A review by raynerayne
The New Testament by Jericho Brown

5.0

“As men
Are wont to hate women,
As women are taught to hate
Themselves, they hate a woman
They smell in me, every muscle
Of her body clenched
In fits beneath men
Heavy as heaven—my body,
Dear dying sacrifice, desirous
As I will be, black as I am.”
Romans 12:1

More than anything, I think it takes me patience to get through a good poetry collection. You know why that is? Good poetry, in my belief, elicits emotion and a real, visceral reaction from inside the reader. And it takes time to recuperate from the energy that such poetry consumes. THE NEW TESTAMENT is that kind of poetry book, at least for me: it takes time to get through, and in a good way.

I am also a firm believer in that poetry is as much about sound as it is about subject, and that sound has a gargantuan effect on the interpretation of the subject. I think this is evidenced by the poetry found in this collection more than others. Read some of these poems in your head, then read them aloud yourself, then look up Jericho Brown's readings online... It's as if a new poem is being discovered every time.

Standouts include:
- Romans 12:1 (some of which is quoted above)
- Cain (about veganism/vegetarianism... I think?)
- Labor (I'm not gonna lie, sometimes it's hard to decipher what the hell Brown is talking about, but his use of language and sound can still be mesmerizing.)
- Host (which I already encountered in an otherwise rather lackluster edition of the Best American Poetry.)
- The Rest We Deserve (oh, how I loved this one. Soooo good.)
- Reality Show (very creative and smart)
- Another Elegy (the first two–there are three poems with the same title.)
- Obituary
- Found: Messiah
- At the End of Hell
- Heart Condition (the crown jewel of this collection.)

...yeah, quite a lot.

Even as a relative newbie to poetry, and as stingy as I have become with my five star ratings, I am confident in giving The New Testament five stars.