What a magnificent, moving collection of poetry. Clark does a fantastic job relishing in breaking the rules and maximalism. It's a masterclass in understanding the rules of poetry so that your breaking from it is so incredibly powerful. I love the way that Clark uses the space on the page, allows the text to wind and explore new paths. This is poetry at its best. Highly recommend.

Reading (but more importantly, understanding) poetry has always been a little bit of a hit or miss endeavor for me. I will often get the gist of what the poet intends but that's about it.

Try as I might, I felt that same feeling of "I think I understand, but I'm not quite sure" feeling after reading Tiana Clark's Scorched Earth. Her poems lay bare her feelings about her divorce and her own discovery of self-worth. And while I tried to decipher her poems so that I could fully understand them, I don't feel that I was always successful.

Despite the fact that I am somewhat "poem challenged," I could appreciate Clark's powerful talent as a poet -- her words are powerful, raw, and insightful and for those who appreciate poetry more than me, Scorched Earth is a treat.

Thank you to #AtriaBooks and #NetGalley for this e-ARC of #ScorchedEarth.

Tíana Clark’s poetry collection “Scorched Earth” is a lyrical masterpiece that captures moments of her life and intermingles them with history, jazz, and emotion and joy. She plays with form and word choice, mixing in quotes and references all throughout the book, alluded to at the end of the collection. Interpretation can be subjective but I think the beauty of this collection is that it feels like bearing witness to the human experience, to things that go beyond the here and now and to incredibly painful and traumatic experiences too.

Clark captures longing, divorce, love, queerness- and so much more. It is straightforward in some passages and then there are internal phrasing moments where you feel you are intimately aware of every thought or feeling the author is having. Overall, an incredibly unique collection of poetry, posing both the question and the start of the answer to what remains once you have “scorched” the earth, and started anew.


Thank you to Tiana Clark, Net Galley, and Atria Books of Simon and Schuster for an ARC of this poetry collection!

Scorched Earth is a beautifully crafted collection of poetry. Tiana Clark is a studied and accomplished poet, careful and impactful in both language and form. Clark explores themes of loneliness, self-sufficiency, art, representation, vulnerability, and love. The imagery felt up close and personal like being let in on a secret. Clark also managed to do the nearly impossible and craft a poem about pandemic times that doesn't make the reader feel claustrophobic but actually elicits positive feelings.

I would recommend Scorched Earth to readers of poetry who love exploration of form and subject and those interested in subjects of divorce, sense of self, and love after heartbreak.

I enjoyed this poetry collection. The collection was well organized; each section felt distinct and the poems felt like they matched the section themes and were linked together. Some of my favourite poems include:

- Proof
- My Therapist Wants to Know about My Relationship to Work
- The Hardest Part of the Human Body
- Annealing
- Maybe in Another Life

Thank you to NetGalley, Atria Books, and Tianna Clark for supplying me with an ARC copy of Scorched Earth to read and review.

Clark’s poetry structure immediately stands out to me as a reader. It is melodic while holding a strong control over the pace of the reader. Clark’s voice shines through her writing- it is clear that these poems are meant to be performed out loud. It was refreshing for me to read long poems that contrast the current popularity of two-liners in contemporary publishing. Clark draws inspiration from and references other great poets and pop culture figures, from John Keats to Nelly. These references coalesce in a way that is unexpected and creates a unique experience for the reader- I had many “ah-ha” moments as I read. In Scorched Earth, you’ll find themes of womanhood, sexuality, queerness, and the black identity. I was overwhelmed with emotion as I journeyed through this well curated collection. My personal favorites are “Self-Portrait at Divorce” and “Self-Portrait at 35: Terror.”

Trigger warnings: mentions of substance use, sexual assault, abuse, death, gore, lynching, suicide, self harm

This is poetry that doesn’t just speak; it sings, aches, and roars. Clark’s poet’s ability to weave reverence with irreverence creates a tapestry of contradictions that feels both electric and human. Whether reflecting on the symbolism of the first Black Bachelorette or the wounds left by institutional injustices, the verses ignite a fire that demands to be reckoned with.

A powerful collection of poetry about divorce, healing, self-love, and Black joy. Tiana Smith's writing feels both fresh and timeless, making it a great choice for folks who want to explore more poetry but are afraid they won't connect with it. SCORCHED EARTH is perfectly paced and full of moving revelations.

A solid collection of poems with such a distinctive voice. Melding serious topics with more lighthearted pop culture references, sometimes merging the two in unexpected ways. Tiana Clark is new to me and I'll definitely be looking up more of her work in the future.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Scorched Earth was a beautiful collection of poetry. Once I started this book I couldn’t put it down! These poems are worth reading and I will definitely be looking for more to read from Clark.

Overall, I really enjoyed Scorched Earth. I found that some segments were much stronger than others, and some of the poems felt a little bloated. However, this collection is very strong, and I recommend giving it a read. It feels in conversation with Clark's inspirations & collections like Post-Colonial Love Poems, which also touches on the difficult reconciliation between racial violence & racial joy.
The preface was a very nice introduction to Clark & to the collection, although I do feel that it affected my expectations in ways that were detrimental to my reading experience. I took "an emphasis on pleasure and breaking most of the poetry 'rules' that I know" at face value, and was ultimately disappointed - I felt it wasn't as experimental as other collections I've read, such as Garbage by AR Ammons or Look by Solmaz Sharif. That being said, it also attached me to Clark in a beautiful way - her Note to the Reader made me fall in love with her vision for the collection, which was wonderful: "Scorched Earth is a survey of what is on the other side of survival...as I keep distilling what I know to be true as a writer, and as always, to feel less alone in the world while chasing duende and delight with gratitude and wonder."
Now within the actual poems: Clark has an insane grasp on poetic rhythm. It took me a minute to really notice it - which is a compliment, that it can feel so effortless when rhythm is one of the big elements that will make or break a poem for me. I believe I noticed it first in "Hell's Bells", which ended up being my favorite poem - "I reached above my head / for some slice of surrender. / How pure & wordless & magical / & vague & replete & blurred // it is to worship anything / at all." She also has such a grasp on imagery, in a way that does a near perfect job of communicating with the reader. In "Self-Portrait at Divorce", "I put your last cup / of water to my mouth and I guessed where your mouth / might have been on the rim and I pressed my lips to the glass / (I had the nicest lips like two pillows you always said) / and I kissed the cup and poured out the rest of the water / into the sink and it wasn't an offering to anything". She accomplishes something similar in the way she plays with language - in "My Therapist Wants," "I balk. I lazy the bed. I wallow when I write. / I truth when I lie."
My biggest issue with this collection, and reason it isn't getting 5 stars, is that the speaker will, as often as not, have a very conversational tone, and I've realized I'm not a big fan of irreverence within poetry. There are times that I think it is ultimately effective - in "Scattered, Covered, & Smothered", Clark ends "why you're one of my babies she said she ain't too proud to beg but / anyone can be redeemed by a bullet I wipe myself & flush the toilet", illustrating her sonnet's turn. I'm not personally a fan, but I can recognize that it's effective in what it's doing. However, in the next poem "50 Lines after Figure (2001)", she has the line "50 obsessions when I looked to see who looked back at my Instagram story (ughhh)", which annoys me largely because I just can't justify it. I'm perhaps unreasonably annoyed, but annoyed all the same. The collection loses some of this in the later poems, though, which is probably why I prefer the latter sections, and just felt that the latter half was much stronger than the former.
This collection ultimately displays a nice sense of cohesion & progression, & I feel that Clark is overall extremely effective in communicating her emotion to the reader - which is my ultimate benchmark for a work of poetry.

Thank you NetGalley & Atria Books for the early copy in exchange for an honest review.

These poems are gorgeous and so relatable, even though the author and I lead very different lives with very different backgrounds
I found myself nodding aggressively throughout the first few Parts. The way she writes so lyrically, yet often plain-spoken. I wish I could write this crystal clearly: “Did it have to happen for it to be true?”


Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an early review copy.

Thank you to Atria Books | Washington Square press for providing me a copy of this ARC! Scorched Earth was a visceral, beautiful, and at times tragic collection of poems. While reading I felt teleported back to feeling isolation during COVID, heartbreak following the end of a relationship, and unadulterated desire for love and connection. I loved the ways Clark wove in work from other poets she knows and admires (as we share many of them too). Truly a delight to read!

Scorched Earth is a powerful and evocative collection that leaves a lasting impact. Clark’s capacity to weave personal and societal narratives into her poetry makes this book both intensely personal and universally applicable. The collection challenges readers to confront difficult realities while also celebrating moments of joy and resilience.

Poetry is very hit-or-miss for me. I think it's probably the most subjective form of written expression. You either relate to it and understand it or you don't. And sure, you can learn how to understand technique and stuff, but I mean understanding as in being able to feel and connect with what the poems are expressing.

This collection didn't work for me because I personally didn't connect with the poems, but I appreciate it for still making me think about themes of belonging, beauty, and more.

”This is where we have our homes now. Follow me thither and find belonging and joy.”

Scorched Earth is a compilation of poetry from Tiana Clark, inspired by many other poetic voices and incorporating themes of identity, shame, and Blackness.

”No one ever trusts a Black woman’s mouth.”

As with any poetry collection, some of the poems resonated with me more than others. Broken Ode for the Epigraph gave me goosebumps, and Considering Roe v. Wade felt transcendent. But the poems about body image and masturbation (Self-Portrait at 35: Terror; The Hardest Part of the Human Body; I Masturbate Then Pray to God) felt like self-indulgent navel gazing.

”I’m so tired of wanting more.”

Despite some uncomfortable material, the collection is masterfully arranged, taking the reader on a well-defined journey from heartbreak to self-discovery to renewed hope. Though the poems all stand on their own as individual works, together they tell a cohesive and compelling story. This is no “junk drawer” book of odds and ends—there is logic and intention behind the way the poems have been compiled, and that’s clear from the start.

”I wasn’t meant to be born, but ain’t I a beautiful bastard?”

In The First Black Bachelorette, Clark touches upon the notion of “art responding to art,” and that’s exactly what her poetry feels like. It is packed with references, quotations, and epigraphs, like offerings left on an altar to the gods of literature and language. Ralph Ellison, Susan Sontag, Flannery O’Connor, Ocean Vuong, John Keats, and many more are mentioned. Avid readers of poetry will enjoy finding these easter eggs as they immerse themselves in Clark’s work.

”And aren’t we all writing the same damn poem over and over again anyway?”

——

A huge thank you to Tiana Clark, Atria Books, and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I'm not sure this was for me.
While I did find some that made me think about what makes someone beautiful or how we look at love or how we decide where or how we belong.

I didn't connect to these poems as much.

I always find it hard to put into words what reading a poetry collection feels like to me, and how it makes me feel. This is one of those situations. In this collection, we see the author go through divorce, rediscovery and recognition of queerness long repressed. We see an acknowledgement of the past, the present and aims for the future. I think at the end of the day poetry is about making the audience feel and boy did this book ever make me feel.

A beautiful, delicate collection of poetry!
If you're looking for a poetry book that will really grab your attention, this is a great choice. Tiana Clark really knows her stuff, and I loved reading poetry from someone who is so adept at her craft. Clark's lines are so poignant and powerful that they can really resonate with you. It's a brutally honest and brave look at heartbreak, self-worth, and more. I feel really lucky to have had the opportunity to read this book before most other readers.

Clark’s collection has some stunning moments—poems that feel raw, layered, and beautifully crafted. But it’s inconsistent. The first section struggles with clunky phrasing and interruptions that break the flow, making it hard to connect. Later sections redeem the collection, with more depth and emotional clarity. While uneven, it offers enough gems to make it worth exploring.