A review by carabee
There Are More Beautiful Things Than Beyoncé by Morgan Parker

4.0

THERE ARE MORE BEAUTIFUL THINGS THAN BEYONCE is a collection to grow on. There were more than a few allusions in the collection that sent me off to search engines, but I went happily, with succinct, luminous images buzzing in my head, like "For him you would be pumice shined to pearl" and "Some stars have aligned/ in our spines." These images lounge comfortably next to more brutally honest and simple thoughts like "art is nice but the question is how are you/making money are you for sale" and "I cannot believe/in how successful/and how alone I have been/today." Parker takes the kind of straightforward language that makes listeners fall in love with lyrics and slam poetry and infuses it with the caesuras and formatting sleights of hand that academia passes out to its poets.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Tin House for letting me have a sneak peak in exchange for my thoughts!