Reviews

Best Barbarian: Poems by Roger Reeves

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faithtaylor's review

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challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

See; now THIS is poetry! I’m not really sure I understood most of it, but it’s beautiful all the same.

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dreaming_ace's review

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4.0

This was an interesting collection of literary poems around life and death and making meaning of both.

arden_time's review

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challenging dark reflective medium-paced

4.75

roger reeves is a fucking genius. his way with words is phenomenal, i hope to be even half as good as he is one day.

fave poems: children listen, second plague year ..., domestic violence, rich black, or best barbarian, for black children ...

pfuller91's review

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challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.0

lauraew333's review

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lighthearted reflective sad medium-paced

3.0

Wasn't for me, but I did like a few of the poems and how the author uses references!

casparb's review

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following Baldwin, who spiritually opens this collection, I find it nice to read this in the spirit of Go Tell it On the Mountain w/ the apocalyptic themes & fire fire.... enjoyed sustaining musics

imiji's review against another edition

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emotional reflective medium-paced

4.5

i found it physically impossible to read this in one sitting as i'd been originally planning to because every two poems or so i needed to put the book down to just wheeze a little bit like somebody had kicked me directly in the stomach. especially the first third or so is just FURIOUS -- not that its main modality is anger necessarily but that the way it moves just feels charged with roiling energy. the way that this book makes images orbit each other like planets in a solar system all tugging on each other gravitationally is astounding. i will be thinking about "rat among the pines" for a very long time.

exlibrisnina's review

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4.0

As other reviewers noted, this is pretty dense poetry. Reeves frequently references/integrates the styles and works of others, and if you're not familiar (and don't check the notes at the back), you'll be left a little lost. Not that this complexity is a bad thing- I think it forced me to spend more time thinking about each piece, rather than skimming as I may have with 'easier' poetry. It's just a little intimidating, especially if you're not a frequent poetry reader- which I am not. I don't mind having to do a little research as I read, but I also know I wasn't able to fully appreciate some of the poems because I lacked background.

I found myself most engrossed when Reeves really played with rhyme and rhythm/meter (I keep coming back to "Cocaine and Gold" for this reason). I also felt that the poems in which Reeves confronts his feelings on his father's death and police brutality to be the most impactful- particularly "After the Funeral" and "Rat Among the Pines".

My thoughts are still a little complicated, but overall I would say this collection is highly worth picking up if you’re willing to commit the time and energy to unpacking it carefully. Read them aloud, read them again and again!