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Content Warning: Everything
The first book of poems from an acclaimed young author, whose meteoric rise has already landed them on the cover of Time Magazine.
In their bold debut poetry collection, Akwaeke Emezi—award-winning author of Freshwater, PET, The Death of Vivek Oji,and Dear Senthuran—imagines a new depth of belonging. Crafted of both divine and earthly materials, these poems travel from home to homesickness, tracing desire to surrender and abuse to survival, while mapping out a chosen family that includes the son of god, mary auntie, and magdalene with the chestnut eyes. Written from a spiritfirst perspective and celebrating the essence of self that is impossible to drown, kill, or reduce, Content Everything distills the radiant power and epic grief of a mischievous and wanting young deity, embodied.
In their bold debut poetry collection, Akwaeke Emezi—award-winning author of Freshwater, PET, The Death of Vivek Oji,and Dear Senthuran—imagines a new depth of belonging. Crafted of both divine and earthly materials, these poems travel from home to homesickness, tracing desire to surrender and abuse to survival, while mapping out a chosen family that includes the son of god, mary auntie, and magdalene with the chestnut eyes. Written from a spiritfirst perspective and celebrating the essence of self that is impossible to drown, kill, or reduce, Content Everything distills the radiant power and epic grief of a mischievous and wanting young deity, embodied.
54 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 5, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 322 reviews
April 3, 2023
Brave and empathic; examines the range of emotions that bind us to identity - and how that identity is often weaponized against us. At our most vulnerable times we are often asked to make choices that will ripple through the years; Akwaeke Emezi reminds us that such choices must always answer to our authentic self.
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January 15, 2023“and what a death what a death to not be loved by me anymore”
May 9, 2022
As soon as I finished reading this collection I went back to the beginning and started re-reading my favourite poems, and I caught things that I hadn't caught on the first read, so I know I'm going to really enjoy reading it again and again.
Apart from the gorgeous writing that I expected, I also enjoyed the use of religious (Christian) imagery throughout the collection. And I'm glad I read Dear Senthuran— Akwaeke's memoir— before this poetry collection because it helped me make sense of all the imagery.
Just like the title warns, there is a lot of difficult content in the collection, and once again I'm glad that Dear Senthuran prepared me for it. Basically it's a good idea to read either Dear Senthuran or Freshwater first, before diving into this collection.
Apart from the gorgeous writing that I expected, I also enjoyed the use of religious (Christian) imagery throughout the collection. And I'm glad I read Dear Senthuran— Akwaeke's memoir— before this poetry collection because it helped me make sense of all the imagery.
Just like the title warns, there is a lot of difficult content in the collection, and once again I'm glad that Dear Senthuran prepared me for it. Basically it's a good idea to read either Dear Senthuran or Freshwater first, before diving into this collection.
June 27, 2022
“self-portrait as an abuser” is the best contrapuntal I’ve ever read
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July 13, 2022I want to read everything Akwaeke Emezi writes; this is their first poetry collection. It's on the shorter side for a poetry book at 45 pages, but it's cohesive, with several thematic threads winding throughout it. My favorite poems were the ones where the speaker is a member of Jesus' family, and this is somehow not trite or overdone at all, but genuinely fresh and meaningful. If someone told me about this concept ahead of time, I probably wouldn't have expected to like these pieces, but Akwaeke Emezi can somehow do it, and how!! Part of it is - I think - about how unflinching this work is, both in its gutwrenching *and* its heartwarming moments.
I'd suggest reading their memoir Dear Senthuran in addition to this volume, because there's much in there as well about self/divinity; I felt these books were complementary.
I'm reading You Made a Fool of Death With Your Beauty right now and it's awesome how all these works are simultaneously very disparate in genre, approach, etc. and yet have a similar feel to them...
____
Source of the book: Lawrence Public Library, who ordered it for me (thank you!) but now I want to own it too...
I'd suggest reading their memoir Dear Senthuran in addition to this volume, because there's much in there as well about self/divinity; I felt these books were complementary.
I'm reading You Made a Fool of Death With Your Beauty right now and it's awesome how all these works are simultaneously very disparate in genre, approach, etc. and yet have a similar feel to them...
____
Source of the book: Lawrence Public Library, who ordered it for me (thank you!) but now I want to own it too...
February 2, 2023
“what wars have been fought on me what haunting I carry in the blaze of unspeakable light look at me… gaze upon me! I am the fucking miracle”
WHEWWWW. Powerhouse poems. You see how Emezi’s work overlaps. Lots of similar themes as Freshwater, including a poem called Asughara. Lots of religious themes (I especially loved the “what if” poems). How Emezi has a sense of familiarity with Jesus; they write them as family. Two little gods suffering at the hands of men.
WHEWWWW. Powerhouse poems. You see how Emezi’s work overlaps. Lots of similar themes as Freshwater, including a poem called Asughara. Lots of religious themes (I especially loved the “what if” poems). How Emezi has a sense of familiarity with Jesus; they write them as family. Two little gods suffering at the hands of men.
July 10, 2022
Emezi's Vivek Oji moved me deeply and Freshwater broke my brain, so I had no choice but to check out their new poetry collection Content Warning: Everything as soon as I got the chance. Akwaeke is such an impressive and prolific writer already in a career that has only spanned a few years and I was so excited to see what their particular voice would be like in verse. I was expecting an emotionally complex and artistically innovative collection from one of our most compelling contemporary writers. All my suspicions were confirmed upon reading this visceral, intimate and unflinching book full of creative thought experiments and insular epics of interior wonder.
The title is foreboding but it lets the reader know the kind of unfettered honesty and unvarnished realism that they can expect. We have all been warned: Emezi is unleashing all their innermost thoughts and most plaguing nightmares directly and succinctly onto the page. There is a binding thread of Christian iconography that I found a particularly interesting choice. Religious figures serve as a sort of motif for the writer's journey through trauma and transformation. They utilize these famous archetypes as spirit guides through their unique and extensive experiences to artful effect.
A few of these poems worked better than others and some lines were even a bit on-the-nose for my taste but I was highlighting and marking others voraciously and some were intensely calling out emotions I was harboring myself. Specifically, the poems about their queerness and dimensionality spoke to me in a voice I had never quite recognized as my own. It's always a really good indicator when the major criticism I have is that I want more. I can't help but feel like Emezi is writing so much so fast that we are sometimes like a needy child vying for attention from their flourishing and universally celebrated parent. I know I'm just being greedy and that another scintillating and brilliant work from Akwaeke is just around the corner. I can not wait for their next collection of poems but for now, Content Warning: Everything has effectively lit the fuse and ignited my hunger for more of their fascinating perspective and stunning lyricism.
The title is foreboding but it lets the reader know the kind of unfettered honesty and unvarnished realism that they can expect. We have all been warned: Emezi is unleashing all their innermost thoughts and most plaguing nightmares directly and succinctly onto the page. There is a binding thread of Christian iconography that I found a particularly interesting choice. Religious figures serve as a sort of motif for the writer's journey through trauma and transformation. They utilize these famous archetypes as spirit guides through their unique and extensive experiences to artful effect.
A few of these poems worked better than others and some lines were even a bit on-the-nose for my taste but I was highlighting and marking others voraciously and some were intensely calling out emotions I was harboring myself. Specifically, the poems about their queerness and dimensionality spoke to me in a voice I had never quite recognized as my own. It's always a really good indicator when the major criticism I have is that I want more. I can't help but feel like Emezi is writing so much so fast that we are sometimes like a needy child vying for attention from their flourishing and universally celebrated parent. I know I'm just being greedy and that another scintillating and brilliant work from Akwaeke is just around the corner. I can not wait for their next collection of poems but for now, Content Warning: Everything has effectively lit the fuse and ignited my hunger for more of their fascinating perspective and stunning lyricism.
September 24, 2023
// Sanctuary
"i believe in new skins, even nightmares
can be maps, the space between existence
and function, between performance and effect
if you are made of the skins of what you do
how do you choose your supple hides,
with the sour guilt? the ecstatic evil?
make no mistake, taking feels like power
even if just in flashes, the sweet pulping
the using of a person as fuel, an engine
i may have done more terrible things
but the best gospels claim it's never too late
to skin yourself and start all over, as nothing
except the roaring field of a fresh life"
It's nothing short of a miracle the way Akwaeke Emezi shifts between forms/genres, displaying mastery over them all with fluidity. Poetry is no exception. Here's the self astride a bed of nails, treading over burning coals, aspiring towards—and ascendant—godhood, a little god. They use language that cuts to the bone, embodying the external violence and self-destruction that stirs their life and turning it into deadly affirmations: "i remind myself that i am worth /the glittering corpses of glory." There is submission but also rebellion, cycles of power struggle: "i would die, i would die for him / want of my afterlife, brand on my chest / do whatever you like with me". & on the contrary, "they blinded me with lights / i told them how tenderly / you came apart in my hands, the sweet / sweet sounds you made". It is the speaker as poltergeist, as taker of things, glory and salvation, and the younger sibling of jesus. "i am an edge they've never seen before".
(I received a finished copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.)
"i believe in new skins, even nightmares
can be maps, the space between existence
and function, between performance and effect
if you are made of the skins of what you do
how do you choose your supple hides,
with the sour guilt? the ecstatic evil?
make no mistake, taking feels like power
even if just in flashes, the sweet pulping
the using of a person as fuel, an engine
i may have done more terrible things
but the best gospels claim it's never too late
to skin yourself and start all over, as nothing
except the roaring field of a fresh life"
It's nothing short of a miracle the way Akwaeke Emezi shifts between forms/genres, displaying mastery over them all with fluidity. Poetry is no exception. Here's the self astride a bed of nails, treading over burning coals, aspiring towards—and ascendant—godhood, a little god. They use language that cuts to the bone, embodying the external violence and self-destruction that stirs their life and turning it into deadly affirmations: "i remind myself that i am worth /the glittering corpses of glory." There is submission but also rebellion, cycles of power struggle: "i would die, i would die for him / want of my afterlife, brand on my chest / do whatever you like with me". & on the contrary, "they blinded me with lights / i told them how tenderly / you came apart in my hands, the sweet / sweet sounds you made". It is the speaker as poltergeist, as taker of things, glory and salvation, and the younger sibling of jesus. "i am an edge they've never seen before".
(I received a finished copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.)
July 7, 2022
"What if Magdalene Seduced Me" is my favorite poem ever read, thus far. Sorcery.
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January 16, 2024With their incredible intensity, Awkaeke Emezi’ fire burns through this collection of poems - “content warning: everything” feels like a branded sign on the skin, a mark of suffering and beauty. Unashamed and unfettered, Emezi writes these short poems as the child of a god, with Jesus as a brother. Their poems dip in and out from mundane to the godlife. We’re flung from a self-portrait as an angel to afternoons with (Saint) Mary auntie; from a poem of aching passion to the depths of despair, near the margins of life; from mourning and loneliness to the midst of power; from marriage to coming out and out again, until freedom.
“my brother said you can’t live in that bubble in new york the real world is not like that but it’s a lie there are no real worlds you can live in whatever bubble you like a diving bell made of tender glass”
“i would die, i would die for him
want of my afterlife, brand on my chest
do whatever you like with me”
“look at me through tears of blood through the healing flesh fall on your knees beatify me canonize me mark me full of blasphemy give me an army for what the fire has made of me you have been seeking wonders in all the wrong places now here, gaze upon me! i am the fucking miracle”
“my brother said you can’t live in that bubble in new york the real world is not like that but it’s a lie there are no real worlds you can live in whatever bubble you like a diving bell made of tender glass”
“i would die, i would die for him
want of my afterlife, brand on my chest
do whatever you like with me”
“look at me through tears of blood through the healing flesh fall on your knees beatify me canonize me mark me full of blasphemy give me an army for what the fire has made of me you have been seeking wonders in all the wrong places now here, gaze upon me! i am the fucking miracle”
February 28, 2025
Visceral and haunting. Short, but in that it is purposeful without being repetitive. I really loved the strings throughout of the poems with religious characters, as well as the Self-Portrait poems.
October 28, 2025
Mi opinión está sesgada porque me emociona el cómo lo voy a usar en la tesis
January 3, 2022
ARC given by Edelweiss+ for Honest Review
Super inspiring and well written. Poems full of fire, rage, want, and grief. I am a huge fan of the way Emezi uses alliteration and onomatopoeia in their work, as well as the unique line breaks to tell a story.
The poems surrounding religion had a visceral feeling, they were incredible to read and I ended up reading a few out loud to a friend. I also enjoyed the way Emezi uses water as a tool/metaphor in their writing.
My favorite poems are: "Disclosure", "Self-Portrait as a Cannibal", and "I Was Born In a Great Length of River."
Super inspiring and well written. Poems full of fire, rage, want, and grief. I am a huge fan of the way Emezi uses alliteration and onomatopoeia in their work, as well as the unique line breaks to tell a story.
The poems surrounding religion had a visceral feeling, they were incredible to read and I ended up reading a few out loud to a friend. I also enjoyed the way Emezi uses water as a tool/metaphor in their writing.
My favorite poems are: "Disclosure", "Self-Portrait as a Cannibal", and "I Was Born In a Great Length of River."
February 9, 2024
I’m going to preface this by saying there’s a few goodies in here but I can’t love a poetry collection that doesn’t know how to use grammar/ punctuation/fundamental literary needs in general correctly. Plus I think some people assume heavy subject matter with good art and that’s not always the case.
April 4, 2022
September 21, 2023
"the safest place in the world is a book"
Literally the title. I went into this blind but truly heed the title (trigger warnings), this one was dark. There is something about Akwaeke Emezi’s writing that always has me absorbed and present. They are an auto-buy author for me. This was my first poetry collection by them and if I think about it, their writing is always like poetry in the way they weave their words. The flow comes quickly while reading this one. I can see wanting to immediately reread this, to gain something else out of it.
"I did not die
what i’m saying is,
it doesn’t matter which water
i will never know what it’s like to drown"
Literally the title. I went into this blind but truly heed the title (trigger warnings), this one was dark. There is something about Akwaeke Emezi’s writing that always has me absorbed and present. They are an auto-buy author for me. This was my first poetry collection by them and if I think about it, their writing is always like poetry in the way they weave their words. The flow comes quickly while reading this one. I can see wanting to immediately reread this, to gain something else out of it.
"I did not die
what i’m saying is,
it doesn’t matter which water
i will never know what it’s like to drown"
January 22, 2024
After every single poem, I wanted to immediately re read. The title did not lie though.
July 30, 2023
will require another read
October 13, 2022
Excellent!!!!!!!!!!
December 5, 2022
I don't feel comfortable in giving this a review because I've always struggled to really understand poetry. Sometimes I get it, and it hits just right. Other times, I sit here like "Yep. That was a poem." This is one of those times. I haven't developed an eye/ear for it still I guess.
May 5, 2022
I will re-read and get more and more because Emezi is that One. Their talent and raw emotional honesty was mesmerizing. "Mourning" was the shortest, my favorite, and it hurt me.
September 5, 2022
September 2022: still phenomenal
May 2022: Some of these poems made me cry and I will read everyday, I think that says enough.
May 2022: Some of these poems made me cry and I will read everyday, I think that says enough.
March 23, 2023
This was my first time reading something by Akwaeke Emezi but am certainly intrigued to read more of their works. This poetry collection is quite varied in both form and topic with grief, rage and religion being key themes. As the title suggests, Emezi does highlight quite a few trigger warning details, specifically sexual assault, but isn’t too explicit. The poems contain a rawness and emotional honesty which I really appreciated and at times I could relate to their feelings too. Some were slightly too abstract for me personally to understand but overall as a collection it was enjoyable and one I’d certainly recommend. My favourite poems were:
‘"BUT WHY DID YOU FEEL YOU HAD TO KILL YOURSELF, BABY LOVE?"
1. i thought it would be a useful sacrifice
2. habit, or morbid tradition
3. god and i were in a feud
4. this world is foul i needed to bathe in my blood
5. spite and vengeance
6. no one else would do it
7. i missed not existing
8. how can you ask me that
9. knowing how lonely
10. i have been’
And:
‘I WAS BORN IN A GREAT LENGTH OF RIVER
if i run the water at full bludgeoning force
it takes the bathtub thirteen minutes to fill
twenty seconds for the bath bomb to dissolve eleven if i stir, four seconds for epsom salts i sink as deep as i can, involve my lungs it takes nothing if i add nothing
// when i was nine, i could hold my breath
for seventy-five seconds, i practiced in class practiced underwater from one end of the pool to the other, the long way, i held the air deep in my stomach, ballooned it into my cheeks let it out in small measured hisses, i rationed it
// in ghana twenty years later, i tripped on a rock while trying to leave the ocean and got seized by the quick tide, it tossed and sucked me, i couldn't stand, so instead i curled against the floor as waves battered over my head, i held my breath and i did not die, do you hear? i did not die what i'm saying is, it doesn't matter which water i will never know what it's like to drown’
And these two quotes from their other poems were great too:
‘…we said in twenty years they'd put us both in each other's documentary, how could they not’
And ‘…what wars have been fought on me what hauntings i carry in the blaze of unspeakable light look at me through tears of blood through the healing flesh fall on your knees beatify me canonize me mark me full of blasphemy give me an army for what the fire has made of me you have been seeking wonders in all the wrong places now here, gaze upon me! i am the fucking miracle!’
‘"BUT WHY DID YOU FEEL YOU HAD TO KILL YOURSELF, BABY LOVE?"
1. i thought it would be a useful sacrifice
2. habit, or morbid tradition
3. god and i were in a feud
4. this world is foul i needed to bathe in my blood
5. spite and vengeance
6. no one else would do it
7. i missed not existing
8. how can you ask me that
9. knowing how lonely
10. i have been’
And:
‘I WAS BORN IN A GREAT LENGTH OF RIVER
if i run the water at full bludgeoning force
it takes the bathtub thirteen minutes to fill
twenty seconds for the bath bomb to dissolve eleven if i stir, four seconds for epsom salts i sink as deep as i can, involve my lungs it takes nothing if i add nothing
// when i was nine, i could hold my breath
for seventy-five seconds, i practiced in class practiced underwater from one end of the pool to the other, the long way, i held the air deep in my stomach, ballooned it into my cheeks let it out in small measured hisses, i rationed it
// in ghana twenty years later, i tripped on a rock while trying to leave the ocean and got seized by the quick tide, it tossed and sucked me, i couldn't stand, so instead i curled against the floor as waves battered over my head, i held my breath and i did not die, do you hear? i did not die what i'm saying is, it doesn't matter which water i will never know what it's like to drown’
And these two quotes from their other poems were great too:
‘…we said in twenty years they'd put us both in each other's documentary, how could they not’
And ‘…what wars have been fought on me what hauntings i carry in the blaze of unspeakable light look at me through tears of blood through the healing flesh fall on your knees beatify me canonize me mark me full of blasphemy give me an army for what the fire has made of me you have been seeking wonders in all the wrong places now here, gaze upon me! i am the fucking miracle!’
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September 24, 2023This was tough because it’s a lot to take in and because I don’t know that I understood most of it. I’ve read some reviews that say to read Emezi’s memoir, which I have not done. I have read Freshwater though. I’m going to leave this unrated because I’m not well versed in poetry to know, and this feels too personal to just slap a rating on it and call it good.
August 30, 2022
This was beautiful, but definitely heed the title, it was very heavy and I don't think I read it at the right time, or maybe it was just too triggering for me. Still very beautiful.
CW: Rape, Self harm, Sexual violence, Biphobia, Suicide
CW: Rape, Self harm, Sexual violence, Biphobia, Suicide
June 21, 2023
ok…. wow some of these poems HEAVYYY
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September 9, 2022i don’t know that i can rate this, but wow this was heartbreaking yet empowering in some ways
March 12, 2024
Did Emezi just become a new favourite poet? Yes. Yes they did. Shockingly clever. Unforgivingly fearless. A little god left their book on my nightstand.
December 2, 2024
deeply personal, confusing, gripping, thought-provoking, painful, beautiful
Displaying 1 - 30 of 322 reviews