“Proceeding in prayerlike incantation, “Best Barbarian,” Roger Reeves’s terrific second collection, eruditely sets out to unite the Western literary canon with its omissions and oppressions. These poems resurrect an eclectic cast of characters, from Sappho to James Baldwin, to reflect on the poet’s vital yet unanswerable question: “What disaster will I deliver to my daughter?” From playful abecedarians to a psychedelic “durational” poem (which, when read aloud, is roughly the length of the Alice Coltrane song that inspired it) the reader traverses a sonic landscape from elegy to ecstasy.”

“The mesmerizing second collection from Reeves reflects intergenerational racial trauma and personal tragedy with a remarkable balance of acute feeling and lyrical precision… With vivid images and haunting, evocative language, Reeves memorably places the reader in the space where life and death intersect.”

“A sophisticated and breathtaking writer, Reeves takes the reader on a harrowing journey: each poem comes packed with arresting imagery, relentless in its examination of how tragedy and trauma become internalized—cleaning out the wounds to understand the pain.”

“Adorned with a Basquiat painting on the cover, Reeves’ collection is a beautiful and thought-provoking look at race, identity, the South, and Christianity. Heavily influenced by pop culture and the Western canon—from Wu Tang and Mike Tyson to Keats and Neruda—these playful poems are shaped by recurring characters, including Jesus, and a fascination with herons...Reeves’ meaningful poems are smart without being pretentious.”

“King me” is an expression from the game of checkers, declared when one player’s piece reaches the opponent’s end of the board and is “kinged,” allowing it a much greater range of movement. Reeves’s debut begins with that demand, a bold but risky gambit. Reeves is interested in the intersection of politics and the personal...Reeves is one to watch.”