{"product_id":"there-are-more-beautiful-things-than-beyonce-isbn-9781941040539","title":"There Are More Beautiful Things Than Beyonce","description":"The only thing more beautiful than Beyoncé is God,\nand God is a black woman sipping rosé and drawing a\nlavender bath, texting her mom, belly-laughing in the\ntherapist’s office, feeling unloved, being on display, daring to survive. Morgan Parker stands at the intersections\nof vulnerability and performance, of desire and disgust,\nof tragedy and excellence. Unrelentingly feminist,\ntender, ruthless, and sequined, these poems are an altar\nto the complexities of black American womanhood in\nan age of non-indictments and deja vu, and a time of\nwars over bodies and power. These poems celebrate and\nmourn. They are a chorus chanting: You’re gonna give\nus the love we need.This singular poetry collection is a dynamic meditation on the experience of, and societal narratives surrounding, contemporary black womanhood. . . . Ranging from orderly couplets to an itemized list titled after Jay Z’s \"99 Problems\" to lines interrupted by gaping white space, \u003cb\u003ethese exquisite poems defy categorization\u003c\/b\u003e.\n—The New Yorker\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eMorgan Parker''s bombastic second book profoundly expresses a black millennial consciousness with anger and appetite\u003c\/b\u003e. Everywhere Parker looks, she sees a wildly messed-up world — \"There's far too many of me dying\"; \"The President be like\/ we lost a young boy today.\" She also answers a personal and public mandate to re-envision it through humor and confrontation.\n—NPR.org\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e[A] brash, risqué collection that explores what it means to be a black woman in contemporary American culture. Parker, whose first book won the Gatewood Prize, is as self-assured as the women who appear in these pages, including Queen Latifah, Nikki Giovanni and Michelle Obama. Cultural references, old songs and classic poems spark observations about feminism, sex and desire at a time when “There’s far too many of me dying.\/ The present is not so different.” . . . \u003cb\u003eEach woman in this fierce collection wants to be seen for who she is, not what society wants her to be, and each demands respect.\u003c\/b\u003e\n—The Washington Post\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eParker’s poems brings heat to the art of Mickalene Thomas, the racial politics of Barack Obama’s presidency, the body politics of Beyoncé and the danger of moving through America in a black body.—TIME Magazine, Best Paperbacks of 2017\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eParker’s poetry is a sledgehammer covered in silk\u003c\/b\u003e, exposing black women’s vulnerability and power and underscoring what it means to be magical and in pain. This collection is a must for anyone who recognizes that celebrity is an extension of American culture — and for those who don''t, it will transform their perspective.\n—BuzzFeed\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eParker’s second collection . . . exquisitely examines American values, often summoning its celebrities—Beyoncé, Michelle Obama, Lou Reed—to illuminate society’s staggering shortcomings and the intricacies of black womanhood. . . . [T]hese poems are, without a doubt, Parker’s as \u003cb\u003eshe encapsulates vulnerability, feminism, and utter fearlessness in rhythmic, glittering verse.\u003c\/b\u003e\n—Booklist\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMorgan Parker''s second book of poetry, \u003ci\u003eThere Are More Beautiful Things Than Beyonc\u003c\/i\u003eé (Tin House Books), isn't just \u003cb\u003ethe most ferocious collection to be published this year.\u003c\/b\u003e It's also an antidote to the culture of hate and white supremacy . . . part psychic excavation, part historical exorcism. Having watched Nina Simone in concert on YouTube most of my adult life, I've finally found an experience to compare that to.\n—Interview Magazine\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eEmploying fierce language and eschewing fear of unflattering light\u003c\/b\u003e, Parker (\u003ci\u003eOther People’s Comfort Keeps Me Up at Night\u003c\/i\u003e) pays homage to the deep roots and collective wisdom of black womanhood. Parker’s poems are as flame-forged as a chain locked around soft ankles.\n—Publishers Weekly, Starred Review\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e[A] tremendous new collection.—The Paris Review\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eParker weaves together Marvin Gaye lyrics, texting slang, and a critical, caring perspective on black womanhood to create\u003cb\u003epoems that are both radically powerful and laugh-out-loud funny.\u003c\/b\u003e\n—VICE\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAs unbelievable as you may find the title, \u003ci\u003eThere Are More Beautiful Things Than Beyoncé \u003c\/i\u003eproves that it is possible to create something greater than Queen Bey. Riddled with pop culture references aimed at exploring what it means to be a black American woman in modern times, this beautiful poetry collection probes the realms of American politics, national and family history, race, and gender with unflinching honesty. \u003cb\u003eAs soulful as it is timely, \u003ci\u003eThere Are More Beautiful Things Than Beyoncé\u003c\/i\u003e is a daring collection you''''ll want to bask in\u003c\/b\u003e all year long.\n—Most Anticipated Feminist Book Releases of 2017, Bustle\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThese words, \u003cb\u003ebrilliant, lovely, and sharp like a diamond\u003c\/b\u003e, cut me deeply and left me in awe of Parker’s writing. This book is an exciting contribution to the rich legacy of Black feminist art, literature, poetry, and music that daily adds more complex representations of Black American womanhood.\n—Bitch Media\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe first thing you have to understand is that Morgan Parker is one of the most fascinating poets working today. \u003cb\u003eShe writes poems that are clever, beautiful, political, playful, breathtaking.\u003c\/b\u003e The second thing is that Beyoncé is one of the most potent icons in contemporary popular culture. Now imagine what happens when those two—poet and icon—meet in verse.\n—Book Riot\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFor the person who doesn't need their poetry to be \"pretty.\" For the person who needs their poetry to be powerful in its beauty, in its ability to eviscerate them, in its willingness to go places they never knew existed before. For the person who drinks words like others drink water.—NYLON, Best Books of the Year\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"There are more beautiful things than Beyoncé: self-awareness,\/Leftover mascara in clumps, recognizing a pattern\/This is for all the grown women out there\/Whose countries hate them and their brothers\/Who carry knives in their purses down the street\/Maybe they will not get out alive\/Maybe they will turn into air or news or brown flower petals,\" writes Morgan Parker in the title poem of her new collection, \u003ci\u003eThere Are More Beautiful Things Than Beyoncé\u003c\/i\u003e. If that doesn't pique your interest\/make you feel something\/have you reexamining your negative attitude about poetry (get over it!), check yourself for a pulse.\n—Portland Mercury\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMorgan Parker turns Beyoncé and gin-soaked olives into electric poetry.—Portland Monthly\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eParker's \u003cb\u003ebold, brilliant and biting poetry\u003c\/b\u003e explores race, sex and womanhood in contemporary culture.\n—Shelf Awareness\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eEasily one of the most compelling poetry collections of the past few years, \u003ci\u003eThere Are More Beautiful Things Than Beyoncé\u003c\/i\u003e is fresh, unexpected, and intimate; an equally devastating and uplifting exploration of black womanhood; and a tender and lovely celebration of life.\n—Shondaland\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Art hurts,\" wrote poet Gwendolyn Brooks. \"Art urges voyages.\" Morgan Parker's poems hurt deeply and voyage widely. They do not let you sit comfortably and idly and safe, but take you on an adventure like no other. Like the \"Fantastic Voyage\" promised by R\u0026amp;B legends Lakeside, Parker's work is \"live, live, all the way live.\" Get on board this trip; it is like no other.—D.A. Powell\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e[Parker''''s] second collection of poetry is a series of raw, unflinching examinations of race and womanhood.—Girlboss, \"Five New Books That Will Make You a Better Feminist\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOutstanding collection of poems. So much soul. So much intelligence in how Parker folds in cultural references and the experiences of black womanhood. \u003cb\u003eEvery poem will get its hooks into you.\u003c\/b\u003e And of course, the poems about Beyoncé are the greatest because Beyoncé is our queen.\n—Roxane Gay\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThere are more beautiful things than Beyonce in these pages because, as Morgan Parker writes in poems channeling the president’s wife, the Venus Hottentot and multiple Beyonces, “we’re everyone. We have ideas and vaginas, history and clothes and a mother.” The kind of verve the late New York school Ted Berrigan would have called “feminine marvelous and tough” is here, as well as the kind of vulnerability that fortifies genuine daring. \u003cb\u003eThis is a marvelous book. See for yourself. Morgan Parker is a fearlessly forward and forward-thinking literary star.\u003c\/b\u003e\n—Terrance Hayes\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI can and have read Morgan Parker''''s poems over and over . . . She writes\nhistory and pleasure and kitsch and abstraction, then vanishes like a god in\nabout 13 inches.—Eileen Myles\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI love these poems by Morgan Parker. They tell everything exactly like it is, and they don''''t let us off the hook—about how we run this country, about race, about how we spend our time . . . \u003cb\u003eThey hit you with the authority and moral clarity of Langston Hughes, and have the omnivorous eye of Frank O''''Hara.\u003c\/b\u003e\n—Matthew Rohrer\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e[Morgan\nParker’s] poems are delightful in their playful ability to rake through our\ncontemporary moment in search of all manner of riches, just as they are\ndevastating in their ability to remind us of what we look like when nobody''''s\nwatching, and of what the many things we don''''t—or can''''t—say add up to.—Tracy K. Smith\u003cb\u003eMorgan Parker\u003c\/b\u003e is a poet, essayist, and novelist. She is the author of the young adult novel \u003ci\u003eWho Put This Song On?\u003c\/i\u003e; and the poetry collections \u003ci\u003eOther People’s Comfort Keeps Me Up At Night\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eMagical Negro\u003c\/i\u003e, which won the 2019 National Book Critics Circle Award. Parker’s debut book of nonfiction is forthcoming from One World. She is the recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellowship, winner of a Pushcart Prize, and has been hailed by \u003ci\u003eThe New York Times\u003c\/i\u003e as “a dynamic craftsperson” of “considerable consequence to American poetry.”","brand":"Tin House","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48233773826277,"sku":"NP9781941040539","price":16.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9781941040539.jpg?v=1767742387","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/there-are-more-beautiful-things-than-beyonce-isbn-9781941040539","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}