Bluff

'Gripping ... It's as though the world is a scattered puzzle that Danez analyses and bears witness to' Yomi Sode, author of Manorism

Written during the time the world came to a halt due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and Minneapolis became the epicentre of protest following the murder of George Floyd, Bluff is Danez Smith's powerful reckoning with their responsibility as a poet and with their hometown.

Smith brings a startling urgency to these poems, their questions demanding a new language, new textual shapes and a deep self-scrutiny. Ars poetica gives way to 'ars america'. A photographic collage makes clear the consequence of accepting mass shootings. A brilliant long poem maps the history of Minneapolis-Saint Paul's vibrant Rondo neighbourhood, before and after officials decided to run an interstate directly through it.

Bluff is a manifesto about artistic resilience when the places we most love - those given and made - are burning. In this collection, Smith turns to honesty, hope, rage and imagination to envision futures that seem possible.

Format/pages: paperback / 160 pages

ISBN: 9781784745738

Publisher: Chatto & Windus

Year: 2024