Review: Silencer

Silencer by Marcus Wicker
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

What is it like to be a black man in midwestern America? Marcus Wicker answers that question in these poems, from microaggressions at a party to interactions with a colleague. He is in deliberate conversation with many writers, but specifically the works Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates and Citizen: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine. Both of these works are specifically mentioned on the notes page to this volume of poems, where you will also find the context for each poem and a playlist.

I fully expect this to be on the National Book Award list this upcoming year. It is relevant and manages to be both universal and an individual experience. The poems are dense and sometimes abstract, and demand your focus.

You can preview a few on the digital EP but the entire volume comes out September 12.

Thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy through Edelweiss!

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