I love this book!! Tiana Clark is an amazing poet, and her words and perspective are so need in these times.

4.5 stars

What a gorgeous collection of deeply personal poetry. Each entry was moving and focused. Clark’s writing is somehow both lyrical/flowery and grounded/understandable.

This title is set to release March 4, 2025. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Omg so this book was actually well written. It seemed like a bit of a thought journal honestly because of how it was written. I liked how we could see into what the author was thinking and her opinions on certain things. It was a bit graphic which I didn’t expect but it was still well written. I liked how it touched on serious topics as well.

I’ll be honest, I haven’t read a piece of poetry since I was in high school over a decade ago. I was never one to really get it or understand it or even like it.

I know now it’s because I wasn’t reading the kind of poetry that sits with you, makes you think and above all makes you feel. This book of poetry did that. I simply couldn’t put it down once I started, each poem evoking new feelings and a new energy. I will say as the book went on I felt like I was going on this transformative journey with the author and it felt scary and refreshing all at once.

Truly a beautiful piece of work, one that has expanded my mind about what poetry is and what it can do.

Tiana Clark truly has a way with words and with getting her experiences across in a poetic manner, an amazing read all should consider having on their desks.

Some of these poems were gorgeous and so thoughtful that, by themselves, made me want to give the collection five stars. Overall though, there were more poems that didn’t resonate or feel as strong

This was a pleasant surprise from an accomplished author I’d not yet heard of until NetGalley. Poetry is not my area of expertise, nor is it my favorite genre to read. However, I did find most of the poems in this collection to be visceral and cathartic. A few lines were quite shocking. This is not art for the easily offended. I enjoyed it nevertheless. Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC I was provided!

Thank you so much to Netgalley and Atria for the ARC!! This was such a beautiful poetry collection. I saw myself in many themes, and it felt dizzying yet comforting. It all felt really true to me, and I especially loved the epilogue. Feelings are so universal. Very excited for this author's upcoming memoir!

This is a really incredible poetry collection, one that almost feels like a memoir at places, dropping the reader directly into the author's mind at formative moments in her life.

I connected most strongly with her poems on divorce, love after divorce, and giving into queer longing. But what really blew me away were her poems on race; there's a stark brutality in the shape of her poems, and it's on display most clearly in those poems.

4.5 stars rounded up. Looking forward to revisiting many of these time and time again. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

A really excellent book of poetry from a real poet's poet. I loved reading poems from someone who's such a scholar of the craft. While I have a bit of pandemic-in-literature/poetry fatigue, Clark's writing is so fresh and singular (and punchy and relatable and moving) that none of it felt too on the nose. And actually, the whole collection felt like meeting a new good friend. Thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the ARC, which inspired this review.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Washington Square Press for this ARC.

This collection of poems is full of visceral images capturing the pain - and ecstasy - of the black queer experience.
From the Atlantic slave trade to Emmett Till to Trump's presidency, intense scenes of raw emotion spill across the pages.

There is no doubt that Tiana Clark has a lot of important things to say, and her words are passionate, introspective, and have an instinctive spontaneity to them. This impulsive style of writing leads to many of the poems in this collection having a loose feel, struggling to find a distinct focus. The extemporaneous nature of Clark's stream of consciousness allows for words to slide and spark, but, as poems, they lack form and clarity. The meaning is often lost in the muddle.

Clark is also one of those poets who writes, for the most part,
like this
with line breaks at
random intervals without
reason
and
no sense of rhythmic purpose

Clark writes with a vision and raw power reminiscent of debbie tucker green, but without the lyricism.

There are two poems in this collection that stand out from the rest: My Therapist Wants to Know about My Relationship to Work and Scattered, Covered, Smothered: A Southern Gothic Sonnet

These poems work so well in comparison because they have a distinct sense of form. Working within a framework, Clark's potential shines, the images are clear, powerful, the writing crisp, there is rhythm and purpose.

The randomness that runs through the other poems allows Clark's thoughts to slip loosely from the page, a constant stream of thoughts and energy that isn't harnessed before it drifts away.

“Who do you think you are without shame? Enough”

I loved (almost all) of these. Some of them I struggled to follow, but “the self portrait at divorce” and “indeed hotter for me are the joys of the lord” were my favorites.

In this collection, Clark is nearly literally cutting their self open and inviting us readers in— to sit with their poetry, to experience their queer joy, to feel the raw pain of someone with a different walk of life than my own. I will be revisiting these poems in the future. Such a beautiful collection!

Tiana Clark’s Scorched Earth is an unapologetically powerful poetry collection, one that burns with intensity and clarity as it examines the intersections of identity, race, love, and personal history. Following her acclaimed debut I Can’t Talk About the Trees Without the Blood, Clark builds upon her poetic voice to offer a complex emotional landscape that traverses heartache, systemic pain, and moments of radical joy. Scorched Earth is a title that feels almost too apt—it speaks to the devastation of personal and collective traumas, while also revealing the resilience and beauty that can emerge from scorched ground.

From the very first poem, readers are thrust into the tumultuous world Clark inhabits and so deftly conveys. Whether she is contemplating divorce, pop culture icons like the first Black Bachelorette, or the erasure of Black bodies in the art world, Clark’s stanzas vibrate with raw emotion. Her lines are both razor-sharp and lush, juxtaposing the caustic with the lyrical in a way that mirrors her thematic exploration of ruin and redemption. She shifts between reverence and irreverence, giving her poems an unexpected rhythm that keeps readers engaged, never knowing what corner of her mind they will turn next.

One of the most striking aspects of Scorched Earth is the way Clark navigates personal sorrow against the backdrop of institutional and historical oppression. There is an ever-present awareness of the weight of Blackness and queerness in a world that has too often attempted to erase or commodify both. But Clark resists simplification; she writes about these identities with nuance, showing their fullness—their joys, their desires, and their complications. Sensuality and intimacy permeate the collection, with Clark's celebration of Black, queer love standing as an act of defiance against centuries of marginalization. There is power in her joy, a quiet revolution in her descriptions of tenderness.

Yet, even in moments of beauty, Clark never allows us to forget the undercurrent of pain. Historical wounds bleed through her poems—the legacy of slavery, the scars of systemic racism—and she speaks to them with urgency. There is a sense of bearing witness in her work, a call to remember the past while simultaneously grappling with the present. And yet, Clark doesn’t succumb to despair; her poetry carves out spaces for hope and survival, for the moments where love and art can flourish even in the most inhospitable environments.

Clark’s language is visceral. She doesn’t shy away from the raw, often uncomfortable truths of existence, and yet her words have a musicality that elevates them. There is a rhythm, a cadence to her poetry that draws readers in, even as it confronts them with the harshness of reality. She employs a range of forms and structures, from tight, punchy verses to more sprawling, expansive pieces, each crafted to evoke a particular emotional response. The poems feel alive, constantly shifting and morphing, much like the world they reflect.

In Scorched Earth, Tiana Clark cements herself as a vital voice in contemporary poetry. Her work is deeply personal, yet speaks to universal themes of love, loss, and the search for belonging. It’s a collection that invites readers to sit with discomfort, to question their assumptions, and to find beauty in the most unexpected places. This is a book for our times, one that captures the complexities of being alive in a world both scorched and fertile, broken and resilient. Clark’s poems remind us that even in the midst of devastation, something beautiful can grow.

In sum, Scorched Earth is a transcendent collection that refuses to flinch in the face of pain, yet offers glimpses of radical, transformative love. It is a work that lingers long after the final page, a testament to Tiana Clark’s skill as both a poet and a storyteller.

Beautiful verse and imagery throughout this book. You wont ever be bored here. It's thought provoking and leaves you wanting more.

This poetry book was deeply personal and refreshingly detailed.
She romanticizes and greatly grieves her marriage which ended in divorce.

It is almost too specific and personal too me, I couldn't feel a connection with this work because its almost like i am not meant to understand it.

I feel this poetry book is definitely for women starting anew.

Thanks to NetGalley and Atria for the ARC!

Throughout Tiana Clark’s "Scorched Earth," the speaker leads readers through a range of emotional geographies, gradually terraforming the titular landscape from a site of devastation to one of preparation—in the same way that a fire may ready a field for the next season’s harvest.

It’s a breathless, wondrous collection of poems about the ferocity of Black, queer joy, and it’s immediately memorable for the strength of Clark’s voice.

Poems are often defined by a restrictive economy of language—a compulsion to remove everything absolutely unnecessary. Clark never does that, instead shaping the collection with opulent, celebratory, rambling language. It’s not chaotic, but rather evidence for how deeply we need language that is impractical—words that "accomplish" nothing.

Within the speaker’s world, it feels like the only language strong enough to hold all of life’s experiences is the language that wasn’t designed to do so. Clark dispenses with the precise and cold lexicon we use to distance ourselves from the world, and, in its stead, she playfully experiments with whatever will pull it closer. There’s a noted kinship here with Ross Gay’s work, and Clark’s self-identified “transgressive joy” will resonate with anyone who has read "Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude" or either "Book of Delights." Simply put, the speaker writes as if true, muscular joy must be strong enough to embrace grief and hold it close.

As such, this is not a fluffy collection by any means. There’s some heavy content relating to divorce, racism, and sexuality, but it all seems rooted in the speaker’s refusal to allow the world to harden her. Its feels bold in its tenderness, particularly toward the speaker herself; each piece reads like a step closer to catharsis.

Poetry is an acquired taste, often to its detriment—reading a poem often only encourages the reader to read another poem. That isn’t the case here. Clark instead welcomes readers to reflect on their taste, sometimes interrogating poetry as a genre, and sometimes literally describing, well, taste. For example, in “After the Reading,” we see euphoric, sensorial descriptions of pulled pork and Diet Coke thrown into contrast with the interruptions of emotional abstraction. It is as if life’s “basest” pleasures offer the form that its complications resist. We must ask if we have cultivated the right appetites.

"Scorched Earth" is a collection I’m excited to revisit, and Tiana Clark’s work here is beautiful in how it invites readers to sit in a poem, take all the time they need, and—when they are ready—move more deeply into the world.

my main issue with this collection, though i loved several poems, is that it very frustratingly gets in its own way. the first part of the collection is by far its weakest - i nearly stopped reading there - but the next three parts show a decent mastery of language & explore topics in much more depth, with much more empathy and understanding. i say decent & i mean it. the language is an issue in that it interrupts the poems.
clark has a habit of intervening so directly and so jarringly just as the poem is taking off (which is perhaps the point & in that case i’m not the reader for it) with some modern phrase that is out of place or an overused cliché of a metaphor or an unwarranted repetition, and it makes the poem shallow, superficial. the first part, in particular, is a victim of such patterns & it really is a shame, because mostly i felt the poems were going somewhere new until they weren’t.

My first poetry collection of the year. And wow did it deliver. Hearth wrenching. Captivating and enlightening for those who want to grown into the person they desire within. The starting poems relate to her husband and the feelings she felt throughout the marriage. While closer to the end talked about the raw feeling of exploring desires, being true to ones self. Absolutely gorgeous pretty and I recommend this read.

I absolutely loved these achingly beautiful poems. Tiana Clark writes about her experiences as a queer Black woman and touches on topics ranging from divorce to religious trauma. The way the book is structured, with a poem about her husband moving out at the beginning and the poems toward the end focusing more on sex and celebration, it’s like we’re on a journey with the author as she comes into her own. These poems are often pages long, but they earn every single piece of their word count. I loved getting a glimpse into the author’s mind and I fully recommend this book.