Counting Descent

by Clint Smith Narrated by Clint Smith

Overview

Clint Smith's debut poetry collection, Counting Descent, is a coming of age story that seeks to complicate our conception of lineage and tradition. Smith explores the cognitive dissonance that results from belonging to a community that unapologetically celebrates black humanity while living in a world that often renders blackness a caricature of fear. His poems move fluidly across personal and political histories, all the while reflecting on the social construction of our lived experiences. Smith brings the reader on a powerful journey forcing us to reflect on all that we learn growing up, and all that we seek to unlearn moving forward.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

"So many of these poems just blow me away. Incredibly beautiful and powerful."

- Michelle Alexander, Author of The New Jim Crow

"Counting Descent is a tightly-woven collection of poems whose pages act like an invitation to New Orleans, to the spades' table, to mom's kitchen, to the kiss on a woman's wrist, to conversations with hydrants and cicadas..."

- Elizabeth Acevedo

"These poems shimmer with revelatory intensity, approaching us from all sides to immerse us in the America that America so often forgets."

- Gregory Pardlo

Product Details

BN ID:	2940172570346
Publisher:	Author's Republic
Publication date:	10/11/2019
Edition description:	Unabridged

Read an Excerpt

From "How to Fight":
...
Spelling bees were a battleground
where teachers trained me
to wield language as a
tool & fist & weapon & warning
to those who would rather
make an outline out of me.

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