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About The Book
FINALIST FOR THE PULITZER PRIZE FOR POETRY
WINNER OF THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD
WINNER OF THE NAACP IMAGE AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING POETRY
“Patricia Smith is the greatest living poet. Every book is better than the last.” —The Guardian
“In The Intentions of Thunder, language itself becomes weather—charged, clarifying, and resounding, a form of resurrection and survival.” —National Book Award Judges' Citation
A collection of the finest new and selected poems from one of the most groundbreaking voices in contemporary poetry, a “masterful performer and poet of voices too little heard” (Poetry Foundation).
The Intentions of Thunder gathers, for the first time, the essential work from across Patricia Smith’s decorated career. Here, Smith’s poems, affixed with her remarkable gift of insight, present a rapturous ode to life. With careful yet vaulting movement, these poems traverse the redeeming landscape of pain, confront the frightening revelations of history, and disclose the joyous possibilities of the future. The result is a profound testament to the necessity of poetry—all the careful witness, embodied experience, and bristling pleasure that it bestows.
Lyrical and sly, meditative and volcanic, The Intentions of Thunder is “an unforgettable offering from one of the most important voices in poetry” (Publishers Weekly) and a stunning exploration of the fullness of living. The inimitable poetry of Patricia Smith radiates in The Intentions of Thunder—reaffirming Smith’s place as one of the indispensable poets of our time.
WINNER OF THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD
WINNER OF THE NAACP IMAGE AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING POETRY
“Patricia Smith is the greatest living poet. Every book is better than the last.” —The Guardian
“In The Intentions of Thunder, language itself becomes weather—charged, clarifying, and resounding, a form of resurrection and survival.” —National Book Award Judges' Citation
A collection of the finest new and selected poems from one of the most groundbreaking voices in contemporary poetry, a “masterful performer and poet of voices too little heard” (Poetry Foundation).
The Intentions of Thunder gathers, for the first time, the essential work from across Patricia Smith’s decorated career. Here, Smith’s poems, affixed with her remarkable gift of insight, present a rapturous ode to life. With careful yet vaulting movement, these poems traverse the redeeming landscape of pain, confront the frightening revelations of history, and disclose the joyous possibilities of the future. The result is a profound testament to the necessity of poetry—all the careful witness, embodied experience, and bristling pleasure that it bestows.
Lyrical and sly, meditative and volcanic, The Intentions of Thunder is “an unforgettable offering from one of the most important voices in poetry” (Publishers Weekly) and a stunning exploration of the fullness of living. The inimitable poetry of Patricia Smith radiates in The Intentions of Thunder—reaffirming Smith’s place as one of the indispensable poets of our time.
About The Author
Photograph by Sandro Miller
Patricia Smith is an inductee of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, a recipient of the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize for Lifetime Achievement, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, and a winner of the National Book Award for Poetry. She is the author of nine acclaimed books of poetry, including Unshuttered; Incendiary Art, finalist for the 2018 Pulitzer Prize and winner of the 2018 Kingsley and Kate Tufts Poetry Award, the 2017 Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and the 2018 NAACP Image Award; Shoulda Been Jimi Savannah, winner of the Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize from the Academy of American Poets; and Blood Dazzler, a National Book Award finalist. A Guggenheim Fellow, a National Endowment for the Arts grant recipient, a finalist for the Neustadt International Prize for Literature, and a four-time individual champion of the National Poetry Slam, Smith is a creative writing professor in the Lewis Center for the Arts at Princeton University and a former distinguished professor at the City University of New York. She lives in New Jersey with her husband.
About The Reader
Photograph by Sandro Miller
Patricia Smith is an inductee of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, a recipient of the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize for Lifetime Achievement, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, and a winner of the National Book Award for Poetry. She is the author of nine acclaimed books of poetry, including Unshuttered; Incendiary Art, finalist for the 2018 Pulitzer Prize and winner of the 2018 Kingsley and Kate Tufts Poetry Award, the 2017 Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and the 2018 NAACP Image Award; Shoulda Been Jimi Savannah, winner of the Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize from the Academy of American Poets; and Blood Dazzler, a National Book Award finalist. A Guggenheim Fellow, a National Endowment for the Arts grant recipient, a finalist for the Neustadt International Prize for Literature, and a four-time individual champion of the National Poetry Slam, Smith is a creative writing professor in the Lewis Center for the Arts at Princeton University and a former distinguished professor at the City University of New York. She lives in New Jersey with her husband.
Product Details
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio (September 30, 2025)
- Runtime: 7 hours and 50 minutes
- ISBN13: 9781668108772
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Raves and Reviews
"The poet and critic Terrance Hayes named Patricia Smith the most important and interesting Black poet writing today. He didn’t mention, however, the excellence of her performance of her work. This audiobook brings together her most recent poetry and a selection of older poems, giving the listener a fine idea of her career so far. Both the poems and Smith’s readings are full of honest passion, quiet or outspoken as needed, sometimes funny and sometimes heartbreaking. She returns often to the griefs of Black motherhood, but never in a way that excludes white listeners. Her concern is human experience, examined through the lens of Black experience, and it’s difficult to listen to it without being stirred."
– Winner of an AudioFile Earphones Award, AudioFile Magazine
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