Bluff
A powerful new collection reckoning with America, protest and poetry itself
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Vintage Publishing
Published:22nd Aug '24
Should be back in stock very soon
A searing new collection from the Forward Prize-winning American poet about the year 2020, the year that the world’s gaze turned to Minneapolis – Smith's own home.
**A TIME MAGAZINE '100 Must-Read Books of 2024'**
'Bluff is my book of the year. Absolutely breathtaking' Joelle Taylor, author of C+NTO: + Othered Poems
'You will want to underline almost every line ... One of the best books of poetry I've read: buy it for anyone you love' Hollie McNish, author of Plum
'Gripping ... It’s as though the world is a scattered puzzle that Danez analyses and bears witness to' Yomi Sode, author of Manorism
Written during the time the world came to a halt due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and Minneapolis became the epicentre of protest following the murder of George Floyd, Bluff is Danez Smith’s powerful reckoning with their responsibility as a poet and with their hometown.
Smith brings a startling urgency to these poems, their questions demanding a new language, new textual shapes and a deep self-scrutiny. Ars poetica gives way to 'ars america'. A photographic collage makes clear the consequence of accepting mass shootings. A brilliant long poem maps the history of Minneapolis-Saint Paul’s vibrant Rondo neighbourhood, before and after officials decided to run an interstate directly through it.
Bluff is a manifesto about artistic resilience when the places we most love – those given and made – are burning. In this collection, Smith turns to honesty, hope, rage and imagination to envision futures that seem possible.
PRAISE FOR DANEZ SMITH:
‘A poet of exceptional linguistic exuberance, style and grace’ Kayo Chingonyi, author of Kumukanda
‘A writer who never loses their way’ New York Times
'Smith’s ability to look death squarely in the eye and seize from it language that is fertile with myth, beauty and intellect is astonishing' Sandeep Parmar, Guardian
**A Time Magazine '100 Must-Read Books of 2024'**
'[In Bluff], Smith asks: How can one read poetry at a time like this? ... And yet, within Bluff, there are almost 150 pages of poetry begging to be read—haunting, grief-stricken, hopeful poetry'
'I didn't think Danez Smith could get any more brilliant. I was wrong. A book that whispers to your bones. This is a book I will keep open. There is too much inside to ever let it close. You will want to underline, to highlight, to heart almost every line. Yes, everybody should read this book; not only for what is said, but for the impeccable, experimental and essential poetry in which it is written. This is one of the best books of poetry I've read: buy it for anyone you love' * Hollie McNish *
'Smith’s interrogation of poetry’s complicity in suffering is expressed in brilliantly crafted, rhythmically complex verse' * Rebecca Tamás, Guardian *
Danez Smith is one of the most important American poets of our age…Bluff’s vantage point is dark and original and foregrounds the historical significance of this time of racial reckonings… and perhaps signifies a new era of politically conscious poetry that rejects ideas of individual empowerment in favour of enlightenment * Observer, *Poetry Book of the Month* *
'In this latest collection Smith returns to examinations of racism, of its insidious violence, and of resistance to it. But this new work also strikingly explores the idea of the poet’s culpability, about how we write about injustices without profiting from them, either financially or in deeper cultural terms. There is an honesty in the work that is at times overwhelming, a book too hot to touch. This is Smith’s gift, this search for a sense of truth - or even justice - in a world without much of either. Inventive, restless, awe struck, and grieving, Smith pushes language and sonics like no other poet. In their steepled hands, poems become prayers to a god we are afraid to look at. It might be too early to declare, but I don't think so. Bluff is my book of the year. Absolutely breathtaking' * Joelle Taylor, author of C+nto & Othered Poe
ISBN: 9781784745738
Dimensions: 226mm x 177mm x 12mm
Weight: 228g
160 pages