We (the People of the United States)

by Joshua Bennett

From an award-winning poet praised for his “rhapsodic, rigorous” work (The New Yorker) comes an immersive meditation on kindship, collectivity, and environmental thought

We is a formally and thematically ambitious collection inspired by Virgil’s Georgics that examines community, the weight of history, and what we owe one another from a Black American perspective. It evolves from the personal—Bennett’s family history in New York and current life in Massachusetts—to the historical, linking the past and present through place. The collection concludes with an epic poem that traces African American life in the twentieth century through four iconic George Washington Carver, George Jackson, George Taliaferro, and George Clinton. The result is a sweeping collection that affirms poetry as a technology of memory.

Genres: Poetry

112 pages, Paperback

Published March 17, 2026

About the author

Joshua Bennett received his Ph.D. in English from Princeton University. He also holds an M.A. in Theatre and Performance Studies from the University of Warwick, where he was a Marshall Scholar. In 2010, he delivered the Commencement Address at the University of Pennsylvania, from which he graduated with the distinctions of Phi Beta Kappa and magna cum laude.

Winner of the 2015 National Poetry Series, Dr. Bennett has received fellowships from the Callaloo Creative Writing Workshop, Cave Canem, the Josephine de Karman Fellowship Trust, and the Ford Foundation. His writing has been published or is forthcoming in Boston Review, Callaloo, The Kenyon Review, Poetry and elsewhere. He has recited his original work at venues such as the Sundance Film Festival, the NAACP Image Awards, and President Obama’s Evening of Poetry and Music at The White House. He is currently a member of the Society of Fellows at Harvard University.

Reviews

[pedro · Rating 5 out of 5]

“… I saw myself / everywhere… //
interstellar adventurers in any form /
you could imagine… // …my boyhood /
eyes aglow as I dreamt //
of gliding through the incandescent /
blackness of the great beyond, /
smooth as a scimitar, even //
in hyperdrive, me & my intrepid /
crew, cruising at light speed /
toward the promise of another life.”
— from the poem, “Decatur, Alabama”

Happy National Poetry Month everyone! 🤗📚🎉

Today I spent my day off reading and rereading Joshua Bennett’s We (the People of the United States) and I can safely say that I can turn to any page in this book and be beyond satisfied by the cadence and meticulous thought process that Bennett goes through to making each word, each line ring true! 👏🏽✨

This endeavor is a book-length poem that succeeds from the start with the poem, “First Philosophy,” and the opening lines:

“What is your all-time favorite
phenomenon? Mine is when
the error is as lovely as the aim.”

A misspelling in a text sent by the poet’s wife leads him to think about worship:

“…transcendent beauty. I tried & did not
see Him, nor dare to ask where I might
search. But I cherished the lesson…”

Another line that hits… “our family name / a banner we carried in our war against / the outside world. How did I get here?”

“We grew up,” starts the next poem! Human potential means we know more as we continue to learn, to dream, to imagine “a world without // debt, or early death, or stress so heavy / the mind must be lifted elsewhere // to bear it and yet persist.”

By the time we get to the second part of the book, we’ve acquired a bit of knowledge about the poet’s family and look forward to how it extends to Black historical figures from the past, for the future is all the better when we recognize God in various ways — my favorite being:

“God of the boom-
bap emanating from your big sister’s room
that carries you an ocean away, and back,
just in time to decompress from the tragicomic
epiphanies that followed you home from school
the waking dream of that singular mortality,
childhood, where you are a witness to the world
without weapons.” ❣️

So much more to the book and I highly recommend the audiobook as well!! 🙌🏽💯

[b · Rating 4 out of 5]

Every time I try to argue to myself that I'm not a poetry person, I only incidentally enjoy poetry, a book like this comes along and tries to prove me wrong. This book is a tribute, and a well-executed one at that, serving both as gorgeous poetry in it's own right and a connection both to Bennett's personal life and to history.

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC.

[The_J · Rating 2 out of 5]

Eh, some interesting pieces, but certain not making 50% of the product. The title is a little disingenuous, as each poem is specifically designated in each state to an African- American so it isn't even possible to save it as "We the People of Color" to save it, because only one color issued an invitation.

One question jumped out to me - where is the black Cleopatra in the homage to Memphis, TN. It would seem to be a natural for this collection.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a particular strong collection of poems, telling a story - a story of this nation and its peoples. A story not often told or collected in this way. A set of poems spinning a magic tale to help us see the world clearly. Beautiful.