In an interview with Smith, Kaveh Akbar notes how “a line can be celebrating, exalting blackness but also lamenting the inherent tragedy of it.” (Akbar 2015). The poem ends:īut as their collection contours, this exaltation points to more painful realities. 190) as is typical of mad persons, geniuses, lovers, and poets, Smith is generous with lofty diction and exclamation points. Following the tradition of ecstatic poetry, described by Anne Carson as a spiritual event based off the Greek definition “standing outside oneself” (Carson p. “Show me to our nation”, they write, connoting a president who personifies the everyday people they know and admire. A proven master of bathos, a poetic device which lifts things high to cut them with the ordinary––a balloon is inflated to be popped, effecting humor and some sadness––Smith starts their conceit with biblical resonance, the least among you will become a thousand, the smallest a mighty nation… (Isaiah 60:22).

Other potential candidates for their campaign range from the boys selling candy outside Walgreens to single mothers to Beyoncé. Written by Danez Smith.īeginning with Jonathan, “eleven & already making roads out of water / young genius, blog writer, lil community activist, curls tight / as pinky swears, black as my nation…”, Danez Smith’s poem ‘my president’ kicks off their latest collection homie (2020) as a paean to their community. A poetry collection published by Graywolf Press, $16. Because of This, Too, I Loved: A Review of Danez Smith’s homie

Homie by danez smith