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The Penguin Poets
The Sobbing School
Selected by Eugene Gloria as a winner of the National Poetry Series
The Sobbing School, Joshua Bennett’s mesmerizing debut collection of poetry, presents songs for the living and the dead that destabilize and de-familiarize representations of black history and contemporary black experience. What animates these poems is a desire to assert life, and interiority, where there is said to be none. Figures as widely divergent as Bobby Brown, Martin Heidegger, and the 19th-century performance artist Henry Box Brown, as well as Bennett’s own family and childhood best friends, appear and are placed in conversation in order to show that there is always a world beyond what we are socialized to see value in, always alternative ways of thinking about relation that explode easy binaries.
The Sobbing School, Joshua Bennett’s mesmerizing debut collection of poetry, presents songs for the living and the dead that destabilize and de-familiarize representations of black history and contemporary black experience. What animates these poems is a desire to assert life, and interiority, where there is said to be none. Figures as widely divergent as Bobby Brown, Martin Heidegger, and the 19th-century performance artist Henry Box Brown, as well as Bennett’s own family and childhood best friends, appear and are placed in conversation in order to show that there is always a world beyond what we are socialized to see value in, always alternative ways of thinking about relation that explode easy binaries.
96 pages, Paperback
First published September 27, 2016
18 people are currently reading
958 people want to read
About the author
Joshua Bennett
35 books82 followersJoshua 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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 65 reviews
May 30, 2020
The title of The Sobbing School refers to a quote from Zora Neale Hurston, who claimed she didn't spend her time weeping at the injustices of the world, because, she said, she was "too busy sharpening my oyster knife." Born in Yonkers, a Princeton PhD and current Harvard fellow, Joshua Bennett brings both a sharp intellect (the oyster knife) and a strong emotional resonance (the sobbing, if you will) to this stunning collection. While some of these pieces are on the experimental side, including a few academic "abstracts" with keywords and appropriately pretentious titles, he's at his best, in my opinion, when he moves away from the postmodern, as in his tribute to DMX, the second-most-famous resident of their shared town of Yonkers:
Our voices occupy different spaces
on the Trust, You Don't Want No Problems
spectrum, & I usually follow up any claim
to our home, our beloved, mutual shame
by mentioning the Ovidian qualities
of your more recent work & you know
how it is, Earl. You know nothing beautiful
comes from where we come from.
So when I talk about you like that,
I think it confuses people.
Understandably, Bennett's poetry also devotes considerable attention to incidents of young black men being gunned down by police officers, and this writing provides some of the collection's most indelible moments. Here he is talking about a particular (real-life) young man who, in the wake of his death, was described by a police officer as "no angel":
The steel blue ghost standing
at the podium says VonDerrit Myers
was no angel & all I can hear is
the boy was a human boy. The boy
had a best friend & 206 bones. The boy
had a name that God didn't give him.
. . . No, the boy
was not a pillar of white smoke bright
enough to break a nonbeliever, make a penitent
fall prostrate, heaving, heavy with contrition, but
let me be clear: we are simply running out
of ways to shame the dead. How else to say
that we are guilty & yet unburied? How else
to erase him, if we cannot feign omnipotence,
lay claim to the sky, excise heaven,
take aim at the boy just one more
time while everyone watches?
I won The Sobbing School in a Goodreads giveaway; thank you to Penguin, the publisher. I had not heard of Joshua Bennett before I received this book, but I will be very surprised if I read a better collection of poetry this year.
Our voices occupy different spaces
on the Trust, You Don't Want No Problems
spectrum, & I usually follow up any claim
to our home, our beloved, mutual shame
by mentioning the Ovidian qualities
of your more recent work & you know
how it is, Earl. You know nothing beautiful
comes from where we come from.
So when I talk about you like that,
I think it confuses people.
Understandably, Bennett's poetry also devotes considerable attention to incidents of young black men being gunned down by police officers, and this writing provides some of the collection's most indelible moments. Here he is talking about a particular (real-life) young man who, in the wake of his death, was described by a police officer as "no angel":
The steel blue ghost standing
at the podium says VonDerrit Myers
was no angel & all I can hear is
the boy was a human boy. The boy
had a best friend & 206 bones. The boy
had a name that God didn't give him.
. . . No, the boy
was not a pillar of white smoke bright
enough to break a nonbeliever, make a penitent
fall prostrate, heaving, heavy with contrition, but
let me be clear: we are simply running out
of ways to shame the dead. How else to say
that we are guilty & yet unburied? How else
to erase him, if we cannot feign omnipotence,
lay claim to the sky, excise heaven,
take aim at the boy just one more
time while everyone watches?
I won The Sobbing School in a Goodreads giveaway; thank you to Penguin, the publisher. I had not heard of Joshua Bennett before I received this book, but I will be very surprised if I read a better collection of poetry this year.
Read
September 30, 2025Super fast read, even though you're not supposed to super-fast your poetry (like Mom always said, chew it 100 times before swallowing; and like the Dormouse said: "Feed your head.")
I'd never heard of Joshua Bennett. After this, I'll keep my eyes sharp and my ears to the ground. He's a straight shooter, Josh. Tells it like it is. Or was, in many cases, as he loves to mine his past (any poet's prerogative).
My favorite, I don't know why, was "On Blueness," maybe because I sometimes deal with the black dogs whose favorite color is blue. Here you go:
On Blueness
which is neither misery
nor melancholy per se,
but the way anything buried
aspires. How blackness becomes
a bladed pendulum swaying between
am I not a man & a brother
& meat. How it dips
into the position
of the unthought,
then out. Trust me.
Foucault isn’t
helpful here. I am after
what comes when the law leaves
a dream gutted. The space
between a plea & please.
A mother marching in the name
of another woman’s dead children.
Not the anguish she carries alongside
her as if it were a whole, separate person,
but the very fact of her feet
addressing the pavement,
the oatmeal she warmed in the microwave
that morning, sugar & milk
& blueberries blending in a white bowl
as she reads the paper, taken aback
only by the number of bullets
they poured like a sermon into him.
How despair kills: too slow to cut
the music from a horn, or set
my nephew’s laughter to dim.
I am dying, yes, but I am not the marrow
in a beloved’s memory just yet.
Who can be alive today
& not study grief?
There are bodies everywhere,
but also that flock of cardinals
making the sky look patriotic.
I'd never heard of Joshua Bennett. After this, I'll keep my eyes sharp and my ears to the ground. He's a straight shooter, Josh. Tells it like it is. Or was, in many cases, as he loves to mine his past (any poet's prerogative).
My favorite, I don't know why, was "On Blueness," maybe because I sometimes deal with the black dogs whose favorite color is blue. Here you go:
On Blueness
which is neither misery
nor melancholy per se,
but the way anything buried
aspires. How blackness becomes
a bladed pendulum swaying between
am I not a man & a brother
& meat. How it dips
into the position
of the unthought,
then out. Trust me.
Foucault isn’t
helpful here. I am after
what comes when the law leaves
a dream gutted. The space
between a plea & please.
A mother marching in the name
of another woman’s dead children.
Not the anguish she carries alongside
her as if it were a whole, separate person,
but the very fact of her feet
addressing the pavement,
the oatmeal she warmed in the microwave
that morning, sugar & milk
& blueberries blending in a white bowl
as she reads the paper, taken aback
only by the number of bullets
they poured like a sermon into him.
How despair kills: too slow to cut
the music from a horn, or set
my nephew’s laughter to dim.
I am dying, yes, but I am not the marrow
in a beloved’s memory just yet.
Who can be alive today
& not study grief?
There are bodies everywhere,
but also that flock of cardinals
making the sky look patriotic.
April 9, 2023
THE SOBBING SCHOOL
Written by Joshua Bennett
Rating: 4 Stars
(Review Not on Blog)
This collection of poetry had me savoring the words and emotions. The writing reminds me of Langston Hughes and James Baldwin. I picked up this collection on a whim, and as it was a short book I figured, what the heck. I love when you discover a little treasure.
Written by Joshua Bennett
Rating: 4 Stars
(Review Not on Blog)
This collection of poetry had me savoring the words and emotions. The writing reminds me of Langston Hughes and James Baldwin. I picked up this collection on a whim, and as it was a short book I figured, what the heck. I love when you discover a little treasure.
June 13, 2021
Every so often, on about blue moon basic, I select a volume of poetry to try. I’m not a poetry reader and oftentimes these experiments reflect it. And yet, somehow, I did get something out of this collection.
I’m not sure I can say it spoke to me, because I can’t relate on a personal level to the author’s main themes of living as a black man in a racist country. (Yes, of course, it is the US). But…but there was something about his style, his energy and imagery, the musicality of his verses and the beauty of his language that was just undeniably good and potent and poignant.
Poetry reviewing and fiction are so different and I’m much more accustomed to and experienced in the latter but suffice it to say in spite of my brain that generally doesn’t appreciate modern style nonrhyming nonShakespearean poetry this devastatingly titled book did more to improve my understanding and appreciation of poetry than most. The author had things to say and talent to do so as an artform. An experience presented as such is an experience not easily ignored. It’s like a way of drawing the curtains back from a window to a soul, a window to a world. And well worth the read.
This and more at https://advancetheplot.weebly.com/
I’m not sure I can say it spoke to me, because I can’t relate on a personal level to the author’s main themes of living as a black man in a racist country. (Yes, of course, it is the US). But…but there was something about his style, his energy and imagery, the musicality of his verses and the beauty of his language that was just undeniably good and potent and poignant.
Poetry reviewing and fiction are so different and I’m much more accustomed to and experienced in the latter but suffice it to say in spite of my brain that generally doesn’t appreciate modern style nonrhyming nonShakespearean poetry this devastatingly titled book did more to improve my understanding and appreciation of poetry than most. The author had things to say and talent to do so as an artform. An experience presented as such is an experience not easily ignored. It’s like a way of drawing the curtains back from a window to a soul, a window to a world. And well worth the read.
This and more at https://advancetheplot.weebly.com/
April 22, 2018
What an extraordinary poet with such a deft hand. Every single stanza, line, and word is crafted and used carefully to create powerful pieces. And his wordplay is excellent, with many phrases and words used throughout a single poem or multiple poems, holding weight in various ways, and making each iteration just as important as the last. The rhythm and line breaks were so clean and crisp that I kept going back to certain lines and stanzas like I do when I find a new song to obsess over and overplay. This is truly a wonderful collection of poems.
October 4, 2016
The Sobbing School by Joshua Bennett is the poet’s debut collection of poetry in which he finds himself often meandering between self-reflective days of his youth to confronting the realities of the modern day climate.
Within the work itself, Bennett is never conventional and stable for too long as he often takes it upon himself to play with form and structure. The margins are fully explored to function and serve the feelings and emotions that he is attempting to convey. In addition to this observation, some of the literary devices present in the collection that provide impact are assonance, alliteration, as well as allusion. Bennett displays through myriad styles that it is hard to truly pin down his writing delivery which really brings the poems to life as they take a form of their own.
One thing that stands out and is blatantly obvious when reading this collection is that Bennett’s poems can more times than not feel inaccessible. The writer’s big vocabulary and profound grasp of the English language give the poems a cryptic aura that may be hard for the average joe to decipher if they are uncertain of how each word fits into the context of his work. However, this should not be seen as a gripe of the author and his ever shifting thoughts of ideas and motives, but more so of us as people for not having the adequate understanding due to the insufficiencies that exist within the American education system.
In all honesty, The Sobbing School is truly a masterpiece with tremendous shelf life as each poem lives within its own galaxy and orbit. For one to fully experience the work, they must allow themselves to read slowly and repetitively in hopes that they will fully come to terms with the ideas that exist within Bennett’s mind. In simplest terms, patience is a virtue that will reward the reader as they allow themselves to be enveloped by the work and more specifically, the beautiful words that are carefully constructed and positioned to provide everlasting effect.
Within the work itself, Bennett is never conventional and stable for too long as he often takes it upon himself to play with form and structure. The margins are fully explored to function and serve the feelings and emotions that he is attempting to convey. In addition to this observation, some of the literary devices present in the collection that provide impact are assonance, alliteration, as well as allusion. Bennett displays through myriad styles that it is hard to truly pin down his writing delivery which really brings the poems to life as they take a form of their own.
One thing that stands out and is blatantly obvious when reading this collection is that Bennett’s poems can more times than not feel inaccessible. The writer’s big vocabulary and profound grasp of the English language give the poems a cryptic aura that may be hard for the average joe to decipher if they are uncertain of how each word fits into the context of his work. However, this should not be seen as a gripe of the author and his ever shifting thoughts of ideas and motives, but more so of us as people for not having the adequate understanding due to the insufficiencies that exist within the American education system.
In all honesty, The Sobbing School is truly a masterpiece with tremendous shelf life as each poem lives within its own galaxy and orbit. For one to fully experience the work, they must allow themselves to read slowly and repetitively in hopes that they will fully come to terms with the ideas that exist within Bennett’s mind. In simplest terms, patience is a virtue that will reward the reader as they allow themselves to be enveloped by the work and more specifically, the beautiful words that are carefully constructed and positioned to provide everlasting effect.
November 27, 2017
For a poet to be able to ruminate on serious subjects like grief, racism, and police brutality from a personal perspective while maintaining a vein of humor is quite a feat, but Joshua Bennett does it with ease. His collection THE SOBBING SCHOOL is an act of empathy, love, and unflinching reality.
One of the most heartbreaking poems is called "Black History, Abridged" -
"When I was four, an elderly white woman bought my elementary school while I was still going to school inside of it. Tore the building down. Now it's a parking lot."
In just three sentences, Bennett impactfully integrates topics of racism, gentrification, education, urban blight, socioeconomic inequality, and white privilege. This is just one demonstration of the poet's skill and wordplay, which continues throughout every line of every poem in THE SOBBING SCHOOL.
The author not only plays with wording, but also with the form of his poems. As in the poem listed above, Bennett's poems sometimes border on prose. There's one that looks like the abstract to a peer reviewed journal article. The poem above is in the form of a short paragraph. Another is told entirely through a footnote. While not all of the poems feature non-traditional forms, there are enough that push the boundaries of what is expected to keep things interesting. If you like modern poetry with lots of intriguing and creative wordplay, hard-hitting subject matter, and a hint of humor, then you might just like THE SOBBING SCHOOL by Joshua Bennett.
One of the most heartbreaking poems is called "Black History, Abridged" -
"When I was four, an elderly white woman bought my elementary school while I was still going to school inside of it. Tore the building down. Now it's a parking lot."
In just three sentences, Bennett impactfully integrates topics of racism, gentrification, education, urban blight, socioeconomic inequality, and white privilege. This is just one demonstration of the poet's skill and wordplay, which continues throughout every line of every poem in THE SOBBING SCHOOL.
The author not only plays with wording, but also with the form of his poems. As in the poem listed above, Bennett's poems sometimes border on prose. There's one that looks like the abstract to a peer reviewed journal article. The poem above is in the form of a short paragraph. Another is told entirely through a footnote. While not all of the poems feature non-traditional forms, there are enough that push the boundaries of what is expected to keep things interesting. If you like modern poetry with lots of intriguing and creative wordplay, hard-hitting subject matter, and a hint of humor, then you might just like THE SOBBING SCHOOL by Joshua Bennett.
November 23, 2016
This slim volume packs the power of Audre Lorde's analytical poetry. Through the genre, Bennett creates a collection of poems that together can be read as a memoir, but in isolation relate fragmented aspects of black identity within the 21st century. The Sobbing School is deep, moving, and contains multitudes.
July 30, 2023
A tour-de-force. There isn't a form, from classical to po-mo, he can't master and flip and make his own. One of the best collections by a living poet that I've read. Witty, caustic, outraged, erudite, accessible, comprised of deep, full breaths.
A masterpiece.
A masterpiece.
Read
June 28, 2017Joshua Bennett is a very intelligent and witty poet. His observations and metaphors are arresting and spot on. His perspective and the subject of many of these poems make him extremely relevant. I recognize the intelligence of these poems.
But these are the kind of poems that make you say, “Hmmmm.” These are poems that send you to Google to conduct research that somehow spirals out of control. These are not bad things, but I personally prefer poems that make me look inside myself, poems that make me ask the deeper questions than any search engine can provide answers to.
Once or twice I was moved while reading The Sobbing School, but mostly I thought, “nice play on words/ideas/etc.” My reaction reminds me of my views on hip-hop, which is relevant as several of the poems in this collection deal with hip-hop culture. I've heard it said that some of the greatest lyricist in hip-hop are those that have the cleverest and most inventive lyrics. MF Doom is one rapper that is often mentioned as one of the greats. Doom is clever, but he has nothing to say. His style is cartoonish and follows no logic. Now, I'm not trying to draw a direct parallel between Bennett and MF Doom, because, frankly, Bennett is clearly reaching for a space in between, where wit and relevance meet. Unfortunately, my mind was so tied up with the logic that I was not in the page emotionally. For better or worse, feeling is what I am looking for in hip-hop and in poetry.
Favorite poem in this collection: “Anthropophobia.” That's one I felt.
But these are the kind of poems that make you say, “Hmmmm.” These are poems that send you to Google to conduct research that somehow spirals out of control. These are not bad things, but I personally prefer poems that make me look inside myself, poems that make me ask the deeper questions than any search engine can provide answers to.
Once or twice I was moved while reading The Sobbing School, but mostly I thought, “nice play on words/ideas/etc.” My reaction reminds me of my views on hip-hop, which is relevant as several of the poems in this collection deal with hip-hop culture. I've heard it said that some of the greatest lyricist in hip-hop are those that have the cleverest and most inventive lyrics. MF Doom is one rapper that is often mentioned as one of the greats. Doom is clever, but he has nothing to say. His style is cartoonish and follows no logic. Now, I'm not trying to draw a direct parallel between Bennett and MF Doom, because, frankly, Bennett is clearly reaching for a space in between, where wit and relevance meet. Unfortunately, my mind was so tied up with the logic that I was not in the page emotionally. For better or worse, feeling is what I am looking for in hip-hop and in poetry.
Favorite poem in this collection: “Anthropophobia.” That's one I felt.
May 17, 2024
from On Blueness
Not the anguish she carries alongside
her as if it were a whole, separate person,
but the very fact of her feet
addressing the pavement,
the oatmeal she warmed in the microwave
that morning, sugar & milk
& blueberries blending in a white bowl
as she reads the paper, taken aback
only by the number of bullets
they poured like a sermon into him.
How despair kills: too slow to cut
the music from a horn, or set
my nephew's laughter to dim.
I am dying, yes, but I am not the marrow
in a beloved's memory just yet.
Who can be alive today
& not study grief?
There are bodies everywhere,
but also that flock of cardinals
making the sky look patriotic.
Joshua Bennett's debut poetry collection, The Sobbing School is as good as what I expected after finishing Owed earlier this year. And that's a great thing. Another great collection from a great poet.
Black History, Abridged
When I was four, an elderly white woman bought my elementary
school while I was still going to school inside of it. Tore the build-
ing down. Now, it's a parking lot.
Not the anguish she carries alongside
her as if it were a whole, separate person,
but the very fact of her feet
addressing the pavement,
the oatmeal she warmed in the microwave
that morning, sugar & milk
& blueberries blending in a white bowl
as she reads the paper, taken aback
only by the number of bullets
they poured like a sermon into him.
How despair kills: too slow to cut
the music from a horn, or set
my nephew's laughter to dim.
I am dying, yes, but I am not the marrow
in a beloved's memory just yet.
Who can be alive today
& not study grief?
There are bodies everywhere,
but also that flock of cardinals
making the sky look patriotic.
Joshua Bennett's debut poetry collection, The Sobbing School is as good as what I expected after finishing Owed earlier this year. And that's a great thing. Another great collection from a great poet.
Black History, Abridged
When I was four, an elderly white woman bought my elementary
school while I was still going to school inside of it. Tore the build-
ing down. Now, it's a parking lot.
December 8, 2017
I love the style of this collection. I like the variation in forms - some a mere footnote of a poem and others written in the form of an abstract, complete with keywords and theory. I don't often read poetry, simply from a lack of exposure I think, but I really enjoyed this
November 23, 2023
A nice collection of poetry based off of black history. My favs: Fly and On Stupidity.
May 6, 2021
I devoured this amazing book of poetry! I highly recommend it.
July 23, 2017
This is a poet who makes a poem from a footnote, who makes a poem from an abstract (with exceptional academic sarcasm that had me hooked), who starts out a book in whatever margin he wants and outside of it, who converses with and enters forgotten histories and reclaims them, who writes:
“Before pen or pot handle
unlearned you the splendor of blood,
I taught bully’s breath to bow”
(Clench)
The title alone demands deep consideration: “The Sobbing School,” as in the oyster knife sharpening and the poetic education of history, a history connected even to 1856 Princeton and slavery. This poet is not afraid to greet the Ivy League with truth and canonize it, and such literary courage commands respect.
Five stars and an urgency for poets to read and reread with depth, a slow pace, and care.
“Before pen or pot handle
unlearned you the splendor of blood,
I taught bully’s breath to bow”
(Clench)
The title alone demands deep consideration: “The Sobbing School,” as in the oyster knife sharpening and the poetic education of history, a history connected even to 1856 Princeton and slavery. This poet is not afraid to greet the Ivy League with truth and canonize it, and such literary courage commands respect.
Five stars and an urgency for poets to read and reread with depth, a slow pace, and care.
November 30, 2016
"the hazard of knowing that you are the wrong kind of alive." Joshua Bennett
January 27, 2019
Biased because I heard excerpts of this live at AWC. Necessary and brilliant.
June 9, 2018
The Sobbing School is filled with meditation on how a black man might respond to the trauma of America in ways that neither give way to despair or default to tired stereotypes and expectations. The evocation of Zora Neale Hurston's famous critique of Richard Wright points toward a poetry that does not refuse the violence of the world, but refuses to submit to it: "I do not belong to the sobbing school of Negrohood who hold that nature somehow has given them a lowdown dirty deal and whose feelings are all hurt about it...No, I do not weep at the world--I am too busy sharpening my oyster knife." The image of the blade, Hurston's "oyster knife," animates a number of these poems, a recurrent nod to Hurston's admonition to accept the terms that "life"--or in this case an encompassing racial and racist reality -- has set in motion and to respond, with force if necessary. It is, of course, impossible to avoid the analogy of poetry as a kind of blade in Hurston's quote, and so in Bennett's homage.
Any collection of poetry usually has only a handful that grip any reader, those we go back to at the end of the reading, and can imagine ourselves coming back to again and again. And perhaps different poems for different readers. I loved the opening historical poem to the memory of Henry Box Brown, who achieved his freedom from slavery by arranging to have himself mailed in a crate to the abolitionists in the North, and later performed this act on stage for abolitionist audiences. Bennett's poem reflects on the performativity of freedom, reflecting on the ways that black despair plays to white appreciation: "I too/ have signed over the rights to all my/ best wounds. I know the stage/ is a leviathan with no proper name/ to curtail its breath. I know/ the respectable man enjoys a dark/ body best when it comes with a good/ cry thrown in."
Bennett is particularly effective in evoking the emotion (if that is not too tepid a word) of the black man and community in the face of police killings and other violence against African Americans in the United States, and especially the pressure of white constructions of those events. In "Anthropophobia" he reads/hears white rhetoric justifying the killing of black men against the grain of its intention: "The steel blue ghost standing/ at the podium says VonDerrit Myers/ was no angel & all I can hear is// the boy was a human boy. The boy/ had a best friend & 206 bones. The boy/ had a name that God didn't give him/....but/let me be clear: we are simply running out// of ways to shame the dead."
Such lines, such poems, remind us suddenly, and we are surprised that we ever could have forgotten, that no man or woman has to justify their right to be among the living. This book makes that remembrance possible. I'll look forward to reading more.
Any collection of poetry usually has only a handful that grip any reader, those we go back to at the end of the reading, and can imagine ourselves coming back to again and again. And perhaps different poems for different readers. I loved the opening historical poem to the memory of Henry Box Brown, who achieved his freedom from slavery by arranging to have himself mailed in a crate to the abolitionists in the North, and later performed this act on stage for abolitionist audiences. Bennett's poem reflects on the performativity of freedom, reflecting on the ways that black despair plays to white appreciation: "I too/ have signed over the rights to all my/ best wounds. I know the stage/ is a leviathan with no proper name/ to curtail its breath. I know/ the respectable man enjoys a dark/ body best when it comes with a good/ cry thrown in."
Bennett is particularly effective in evoking the emotion (if that is not too tepid a word) of the black man and community in the face of police killings and other violence against African Americans in the United States, and especially the pressure of white constructions of those events. In "Anthropophobia" he reads/hears white rhetoric justifying the killing of black men against the grain of its intention: "The steel blue ghost standing/ at the podium says VonDerrit Myers/ was no angel & all I can hear is// the boy was a human boy. The boy/ had a best friend & 206 bones. The boy/ had a name that God didn't give him/....but/let me be clear: we are simply running out// of ways to shame the dead."
Such lines, such poems, remind us suddenly, and we are surprised that we ever could have forgotten, that no man or woman has to justify their right to be among the living. This book makes that remembrance possible. I'll look forward to reading more.
June 15, 2022
The Sobbing School is a collection of poems about race, identity, survival, violence, grief, and hope.
from On Extinction: "In 1896, / Frederick Hoffman claimed every Negro / in the U.S. would be dead by the year / of my younger brother's birth. To his credit, / Hoffman dreamt of neither badge nor bullet, / but dysentery, tuberculosis, killers / we could not touch or beg for clemency."
from Yoke: "she loves him despite him. to spite him. / she cannot leave any more than she can unlearn the shape of our mouths."
from Still Life With Little Brother: "& I wrote a poem / about him once / & it wasn't about him // as much as how fear stalks me / like an inheritance, how I fear / for him with all my love, // how I know the world / like I know the names / of famous poets & the world // has claws, Levi."
from On Extinction: "In 1896, / Frederick Hoffman claimed every Negro / in the U.S. would be dead by the year / of my younger brother's birth. To his credit, / Hoffman dreamt of neither badge nor bullet, / but dysentery, tuberculosis, killers / we could not touch or beg for clemency."
from Yoke: "she loves him despite him. to spite him. / she cannot leave any more than she can unlearn the shape of our mouths."
from Still Life With Little Brother: "& I wrote a poem / about him once / & it wasn't about him // as much as how fear stalks me / like an inheritance, how I fear / for him with all my love, // how I know the world / like I know the names / of famous poets & the world // has claws, Levi."
July 30, 2017
I went back and forth on my opinions of this first collection. Where the text is more colloquial I find it to be most powerful because the writer clearly has a theoretical background and is able to endow everyday scenarios with complex ideas and context. However, I found some pieces in the collection losing their hold or sway when this intellectualism felt obtuse or forced into the poems. I am interested to see what else is out there by this writer and would actually be very interested in imagining a novel by them. Nonetheless, there is much to enjoy here I personally felt like I wanted more. A personal favourite from the collection would have to be the poem concerning DMX - stellar work.
March 20, 2017
I became a fan of Josh's after viewing the Brave New Voices documentary of 2008. With this first published collection, Bennett's voice has certainly matured, but many of his core motifs remain the same. He places high emphasis on calling attention to issues of race, violence, police brutality, and family dynamics.
Being someone who works with teens and reads/views a lot of spoken word, I found myself missing the hip hop dynamic of Bennett's earlier work. This collection presents a more somber, refined art form. However, there are brief glimpses into those former muses. Poems like "On Blueness" and "Love Poem Ending with Typewriters" brought back a bit of that swagger, and it feels as though Josh is taking a breath in those pieces as if to say, "Okay, I'm done talking to all the highbrows in the room; let's get real for a moment, yo."
There are still plenty of haunting images and thought-provoking lines to be found in other pieces. "Fresh", "Run", the Hemingway piece, and "Fly" are among the many that have been ear-marked.
I would certainly read this collection again. It is a brilliant work and I hope we hear much more from this poet in the future.
Being someone who works with teens and reads/views a lot of spoken word, I found myself missing the hip hop dynamic of Bennett's earlier work. This collection presents a more somber, refined art form. However, there are brief glimpses into those former muses. Poems like "On Blueness" and "Love Poem Ending with Typewriters" brought back a bit of that swagger, and it feels as though Josh is taking a breath in those pieces as if to say, "Okay, I'm done talking to all the highbrows in the room; let's get real for a moment, yo."
There are still plenty of haunting images and thought-provoking lines to be found in other pieces. "Fresh", "Run", the Hemingway piece, and "Fly" are among the many that have been ear-marked.
I would certainly read this collection again. It is a brilliant work and I hope we hear much more from this poet in the future.
August 11, 2017
Bennett is a poet I'm going to watch closely. His poems embody grief without pathos, and sly humor without silliness. (Well, perhaps occasional healthy silliness.) These 73 pages reveal much about his life and the lives of others he has loved, along with political outrage at police brutality and nostalgic reminiscences. He does this with all the technical skills of a modern poet, balancing an impressively broad scope with a very personal, even cozy vision. This comes out to a book you could read in a few hours--but don't rush. Read each poem several times.
March 15, 2019
This collection of poetry is gorgeous and haunting. Joshua Bennett grapples with the violence of racism, his Baptist upbringing and complicated relationship with his father and other relatives, police brutality, and more, with cultural references sprinkled throughout. In this collection, Bennett shows that life (especially for Black people) can be violent and full of grief/intergenerational trauma, but his words are also a testament to endurance and survival. This book should be required reading.
June 5, 2019
The poetry was very reminiscent. Written as a memory, as a ode to the details that malr up life. The second half of the books transcends memory and becomes introspective and speak to the very obvious oblivion swept under rugs. I believe his poetry is best preformed. It takes on a very personal prospective that only Bennett can convey. The reader is left searching for a moment he can never experience and a memory not of his own.
October 8, 2019
I finished this and instantly thought, Damn I need to read more poetry. Partly because I sometimes found Joshua Bennett's writing dense and beyond my naive understanding, but mostly because the allure of his words and rhythm made me hungry for more. One recurring word I noticed was 'blade' – "Lord, if you be / at all, be / a blade"; "How blackness becomes / a bladed pendulum" – and Bennett's writing is appropriately sharp. He's got chops and serves up some realness in this collection.
March 17, 2023
What a slim volume full of dynamite and quiet moments of introspection.
Some of my favorite lines:
"...when I consider extinction, I do not think of sad men with guns...but our refusal..."
"When yet another of your kin falls,/you question God's wingspan..."
"Genuflected by disbelief..."
"How blackness becomes/a bladed pendulum swaying between/am I not a man & brother/& meat..."
Favorite poems:
"Preface to a Twenty-Volume Regicide Note"
"Theodicy"
"Invocation"
Some of my favorite lines:
"...when I consider extinction, I do not think of sad men with guns...but our refusal..."
"When yet another of your kin falls,/you question God's wingspan..."
"Genuflected by disbelief..."
"How blackness becomes/a bladed pendulum swaying between/am I not a man & brother/& meat..."
Favorite poems:
"Preface to a Twenty-Volume Regicide Note"
"Theodicy"
"Invocation"
May 24, 2017
Some of the poems don't have their flow. The collection is uneven. But the clarity of voice is exceptional. I look forward to reading it again.
Run, Fade, Fly, Fresh and Clench should be their own little collection. I loved them as a unit.
Also thought that Teacher's Aide and In Defense of Henry Box Brown were brilliant and are probably both poems that I will think back to for months to come.
Run, Fade, Fly, Fresh and Clench should be their own little collection. I loved them as a unit.
Also thought that Teacher's Aide and In Defense of Henry Box Brown were brilliant and are probably both poems that I will think back to for months to come.
May 6, 2018
What do I even say to begin to encompass the depth of emotion covered in this book?
The raw, honest portrayals of pain and love and the betrayal of those who claim to protect all Americans overwhelm me.
Joshua Bennett is a master with words, evident in his PhD from Princeton. Expect this book to read at a much more academic level than the poetry that you normally see.
The raw, honest portrayals of pain and love and the betrayal of those who claim to protect all Americans overwhelm me.
Joshua Bennett is a master with words, evident in his PhD from Princeton. Expect this book to read at a much more academic level than the poetry that you normally see.
January 12, 2019
& what is love but an excuse for sad, wet math?
This was a fabulous poetry collection with amazing imagery. Joshua Bennett's poetry highlights the black experience in visceral and in get literary ways bringing the richness of history, the drama of the present, and a palette of emotions to the page with his words.
This was a fabulous poetry collection with amazing imagery. Joshua Bennett's poetry highlights the black experience in visceral and in get literary ways bringing the richness of history, the drama of the present, and a palette of emotions to the page with his words.
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