SHORTLISTED FOR THE FORWARD PRIZE FOR BEST COLLECTION 2018
A New York Times Notable Book of 2018
Even the men in black armor, the ones
Jangling handcuffs and keys, what else
Are they so buffered against, if not love''s blade
Sizing up the heart''s familiar meat?
In Wade in the Water, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Tracy K. Smith''s signature voice - inquisitive, lyrical and wry - turns over what it means to be a citizen, a mother and an artist in a culture arbitrated by wealth, men and violence. The various connotations of the title, taken from a spiritual once sung on the Underground Railroad which smuggled slaves to safety in 19th-century America, resurface throughout the book, binding past and present together. Collaged voices and documents recreate both the correspondence between slave owners and the letters sent home by African Americans enlisted in the US Civil War. Survivors'' reports attest to the ex
