Dark Testament: Blackout Poems was a really interesting read!

The author actually used the book Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders and then blacked out words on the page until what was left was a poem.

This book features a variety of poems, most titled after black men and women who have died by police action.

I would recommend this for teens and up. If you don’t think you like poetry, try this.

My Thoughts:

The metaphor of this cover is everything. We see the obvious blackout, but also the wall or even bars with the black male figure behind those bars as dark testament pushes out of the large middle white space. Even the cover is poetry.

The clever, clever use of George Saunders's Lincoln in the Bardo, an experimental novel that centers on the grief Abraham Lincoln undergoes after the death of his eleven-year-old son, Willie, is the raw material for poet Crystal Simone Smith's celebration of black lives in the midst of mourning and grief. The timeliness of these poems seem so current, and the idea of gathering this kind of conscientization and despair through a novel featuring Lincoln as well as a cast of characters "living and dead, historical and invented" is really brilliant and cathartic.

Smith in her introduction lays out a charge for us as readers,
As the poet, I task you the reader with lighting a conscience flame in honor of those killed by violence and carrying that torch into a more just future. A better world is within our grasp.
The titles of Smith's poetry pay homage to individual victims. Many names are well known in the Black Lives Matter movement: Eric Garner, Trayvon Martin, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd. But even more names were unknown to me until now. The majority of the poems carry victim names. Others connect to the movement, like "No Justice, No Peace" or "Justified Homicide."

I found myself forgetting that these were blackout poems. They really felt like a conversation and collaboration between Saunders and Smith. The conversation between the two authors at the end of this was especially meaningful to me as an English teacher. The writing process conversations with the authors is a gem that needs to be in our writing workshops as "advice from the trenches."

George [Saunders]: For me, writing is a process of trying to revise the falseness and manipulation out of the prose, and, by association, out of myself.



From the Publisher:
In this extraordinary collection, the award-winning poet Crystal Simone Smith gives voice to the mournful dead, their lives unjustly lost to violence, and to the grieving chorus of protestors in today’s Black Lives Matter movement, in search of resilience and hope.

With poems found within the text of George Saunders's Lincoln in the Bardo, Crystal Simone Smith embarks on an uncompromising exploration of collective mourning and crafts a masterwork that resonates far beyond the page. These poems are visually stark, a gathering of gripping verses that unmasks a dialogue of tragic truths―the stories of lives taken unjustly and too soon.

Bold and deeply affecting, Dark Testament is a remarkable reckoning with our present moment, a call to action, and a plea for a more just future.

Along with the poems, Dark Testament includes a stirring introduction by the author that speaks to the content of the poetry, a Q&A with George Saunders, and a full-color photo-insert that commemorates victims of unlawful killings with photographs of memorials that have been created in their honor.

Publication information:
Author: Crystal Simone Smith

Publisher: Henry Holt & Co. (January 3, 2023)

With Dark Testament : Blackout Poems, Crystal Simone Smith shares the mourning and pain of a community, deeply wounded by unlawful killings and racism : Oscar Grant, Eric Garner, Trayvon Martin, Sybrina Fulton, Michael Brown, Jordan Davis, Michelle Kenney, Daunte Wright, Aiyana Jones, Laquan McDonald, Rodney King, Sandra Bland, George Floyd, Walter Scott, or Breonna Taylor ; to only name a few of a very long, too long list. It is to them, and many others, that Smith’ s poems are dedicated.

In her poems, Crystal Simone Smith shares the voices of the Black Community and Black Lives Matters Movement. She shares the voices of the dead, but also the ones of the living. I have never read Black out poems before. They give a very unique perspective on the text, a poem within the poem with a totally new meaning. This collection of poems is beautiful, deep, and sad. It is a tribute to justice, truth, equality and love. It is definitively a book needed to be read and shared with the Community.

As an educator, I love teaching my students about blackout poetry and the fun they can have with it. When I first heard about Dark Testament I was excited to check it out. A whole book written in the style of blackout poetry, how unique. I must say this book did not disappoint. The fact that the author was able to create a whole book of blackout story from Lincoln in the Bardo is incredible. The poems themselves are heartbreaking and reflective. They will stick with the reader long after the last page is turned.

I’m blown away by this book. Already, I feel like I need to read it again and let the words sit with me for a bit.

I’ve never read blackout poems before. For anyone also unfamiliar, these are poems that are made by removing some words from a page of text, leaving the words of the poem behind. Removed words are marked out with black boxes.

I also wasn’t familiar with the book that Crystal Simone Smith used to create her poems, LINCOLN IN THE BARDO. I read the sample pages on Amazon and will probably buy the novel as well. It’s an unusual book and centers around grief, which made it a great book to create these poems from. I love the writing style.

So the poems. Each one is titled. Some titles are the names of Black victims of unlawful killings. Others refer to other individuals or groups. So many gripped me by the heart. The grief and shock come through so clearly.

I love the Q&A discussion between the poetry collection author and the author of LINCOLN IN THE BARDO that’s in the back of the book. I thought that conversation added a lot of context, and it was really cool to see one author support another’s work like that.

Another really cool thing about this collection is that the title was inspired by a poetry collection by Pauli Murray. Murray was an women’s rights and civil rights activist who did incredible work throughout her career. I’d never heard of her until this past year, and now it seems I see her name everywhere.

All in all, DARK TESTAMENT is an incredible tribute to the lives lost and to truth and justice. An incredible resource for school libraries and creative writing courses.

Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions my own.

This review will post to my blog on 1/7/23.

My Reaction: A riveting intro to erasure poetry. Heartfelt and thoughtfully constructed.

When it comes to craft, I would go so far as to round my review up to 4.5/5. I think that Crystal Simone Smith definitely did a phenomenal job doing exactly what she set out to do: bringing attention to the plight of Black lives. Highlighting the many senseless murders of Black people, the mourning of those left behind and the prevailing sense of hope for change to a system that rarely honors equal justice.

But, it goes deeper than that. The author took George Saunders' book, Lincoln in the Bardo, as a framework for her own blackout poems which was simply and utterly AMAZING! A very fluid and well put together collection. While I've yet to read his full text, I have read several passages over time and coupled with Smith's retooling it becomes a masterful collection of poetry.

My favorite poems were: GEORGE FLOYD, PROTEST SONG, BREONNA TAYLOR, SAMARIA RICE & (TAMAR RICE), and ELIJAH MCCLAIN. I am also very thankful for the conversation between authors at the close of the book. It answered a few pressing questions I had regarding his support of her work and how their relationship came about. I love it. Kudos to author Crystal Simone Smith for a phenomenal showing.

Blacking out lines from poems/texts from George Saunders' "Lincoln in the Bardo", a novel which follows Willie Lincoln as he navigates a strange purgatory and a transitional state known as "the Bardo" from the Tibetan tradition, Smith creates 43 poems to both honor the innocent loves that were senselessly taken and express hopes and anxieties for the future.

I'm afraid to say I only recognized certain names, as many didn't appear in mainstream media. However, it's clear that Smith carefully selected texts and which lines to black out to represent the varying lives lost and acquaint readers with those who's murder was overlooked by the news. Smith further shows that the memories and impacts they left on the people around them continues on.

This was a phenomenal poetry collection. This was the first collection of poems I have read using black out poetry and it was done spectacularly. Smith's use of George Saunders, 'Lincoln in the Bardo' to create a new narrative surrounding BLM and the lives lost due to police brutality was simply put: beautifully tragic. Dark Testemant was exactly that: a testament to the people whose lives were lost due to negligence, fear, and racism at the hands of those sworn to protect and serve. I cannot recommend this collection enough.

12/19/2022
Readers would benefit from reading other reviewer's reviews of this book. I read this in about a day.

Erasure poetry is a funny thing. Dating back to the mid-20th century (though some scholars argue it goes back even further), to write erasure poems, one must start with a known text and then blackout parts, or erase parts, or draw over parts, to use the remaining text to create a new, original poem. The poet's task is to transform the original text into something new, but also something meaningful, even while it might be fragmented and leaping from thought to thought.

Smith's work is incredible, and she creates these mournful, angry, vatic poems about the Black victims of police violence and the language used in the #BlackLivesMatter movement. I'm not experienced enough with this form to understand it fully, but the poems I've read in this collection are moving and emotionally charged, and readers will step away from this book changed for the better.

Lyrical verse, in blackout style, documenting the powerful lives in Black America, that led to revolutions in the form of protests, to proclaim civil rights as deemed by the Constitution of America, yet serving as a sacrifice. Blackout….black out… as if to erase, the ink is black and the page is white, verses in song saying, can you hear me now? This book serves as a testament or memoir for those that gave to be heard!

Thoughtful, moving, stunning in words and imagery. A powerful tool to show that literature is more than just words on a page. Each poem was unique - truly telling the story of each life lost & emphasizing the importance of their lives, so it didnt feel like the author was telling the same story over and over.

So unique in that Smith took the work of a fellow writer and used sections of his book to create the poetry. The conversation at the end showed the true comradery and trust between the two.

Cannot wait for it to be published to purchase a physical copy.

Some beautiful Blackout poetry reflecting the lives and experiences of some of the many many Black individuals we’ve lost to hate and police violence. Tamir Rice’s hits particularly hard, as does Breonna Taylor’s. I think it would have been better in print because in the digital copy, I could still see the other text and it was distracting. These names will live on, even though it should be the people themselves living and thriving. But as long as we remember, we can make lasting change.