The Intentions of Thunder – Patricia Smith

I’m a bad English major, and I’m also a bad judge of poetry. Try as I might, the language regularly flies over my head. As such, unless I am particularly moved, I have a difficult time describing what is “good” versus what is not. On a technical level, I recognize this is beautiful collection of writing. It is a long, full collection, though the individual pieces are not dense and plodding. I found her sonnets to be the standout type of the form. Though I do not know background detail on the author, I appreciate it being a career retrospective. This is highlighted by all the different national and global events that influence the art throughout the course of the collection. I will also say, I got into the rhythm more than I typically do with poetry. While reading, I found myself imagining the lyricism of what some of these pieces would sound like when performed aloud. That alone tells me this was worth the time to read.