Date of Birth: Poems

by Shawn R. Jones

Winner of the 2022 Lexi Rudnitsky First Book Prize, haunting vignettes of people betrayed by family and American society. The poems in this bracing debut do not shy away from incomprehensible racism, poverty, abuse, and addiction, incest, and infidelities of the body and mind. Yet the world depicted by Shawn R. Jones has moments of humor and playfulness―for example, in a litany of indelible nicknames of the members of her childhood cohort in Atlantic City. If Date of Birth is heart-wrenching in its journalistic reporting of suffering, it is also a testament to the strength and resilience of the figures it portrays.

Genres: Poetry

72 pages, Paperback

Published April 11, 2023

Reviews

[Andrés Ríos · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some of the best poetry i’ve ever read. Such a boundless and profound writer whose attention to detail shines through on here. Every poem has an imagery that you can truly appreciate only by closing your eyes and picturing everything she’s describing.

Will keep on re-reading it for as long as i own this piece.

[Richard · Rating 5 out of 5]

When you've been a fan of Jones's poetry as long as I have, you know that her work jumps into the deepest cuts of pain but also the sublime cocoons of joy. Date of Birth comes to a new level, if a new level among such extremes is possible (and it IS possible, if you read this book). Date of Birth has found that spot where pain leads to the compulsion to save everyone from it. As the speaker of "Afraid To Open This Letter From Inmate 17650-328" insists, "I don't know how to love//without exhausting myself. I keep running from/window to window punishing myself every time//I miss." Some poetry wallows in its pain, yearns for pity, but Jones shows us the thrust to save others because of that pain, and despite the reality that we can't save everyone that smacks us with every miss, we're better when we keep putting out our arms to catch others. This is a damn mighty book.

[Chris Drew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall a great read, beautifully speaks to the speakers unique personal experiences and unravels those threads into universal and fundamental human realities. A great sense of pacing and spacing and delivering pin-point precision lines at just the right time. Certain poems stand above the rest, and there are a few that just didn't deliver enough for me, making the whole feel a little uneven, but absolutely a poet to keep reading.

[Rissa Pappas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sometimes the one who deeply experiences, sometimes the one who observes, takes note, edifies, Shawn R. Jones catalogs Camden, Atlantic City, drug users, runaways, kin, neighbors, lovers, children, and betrayers in her impactful poetry. I read the entire book in one sitting, and I know I will do it again.

[Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

Shawn R. Jones's poetry, in its specificity to place, time, and identity, speaks universally in its incisive beauty. These poems reach out to you like a friend. You'll return time and time again to this collection.

[Julia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Shawn Jones truly has a way with words. This poetry is so beautifully and powerfully written. Her imagery takes you into the poem you are reading and each line causes you to explore your own feelings as she reconciles her own.

[Rachel Ward-DiGiovanni · Rating 5 out of 5]

Date of Birth is raw and poignant. Ms. Jones has a new voice that is set to backdrops of social and political unrest, childhood memories, and trauma. Her pieces move you to act, reread, cry, laugh, and recommend this marvelous collection of poems.