys deep
Show More
meanings. Fans of poetry will eat this up and those new to prose will find themselves in love with the written word anew. Show Less
LibraryThing member jphamilton
Five days a week, I love to open my email and read and hear the poetry that Tracy K. Smith has chosen for the listeners of her Slowdown podcast. Each segment is five minutes long and includes a most personal and thoughtful introduction to the day’s poem by poets living and dead. Like watching a
All that said, I would say that I appreciated the way she did the podcast a little more than I did this latest collection of her poetry. Maybe my lifelong whiteness didn’t relate well to her poetry about slaves relating to Lincoln. Someday, I will read her previous collection, Life on Mars, which won the Pulitzer Prize and garnered almost universal praise. Looking at 250 years of the American experience and how that relates to the black experience could just be more than I’m looking for in some poetry. Though I’m sure to read more of her work, having the joy of poetry through the Slowdown is a wonderful fallback position.
Update:
1) She grew up in nearby Fairfield, California and has spoken about it several times on the podcast.
2) With great sadness, I report that Tracy K. Smith has stopped doing her excellent work on the Slowdown, and the podcast has been on a hiatus for many months. Hopefully, it will resume with another spokesperson at some future date. I miss her sensitivity, humor, and voice greatly. [For those interested, all the podcasts are still available on the Slowdown site online.]
Show More
band who looks like they’re having a great time playing, you can feel Smith’s enthusiasm coming through in her smooth, soothing voice. All that said, I would say that I appreciated the way she did the podcast a little more than I did this latest collection of her poetry. Maybe my lifelong whiteness didn’t relate well to her poetry about slaves relating to Lincoln. Someday, I will read her previous collection, Life on Mars, which won the Pulitzer Prize and garnered almost universal praise. Looking at 250 years of the American experience and how that relates to the black experience could just be more than I’m looking for in some poetry. Though I’m sure to read more of her work, having the joy of poetry through the Slowdown is a wonderful fallback position.
Update:
1) She grew up in nearby Fairfield, California and has spoken about it several times on the podcast.
2) With great sadness, I report that Tracy K. Smith has stopped doing her excellent work on the Slowdown, and the podcast has been on a hiatus for many months. Hopefully, it will resume with another spokesperson at some future date. I miss her sensitivity, humor, and voice greatly. [For those interested, all the podcasts are still available on the Slowdown site online.]
Show Less
Awards
Anisfield-Wolf Book Award (Poetry — 2019)
T. S. Eliot Prize (Shortlist — 2018)
The New York Times Notable Books of the Year (Poetry — 2018)
New York Public Library Best Books: For Adults (Poetry — 2018)
Language
Original publication date
2018
ISBN
9781555978136
Local notes
poetry