Spectral Evidence: Poems

By: Gregory Pardlo

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Synopsis: A powerful meditation on Blackness, beauty, faith, and the force of law, from the beloved award-winning author of Digest and Air TrafficElegant, profound, and intoxicating—Spectral Evidence, Gregory Pardlo&’s first major collection of poetry after winning the Pulitzer Prize for Digest, moves fluidly among considerations of the pro-wrestler Owen Hart; Tituba, the only Black woman to be accused of witchcraft during the Salem witch trials; MOVE, the movement and militant separatist group famous for its violent stand-offs with the Philadelphia Police Department (&“flames rose like orchids . . . / blocks lay open like egg cartons&”); and more.At times cerebral and at other times warm, inviting and deeply personal, Spectral Evidence compels us to consider how we think about devotion, beauty and art; about the criminalization and death of Black bodies; about justice—and about how these have been inscribed into our present, our history, and the Western canon: &“If I could be / the forensic dreamer / . . . / . . . my art would be a mortician&’s / paints.&”