Clint Smith

Clnt Smth's deut poetry collecton, Countng Descent, s a comng of age story that seeks to complcate our concepton of lneage and tradton.Smth explores the cogntve dssonance that results from elongng to a communty that unapologetcally celerates lack humanty whle lvng n a world that often renders lackness a carcature of fear. Hs poems move fludly across personal and poltcal hstores, all the whle reflectng on the socal constructon of our lved experences. Smth rngs the reader on a powerful journey forcng us to reflect on all that we learn growng up, and all that we seek to unlearn movng forward.Prase"So many of these poems just low me away. Incredly eautful and powerful.”- Mchelle Alexander, Author of The New Jm Crow"In Countng Descent, Clnt Smth reflects “even the unverse s tellng us/ that we can never get too far// from the place that created us.” Smth weaves hstores, from collectve to personal, to make ndelle archetypes of those places that have created us all. These poems shmmer wth revelatory ntensty, approachng us from all sdes to mmerse us n the Amerca that Amerca so often forgets. The road sweep of Smth’s vson delvers a sudden In ths poet's hands, we sense, lke Rlke, there s no place that does not see you.”- Gregory Pardlo, Author of DgestCountng Descent s a tghtly-woven collecton of poems whose pages act lke an nvtaton to New Orleans, to the spades' tale, to mom’s ktchen, to the kss on a woman’s wrst, to conversatons wth hydrants and ccadas. The nvtaton s ntmate and generous and also a challenge; are you up to askng what s lackness? What s lack joy? How s lack lfe loved and lved? To whom do we―ths human We― look to for answers? Ths nvtaton s not to a narrow street, or a shallow lake, ut to a vast exploraton of lfe. And death. In a voce that has the echoes of Baldwn, ut that also declares tself a sngular voce, Smth “Maye there's a place where everyone s oth n love wth and runnng from ther own skn. Maye that place s here.” And you’re nvted.- Elzaeth Acevedo, Author of Beastgrl & Other Orgn MythsAccoladesWnner, 2017 Black Caucus of the Amercan Lrary Assocaton Lterary Award Fnalst, 2017 NAACP Image Awards 2017 'One Book One New Orleans' Book Selecton

Poet and contributor to The Atlantic Clint Smith’s revealing, contemporary portrait of America as a slave owning nation Beginning in his own hometown of New Orleans, Clint Smith leads the reader through an unforgettable tour of monuments and landmarks-those that are honest about the past and those that are not-that offer an intergenerational story of how slavery has been central in shaping our nation's collective history, and ourselves. It is the story of the Monticello Plantation in Virginia, the estate where Thomas Jefferson wrote letters espousing the urgent need for liberty while enslaving over 400 people on the premises. It is the story of the Whitney Plantation, one of the only former plantations devoted to preserving the experience of the enslaved people whose lives and work sustained it. It is the story of Angola Prison in Louisiana, a former plantation named for the country from which most of its enslaved people arrived and which has since become one of the most gruesome maximum-security prisons in the world. And it is the story of Blandford Cemetery, the final resting place of tens of thousands of Confederate soldiers. In a deeply researched and transporting exploration of the legacy of slavery and its imprint on centuries of American history, How the Word Is Passed illustrates how some of our country's most essential stories are hidden in plain view-whether in places we might drive by on our way to work, holidays such as Juneteenth, or entire neighborhoods—like downtown Manhattan—on which the brutal history of the trade in enslaved men, women and children has been deeply imprinted. Informed by scholarship and brought alive by the story of people living today, Clint Smith’s debut work of nonfiction is a landmark work of reflection and insight that offers a new understanding of the hopeful role that memory and history can play in understanding our country.

A remarkable poetry collection with "inextinguishable generosity and abundant wisdom" (Monica Youn) from Clint Smith, the #1 New York Times bestselling and National Book Critics Circle award-winning author of How the Word Is Passed .Clint Smith’s vibrant and compelling new collection traverses the vast emotional terrain of fatherhood, and explores how becoming a parent has recalibrated his sense of the world. There are poems that interrogate the ways our lives are shaped by both personal lineages and historical institutions. There are poems that revel in the wonder of discovering the world anew through the eyes of your children, as they discover it for the first time. There are poems that meditate on what it means to raise a family in a world filled with constant social and political tumult. Above Ground wrestles with how we hold wonder and despair in the same hands, how we carry intimate moments of joy and a collective sense of mourning in the same body. Smith’s lyrical, narrative poems bring the reader on a journey not only through the early years of his children’s lives, but through the changing world in which they are growing up—through the changing world of which we are all a part.Above Ground is a breathtaking collection that follows Smith's first award-winning book of poetry, Counting Descent .

The first chapbook of poetry from writer and scholar Clint Smith III.