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Hip Logic
The second collection of poetry from the author of Lighthead , winner of the 2010 National Book Award
Watch for the new collection of poetry from Terrance Hayes, American Sonnets for My Past and Future Assassin , coming in June of 2018
Terrance Hayes is a dazzlingly original poet, interested in adventurous explorations of subject and form. His new work, Hip Logic , is full of poetic tributes to the likes of Paul Robeson, Big Bird, Balthus, and Mr. T, as well as poems based on the anagram principle of words within a word. Throughout, Hayes's verse dances in a kind of homemade music box, with notes that range from tender to erudite, associative to narrative, humorous to political. Hip Logic does much to capture the nuances of contemporary male African American identity and confirms Hayes's reputation as one of the most compelling new voices in American poetry.
Watch for the new collection of poetry from Terrance Hayes, American Sonnets for My Past and Future Assassin , coming in June of 2018
Terrance Hayes is a dazzlingly original poet, interested in adventurous explorations of subject and form. His new work, Hip Logic , is full of poetic tributes to the likes of Paul Robeson, Big Bird, Balthus, and Mr. T, as well as poems based on the anagram principle of words within a word. Throughout, Hayes's verse dances in a kind of homemade music box, with notes that range from tender to erudite, associative to narrative, humorous to political. Hip Logic does much to capture the nuances of contemporary male African American identity and confirms Hayes's reputation as one of the most compelling new voices in American poetry.
112 pages, Paperback
First published May 28, 2002
About the author
Terrance Hayes
56 books345 followersTerrance Hayes is the author of six poetry collections, including American Sonnets for My Past and Future Assassin, How to Be Drawn, and Lighthead, which won the National Book Award. He is a MacArthur Fellow and teaches at the University of Pittsburgh.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews
October 5, 2013
Quality poetry expands the world, in just a few words. Hip Logic is not of that caliber. While the blurb about it tackling “African American/male identity” is true, the poetry isn’t. Hip Logic tries hard to be hip, and the supposed logic it amends just leads to worn-out conclusions. Even the journey from premise to poetic leap is just blah, with excruciating similes (“dull as a mouthwash”) and an utter lack of music.
April 14, 2019
masculine
The word some dudes claim came
first. Delved from the plus & minus
system God used to slice
open Himself. Or the smile
of old deacons in the Amen
corner during the part of the Easter Musical
where Mary Magdalene has to clean
the feet of Jesus to beat a stint in Hell. And the malice
in the Angel of Mercy. And the mean
streak in your father’s work belt. The gram of vein & muscle
that tipped Babylon’s scale.
The word some dudes claim came
first. Delved from the plus & minus
system God used to slice
open Himself. Or the smile
of old deacons in the Amen
corner during the part of the Easter Musical
where Mary Magdalene has to clean
the feet of Jesus to beat a stint in Hell. And the malice
in the Angel of Mercy. And the mean
streak in your father’s work belt. The gram of vein & muscle
that tipped Babylon’s scale.
May 19, 2020
2.5
--
Additionally, there was a strain of voyeuristic sexism running throughout, including a lot of poems that felt old in the sense that, like, why am I reading about an old man getting his jollies by catching a flash of a young girl's panties on the bus? The book was published in 2002, which--while it certainly predates #MeToo--doesn't predate all the other feminist movements we've had throughout the (big sigh) centuries. That was the most egregious example, but I recognized the subtext in a lot of other poems and found it ugly.
Regardless, there were still a handful of poems I enjoyed, and some lines as well (though, weirdly, my favorite lines don't come from my favorite poems). I'll probably check out more of Hayes's poetry, especially the more recent works.
Favorite poems: "The Same City," "Mother to Son," "Lorde," "Abductor"
Favorite lines:
--
Sometimes, when you peel / back the bright wrapper of Metaphor, there is nothing but a lame / blank below.Ironically, that about sums up my feelings for Hip Logic. I was quite a fan of Lighthead, so I looked forward to reading more of Hayes's poetry; however, this collection didn't work for me. Hayes seemed to be trying so hard to construct daring, profound, award-winning poems that most feel grasping or stilted.
Additionally, there was a strain of voyeuristic sexism running throughout, including a lot of poems that felt old in the sense that, like, why am I reading about an old man getting his jollies by catching a flash of a young girl's panties on the bus? The book was published in 2002, which--while it certainly predates #MeToo--doesn't predate all the other feminist movements we've had throughout the (big sigh) centuries. That was the most egregious example, but I recognized the subtext in a lot of other poems and found it ugly.
Regardless, there were still a handful of poems I enjoyed, and some lines as well (though, weirdly, my favorite lines don't come from my favorite poems). I'll probably check out more of Hayes's poetry, especially the more recent works.
Favorite poems: "The Same City," "Mother to Son," "Lorde," "Abductor"
Favorite lines:
"I learned living requires a kind of discipline; / A reverence for the law of gravity. // But I have wanted, / As I want when I look at the painting, / To unhouse my body. // I have wanted the kind of grace God gives / Only to the drowned . . ."
&
"How often do you hear the tenderness you need to hear? I mean exactly when you need to hear it? Is it ever before that little yolk of hurt wraps itself in layers hard enough to break teeth?"
May 3, 2011
Hip Logic is the second book of poetry from the talent artist Terrance Hayes. It won the Los Angeles Times Book Prizes. As you navigate through the five sections of Hip Logic you begin to notice how seamlessly Hayes takes us from A to B to Orange to Thelonious Monk, Mr. T, and back to C. Hayes approaches poetry with a fresh intelligence that doesn’t seem limited by a desire to maintain a certain form. It is saturated with powerful emotional sincerity that never crosses into, what is constructed as every poets fear: cliché.
Hayes takes elements of traditional form, de-familiarizes it, and then completely turns it on its head. In his poem “Sonnet” he repeats the same line fourteen times: “We sliced the watermelon into smiles.” Hip Logic is a sort of literary basket weaved with narrative of Hayes’ experiences as a black male looking for identify, political commentary, fatherhood, god, and love. All gently held together with a erudite tone and sharp humor.
From Sleeping Woman:
“Yes, cigarettes are metaphors for sex, or solitude itself;
whatever is live and deep and gone. We stood
in the express lane with Parliaments, our last dollars
crumpled in my palm. I have always been
a left-handed man, meaning a dumb passion crashes
through my brain. Requesting everything I have and have not.
This hand is what I have left.”
It is the marriage of stunning language, beautiful images, and an enlivening wittiness that makes this collection so successful. The pursuit of the African American Identity is depicted in his piece “Touch”. Hayes investigates the relationship between African American children and the law. To do so, he paints a portrayal of a game of touch football.
“By moonlight,
We chased each other
Around the big field
Beneath branches sagging
As if their leaves were full of blood”
A game of football becomes a stage for a literary expedition into the African American experience in relation to the police:
“We didn’t notice when policemen
Came lighting tree bark
& our skin with flashlights”
It’s true, we could have been mistaken
For animals in the dark,
But of all our possible crimes,
Blackness was the first”
This poem is just one of the many in the collection that exemplifies Hayes’s ability to create a social criticism while also romanticizing the moment through regal language.
In sections II and IV: A Gram of &s he uses anagrams poetry to create immensely readable linguistic poems.
Hayes takes elements of traditional form, de-familiarizes it, and then completely turns it on its head. In his poem “Sonnet” he repeats the same line fourteen times: “We sliced the watermelon into smiles.” Hip Logic is a sort of literary basket weaved with narrative of Hayes’ experiences as a black male looking for identify, political commentary, fatherhood, god, and love. All gently held together with a erudite tone and sharp humor.
From Sleeping Woman:
“Yes, cigarettes are metaphors for sex, or solitude itself;
whatever is live and deep and gone. We stood
in the express lane with Parliaments, our last dollars
crumpled in my palm. I have always been
a left-handed man, meaning a dumb passion crashes
through my brain. Requesting everything I have and have not.
This hand is what I have left.”
It is the marriage of stunning language, beautiful images, and an enlivening wittiness that makes this collection so successful. The pursuit of the African American Identity is depicted in his piece “Touch”. Hayes investigates the relationship between African American children and the law. To do so, he paints a portrayal of a game of touch football.
“By moonlight,
We chased each other
Around the big field
Beneath branches sagging
As if their leaves were full of blood”
A game of football becomes a stage for a literary expedition into the African American experience in relation to the police:
“We didn’t notice when policemen
Came lighting tree bark
& our skin with flashlights”
It’s true, we could have been mistaken
For animals in the dark,
But of all our possible crimes,
Blackness was the first”
This poem is just one of the many in the collection that exemplifies Hayes’s ability to create a social criticism while also romanticizing the moment through regal language.
In sections II and IV: A Gram of &s he uses anagrams poetry to create immensely readable linguistic poems.
September 17, 2018
Re-reading all of Terrance Hayes, who's clearly emerged as one of the most important poets of his generation. So it was interesting to revisit Hip Logic and find that my initial rating of 3 stars was more or less confirmed, but that I sense enough of what's coming to kick it up to 4 (not that stars are really the point, smile). I'm reading Hayes in call and response with Ed Pavlic (both of them would understand why) and Pavlic's first book, Paraph of Bone (which I reviewed recently) is in some ways at the opposite end of the spectrum from Hip Logic. Where Pavlic's "obscure" (see explanation in review--that's not a dig), Hayes is relatively transparent. You can feel a lot of Langston Hughes in the way he draws on the blues, the African American trajectory of migration. I like his riffing on "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" (Dunbar and Angelou, both) in "Squawk." What I noticed more clearly this time is the deep emotional complexity, some of it erotic, some of it familial. Check out "Touch," "corporal," "Sleeping Woman," "Still Music," and "The Same City." Hayes' music becomes more complex (Pavlic's more direct), but, in retrospect, you can hear the undertones and textures.
August 23, 2017
Lots of incredible artful poems in this collection, despite the lightly less textured surface-images than are apparent in his later work. The work is playful; he moves with ease from odes to elegies, sonnets, prose work, to free form (with the rainwater enjambment of authors like WC Williams). Also typical to his later books, there are some crumbs of sex ("passion sometimes climbs a ladder / over the fence of good sense" or "women's bodies shine / in the buttons on my coat").
December 22, 2023
Terrance Hayes is one of my all time favorite poets. He just doesn't disappoint. This collection is 21 years old, but there is no loss of freshness or relevance. His skill is so singular and masterful, every poem is remarkable and every poem holds up to rereading.
July 4, 2007
Great for an intro to poetry class!
July 26, 2007
good read . . . one of my favorite contemporary poets . . .
January 11, 2009
Very much yes. Mr T appears in a poem.
January 26, 2014
My favorite poetry book. Themes of love, life, and stereotypes of black males in modern America.
April 7, 2014
An amazing collection of deeply original and deeply felt poems. Lighthead is on tap next.
August 13, 2016
This is why I read poetry.
April 16, 2018
Truly one of my favorite poets. So many moments of awe here. Some of my favorites:
In stores where team logos hung
Like animal skins.
How often do you hear the tenderness you need to hear?
In stores where team logos hung
Like animal skins.
How often do you hear the tenderness you need to hear?
March 1, 2021
A strong and eloquent poetry. As a first time reader of Terrance Hayes, I am thoroughly impressed. Most of the poems has a powerful emotion embedded strongly in it. I did mark some of the few lines from few of the poems in the book that i felt packed a punch of social commentary and raw in itself. The theme of his poems is diverse - from love, life, experience of African American, racism, growth and even a tribute to Audrey Lorde.
.
.
A blacksmith cracked open my skull
And scooped my memory from its shell
But i sensed my own beauty
What i could not remember, i felt
- Broken Dangerfield Newby Villanelle
.
.
There will be, of course, those moments of rapid eye movement, the scent of ripe misfortunes being aired each month when the paycheck arrives. But no bank would dare admit that the more you stash the more they raid. Wealth is founded only on the idea of wealth. The palm is not a book that should be read but shut.
- Repaid
.
.
Because i cannot cart the goodness from door to door, nor wait on the curb of bad intentions.
Because i cannot coat my tongue in whispers, i take to the road.
- Abductor
.
.
As this is his second book, lots of his readers said that the first book is better and i intend to read his first book soon. While i thoroughly enjoyed this poetry collection, I am deducting 1 star as there’s one poem indicating that old man enjoying catching a glimpse of young girl’s pant. That doesn’t sit well with me. Poems may remains poems but i am drawing the line on this.
.
.
A blacksmith cracked open my skull
And scooped my memory from its shell
But i sensed my own beauty
What i could not remember, i felt
- Broken Dangerfield Newby Villanelle
.
.
There will be, of course, those moments of rapid eye movement, the scent of ripe misfortunes being aired each month when the paycheck arrives. But no bank would dare admit that the more you stash the more they raid. Wealth is founded only on the idea of wealth. The palm is not a book that should be read but shut.
- Repaid
.
.
Because i cannot cart the goodness from door to door, nor wait on the curb of bad intentions.
Because i cannot coat my tongue in whispers, i take to the road.
- Abductor
.
.
As this is his second book, lots of his readers said that the first book is better and i intend to read his first book soon. While i thoroughly enjoyed this poetry collection, I am deducting 1 star as there’s one poem indicating that old man enjoying catching a glimpse of young girl’s pant. That doesn’t sit well with me. Poems may remains poems but i am drawing the line on this.
June 3, 2020
a lovely collection of wordplay and insights from a writer who deliciously crafts lines that are funny and poignant
the first half of this book i found amazing, there are more personal poems in that portiopn
the second half is made up of poems which are often produced as project pieces and have less of a personal touch n come less out of hayes and more out of a challenge
he meets the challenge well
but the best poems are the ones he produces without following a challenge and form
he often gives himself a form and often makes up a form as a challenge to himself and as a writer i see how that is fun and a good read
but i think the poems that come out of his mind and experiences and thoughts i enjoy a bit more than the ones he decides to complete by always following the same approach
the first half of this book i found amazing, there are more personal poems in that portiopn
the second half is made up of poems which are often produced as project pieces and have less of a personal touch n come less out of hayes and more out of a challenge
he meets the challenge well
but the best poems are the ones he produces without following a challenge and form
he often gives himself a form and often makes up a form as a challenge to himself and as a writer i see how that is fun and a good read
but i think the poems that come out of his mind and experiences and thoughts i enjoy a bit more than the ones he decides to complete by always following the same approach
August 28, 2026
The night cut and you won't ever be alone —
Your grin of gold-plated windows.
- pg 6, "Emcee"
It is clear early on that Terrance wants an outlet for some of his flash fiction. It is also clear that he was a Young Straight™ Man when he wrote some of these poems, to say the least. All that said, I did actually enjoy a good amount of the poetry in this collection. Hayes' ear for sound & rhythm is evident even in this earlier collection, as well as his sense of being led by play & association as much as logic, or as a different kind of logic. A collection that connects very clearly to the poet we know him as today while still showcasing his younger sensibilities.
Read
August 1, 2023big bosh , TH is everywhere! so late. & he's out with more
Hip Logic is his second collection and I feel that, he's assured, absolutely. But working out how the groove is got into, by which I mean, his own groove. a lexicon. restless in form, the and a grams. oo
The Same City is just one of the best American poems this century
Hip Logic is his second collection and I feel that, he's assured, absolutely. But working out how the groove is got into, by which I mean, his own groove. a lexicon. restless in form, the and a grams. oo
The Same City is just one of the best American poems this century
December 17, 2020
This extensive collection follows form and body in many dimensions, often linguistic, to reach an expression of truths on Blackness and American experience. It's fascinating to visit a younger Hayes and see both his command of language and his early forms of exploration.
January 11, 2026
one of my favorites. i’ve never read this book in full, but i finally decided to do it, and im so grateful i did. this collection is even more special because years ago, i found a copy signed at a second hand shop. now it’s a staple in my collection <3
January 26, 2020
The later books are better.
June 14, 2020
Some of these poems try way too hard to be poemy. But the ones that speak of his family stirred me, esp. the last one, "The Same City."
January 9, 2021
2021 might be the year of Terrance hayes for me. I know this an earlier collection, but I really enjoyed it. Hayes plays with different forms and it works.
November 1, 2022
3.5/5 stars - while i didn't care for a handful of the poems, some of the others were the exact kind of raw imagery and beautiful prose that i fall for every time.
January 3, 2026
His creativity and way with words is astonishing, though I know some of it goes above my head. Always insightful and stimulating to read.
April 14, 2026
rec from a substack of collections to read for national poetry month (april)
November 12, 2018
After re-reading this ten years later, I find myself much more able to appreciate the book on its own merits. "Touch" is probably my favorite poem in the book, and the last poem is great. Still like the Gram of &s sections. I think there's a good balance of experimental writing and genuine, authentic disclosure.
Read
July 29, 2009Incisive images reminiscent of Jeffery McDaniels' earlier works. Anagram poems were fun to read out loud, had great music, but a few of the lines and end words felt forced. First section (At the first clear word) I enjoyed the most - really powerful poems of both literal and surreal styles and the serious/angry/playful/mournful/confused/intent tone. Looking forward to reading the next one.
January 10, 2009
Recently finished reading this, and love the music and tone of his poems. Especially thinking of the poems, "Squawk", and "Touch". Not sure why it took so long for me to discover his poems. I feel inspired to read more.
November 24, 2008
I enjoyed his poetry...especially the poems derived from syndicated newspapers involving a crossword puzzle. Cleverly done. I'll try it myself when I get a minute to breathe.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews