Other People's Comfort Keeps Me Up At Night
Poems
by Morgan Parker
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Pub Date Jul 13 2021 | Archive Date Jun 30 2021
Tin House | Tin House Books
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Description
From the author of Magical Negro, Winner of the National Book Critic's Circle Award
“Hilarious and hard-hitting . . . it ripples with energy, insight, and searing music.” —Tracy K. Smith, author of Wade in the Water
Other People’s Comfort Keeps Me Up at Night—the book that launched the career of one of our most important young American poets—is back in print.
The debut collection from award-winning poet Morgan Parker demonstrates why she’s become one of the most beloved writers working today. Her command of language is on full display. Parker bobs and weaves between humor and pathos, grief and anxiety, Gwendolyn Brooks and Jay-Z, the New York School and reality television. She collapses any foolish distinctions between the personal and the political, the “high” and the “low.” Other People’s Comfort Keeps Me Up at Night not only introduced an essential new voice to the world, it contains everything readers have come to love about Morgan Parker’s work.
About the Author:
Morgan Parker is a poet, essayist, and novelist. She is the author of the young adult novel Who Put This Song On? and the poetry collections There Are More Beautiful Things Than Beyoncé and Magical Negro, which won the 2019 National Book Critics Circle Award. Parker's debut book of nonfiction is forthcoming from One World. She is the recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellowship, winner of a Pushcart Prize, and has been hailed by The New York Times as "a dynamic craftsperson" of "considerable consequence to American poetry."
Advance Praise
"I can and have read Morgan Parker’s poems over and over. They make me high and think like this: Her mind and her thoughts can go anywhere in a poem. . . . There are piles of masterpieces here." - Eileen Myles
"I love these poems by Morgan Parker. They tell everything exactly like it is, and they don’t let us off the hook. . . . They hit you with the authority and moral clarity of Langston Hughes, and have the omnivorous eye of Frank O’Hara." - Matthew Rohrer
Available Editions
| EDITION | Paperback |
| ISBN | 9781951142568 |
| PRICE | $16.95 (USD) |
Featured Reviews
Dalton S, Reviewer
The pain and emotion in this collection of poetry are so, so real. The words feel like... like pictures in the mind, like you're watching a moving picture instead of reading text.
If you like thought-provoking poetry on a variety of topics including race, pick this up.
I don't have many words.
Taylor G, Reviewer
"I know a little something about pissing / in public but nothing about loving."
What an amazing debut collection of poetry! Any fan of Parker will enjoy this look back into her early career. In fact, the most enjoyable part of this collection is how 20-something all the poems feel. There's a sense of desperation and loneliness throughout the poems that I certainly feel as a 20-something. My favorite poems were the "Miss Black America" series. You can really see Parker's future collections in those poems. Overall, it's a stunning collection of poems about finding yourself in a world that's not designed for you.
Nicole M, Reviewer
So many people don’t even know how lucky they are yet that Morgan Parker’s debut collection is getting re-released. Other People’s Comfort hits just as hard as it did my first read six years ago & Danez Smith’s intro is moving & loving & validating. Order two copies so you always have one to give away - I know I will. Thank you to Tin House & Netgalley for the ARC.
Tiffany R, Reviewer
Parker just gets better and better with each collection. The imagery, metaphors, and personification weaved throughout this body of work was mesmerizing and enchanting. Parker is sharp tongued and unapologetic as she pens about love, Blackness, and other people’s comfort with said Blackness, womanhood, and herself in general. This is by far Parker’s best collection. It is real, honest, thought-provoking, and hard hitting. My favorite poems were the collective piece called “Miss Black America” scattered throughout the collection & “the title poem “Other People’s Comforts Keep Me Up at Night”. This is a collection you want on your shelves! Parker delivers!
I would recommend this poetry collection to fans of Danez Smith, Jasmine Mans, or Hanif Abdurraqib.
Susie D, Media/Journalist
I'm a fan of Morgan Parker's work but hadn't read her debut collection. I really enjoyed this repub, especially with the introduction from Danez Smith! Parker's poetry is so precise and visceral; every phrase has so much to explore. I especially love the way she integrates pop culture and uses contemporary media as a lens to view herself. This is great work by an artist changing the landscape of poetry.
Bookseller 704567
"Other People's Comfort Keeps Me Up At Night" is such a resonant title for me. And that's really all I needed--I think all of Morgan Parker's titles are actually some of my favorites. They all have this very "I'm here" energy and its all imparts the volume and power that is in Parker's voice. Like she is funny, dope, and evocative and has this open honest way about her work that constantly has me nodding and going yeah I get it. As a Black person, there are just poems where I'm like chuckling to myself going chill stop that experience is too relatable. But it works. And I love it. I love being able to pick up Parker's collections and dive into them and resonate. And if not resonate, just sort of sit with the sheer electric that she puts into her words. She is truly an amazing poet. I am always into what she puts into the world. I could go into deep analysis of her works, but they speak for themselves. Her work speaks with a vibration that just echoes through the body to me. I can't wait for more.
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