Reading Danez Smith’s new collection, , I was reminded of a famous quotation: “I love America more than any other country in the world,” said James Baldwin, “and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually.” While Smith certainly (and aptly) criticizes the United States in , they also criticize other entities they arguably love: themself, the stars, poetry, their city. So much of seems to capture the wrung out feeling that is depressingly familiar to many.
It’s an emotion that leaves us teetering on the edge of becoming jaded, nihilistic even. The shapeshifting and incessant violences in the country (and world) are present in these poems, with Smith vacillating between a call to action (“if the cops kill me / don’t grab your pen / before you find / your matches.”) to impotence (“i don’t want america no more.
/ i want to be a citizen of something new.”) Like Baldwin, however, Smith is ultimately employing critique as an expression of love. For instance, the city of Minneapolis, where they live.
In , Smith describes Minneapolis as “my favorite place in the world.” (Smith was born and raised in St. Paul, and considers the twins of the Twin Cities ).
In , Smith interrogates the complications of their favorite place, including the creation of the I-94, which essentially destroyed the largest Black neighborhood of St. Paul’s . In another portion, they discuss in the wastewater of a St.
Paul suburb. When Chee asks Smith .