Other People's Comfort Keeps Me Up At Night

The pain and emotion in this collection of poetry are so, so real. The words feel like... like pictures in the mind, like you're watching a moving picture instead of reading text.

If you like thought-provoking poetry on a variety of topics including race, pick this up.

I don't have many words.

"I know a little something about pissing / in public but nothing about loving."

What an amazing debut collection of poetry! Any fan of Parker will enjoy this look back into her early career. In fact, the most enjoyable part of this collection is how 20-something all the poems feel. There's a sense of desperation and loneliness throughout the poems that I certainly feel as a 20-something. My favorite poems were the "Miss Black America" series. You can really see Parker's future collections in those poems. Overall, it's a stunning collection of poems about finding yourself in a world that's not designed for you.

So many people don’t even know how lucky they are yet that Morgan Parker’s debut collection is getting re-released. Other People’s Comfort hits just as hard as it did my first read six years ago & Danez Smith’s intro is moving & loving & validating. Order two copies so you always have one to give away - I know I will. Thank you to Tin House & Netgalley for the ARC.

Parker just gets better and better with each collection. The imagery, metaphors, and personification weaved throughout this body of work was mesmerizing and enchanting. Parker is sharp tongued and unapologetic as she pens about love, Blackness, and other people’s comfort with said Blackness, womanhood, and herself in general. This is by far Parker’s best collection. It is real, honest, thought-provoking, and hard hitting. My favorite poems were the collective piece called “Miss Black America” scattered throughout the collection & “the title poem “Other People’s Comforts Keep Me Up at Night”. This is a collection you want on your shelves! Parker delivers!

I would recommend this poetry collection to fans of Danez Smith, Jasmine Mans, or Hanif Abdurraqib.

I'm a fan of Morgan Parker's work but hadn't read her debut collection. I really enjoyed this repub, especially with the introduction from Danez Smith! Parker's poetry is so precise and visceral; every phrase has so much to explore. I especially love the way she integrates pop culture and uses contemporary media as a lens to view herself. This is great work by an artist changing the landscape of poetry.

"Other People's Comfort Keeps Me Up At Night" is such a resonant title for me. And that's really all I needed--I think all of Morgan Parker's titles are actually some of my favorites. They all have this very "I'm here" energy and its all imparts the volume and power that is in Parker's voice. Like she is funny, dope, and evocative and has this open honest way about her work that constantly has me nodding and going yeah I get it. As a Black person, there are just poems where I'm like chuckling to myself going chill stop that experience is too relatable. But it works. And I love it. I love being able to pick up Parker's collections and dive into them and resonate. And if not resonate, just sort of sit with the sheer electric that she puts into her words. She is truly an amazing poet. I am always into what she puts into the world. I could go into deep analysis of her works, but they speak for themselves. Her work speaks with a vibration that just echoes through the body to me. I can't wait for more.