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yearningforbooks's review
challenging
emotional
sad
fast-paced
5.0
Vintage Sadness is a short 40-page read that packs a punch. Throughout the books it feels as if you're walking into Abdurraqib's contemporary solo exhibition - the poems loud and clear on the plaque and a pair of headphones hang right next to it with the music selection it referenced.
Have you ever listened to a song before that felt completely different one day based on the context of how you're feeling? That is the feeling I was grasping at while I was reading his poems. Abdurraqib's craftsmanship with his words is not showy or pretentious, but simple and impactful. Each word placed carefully like a choreographed string of voice(s) that push and probe topics of grief, love, violence, racism, and death. I've never seen punctuation in poems put into play like how Abdurraqib does it. It's cunningly rhythmic and puts you into a thinking pause as you absorb the poem word for word.
Melancholy is a soft spot for me and Abdurraqib captured its rawness and aching beauty brilliantly. I said it before and I'll say again - this is *the* book that's getting me back into reading poetry again. And I'm curious to enter into Abdurraqib's mind more with his other works.
Have you ever listened to a song before that felt completely different one day based on the context of how you're feeling? That is the feeling I was grasping at while I was reading his poems. Abdurraqib's craftsmanship with his words is not showy or pretentious, but simple and impactful. Each word placed carefully like a choreographed string of voice(s) that push and probe topics of grief, love, violence, racism, and death. I've never seen punctuation in poems put into play like how Abdurraqib does it. It's cunningly rhythmic and puts you into a thinking pause as you absorb the poem word for word.
Melancholy is a soft spot for me and Abdurraqib captured its rawness and aching beauty brilliantly. I said it before and I'll say again - this is *the* book that's getting me back into reading poetry again. And I'm curious to enter into Abdurraqib's mind more with his other works.
gabbyquail's review
5.0
There are very few living writers whose every word I will purchase if given the chance, but Hanif Willis-Abdurraqib has just rocketed to the top of that list. This was a limited edition thing so I can't tell you to buy it, but I can tell you buy The Crown Ain't Worth Much, and to wait with sweaty excitement for the next thing and the next.
rubywarhol's review
5.0
I loved this poetry collection, it's moving and inspiring and sad and funny and simply brilliant. Every unexpected line and well-crafted sentence was like a punch to the stomach, and I can't get enough of being punched.
There is grief, racism, poverty, love, sex, loneliness, and so much more, described in painfully beautiful words. Despite some of the poems being quite specific, you'll still be able to find yourself in the words if you're not a Black man in America. Emotions are universal, and the pictures that Hanif Abdurraqib paints can't leave anyone untouched.
Even before I got to the end, I already wanted to read it again immediately, and will probably return to it many times, if only to cure my own writer's block. And judging by the other reviews, I'm not the only one who read this and felt compelled to start writing.
I had downloaded the book as a free PDF on Big Lucks, but because it was so good, I think I'll have to buy it and keep it forever on my shelf, so I can still cherish it when the days of electricity have ended, the metaverse has exploded, and the internet has died.
There is grief, racism, poverty, love, sex, loneliness, and so much more, described in painfully beautiful words. Despite some of the poems being quite specific, you'll still be able to find yourself in the words if you're not a Black man in America. Emotions are universal, and the pictures that Hanif Abdurraqib paints can't leave anyone untouched.
Even before I got to the end, I already wanted to read it again immediately, and will probably return to it many times, if only to cure my own writer's block. And judging by the other reviews, I'm not the only one who read this and felt compelled to start writing.
I had downloaded the book as a free PDF on Big Lucks, but because it was so good, I think I'll have to buy it and keep it forever on my shelf, so I can still cherish it when the days of electricity have ended, the metaverse has exploded, and the internet has died.
sylviebrekke's review
3.0
not really my style of poetry, but there were some impactful and interesting ideas discussed within