Apowerful,timely,dazzlingnewcollectionofpoemsfromTerranceHayes,theNationalBookAward-winningauthorofLighthead--tobepublishedsimultaneouslywithhislatestworkofliterarycriticism,WatchYourLanguageThethreesectionsofTerranceHayes’seventhcollectionexplorehowweseeourselvesandourworld,mappingthestrangeandlyricalgrammarofthinkingandfeeling.In“WatchYourMouth,“atreefrogsingstoovercomeitsfearofbirds;in“WatchYourStep:TheKafkaVirus,“atalkingcattellsjokesintheJimCrowSouth;in“WatchYourHead,“greenbeansblinginthemouthofLilWayne,andBobRosspaintsyourportrait.Ontheonehand,thesefabulousfables,Americansonnets,quarantinequatrains,andekphrasticdo-it-yourselfsestinasanimatewhatToniMorrisoncalled“thewriterlyimaginationofablackauthorwhoisatsomelevelalwaysconsciousofrepresentingone’sownrace.“Ontheotherhand,theseurgent,personalpoemscontemplatefatherhood,history,andlongingwithremarkableopennessandhumanity.SoToSpeakisthemature,restlessworkofoneofcontemporarypoetry’sleadingvoices.
