A clearly politically and societally engaged work, this follows in the footsteps of Ginsberg's Howl as a more abstract and racially focused collection directed at American society. With experimental poetry that implements religion & spirituality, politics, profanity, and sexuality, this is a three-part work that moves from recognition of societal problems into a sort of manifesto for blacks in America. Far more abstract than Ginsberg's work, while the influence is clear, it's also obvious that this is a book focused on abstraction and ideals--its' sights in the future instead of the past or present.

This is not for every reader, or even for every poetry reader. It's distinctive worthwhile poetry for those interested in politically aware or race based poetry of mid-twentieth-century America, but also a book that clearly wants to shock readers out of complacency with the status quo. ( )