Murmur

A poetry collection that explores the complexity of race and the body for a Black man in contemporary America. The second book by NAACP Image Award finalist Cameron Barnett, Murmur considers the question of how we become who we are. The answers Barnett offers in these poems are neither safe nor easy, as he traces a Black man's lineage through time and space in contemporary America, navigating personal experiences, political hypocrisies, pop culture, social history, astronomy, and language. Barnett synthesizes unexpected connections and contradictions, exploring the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921 and the death of Terence Crutcher in 2016 and searching both the stars of Andromeda and a plantation in South Carolina. A diagnosis from the poet's infancy haunts the poet as he wonders, "like too many Black men," if "a heart is not enough to keep me alive."

Table of Contents:
I’m searching for the perfect light, 3 A soft, indistinct sound 4 Supreme 6 Murmur 7 On the Ground 8 I was made fingerprint first 9 Corners 10 Little Africa on Fire 12 South Carolina 15 Murmur 16 I’m not talking about the backyard 17 The Electrician 18 Worthy 19 Stop Me 21 Vital Signs 23 Ghost Lessons 24 Murmur 26 Ones and Zeros 27 Breath 29 Twenty Eight Teen 30 Reading Black Poems to White Audiences: A How-to Guide 31 Black Holes 33 Murmur 34 Kamehameha 35 On Finding Love in Unanticipated Moments, or My Father Gives Me a Shirt His Father Gave Him Before He Died 36 Swisshelm Park 38 VY CMa 40 Murmur 48 The Pipe Bearer 49 New Fruit Humming 50 Getting to the Party 52 Clotilda 55 Working for the City 56 Skipping Stones to Andromeda 57 Pericardium 58 If my blood never sleeps 59 Murmur 60 Grandpa’s Gavel 61 Why are all the flags at half-mast— 63 My heart is 64 I cut a sprig from a rosemary plant 65 Muck 66 Pardon 67 A Second Opinion 69 Because 70 Murmur 71 Kill 72 Systole, Diastole 73 Notes 77 Acknowledgments 81

About the Author :
CameronBarnettis a poet and teacher living in Pittsburgh, PA. He is the author of Murmur andThe Drowning Boy's Guide to Water, the winner of the Autumn House Press Rising Writer Prize and a finalist for an NAACP Image Award. Other honors include a 2019 Carol R. Brown Creative Achievement Award for Emerging Artist and serving as the '22-'24 Emerging Black Writer in Residence at Chatham University. Cameron teaches at his middle school alma mater, Falk Laboratory School. His work explores the complexity of race, place, and relationships for Black people in America.

Review :
"Open Murmur and be prepared for its thoughtfully crafted forms, sparkling enjambments, and searingly true lines. It is clear why Barnett's first book made him an NAACP Image Award finalist and why this one cements him as a voice of his generation . . . This is art loving history and ancestry, art loving a partner with a hand that may not look like ours but knowing how to help us see stars. This is art that refuses to roll by flags at half mast all the time and not ask that we all notice too, that we all at the very least murmur about it and at the most fight like our hearts could accomplish anything and give us courage to say what any audience might need to hear.  . . brilliant." "Barnett’s second poetry collection, Murmur, is sharply focused and unified, comprising a wide range of forms while never losing sight of its titular conceit: exploring various types of murmurs—anatomical, astronomical, familial, societal, and historical—and how they appear as ghosts throughout his life. Over the span of fifty poems, Barnett ties the murmurs of racism to the haunting capabilities of malicious words, investigates murmurs as small as the one in his infant heart and as large as a star in the universe broadcasting a bygone world. . . . Barnett’s debut—a nominee for a 2018 NAACP Image Award—showed his talent and projected a clear voice and sense of style. Now the poet is delivering on that promise; he has plenty to say and he says plenty in Murmur. A reader might interpret the book’s cover image as representing the many murmurs taking up space in the poet’s heart. This collection shares them with candor and care."   "Barnett’s voice is urgent and insistent, demanding that readers pay attention." “Murmur is in fact a glorious shout. These poems shake up histories, both intimate and political. They stir and disturb the ways we look at love, at race, at our people and ourselves. A bold, beautiful, and brilliant collection!” “Murmur is simply stunning—simultaneously expansive, inventive, and intimate. . . . It urges us to center the corners, the ghosts, the murmurs, the stories, and sights that live, breathe, and are essential if we want to have fullness of heart. An excavation of things forgotten, and both unremembered and mis-remembered, Barnett’s poems remind us that ‘sometimes flecks in the corners . . . are more than aberrations.’ With poems spanning histories, both personal and collective, and poems that center Blackness as a site of joy, promise, pain, and possibilities, these poems compel us toward knowledge we are deeply implicated in. Using the heart, its murmur, and ghosts as connective thread, Barnett’s poems require us to listen to ‘our hauntings,’ as they tell us in lyrical language and form ‘how to give . . . ghosts a home’ because ‘the silence of ghosts becomes a lesson.’ This is a collection to revel in, to read, and to return to again and again. Barnett invites us to listen for the magnitude of stars and intimacy of histories still being made. I found myself breathless as I kept reading for the murmurs within and without.” “In Murmur, Barnett navigates race, family, love, politics, and the intersections of these topics much like a well-versed singer performing their most familiar song. Whether addressing would-be white audiences of a Black poet’s work, past lovers, or recent presidents, Barnett's use of language and imagery rings at the right frequency at each turn. . . . He knows which poems and the notes within them need to be belted at the top of his lungs, which are a smooth croon, and which need to be whispered—murmured, even. With these poems, he ‘invite[s you] up to the mic’ with him, dares you to stand as his song vibrates through you, and see if the bass bumping through your bones doesn’t move you to join him in song.”   “Murmur plays jazz on the spinal cord. It tastes like a sweet drink on a hot day, like heritage made poem. Reminiscent of Terrance Hayes, Jericho Brown, and Ayinde Russell, Barnett invites soul and wisdom to the page and reinvents the action of murmuring to relinquish fear, hate, and disappointment—an inheritance his speakers refuse to accept. Rather than bringing us to our knees, Murmur levitates us, points a new path forward. Celebrate with these poems. Pray and celebrate.”