Reviews tagging 'Homophobia'

The Tradition by Jericho Brown

7 reviews

readingbrb's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective slow-paced

5.0

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alisonfaith426's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective sad

4.0

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astrangewind's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective slow-paced

4.25

I wanted to like this book more than I did. Don't get me wrong - Brown's poems are striking and evocative, effortlessly linking sound and form and style to experience. In theory, this should appeal to me, but something about it doesn't land quite right. Maybe it's the awkwardness of some of his lines - it's clear that he has never read a whole lot of these poems out loud. 
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belladonnashrike's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

4.5

originally was going to settle for a 4.25 rating but reading duplex: cento really blew me away. 

I loved this collection of poems. 

— favorite poems (in no particular order):

duplex: cento
the tradition
the water lillies
entertainment industry
bullet points
riddle
of my fury
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thereaderfriend's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective sad slow-paced

4.0

Challenging, sad and reflective. These poems packed punches of anger and grief. 

Some fav quotes: 
"None of the beaten end up how we began." - part 1, duplex
"A poem is a gesture toward home." - part 1, duplex
"I'm not crossing to cross back. I'm set on something vast. It reaches long as the sea. I'm more than a conqueror, bigger than bravery. I don't march. I'm the one who leaps." - part 3, crossing 
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mandkips's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

4.0

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divineblkpearl's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

5.0


No shaming here—His book 'The Tradition' is a 2019 poetry collection that won the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. His poems certainly carry a certain weight, they have body to them. Which works because the poet pens about his body often. He writes of Black bodies touched with tender care by lovers and violated by those who are predators and those who do harm. 
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Poems like 'Bullets Points' point to the ever exhausting relationship Black people have to the police and being over policed here in America. The Duplex poems all share themes of love, lust, wholeness and being in repair. Jericho Brown, y'all. This is the necessary poetry book that I'm not sure we deserve but he gave it us anyway. Superb collection. I'm reading on my kindle but I just bought a physical copy and I'm looking up his other poetry collection now. 

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Also? This beautiful artwork on the cover by L. Ralphi Burges. A striking image that quietly kept looking at me, taking up space in my subconscious . It even made it into one of my dreams. And for someone who often doesn't remember most of my dreams, this was a really poetic thing. Note: The Tradition won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, making Jericho Brown the first black gay man to receive that award in its 98-year history. 
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