Stages: Poems

by Tramaine Suubi

“Tramaine Suubi is a visionary love poet, and stages makes a singular life feel vaster than the life cycle of a star. In this poetry of dissolution and re-making, of multiplications and expansion, embodied tenderness is a force capable of moving us “beyond the binary.” As it journeys from personhood to “people-hood,” Suubi’s music shimmers and flashes and connects.” — Mary Szybist, National Book Award winner for Incarnadine

""This book presents a young person seeing the world with fresh, yet discerning eyes. In stages, Suubi is seeking centeredness in an unstable world. From personal journeys throughout and between continents, Suubi asserts the freedom to be themselves, on their own terms. stages is a thoughtful, rigorous and heartfelt collection of a loving voice."" — Tracie Morris, author of human/nature

""Tramaine Suubi’s newest book, Stages, crafts new orbits to the oldest questions. As the poems circumnavigate homecomings, desires, and reclamations, the relay baton of sound and syntax passes seamlessly, always ready to hand the reader a line of true substance, a line of unexpected grace, a line of hard-won delight. Suubi insists on playfulness as a site of maturation and love as a protest against multiple erasures. And like celestial bodies, these poems can transfix, predict, and guide one through both dying and newborn light, reminding the reader, “civility is a performance you savage in your dreams.” — Steven Leyva, author of The Opposite of Cruelty

""So rarely do we come across a book like stages, which mirrors how a day, an hour, a moment--can engage every layer of our being. This collection will dazzle you with swirling musings which authentically ground and unground our desires, histories, and identities."" — Marisa Tirado, author of Selena Didn’t Know Spanish Either

""Once, we are looking at a gaggle of geese punctuating the gradient sky, meanwhile, elsewhere we are in Kampala, in Suubi’s poem. Suubi navigates between the outwardly observed and the deeply internal, and the readers are at a crossroads, sometimes witnessing, other times noting the mechanical dance of our small, exiled lives. Suubi’s sharp, often unblinking, gaze renders each detail with striking precision. What a collection, what a book, what a way to reinvent what African poetry can do, what it will do. A second coming that deserves all the praise for its excellence.” — Adedayo Agarau, author of The Years of Blood

Critically acclaimed writer Tramaine Suubi follows up her debut phases, with stages. This powerful meditation, inspired by Lucille Clifton, focuses on choices and changes throughout life, from Yellow Dwarf to Protostar.

In this breathtaking companion poetry collection, inspired by the evolution of our brightest star, Tramaine Suubi offers poems alluding to the history of how it came to be and its effects on each human life. Readers will discover poems exploring everything from the gimmicks of capitalism to the false promises of tranquility.

This is another brilliant collection that will only reinforce Suubi as a rising star of her generation.

Genres: Poetry

Audible Audio

Published January 27, 2026

Reviews

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was tremendous. So incredibly vulnerable and still well planned. The book takes us through Tramaine Suubi’s life in stages as categorized by the life cycle of a star. Because of the way the book is organized, there is a clear growth in Suubi as narrator and as a “character” in her life. These poems are a reflection on how the smallest moments can have huge impacts on who we are as people. There is so much growth reflected in these pages and so much emotion. I would highly recommend picking up a hard copy of this or reading it on a Kindle or iPad. The wonderful formatting needs a larger surface to shine, so phones won’t do it justice. It’s truly worth the purchase though!

[Kaela · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 ⭐️

Stages is made up of beautifully written poems with powerful messages about race, community, our bodies, our surroundings, our senses, and so much more. This book blew me away.

[Ivoree Malcom · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stages is a nice, quick read that includes several poems, making it an easy & accessible collection. While the poems each stand on their own, I couldn’t identify a strong overall connection or consistent theme tying them together, which made the book feel somewhat disjointed. With a title like Stages, I expected the poems to transition or progress in a way that reflected different phases of life, growth, or spiritual development, but that sense of progression wasn’t very clear. I guess that's what I get for having expectations, huh?

That said, I absolutely adored the sprinkles of Bible scripture & references throughout the collection. Those moments added a meaningful spiritual layer
& were easily the most memorable & impactful part of the book.

Overall, Stages is a pleasant read with thoughtful elements, but the lack of a clear unifying theme or progression held it back from feeling fully cohesive.

*I received an advance review copy for free & am leaving this review voluntarily.*

#ThankGodForARCs

[Doc · Rating 4 out of 5]

For lovers of language and of culture and themselves, this is a nicely compiled book of poetry. I enjoyed the memories and thoughts it brought back to me as I read. The visions of time and experiences mine and the poets. Very enjoyable.

[Books Amongst Friends · Rating 4 out of 5]

Format: Gifted Paperback
Overall Collection: 3.5/5
Favorite Poem: When You Discover
Enjoyment: 3.5/5

[Nicole Perkins · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you NetGalley and Amistad Publishing for the review copy of Tramaine Suubi's collection "Stages."
Tramaine Suubi is a relatively new poet, and I feel they are going to go places. Suubi writes in freestyle, slipping through language with the grace of a dancer. They play with words, bringing depth to what could have been the ordinary, except..."upon meditating on an unkindness of ravens/ i give in to a murder of crows then slowly fade/ to a shimmer of hummingbirds"
"Body Me Water" aligns our being with the life-giving waters of the world: "river me still/ ocean me deep/ lake me quiet/ sea me through [...] spring me high [...] gulf me whole/ stream me loose..." (This might be my favorite in the collection, actually)
Suubi's poem "Nostalgia" is the story of a life, any life, mine, yours: "release/ all the bull/ & sh!t-making/ the best mistakes/ of this one life, smoked/ screens show it all. such/ decadence in wildly/ heated choices, the joyful/ sorrows of this decade. the stale/ nights, the rotten days/ they all absorb & refract/ the muchness of this roaring/ decade. the yearning/ through us all." In "First Word," they remind us that "knowing only matters/ if you know what you do not/ know," reaffirming that not only do we learn through schooling, but by experience as we stumble across the things we never knew we didn't know. However, in all of this experience, we need to be brave enough to protect ourselves, to be able to say "[...] f*ck it, it feels good to stop pretending to care about caring."
Tramaine Suubi's poetry invites you to pause and reflect, to reread their words to explore the meaning of what it means to exist in the thing we know as life.