# Dark Testament: Blackout Poems - Hardcover

by **Crystal Simone Smith** (Author)

**In this extraordinary collection, the award-winning poet Crystal Simone Smith gives voice to the mournful dead, their lives unjustly lost to violence, and to the grieving chorus of protestors in today's Black Lives Matter movement, in search of resilience and hope.**

With poems found within the text of George Saunders's _Lincoln in the Bardo_, Crystal Simone Smith embarks on an uncompromising exploration of collective mourning and crafts a masterwork that resonates far beyond the page. These poems are visually stark, a gathering of gripping verses that unmasks a dialogue of tragic truths--the stories of lives taken unjustly and too soon.

Bold and deeply affecting, _Dark Testament_ is a remarkable reckoning with our present moment, a call to action, and a plea for a more just future.

Along with the poems, _Dark Testament_ includes a stirring introduction by the author that speaks to the content of the poetry, a Q&A with George Saunders, and a full-color photo-insert that commemorates victims of unlawful killings with photographs of memorials that have been created in their honor.

"I love this tremendously skillful, timely, and dazzling repurposing of passages of my novel, _Lincoln in the Bardo_. Crystal Simone Smith has, with her amazing ear and heart, found, in that earlier grief, a beautiful echo for our time." --George Saunders, _New York Times_ bestselling author of _Lincoln in the Bardo_ and _Tenth of December_

"Written in response to the murder of George Floyd...this touching memorial to the Black lives lost to systemic racism is a rousing homage to those protesting in their honor, who refuse to let these deaths be in vain." - _Publisher's Weekly_

### Author Biography

**Crystal Simone Smith** is the author of two poetry chapbooks, _Routes Home_, and _Running Music_. She is also the author of _Wildflowers: Haiku, Senryu, and Haibun_. Her work has appeared in numerous journals, including _Callaloo_, _Nimrod_, _Barrow Street_, _Obsidian II:_ _Literature in the African Diaspora_, _African American Review_, and _Mobius: The Journal of Social Change._ She is an alumna of the Callaloo Creative Writing Workshop and the Yale Summer Writers Conference. She holds an MFA from Queens University of Charlotte and lives in Durham, North Carolina, with her husband and two sons where she teaches English composition and creative writing. She is the managing editor of Backbone Press. **crystalsimonesmith.com**

**Number of Pages:** 160

**Dimensions:** 1.1 x 8.7 x 6.2 IN

**Publication Date:** January 03, 2023

## Details

- **Price:** 19.99 USD
- **Vendor:** Books by splitShops
- **Type:** Books
- **Tags:** Books by splitShops, Shopify Collective

## Variants

| Variant | Price | Available |
|---------|-------|-----------|
| Default Title | 19.99 USD | In stock |

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- Dark Testament: Blackout Poems - Hardcover

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