“WATCHING JOSHUA BENNETT PERFORM HIS POETRY IS SOMETHING LIKE WATCHING A BAPTIST PREACHER DELIVER A SUNDAY SERMON. ONCE ON STAGE, HIS FACE GROWS SERIOUS, HIS HANDS MOVE EMPHATICALLY AND HE PLAYS WITH VOLUME AND SILENCE IN HIS DELIVERY, USING BOTH TO DRIVE THE AUDIENCE TO A ROUSING “AMEN.”

—TARA JEFFERSON, ANISFIELD BOOK AWARDS

“ONE OF THE BRIGHTEST INTELLECTUAL AND POLITICAL THINKERS OF A NEW GENERATION.”

—JESSE MCCARTHY

WITH THEIR JOY, PAIN, AND FIERCE DESCRIPTIONS OF BLACK LIFE IN AMERICA, BENNETT’S POEMS ARE MORE NECESSARY THAN EVER.

—PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

“BENNETT’S DEVOTIONALS ARE DEMANDS, TOO…[HE] CONJURES A SPIRIT OF KINSHIP THAT, ILLUMINATED BY REDOLENT IMAGERY, BORDERS ON MYTHIC, AND BOLDLY STAKES CLAIM TO “SOME LIVING, FUTURE / ENGLISH, & EVERYONE IN IT / IS IMMORTAL.”

—DAN CHIASSON, THE NEW YORKER

“BENNETT…HAS ESTABLISHED HIMSELF AS AN INTENSELY PATIENT AND DELIBERATE WRITER CAPABLE OF UPENDING GENRE AS SEAMLESSLY AS HE UPENDS OUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE WORLD.”

—RONNIE K. STEPHENS

“JOSHUA BENNETT’S ASTOUNDING, DOLOROUS, REJOICING VOICE IS INDISPENSABLE.”

—TRACY K. SMITH