Homie: Poems [Paperback]

FINALIST FOR THE 2020 NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD FOR POETRY
FINALIST FOR THE 2021 NAACP IMAGE AWARD FOR POETRY

Danez Smith is our president

Homieis Danez Smiths magnificent anthem about the saving grace of friendship. Rooted in the loss of one of Smiths close friends, this book comes out of the search for joy and intimacy within a nation where both can seem scarce and getting scarcer. In poems of rare power and generosity, Smith acknowledges that in a country overrun by violence, xenophobia, and disparity, and in a body defined by race, queerness, and diagnosis, it can be hard to survive, even harder to remember reasons for living. But then the phone lights up, or a shout comes up to the window, and familyblood and chosenarrives with just the right food and some redemption. Part friendship diary, part bright elegy, part war cry,Homieis the exuberant new book written for Danez and for Danezs friends and for you and for yours.

The radiance ofHomiearrives like a shock, like found money, like a flower fighting through concrete. . . . This is a book full of the turbulence of thought and desire, piloted by a writer who never loses their way.The New York Times

In these abundant, bighearted poems, Smith examines the psychic trauma of existing in a world of racism and xenophobia, as well as the ability of intimate friendships to deliver salvation.Esquire

[Homie] is a collection that confirms Smiths great talent.BuzzFeed

[Homie] offers the opportunity to witness the miracle of other peoples lives and will challenge you to consider how and why that miracle is dismissed in countless l³î