Danez Smith’s most recent collection—Bluff—interrogates America’s systemic racism, our country’s epidemic of gun violence, the murder of George Floyd, and how the language of poetry might serve as a means of response when the places we most love—those given and made—are burning. In this soaring collection, Smith turns to honesty, hope, rage, and imagination to envision futures that seem possible. “In these searching, stunning poems,” writes Nam Le in The New York Times, “Smith metaphorizes city into body politic, showing us the interstate running through all our hearts; demonstrating that we all contain protest and police, cowardice and commitment, money and kindness, looting and food drives.”
Danez Smith is the author of four poetry collections, and is the curator of Blues In Stereo: The Early Works of Langston Hughes. Smith is the recipient of the Forward Prize for Best Collection, the Minnesota Book Award in Poetry, and the Lambda Literary Award for Gay Poetry. They live in the Twin Cities with their people and teach at the Randolph College MFA program and the Black Youth Healing Arts Center in St. Paul, MN.
Smith’s reading will be followed by conversation with Tiana Clark in John M. Greene Hall on Smith College campus on Tuesday, April 28 at 7 p.m. Free & open to the public. Books will be sold and a signing will follow. Livestream also available on the BDPC YouTube page.
