Blood Dazzler

June 16, 2008
Two new books of poetry show us Katrina-devastated New Orleans from the inside.
Blood Dazzler
Patricia Smith
. Coffee House
(Consortium, dist.), $16 paper (90p) ISBN 978-1-56689-218-6

Simultaneously accessible and daring, these short, fiery verses describe with sorrow and passion the Crescent City just before, during and immediately after Katrina. They describe it from startling points of view—one series of poems takes the vantage point of “Luther B,” a hardy abandoned dog. Another set speaks for the hurricane itself: “every woman begins as weather,” Katrina warns, “sips slow thunder, knows her hips.” Other speakers include the spirit of Voodoo, a nursing home patient, a rapist, George W. Bush and a drag queen whose good humor helps her survive: “This damned trod spells ruin for her party pumps.” Known now as a poet of both the page and stage, Smith (Teahouse of the Almighty
) was present at the creation of the poetry slam, in 1980s Chicago. Her command of the spoken voice gives her work both speed and pathos. She benefits, too, from her range of forms: rhymed sonnet, sestina, alphabet poem, long- and short-lined, and fragmentary free verse. This book will stand out among literary records of Katrina's devastation.

April 15, 2009
A multiple-award-winning poet, Smith comes through with a remarkable work: a literally blow-by-blow account of Katrina as it swept into New Orleans. There's water, chill, fear, anger, and death here, and even the hurricane itself personified: "I see/ what this language does/ and taste/ soil on my tongue/ and feel/ brick splintering spine/ and hear/ them/ and want it/ all."

Copyright 2009 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 15, 2008
In her fifth collection, Smith, a poetry-slam champion and and recipient of the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award, presentstoweringtestament to the tragedy ofNew Orleans before, during, and after Katrina. Herear for voice and gift for persona poems make fora complex, colloquial, thought-provoking, and nearlyminute-to-minute account of thecatastrophethat captures the power of nature and thefailure ofleadership.Smiths observations are painstakingly revealing and unabashedly critical, especially juxtaposed against the beauty of herterse free verse and formal sestina andrhymed sonnets. FollowingTeahouse of the Almighty (2006), this accomplished work reaffirms her position as one of Americans strongest and most clarion poetic voices. As Smith writes of Katrina, so to it might be said of thisbook, Never has there been / a wind like this. Its throaty / howl has memorized / my name. And it calls, and it / calls, and lamb to ax, I come.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2008, American Library Association.)