Quiet: Poems

A black British poet makes her thrilling American debut with Quiet, exploring the significance of "quiet" in fostering community, resistance, and love. Acclaimed by Bernardine Evaristo, Booker Prize-winning author of Girl, Woman, Other, the poems in Quiet are praised for their melodious versatility, intellect, and dexterity, embodying the political through the personal.

The collection poses profound questions: How does one find meaning amid various kinds of noise? What is quiet when it is not silence? Where does quiet exist, and what liberative potential does it hold? These poems delve into themes of black interiority, intimacy, and selfhood, celebrating and mourning with equal fervor. With a metaphysical edge and formal restlessness, Quiet navigates the tension between the desire to protect one’s inner life and the understanding, as articulated by Audre Lorde, that "your silence will not protect you."