Intentions of Thunder

By: Patricia Smith

Narrated by: Patricia Smith

WINNER OF THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD

WINNER OF THE NAACP IMAGE AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING POETRY

“Patricia Smith is the greatest living poet. Every book is better than the last.” —The Guardian

“In The Intentions of Thunder, language itself becomes weather—charged, clarifying, and resounding, a form of resurrection and survival.” —National Book Award Judges' Citation

A collection of the finest new and selected poems from one of the most groundbreaking voices in contemporary poetry, a “masterful performer and poet of voices too little heard” (Poetry Foundation).

The Intentions of Thunder gathers, for the first time, the essential work from across Patricia Smith’s decorated career. Here, Smith’s poems, affixed with her remarkable gift of insight, present a rapturous ode to life. With careful yet vaulting movement, these poems traverse the redeeming landscape of pain, confront the frightening revelations of history, and disclose the joyous possibilities of the future. The result is a profound testament to the necessity of poetry—all the careful witness, embodied experience, and bristling pleasure that it bestows.

Lyrical and sly, meditative and volcanic, The Intentions of Thunder is “an unforgettable offering from one of the most important voices in poetry” (Publishers Weekly) and a stunning exploration of the fullness of living. The inimitable poetry of Patricia Smith radiates in The Intentions of Thunder—reaffirming Smith’s place as one of the indispensable poets of our time.

Critic reviews

"The poet and critic Terrance Hayes named Patricia Smith the most important and interesting Black poet writing today. He didn’t mention, however, the excellence of her performance of her work. This audiobook brings together her most recent poetry and a selection of older poems, giving the listener a fine idea of her career so far. Both the poems and Smith’s readings are full of honest passion, quiet or outspoken as needed, sometimes funny and sometimes heartbreaking. She returns often to the griefs of Black motherhood, but never in a way that excludes white listeners. Her concern is human experience, examined through the lens of Black experience, and it’s difficult to listen to it without being stirred."