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When the Wind Has Teeth
In this striking debut collection, Espann James traces the path of a storm through the landscape of memory, family, and selfhood. Structured in four movements - Gale, Squall, Derecho, Calm - these poems move from the first unsettling gusts of change through sustained reckoning and into stillness.
Espann writes from the intersection of Black American experience, queer identity, and Southern place. His poems inhabit the house on Atkinson Street and the red clay of Carolina soil. They hold a grandmother's hands, a chipped mug, the double-knotted shoelaces of a childhood learning to speak itself into being. They confront, too, the violence that shares colors with celebration - police lights and parade confetti both burning red and blue.
Espann's range moves from three-line lyrics to poems that unfold across pages, and the form always follows the pressure of the material. He writes toward difficulty without flinching and without spectacle. These are poems about inheritance you did not choose, about what a body carries after the weather has passed through it, and about the strange work of standing up again in air that has changed.
Espann writes from the intersection of Black American experience, queer identity, and Southern place. His poems inhabit the house on Atkinson Street and the red clay of Carolina soil. They hold a grandmother's hands, a chipped mug, the double-knotted shoelaces of a childhood learning to speak itself into being. They confront, too, the violence that shares colors with celebration - police lights and parade confetti both burning red and blue.
Espann's range moves from three-line lyrics to poems that unfold across pages, and the form always follows the pressure of the material. He writes toward difficulty without flinching and without spectacle. These are poems about inheritance you did not choose, about what a body carries after the weather has passed through it, and about the strange work of standing up again in air that has changed.
123 pages, Paperback
Published August 25, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
September 4, 2026
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
I had a somewhat mixed experience with When the Wind Has Teeth. There are some genuinely strong poems here, and at its best, the collection is vivid, visceral and quite striking. But it can also be a little too direct at times. I found myself responding most strongly to the poems that were willing to leave things slightly unresolved rather than explaining exactly what I was meant to take from them.
The collection is strongest when it trusts its imagery. The sensory detail in this collection is quite memorable. "Brown Paper Bags," "The Shape of Her Hands," "The World Burns Politely," "Swallowtail," and "The House on Atkinson Street" were particular highlights for me. While very different from one another, these poems generally felt more atmospheric and suggestive, allowing their imagery and emotions to sit without always spelling everything out.
The collection can, at times, be overly explanatory, occasionally continuing to elaborate on an image after it has already made its point. There are also moments where the visceral imagery feels overworked. The writing clearly aims for emotional intensity, and sometimes it absolutely achieves that, but at times, I found myself wishing for a little more restraint.
I did appreciate how physically present the writing often feels. There is a lot here concerned with bodies, memory, grief, violence, and James can make these experiences feel very immediate. Even when a poem didn't fully work for me, there was usually an image or moment within it that I found interesting!
Overall, When the Wind Has Teeth is a somewhat uneven collection, but one with several genuinely memorable highs. I don't think every poem landed for me, and I would have preferred more ambiguity and subtlety in places, but the strongest pieces showed a real talent for vivid imagery and atmosphere.
Rating: 3.35/5
Personal Highlights: Brown Paper Bags, The Shape of Her Hands, The World Burns Politely, Swallowtail, The House on Atkinson Street.
I had a somewhat mixed experience with When the Wind Has Teeth. There are some genuinely strong poems here, and at its best, the collection is vivid, visceral and quite striking. But it can also be a little too direct at times. I found myself responding most strongly to the poems that were willing to leave things slightly unresolved rather than explaining exactly what I was meant to take from them.
The collection is strongest when it trusts its imagery. The sensory detail in this collection is quite memorable. "Brown Paper Bags," "The Shape of Her Hands," "The World Burns Politely," "Swallowtail," and "The House on Atkinson Street" were particular highlights for me. While very different from one another, these poems generally felt more atmospheric and suggestive, allowing their imagery and emotions to sit without always spelling everything out.
The collection can, at times, be overly explanatory, occasionally continuing to elaborate on an image after it has already made its point. There are also moments where the visceral imagery feels overworked. The writing clearly aims for emotional intensity, and sometimes it absolutely achieves that, but at times, I found myself wishing for a little more restraint.
I did appreciate how physically present the writing often feels. There is a lot here concerned with bodies, memory, grief, violence, and James can make these experiences feel very immediate. Even when a poem didn't fully work for me, there was usually an image or moment within it that I found interesting!
Overall, When the Wind Has Teeth is a somewhat uneven collection, but one with several genuinely memorable highs. I don't think every poem landed for me, and I would have preferred more ambiguity and subtlety in places, but the strongest pieces showed a real talent for vivid imagery and atmosphere.
Rating: 3.35/5
Personal Highlights: Brown Paper Bags, The Shape of Her Hands, The World Burns Politely, Swallowtail, The House on Atkinson Street.
Review of advance copy
I enjoyed this book of poems. They were heavy and gripping, and some even gave me chills. They have beautiful imagery and descriptions. They made me think and feel deeply. I intended to read them slowly, one a day or so, but I read it all in one day because I couldn't put it down.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. It reflects my true opinions.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. It reflects my true opinions.
October 29, 2026
As a poet myself, I especially admired the way James balances personal history with larger questions of inheritance and resilience. The collection succeeds because it understands that the most lasting emotional truths emerge through image, atmosphere, and careful attention to the physical world. In addition, I really appreciate his exquisite writing style . A moving read!
Review of advance copy
The content of this collection was strong and I appreciated the extended metaphor of the storm throughout. Some lines really popped like " her left side hung like a coat slipped from its hanger." wow! But there was a lot that also fell flat for me. Stilted language like using "for" as "because". For example, "For my tongue hangs heavy after my thoughts forced me to choke on their willymilk". Most people don't use "for" in this way in their everyday speech, so it just feels forced to sound #poetic. There were some other phrases that were overused too in my opinion like "the kind". "the kind of sweetness heat always ruins"; "You smiled at that—small, crooked— the kind you give someone you once loved"; "The sky was a pale kind of promise, the kind that doesn’t insist on anything". Adverbs used when there were opportunities instead to flesh out an image.
3.5
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
3.5
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews