"in lieu of a poem, i'd like to say" by Danez Smith

View this email on a browser Forward to a friend April 29, 2019   in lieu of a poem, i'd like to say   Danez Smith

apricots & brown teeth in browner mouths nashing dates & a clementine's underflesh under yellow nail & dates like auntie heads & the first time someone dried mango there was god & grandma's Sunday only song & how the plums are better as plums dammit & i was wrong & a June's worth of moons & the kiss stain of the berries & lord the prunes & the miracle of other people's lives & none of my business & our hands sticky and a good empty & please please pass the bowl around again & the question of dried or ripe & the sex of grapes & too many dates & us us us us & varied are the feast but so same the sound of love gorged & the women in the Y hijab a lily in the water & all of us who come from people who signed with x's & yesterday made delicacy in the wrinkle of the fruit & at the end of my name begins the lot of us            Copyright © 2019 Danez Smith. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on April 29, 2019, by the Academy of American Poets. About This Poem   "This poem, or really this list, started in the group chat over a debate about dried fruit. In trying to live by group chat law, I couldn't snitch on the whole conversation or the space, so instead I made a list of what I could and what I noticed in the days following fruitgate. The draft has found its way to this loose abecedarian, with some little ghost of a draft where I tried to make it a ghazal, that is still, to me, trying to fight doing what a poem does (transform) and stay close to doing what a poet does (notice). Really, the poem was the conversation in the group chat and this list is just my notes on how that poem transformed me, gave me a new thing to see." —Danez Smith   Danez Smith is the author of three poetry collection, including Homie, forthcoming from Graywolf Press in spring 2020, and Don't Call Us Dead (Graywolf Press, 2017), winner of the Forward Prize and a finalist for the National Book Award. Co-host of the podcast VS alongside Franny Choi, they live in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Photo Credit: David Hong Poetry by Smith   Don't Call Us Dead (Graywolf Press, 2017) "To the Fig Tree on 9th and Christian" by Ross Gay "cutting greens" by Lucille Clifton "Blackberry Eating" by Galway Kinnell April Guest Editor: Tracy K. Smith   Thanks to Tracy K. Smith, poet laureate of the United States and author of Wade in the Water (Graywolf Press, 2019), who curated Poem-a-Day for this month's weekdays. Read a Q&A with Smith about her curatorial approach this month and find out more about our guest editors for the year. Thanks for being a part of the Academy of American Poets community. To learn about other programs, including National Poetry Month, Poem in Your Pocket Day, the annual Poets Forum, and more, visit Poets.org.   You are receiving this e-mail because you elected to subscribe to our mailing list. If you would like to unsubscribe, please click here.   © Academy of American Poets 75 Maiden Lane, Suite 901, New York, NY 10038

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