In Blackfish, Elvis Alves locates beauty in the horrid and strange
that constitute familial and social history. In this way, the poems
grasp after the meaning of life in an attempt to ensure survival in the
midst of all that it offers. Some of the poems are personal while others
have a wider social reach. The collection identifies a connecting line
between these two aspects and argues that the personal and social affect
each other in ways that are not always apparent. Each poem carries
weight that points to, and shines light on, what it means to be human.
"Elvis Alves' book Blackfish is a moving and powerful collection of
poems both immediately accessible, and rich with complex allusions that
move smoothly from the Bible through to Jazz and Reggae, current
affairs, and genetic inheritance. The book presents poetry about
diaspora and displacement, about class struggle, servitude and
oppression, music, survival, love, hate, and every shade in-between.
They are moving, personal, and universal, and every poem has the
undeniable ring of painful but essential truth." - Magdalena Ball,
author of Unmaking Atoms
