Insert Boy

Winner, Kate Tufts Discovery Award, 2016

Winner, John C Zacharis Award 2016 from Ploughshares

Winner, Lambda Literary Award, Gay Poetry, 2015

Finalist, Norma Farber First Book Award, Poetry Society of America, 2015

Finalist, Debulitzer, 2015

Chosen by Don Share for Boston Globe's Best Poetry Books, 2014

Danez Smith's writing is not safe. How can one's writing be safe when their life is constantly in danger? In their debut poetry collection [insert] boy, Smith calls for a world where black boys and men are worshipped instead of feared, a world in which they live long enough to "feel the settling of joints, the experience of bones" to "die ninety & beautiful / & the causes more normal." In [insert] boy, Smith writes intimately about their complex relationship to multiple forms of violence. Smith discusses domestic abuse in their family, the physical and emotional effects of rape, and being the target of racist and homophobic language. All of these experiences are based on their interactions with other men. They also includes a series of poems about their many attempts at healing, a constant process which unfolds throughout the book. The body is present on almost every page-particularly the mouth, knees, and hands. These three body parts often appear together in the same poem. In "King the Color of Space, Tower of Molasses & Marrow," Smith writes, "I want to kiss you. Not on your mouth, but on your most / secret scars, your ashy black & journeyed knees, // your ring finger, the trigger finger, those hands / the world fears so much."

-H.Melt for Lambda Literary Review