In the clean, clear lyrics of his second book, Jericho Brown, who was born in Louisiana and formerly worked as speechwriter for a New Orleans mayor, laments, with … This shopping feature will continue to load items when the Enter key is pressed. To get the free app, enter your mobile phone number. In a poem towards the end of the book, “Heart Condition,” Brown’s speaker states what might be the thesis of the book: “…Greetings, Earthlings. Please try your request again later. 'Every last word is contagious,' he writes, awake to all the implications of that phrase. I only have a point like anyone, Paid to bring bad news: a preacher, a soldier,
The doctor. Nowhere is this attentiveness to music more apparent than in Hebrews 13, a poem reminiscent of Robert Frost’s Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening. I am here to love you uncomfortable.”. His poetry has received critical acclaim in the US, with his haunting first collection Please winning the 2009 American Book Award. To order a copy for £9.34 go to guardianbookshop.com or call 0330 333 … There are very few poets today, whose poetry quakes with such honest, unflinching truth and power. Four poems are titled Another Elegy: in the first, violence is a familial trope, as the speaker recalls his mother’s threat to his brother: “You don’t believe her / When, sobbing as usual, she / Calls to say if you don’t stop / Your brother, / she will kill him / This time.” In Langston’s Blues, Brown draws on Langston Hughes’s poem The Negro Speaks of Rivers to meditate on the legacy of slavery, exploitation and mass incarceration, flowing like a “bloody river … through the fattest vein / Of America”. This income helps us keep the magazine alive. Elsewhere, in Fairy Tale, Brown reminds us of the fate of “those men / Brought, bought, and whipped until / They accepted their masters’ names”. His poems reveal an unwavering belief in the power of language to redeem us from the wreckage of history and contemporary conflict, one that is contagious and might even give us all a reason for hope. Great Truths,Great Voice, Great Subject(s), Reviewed in the United States on December 29, 2014. We work to shine a light on stories that build bridges, tear down walls, and speak truth to power.

The echo of the language of the Bible throughout the book serves as a lyrical base for Brown’s touching and intimate scenes – himself with a lover, himself with a doctor, himself as a character from the New Testament. However, it’s a book worth delving into not just for its style, but its substance – in the end, like the book it’s named for, it’s a mournful reaching for connection, for love, for redemption. All rights reserved.

Steeped in the language of the Bible and addressing sexuality and violence, this is a striking and inspiring collection. Then you can start reading Kindle books on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required. You're listening to a sample of the Audible audio edition. We strive to be a platform for marginalized voices and writing that might not find a home elsewhere, and to lift up new voices alongside those of more established writers we love. A Voice that matters if you're listening to your own!!!! Brown writes with honesty and eloquence on race, religion, and sexuality and death with equal grace. Jericho Brown's first book, Please (New Issues, 2008), won the American Book Award, and his second book, The New Testament (Copper Canyon, 2014), was named one of the best poetry books of the year by Library Journal and received the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award. “As for praise and worship,” Brown says, “I prefer the latter.” In Romans 12:1, Brown refashions the scriptural passage to reveal his experiences of living as a gay black man in the deeply religious and socially conservative southern states. I ended up reading this book of poetry as well. Jericho Brown’s The New Testament engages in the same personal/mythic set of shifts that his first book, Please, did – except this time, instead of speaking in the voices of famous singers like Janis Joplin and Diana Ross, he’s setting up that shift between himself and God. Jericho Brown is the kindest, smartest person I've known and his books only provide a small glimpse into what's to come.

A blend of man to man relationships and the struggles associated with dealing with society and it's various viewpoints. Death looms large over the entire collection. Please try again. As a former speechwriter for the mayor of New Orleans, Jericho Brown understands the importance of speaking directly and persuasively. More from this author →, Tags: Books, Jeannine Hall Gailey, Jericho Brown, poetry, Reviews.