Blood Dazzler

_Blood Dazzler_ is a collection of poems around Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath. The works have the impact of a closed fist, beginning with the storm's growth, its building strength, the anticipation of its arrival and landfall and later, the monumental mishandling of the disaster (natural and man-made). I was particularly moved with "Man on the TV say": "Go. He say it simple, grey eyes straight on and watered, he say it in the machine throat they got. On the wall behind him, there's a moving picture of the sky dripping something worse than rain. Go, he say. Pick up y'all black asses and run. ... Uh-huh. Like our bodies got wheels and gas, like at the end of running there's an open door with dry and song inside. ..." That the poor and black and marginalized were the hardest hit, the most exploited and the least capable to re-build and return are now a thing of legend. The injustice of it is powerfully presented here. As Smith writes in one of the concluding poems: " ... Separate God's name from your prayer, and hope He remembers the brutal long-ago ways of magick: Blood in the water. Blood cleanses water." For many, (residents of the Gulf coast in particular) Katrina is something they'd rather forget. I disagree - those of us untouched by the tragedy would do well not to forget. Smith's poems show why it is important to remember.

Blood Dazzlers by Patricia Smith is the fourth collection of her works--enough to merit her one day having a complete works of . . . and hopefully with a cd of her reading her own works. After all, she is a spoken word artist, a national slam champion, and the pleasure of hearing her read her own words is the only way to truly present a complete collection. Do you already guess that I love Smith's poetry? The truth is, I went into this collection with a boat load of anticipation and very high expectations, a combination that can, and often does, damn a book before it is read; all the more so because I had heard her read one of the pieces from this collection at a poetry reading. Nevertheless, this is an ambitious collection that addresses the events leading up to, through, and after Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans. Not completely chronological, thematically the pieces are so tightly woven that the horror of the experience is realized on the page in ways that are both surprising and inevitable. Where Smith excels is in her use of personification--whether anthropomorphic or immersion of herself in the personae of another. Smith has grown as a poet, as an artist, and I look forward to her next offering with bated breath and eagerness.

With vivid images and startling connections to actual events, the author embraces both hope and despair as only a world class poet can.

Patricia Smith's Blood Dazzler writes in the moment of Hurricane Katrina, from the formation of Katrina all the way to its monstrous after effects on the citizens on New Orleans, from every internal view point possible. Persona poems written in the voice of Katrina, New Orleans (before and during the storm), former FEMA Director Michael Brown, Ethel Freeman and family, the 34 victims of St Rita's, and even a local dog left out to weather the storm. Utilizing a variety of poetic forms (sestina, ghazal, tanka, abecedarian) and shifts in language that relay power, dread, scorn, and (ultimately) survival, this collection moves past the trend of poetics emerging from large scope tragedies--where the poet writes in simple response to the tragedy but rarely places the poetic speaker in the complexities of the tragedy itself--and sets a new benchmark for the poetics of witness.

"Blood Dazzler" is the latest of Patricia Smith's nuanced poetry collections cataloguing the American experience, but I have found this one to be the best yet. Focusing her undeniable talent, sharp ears and limitless heart on Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath, Smith is able to explore the events, the city and its people in ways that feel both fresh and familiar. These are people we know, stories we've heard, and yet Smith does not pity, nor glorify, nor treat the situation as a lamentable but distant "other." As with her previous books, Smith gives it to us straight. She allows us to see people as they are -- as human, as flawed, as beautiful. Smith fearlessly explores the entire landscape of the tragedy with poems from POV of FEMA workers nestled next to poems from the perspective of abandoned dogs, poems about displaced school children next to poems about triumph drag queens slogging through the mud, even the Superdome, Hurricane Betsy and Hurricane Katrina, herself, have their say. Smith explores the darkest corners of this tragedy, but also sees the light as well, as faith and endurance are celebrated. This is truly American book about a regrettably American tragedy, and Patricia Smith remains true to herself as one of the boldest voices we have in American poetry.