The associative, frequently double-spaced lines of The Book of Daniel feel looser—wilder—than in Smith’s previous work, perhaps a reflection of what many Americans characterize as the increasingly chaotic tenor of our age ... It’s thrilling to witness a poet who was once told he shouldn’t write about blowjobs so that his poems could be 'relevant to a larger community' and who still 'hate[s] how helpful [he is] even when not asked' writing about whatever the fuck he wants. This book is characterized, in part, by Smith’s compelling confidence—even (or perhaps especially) when it’s his self-loathing that he’s confiding ... Though The Book of Daniel is a less bleak collection than his previous one—and I don’t use bleak pejoratively here—it doesn’t shy away from his most difficult subjects: the trauma of homophobia, both past and present; his fraught relationship to sex; the specter of suicide ... I admire Smith’s refusal to serve up the tidy narrative his audience might crave.
... seethes with tension, anger, unease ... [Smith's] lines about the place where fear and desire intersect (which, in some ways, is everywhere) are frank and arresting ... A hardness is balanced by moments of gutting tenderness, particularly in poems addressing his mother and her illness.
Whereas Smith’s previous book of poetry dealt in nuance and innuendo, he shows a more easily humorous side to his writing here, while still addressing serious topics with breathtaking severity. Smith is at his funniest when name-dropping poets ... But Smith also tackles difficult subjects head-on ... Smith’s poetry proves endlessly provocative, often difficult, but never more of the same.
... direct and vulnerable ... Smith exalts in sonic play and striking candor, recasting the confessional mode by refusing self-importance ... The speakers here exhibit their neuroses with a humorous self-awareness ... These antiheroic personas refuse pat epiphanies yet draw affecting meaning from painful experiences (such as encounters with homophobia) and news reports that show humanity at its worst. Smith’s irreverence elsewhere provides credibility to his political outrage and genuine pathos to the narrative of his mother’s cancer diagnosis. This newest collection offers an expansive, diverse consideration of identity and grief.
