No Matter the Wreckage

Product Information

NEW YORK, United States — After a long awaited compilation of 10 years, Sarah Kay finally publishes her collection of poems which can only be described as brutally raw, naked and hopeful, which is aptly titled No Matter the Wreckage. The great thing about Sarah Kay is that she not only manages to show you the sadness and rawness of reality, but also the joys in the little things. Although Kay works primarily in spoken word poetry, she has had written poems published in magazines such as Foundling Review, DamselFly Press, and decomP literary magazine. I didn't know anything about Sarah Kay or her poetry before I met her at the signing for Jonny Sun's book this past June, but once I heard her read her poem "The Paradox," I was immediately enthralled and added her poetry collection, No Matter The Wreckage, to my TBR and my Christmas want list.

No Matter the Wreckage presents readers with new and beloved work that showcases Kay’s knack for celebrating family, love, travel, history, and unlikely love affairs between inanimate objects, among other curious topics.In 2011, Kay published "B", a short hardcover book containing the titular poem, which was originally written in 2007. I believe that this latter point is a reason that spoken-word poetry has become popular amongst many people are who are not real poetry fans. On the whole they have been good with a few outstanding poems but I haven't been left feeling a sense of loss at the end or a sense of longing to read more, much more. There are some poems that I felt too intimate for me to be reading, like I was invading her privacy, but that's how Sarah Kay is.

When the weight gives, and all that extra rope comes hurtling towards you, how even though you've won, you still end up with muddy knees and burns on your hands? One minute you are in India tasting the sweetness of mangoes, the next you are in Hiroshima staring at the metaphorical rubble. Both fresh and wise, Kay’s poetry allows readers to join her on the journey of discovering herself and the world around her. I leave this book with a feeling of how very under rated she is (despite all the love and fame she garners).I like the challenge of trying to figure out what that room full of people needs or wants on that particular night. Sarah Kay is primarily a spoken word poet, so the writing style embraces the sound and rhythm of her poetry, not simply the structural aspects.

Following the success of her breakout poem, “B”, Sarah Kay releases her debut collection of poetry featuring work from the first decade of her career. I guess right now the poem I am thinking about the most is the poem Ghost Ship, a line from which inspired the title for this collection. It is like watching a really good film, and then reading the book and taking a slightly different experience away with it, like reading Lord of the Rings after watching the film, and still enjoying the book afterwards. So many irrelevant personal stories were shared by the author in this book that made it impossible for me to relate while reading.But I wrote the poem after a pattern had developed in my life that resulted in me having “near-misses” with great tragedies.