Wade in the Water

Smith's new book is scorching in both its steady cognizance of America's original racial sins . . . and apprehension about history's direction. . . . These historical poems have a homely, unvarnished sort of grace

The New York Times

The poems in Wade in the Water are full of memorable images nimbly put together by Smith's exquisite sense of timing and her feel for the kind of language appropriate to the poem.

The New York Times Book Review

Smith brings great intelligence and sensitivity to her poems, leading readers deeper into other people's stories and ultimately into their own humanity.

The Washington Post

Smith's poetry is an awakening itself

Vogue

In lines that are as lyrical as they are wise . . . Smith makes connections between the current state of American culture and its history

BuzzFeed

Smith is the country's poetic caretaker, calling both for collective reckoning and collective empathy

The Atlantic

On a craft level, these poems are impeccable. . . . I know brilliance when I read it and this book is brilliant

Roxane Gay

For Smith, poetry is hospitable: accommodating whatever she is moved to write. Her work witnesses, protests and raises its own roof. . . . Smith emerges as a poet in charge of her own creation myth and a recorder of destructive realities

The Observer

Her work witnesses, protests and raises its own roof.... Excellent and bracing

Kate Kellaway, Observer

Powerful and tender

Elle

Unmissable... a collection of poems exploring what it means to be a woman and a citizen in a culture directed by wealth, men and violence

Stylist

Personal and ambitious

Porter