Blood Ties: Working-Class Poems Book

The only poetry collection I have found difficult to put down so far'almost every poem has managed to put a smile on my face! This sure enough will keep anyone reading. And there are poems I'm ready to read again and again … aloud too!

Joudah's style is similar to that of a painter'a portrait poet. Some poems present a distinct picture in each stanza, often juxtaposing different people and elements, the sum of which adds up to the general meaning of the poem. At other instances, Joudah relies on repetition and parallel structures to convey the unison and harmony that can be felt in nature:

"The roots will sense your ailment.
The flowers will scan your organs.
Geranium for the spleen,
Poppies for the brain,"

Here are some of my favorite moments:

"An officer asked
My father for fingerprints,
And my father refused,

So another offered him tea
And he sipped it. The teacup
Template for fingerprints."
'''''''''''''''
"Say I found you and god
On the same day at the border
Of words, better two late birds than

The stone that hit them.
Say the stone is my death, when we met,
You and I, near the cross

Of the iv pole and fell
In love with the other
Side of the hammer,

The one for removing nails
Say you will hold me tightly.
Say the pharaoh's daughter

Wanted to play mother,
So the pharaoh tested the divine
With an ember near

The suckling mouth.
Say Moses lisped his promise.
And termites chewed

On Solomon's stick
Until they broke his last repose."
'''''''''''''''
"I know an axe and a turtle's shell.
I know the day I won

A silver watch in school
Then came home with my father

To tell my mother her mother had died.
I know the way

My mother slapped him
And let her nails

Linger. Bleeding,
He smiled to teach me:

We slap whom we love."