Before I read Rapture, I didn’t know anything about the poet Sjohnna McCray, except, of course, that this book won the Walt Whitman Award of the Academy of American Poets. That was all right, because I felt I learned a lot from reading. This is a book about fathers and sons and mothers and lovers; it aches beautifully.
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Rapture (Graywolf Press, 2016)
Feelings while reading: A bit jealous, really, as the poems are gorgeous with imagery as they tells their stories, so close and so personal. Beautiful language choices as well, in terms of both meaning and sound.
Favorite poems: How to Move, His Face Is as Far Away as the Light, Smoke & Mirrors, Cinéma Vérité (particularly the final section), Portrait of My Father as a Young Black Man, Death Is a One-Night Stand, The Messenger, The Pear Tree, Rapture (particularly the Prologue and section VII)
Favorite lines: “Arteries close for grief. Love leaves the barest / bones of a thought: clouds evaporate.” (Agnostic Front)
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Final Thought: This is a wonderful book of poetry.
clb writes 