There Are More Beautiful Things Than Beyonce

The only thing more beautiful than Beyonce is God, and God is a black woman sipping rose and drawing a lavender bath, texting her mom, belly-laughing in the therapist's office, feeling unloved, being on display, daring to survive. Morgan Parker stands at the intersections of vulnerability and performance, of desire and disgust, of tragedy and excellence. Unrelentingly feminist, tender, ruthless and sequinned, these poems are an altar to the complexities of black American womanhood in an age of non-indictments and deja vu, and a time of wars over bodies and power. These poems celebrate and mourn. They are a chorus chanting: You're gonna give us the love we need.'(an)Outstanding collection of poems. So much soul. So much intelligence in how Parker folds in cultural references and the experiences of black womanhood. Every poem will get its hooks into you. And of course, the poems about Beyonce are the greatest because Beyonce is our queen.'-  Roxane Gay 'I can and have read Morgan Parker's poems over and over . . . She writes history and pleasure and kitsch and abstraction, then vanishes like a god in about 13 inches.' - Eileen Myles'Morgan Parker has a mind like wildfire and these pages are lit. I can't recall being this enthralled, entertained, and made alert by a book in a very long time.' - Jami Attenberg