First book of the year, and it's during Black History Month. [Unshuttered by Patricia Smith]

There's something audacious, near sacrilegious about crafting a narrative, about ascribing lifestyles and struggles to unknown peoples and unfamiliar faces. And yet here we are. Patricia Smith's Unshuttered combined poetic narrative with vintage photograph to underscore lasting truths of the Black American experience. But I don't know that I bought the stories. Yes, there were a handful that I'd say were poignant and pulled at my whatever-the-socially-conscious-equivalent-of-heartstrings-is, but, reading some poems and referencing back to their respective photos, I wondered why some faces apparently telegraphed terrible suffering and others joy amidst, hidden lives and faithful struggles. But this was not my book to make. And the whole concept was quite novel (see what I did there?). So I have to respect the author's choices and judge accordingly.

The collection of pictures was lovely. This isn't my first read focused on a collection of vintage photos highlighting Afro-descendant peoples. I try to imagine the situations in which one not only finds such photographs, but the context that allows the building of a collection. I myself would be so lucky to find myself in such a position, as much as I love histories and hidden stories. And that's the key to my reading experience when it comes to poetry, how much of it can be felt viscerally, how much of it rings true. The writing style and the narrative choices are key. The underlying pain of the lived Black experience under white supremacist systems was fantastically highlighted, though it at times felt repetitive. The skepticism I felt as I read however would imply that the combination was not as strong as I'd hoped. 3 stars from me. Had a few more stories stood out to me that rating would likely have been higher. But they didn't. I can't do much about that.

Unshuttered (ISBN: 9780810145634) is due for publication February 15, 2023.