Strange Flowers

Author: Bryan Byrdlong

Publisher: YesYes Books (2025)

Bryan Byrdlong's debut Strange Flowers fashions a kind of suit, an armor, a disguise out of the folk and pop cultural creation of the zombie. In response to historical prejudice, but more specifically in response to fear of Black people in America, the poetry in this collection uses the idea of the zombie to offer an unbiased view of Black struggle, the zombie being a suit sometimes forced upon Black people and sometimes worn willingly.

Bryan Byrdlong's Strange Flowers is a staggering debut that maps the lines and links between the living and undead, ritual and where the speaker belongs. Byrdlong's exploration of the zombie, from the Caribbean to cocktails, marks what changes us, takes us out of ourselves, and why we long to be transformed.