What do you think?
Rate this book
Black Swim
In Black Swim , Nicholas Goodly casts a spell to transform darkness into perfect darkness.
This stunning debut collection is at once “forged from the hurt parts of the ground,” and “proof of a miracle,” spinning ache and sweat and sweetness into a new model of feeling through language. Black people, queer/trans/nonbinary people, flamboyant people, lonely people, gaudy people, kind people, witches, artists, and angry people will meet themselves and each other in these pages. Amidst death and against injustice, Goodly’s poems bear gifts for and from the ancestors—a necklace, a mirror, a form of offered “If there is a purpose in this life / let me wash my face in it.”
This stunning debut collection is at once “forged from the hurt parts of the ground,” and “proof of a miracle,” spinning ache and sweat and sweetness into a new model of feeling through language. Black people, queer/trans/nonbinary people, flamboyant people, lonely people, gaudy people, kind people, witches, artists, and angry people will meet themselves and each other in these pages. Amidst death and against injustice, Goodly’s poems bear gifts for and from the ancestors—a necklace, a mirror, a form of offered “If there is a purpose in this life / let me wash my face in it.”
- GenresPoetryLiterature
80 pages, Paperback
First published September 13, 2022
1 person is currently reading
257 people want to read
About the author
Nicholas Goodly
2 books5 followersNicholas Goodly is a writer and artist living in Atlanta. They are the writing editor of Wussy Magazine, a Cave Canem fellow, and team member of the performing arts platform Fly on a Wall.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
June 16, 2023
“‘A poem doesn’t have to mean anything,’ the poet writes in ‘Confessional,’ but it sure would be nice if the poems in this debut collection meant something more often,” says the critic.
“A poem sharpens the wind,” says the poet.
“Perhaps,” says the critic, “‘but when ‘everything is true,’ as you say, ‘I need to be told what to believe.’”
“Fuck penance/ its canine obedience/ and stalking gait,” says the poet. “Let the dogs/ mean the water/ intuitive ripple.”
“Say what?” the critic asks, grasping to make sense of sound.
“Let your angel/ off the leash,” says the poet, scrying,
“be the damned thing
then set the damned
thing free
finally the water
the smell
of divinity
silvering sky.”
“Intelligent dark animal!” the critic barks.
“Pure howling heart,” the poet pants.
Favorite Poems:
“Confessional”
“To You Who Fit the Description” (“my violent love”)
“Black Art”
“Three of Swords”
“‘Love Is a Battlefield,’ by Pat Benatar”
“Siren”
“Scrying”
“Southern Comfort”
“Self-Portrait as Ocean Bed”
“Hypersigil”
“Evening Prayer”
“Voices and Organs Playing Loudly”
“A poem sharpens the wind,” says the poet.
“Perhaps,” says the critic, “‘but when ‘everything is true,’ as you say, ‘I need to be told what to believe.’”
“Fuck penance/ its canine obedience/ and stalking gait,” says the poet. “Let the dogs/ mean the water/ intuitive ripple.”
“Say what?” the critic asks, grasping to make sense of sound.
“Let your angel/ off the leash,” says the poet, scrying,
“be the damned thing
then set the damned
thing free
finally the water
the smell
of divinity
silvering sky.”
“Intelligent dark animal!” the critic barks.
“Pure howling heart,” the poet pants.
Favorite Poems:
“Confessional”
“To You Who Fit the Description” (“my violent love”)
“Black Art”
“Three of Swords”
“‘Love Is a Battlefield,’ by Pat Benatar”
“Siren”
“Scrying”
“Southern Comfort”
“Self-Portrait as Ocean Bed”
“Hypersigil”
“Evening Prayer”
“Voices and Organs Playing Loudly”
September 2, 2022
So glorious. So beautiful.
May 20, 2023
Exuberance rings from each piece; a careful, joyful eye. Stays current in language and motive.
October 21, 2025
3.75. This was in my contemporary poetry class's curriculum because Goodly was (years ago) in my professor's class! They zoomed in to read a few of the poems from Black Swim and answer questions, which was a really cool experience and made me appreciate the book a lot more. Unfortunately I do think this was maybe just a bit too abstract for me :/ Favorite poem would be “Evening Prayer”.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews