PositiveThe New York Times Book ReviewThe stunning second section, 'Seeing Things,' is especially captivating and reveals Cole’s voracious appetite for and love of the visual ... When the occasional essay fails to hold interest it’s because the connections Cole draws to some European lineage remain tenuous ... On every level of engagement and critique, Known and Strange Things is an essential and scintillating journey.
Amiri Baraka
RaveThe New York Times Book ReviewFor readers familiar with Transbluesency: The Selected Poetry of Amiri Baraka/LeRoi Jones (1961-1995), published 20 years ago and also selected by Vangelisti, S O S can be considered an updated version. The omissions in Transbluesency remain intentional omissions in S O S: Poems 1961-2013. In this sense the collection is selected with an emphasis not on culling the good from the bad but on presenting a certain narrative for Baraka, one not interested in his career in the archival sense ... The real prize of S O S is its final group of poems, labeled Fashion This, 1996-2013 ... S.O.S compiles the most complete representation of over a half-century of revolutionary and breathtaking work. Its final poem, 'Ballad Air & Fire,/ is a stunningly beautiful lyric dedicated to Baraka’s wife.
