Research Catalog

Title

Smoking the Bible : poems / Chris Abani.

Author

Abani, Chris

Publication

Port Townsend, Washington : Copper Canyon Press, [2022]

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

xiii, 62 pages; 23 cm

Summary

• "Smoking the Bible is an arresting collection of poems thick with feeling, shaped by Chris Abani's command of form and metaphor. These poems reveal the stories of two brothers -- one elegizing the other -- and the larger story of a man in exile from geography, culture, and memory. In this emotionally generous collection we experience a spiritual reckoning that draws on ancient African traditions of belief and the intellectual vivacity of various wisdom literatures and traditions. Abani illustrates the connective geography between harm, regret, and release, as poems move through landscapes of Nigeria, the Midwestern United States, adulthood, and childhood. We enter a whole and complex world of the imagination in reading this collection. There is no artifice here, no affectation -- these poems are a study in the very grace of image." - From publisher.
• "A collection of poems by Chris Abani"--

Subject

• Bible > History of Biblical events > Poetry
• English poetry > 21st century
• English poetry > Black authors > 21st century
• Poetry
• Poetry
• American poetry > African American authors
• African American poets
• Middle West > Poetry
• Nigeria > Poetry
• Nigeria

Genre/Form

• Poetry
• Poetry.

Contents

Flay -- Quest -- Nostalgia -- Birth Right -- Sojourn -- Excavation -- Light Flame, Turn Rebel -- Cameo: Broach -- White Egret -- Cameo: Cremation -- Thread -- Glow -- Presence and Aftermath -- Poet Desperate for Song -- Manhood -- Question -- That Early Sunday -- The Ghost Speaks -- A Small Awe -- Grace -- Ritual Is Journey -- Olokun -- Offertory -- Horses -- Insomnia -- Rain -- How to Write a Love Letter to Your Brother -- Allegory -- Lineage -- Snake -- Litany -- Zealot -- Leather -- Cameo: Afternoon Tea -- The Bend of Tomorrow -- Father -- Cameo: The Cut -- What Is Traveled, What Is Fragile -- How to Kill Your Father -- There Are Always Bodies in the Swamp -- Terminus -- Portal -- Revelation -- Incantation -- Jordan Is No Mere River -- Wing -- Fragrance -- Ejima -- Scythe -- Vigil -- Mbubu -- Crossing -- The Familiar Is a Texture We Cannot Trust -- The Calculus of Faith.

Call Number

Sc E 23-1453

ISBN

• 9781556596285
• 1556596286
• 9781619322547 (canceled/invalid)
• 1619322544 (canceled/invalid)

LCCN

2021053292

OCLC

1267686930

Author

Abani, Chris, author.

Title

Smoking the Bible : poems / Chris Abani.

Publisher

Port Townsend, Washington : Copper Canyon Press, [2022]

Type of Content

text

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

volume

Creator/Contributor Characteristics

Americans Nigerian Americans Nigerians (Nigeria) Men University and college faculty members

Local Subject

Black author.

Other Form:

Online version: Abani, Chris. Smoking the Bible. Port Townsend, Washington : Copper Canyon Press, 2022 9781619322547 (DLC) 2021053293

Research Call Number

Sc E 23-1453