Intentions of Thunder

’Patricia Smith is the greatest living poet. Every book is better than the last.’ - Danez Smith, The GuardianAmerica’s Patricia Smith is one of the most indispensable, 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 her career. With impassioned eloquence and a sharpened focus on incidents of national mayhem and mourning, 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 - and of Patricia Smith’s crucial voice.Lyrical, meditative and volcanic, The Intentions of Thunder stunningly explores the fullness of living, presenting a rapturous ode to life. Collections drawn upon include her Pulitzer finalist Incendiary Art - published by Bloodaxe in the UK - featuring her compelling chronicle of the devastating murder of Emmett Till, a backdrop for present-day racial calamities and calls for resistance.’Patricia Smith’s The Intentions of Thunder chronicles America’s traditions, tragedies, and triumphs with steadfast invention. Every book since her groundbreaking debut has been a fusion of form and feeling. Her work redefines the relationship between spoken and written poetry. These new and selected poems are personal while communal; immediate while historical; demonstrative while sublime. In The Intentions of Thunder, language itself becomes weather - charged, clarifying, and resounding, a form of resurrection and survival.’ - Judges’ citation, National Book Award for Poetry 2025