Roger Reeves is the author of two poetry collections, King Me and Best Barbarian. His essays have appeared in Granta, the Yale Review, and elsewhere. He is the recipient of a Whiting Award, and teaches at the University of Texas at Austin.
"Stunning. . . . In a variety of pieces exploring race and legacy
and community, Reeves captures the sorrows inherent in the way we
live today even while keeping a keen eye toward opportunity for
joy."--Maris Kreizman, Vulture "With this text, [Reeves] inclines
toward his ideal of the ecstatic, defiantly daring to build the
sort of life--intellectual and free--so easily denied to Black
Americans. A cerebral, ruminative essay collection brimming with
insight and vision."--Kirkus Reviews "Reeves's trademark lyricism
shines throughout, proving that he's just as affecting in prose as
in verse. This impresses."--Publishers Weekly
"With his remarkable commitment to emotionally distancing himself
from the taxing burden of Black American labor, it is tempting to
interpret Reeves's praise for quiet reflection as a complete
rejection of all forms of emotional labor, but the structure of
Dark Days appears to resist this absolute...Reeves's vulnerability
here only cements the vitality of connection. It suggests that
quiet, unapologetic joy has the potential to liberate the
Black American soul from a trauma that remains and will likely
persevere. In Dark Days, 'subversive silence' is a call for a
connection that strengthens beneath the chaos of modern protests to
affirm a Black American's right to rest. By keeping the gin house's
brick out of hand, we perform a silent, ecstatic labor of love that
honors and respects the humanity that connects us
all."--Nicole Gantz, West Trade Review "This is a gift of a book
written by a poet with searing intelligence. . . . Dark Days builds
with essays that are astonishing in their revelations as well as
their forms. . . . Reeves contemplates the silence, the
introspection necessary for eloquent responses to our increasingly
frightening world."--Denise Duhamel, Best American Poetry blog
"Reeves extends passion and profound vulnerability surrounding his
experiences as a Black man and father. . . . These essays also ask
readers to question how peace is experienced: is peace only
obtainable on a massive scale, or can it be discovered in the
pleasure of reading, in joyful songs of praise, or even in absolute
silence?"--Library Journal "Reeves uses a personal lens to access
the overwhelming expansiveness of history. [His] prose is lyrical,
poetic, and engrossing, and sure to appeal to fans of Hanif
Abdurraqib and Michael Eric Dyson."--Booklist
"Dark Days is a testament to Roger Reeves's dazzling intellect and
passion. His essays are soaring reflections on joy, ecstasy, and
stillness as profound practices that fuel Black freedom and
resistance. He loads every rift of his subjects with ore, as he
pays generous attention to artists ranging from Zora Neale Hurston
to OutKast to Michael K. Williams. Reeves's declamations are riven
with insights that have truly changed my way of thinking."--Cathy
Park Hong "Pro tip: partake of the brilliance of Roger Reeves.
Among other marvels, the essays in Dark Days challenge silences and
attempted erasures with acuity, with eloquence, with a thunderous
beating heart."--Mitchell S. Jackson
"In this heady collection, Roger Reeves troubles history, steps out
on faith, dances with the dead, locates his grandmother in a
footnote, and finds a way to answer his daughter when she asks if
the sirens are coming to kill her. All along, Reeves is
close-reading poetry, music, fiction, and film and showing us what
it means to be underground, to be 'in and out of time.'"--Eula Biss
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