Testify

by Simone John

Testify, Simone John’s first full-length book of poems, experiments with documentary poetics to uplift stories of black people impacted by state-sanctioned violence. The book’s first section weaves Rachel Jeantel’s testimony in the Trayvon Martin trial with Kendrick Lamar lyrics, fixed form and found poems, and personal artifacts. The second section centers on the audio of the dashboard recording that captured Sandra Bland’s fatal police encounter. Excerpts from this exchange are punctuated with elegies for other dead black women, creating a larger commentary about race and gender-based violence. Testify is ultimately a book of witness. It “burdens” its readers “with knowing.” Combined, both chapters serve as an unflinching critique of race and gender supremacy in the United States.

Genres: Poetry

101 pages, Paperback

Published August 1, 2017

Reviews

[Maureen Alsop · Rating 5 out of 5]

An exemplary debut collection which is memorialization, elegy, and documentary, Simone John wields with dignity and grace the clarity of assertions to which the whole of the United States not should, but MUST attend. In Testify John leads the reader into examinations of brutality with unwavering adjuration.

These testimonial poems command respect and are crafted with an assertive eloquence. From excerpts of Trayvon Martin’s testimony, to a litany of questions regarding the arrest (and subsequent death) of Sandra Bland, John’s poems are unwavering in their demand for a response. Read more at: Poemeleon https://poemeleon.me/truthy-book-reviews

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jarring, raw, and candid, Simone John compiles a plethora of crucial poems in this volume, relaying the pervasive fear and injustices that black Americans have been subjected to. A formidable collective plea for justice that evokes the excruciating pain, sorrow, and exasperation of those who have been persecuted due to the malignant prejudices that pervade America's predominantly white society and its constituent structures.

[Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Detective interviews, arrest footage transcripts, and memory mournfully interwoven together to reveal a deeply personal testimony of human life and death. Less than a hundred pages, yet shoulders the weight of centuries of burden and heartbreak for Black Americans. Beautiful and powerful required reading.

[Kristen Morgan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my last read of 2017. My words will not do this book justice. Simone John is a gifted local poet whose words will no doubt evoke change (if not to laws and policies then absolutely to our thoughts and perceptions).

[Darrah Cloud · Rating 5 out of 5]

Debut book of poetry knocks it out of the park. Trayvon, Sandra Bland, their stories are told here by the witnesses around them and the cameras that were rolling, and John's keen ear. Brilliant. It will make you sob, it will make you angry. It will make you thank God for poetry.

[Becca Pirie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Please go buy a copy of this collection. It's incredible.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Powerful way to present last words of those who have perished in the hands of police officers. Stunning and disturbing read.