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lukenotjohn's review
3.0
One of the entries in this collection begins with the line, "i have no time to tinsel my poems" and I found that to be a pretty great summary of the collection at large. Allegiance is full of sharp-edged, rough-textured poems that depict the harsh realities of life in Detroit. Before diving in, I expected this to be right up my ally: Detroit feels like a sister city to my own Philly (particularly the parts I call home) and there's even an ongoing thread of religiosity here to boot. I also absolutely loved [b:The Crown Ain't Worth Much|30087886|The Crown Ain't Worth Much|Hanif Abdurraqib|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1463568293s/30087886.jpg|50507399] which is in some ways a parallel collection written for Columbus. Unfortunately, it didn't click in the ways I would have hoped for. To be honest, this was significantly more critical and abrasive than I anticipated, but I read one reviewer suggest that it reads like a true daughter of Detroit, and only family can speak so harshly towards their own without it challenging the love and loyalty they have. Along those lines, I appreciated the recurring motif in which the city is essentially berated and slammed line after line, only for a closing that buckles under the weight of her deep-seeded affection for it (crying at her graduation, beckoning the city personified back to bed, etc.)
Quite a few of these poems are pretty jarring in their unflinching descriptions of the illicit elements of urban life, often spoken with a nonchalance that seems to add to the disturbing dissonance. Of course, you certainly can't fault Harris for sappy, overly dramatic pity trips. There are times where her appreciation for the city wins out, either in the aforementioned begrudging admissions or more directly in the flower-finding poem "i live in detroit" and of course most poignantly and powerfully in the book's eponymous climactic closer, "allegiance." That poem alone made the book worth it (which, if I'm being honest, was relieving as I wrestled with some regret over buying it rather than finding a way to borrow it). It's such a simple piece that could only be crafted by someone intimately familiar with the ebbs and flows of life in her city. Something about the small, hyper-specific details made that sing for me, the angel who knows where to find a monthly bus card or a public computer, the one climbing up the stairs with her groceries on her bad knee, the one who gives you three feet of space at the bus stop. So good! And such a good note to end on, this proclamation of holiness and honor towards the residents of this city she sometimes hates but ultimately loves.
A number of these didn't register for me; I couldn't follow them home to their point and was left underwhelmed, but there were definitely stand-outs that I really enjoyed beyond the two aforementioned. "katherine with the lazy eye, short, and not a good poet" affected me tremendously –– the final line had me sitting in silence for minutes. The three most explicitly religious poems in the "build us a jesus" section were all interesting and gave me something to think on. I thought "what you'd find buried in the dity under charles f. kettering sr. high school" to be a lot of fun and also really compelling, enjoyed "eight days until your ashes turn on one."
Quite a few of these poems are pretty jarring in their unflinching descriptions of the illicit elements of urban life, often spoken with a nonchalance that seems to add to the disturbing dissonance. Of course, you certainly can't fault Harris for sappy, overly dramatic pity trips. There are times where her appreciation for the city wins out, either in the aforementioned begrudging admissions or more directly in the flower-finding poem "i live in detroit" and of course most poignantly and powerfully in the book's eponymous climactic closer, "allegiance." That poem alone made the book worth it (which, if I'm being honest, was relieving as I wrestled with some regret over buying it rather than finding a way to borrow it). It's such a simple piece that could only be crafted by someone intimately familiar with the ebbs and flows of life in her city. Something about the small, hyper-specific details made that sing for me, the angel who knows where to find a monthly bus card or a public computer, the one climbing up the stairs with her groceries on her bad knee, the one who gives you three feet of space at the bus stop. So good! And such a good note to end on, this proclamation of holiness and honor towards the residents of this city she sometimes hates but ultimately loves.
A number of these didn't register for me; I couldn't follow them home to their point and was left underwhelmed, but there were definitely stand-outs that I really enjoyed beyond the two aforementioned. "katherine with the lazy eye, short, and not a good poet" affected me tremendously –– the final line had me sitting in silence for minutes. The three most explicitly religious poems in the "build us a jesus" section were all interesting and gave me something to think on. I thought "what you'd find buried in the dity under charles f. kettering sr. high school" to be a lot of fun and also really compelling, enjoyed "eight days until your ashes turn on one."
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