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"African Americans-Poetry"
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The undefeated
\"The Newbery Award-winning author of The Crossover pens an ode to black American triumph and tribulation, with art from a two-time Caldecott Honoree\"-- Provided by publisher.
Book
Every Goodbye Ain't Gone
Showcases brilliant and experimental work in African
American poetry. Just prior to the Second World War, and even
more explosively in the 1950s and 1960s, a far-reaching
revolution in aesthetics and prosody by black poets ensued, some
working independently and others in organized groups. Little of
this new work was reflected in the anthologies and syllabi of
college English courses of the period. Even during the 1970s,
when African American literature began to receive substantial
critical attention, the work of many experimental black poets
continued to be neglected.
Every Goodbye Ain’t Gone presents the
groundbreaking work of many of these poets who carried on the
innovative legacies of Melvin Tolson, Gwendolyn Brooks, and
Robert Hayden. Whereas poetry by such key figures such as Amiri
Baraka, Tolson, Jayne Cortez, Clarence Major, and June Jordan is
represented, this anthology also elevates into view the work of
less studied poets such as Russell Atkins, Jodi Braxton, David
Henderson, Bob Kaufman, Stephen Jonas, and Elouise Loftin. Many
of the poems collected in the volume are currently unavailable
and some will appear in print here for the first time. Coeditors
Aldon Lynn Nielsen and Lauri Ramey provide a critical
introduction that situates the poems historically and highlights
the ways such poetry has been obscured from view by recent
critical and academic practices. The result is a record of
experimentation, instigation, and innovation that links
contemporary African American poetry to its black modernist roots
and extends the terms of modern poetics into the future.
eBook
The dream keeper and other poems
A collection of sixty-six poems, selected by the author for young readers, including lyrical poems, songs, and blues, many exploring the black experience.
Book
Aphrodite's Daughters
The Harlem Renaissance was a watershed moment for racial uplift, poetic innovation, sexual liberation, and female empowerment.Aphrodite's Daughtersintroduces us to three amazing women who were at the forefront of all these developments, poetic iconoclasts who pioneered new and candidly erotic forms of female self-expression.
Maureen Honey paints a vivid portrait of three African American women-Angelina Weld Grimké, Gwendolyn B. Bennett, and Mae V. Cowdery-who came from very different backgrounds but converged in late 1920s Harlem to leave a major mark on the literary landscape. She examines the varied ways these poets articulated female sexual desire, ranging from Grimké's invocation of a Sapphic goddess figure to Cowdery's frank depiction of bisexual erotics to Bennett's risky exploration of the borders between sexual pleasure and pain. Yet Honey also considers how they were united in their commitment to the female body as a primary source of meaning, strength, and transcendence.
The product of extensive archival research,Aphrodite's Daughtersdraws from Grimké, Bennett, and Cowdery's published and unpublished poetry, along with rare periodicals and biographical materials, to immerse us in the lives of these remarkable women and the world in which they lived. It thus not only shows us how their artistic contributions and cultural interventions were vital to their own era, but also demonstrates how the poetic heart of their work keeps on beating.
eBook
Killing Poetry
Winner of the 2019 Lilla A. Heston Award
Co-winner of the 2018 Ethnography Division’s Best Book from the NCA
In recent decades, poetry slams and the spoken word artists who compete in them have sparked a resurgent fascination with the world of poetry. However, there is little critical dialogue that fully engages with the cultural complexities present in slam and spoken word poetry communities, as well as their ramifications.
In Killing Poetry , renowned slam poet, Javon Johnson unpacks some of the complicated issues that comprise performance poetry spaces. He argues that the truly radical potential in slam and spoken word communities lies not just in proving literary worth, speaking back to power, or even in altering power structures, but instead in imagining and working towards altogether different social relationships. His illuminating ethnography provides a critical history of the slam, contextualizes contemporary black poets in larger black literary traditions, and does away with the notion that poetry slams are inherently radically democratic and utopic.
Killing Poetry —at times autobiographical, poetic, and journalistic—analyzes the masculine posturing in the Southern California community in particular, the sexual assault in the national community, and the ways in which related social media inadvertently replicate many of the same white supremacist, patriarchal, and mainstream logics so many spoken word poets seem to be working against. Throughout, Johnson examines the promises and problems within slam and spoken word, while illustrating how community is made and remade in hopes of eventually creating the radical spaces so many of these poets strive to achieve.
eBook
Heaven is all goodbyes
\"This is truly revolutionary poetry. From the corner store to the dilapidated school, from the alleys between downtown office buildings to the prison, voices that have been through too much to care and yet still struggle on, relate the post-industrial U.S. Black experience. A vortex of images, observations, inspired leaps and free associations spill forth from a choir living in oppression and transience, invisible to and dismissive of the mainstream bourgeoisie. Moments of political and spiritual convergence, gangsterism and revolution, surrealism and blunt materiality are captured in the music of metaphor and pure intention. A modern-day Mystic, a true Seer, the depth of the poet's own humanity is rooted in every line, creating a liberated space for pain and beauty through a healing love for his people\"-- Provided by publisher.
Book
The Orchestra of Wind Chimes
This powerful collection of poems draws on American and African- American experimental lyric traditions, pushing language and form to their limits. Geoffrey Jacques's poetry inspires deep thought, taking up themes of music, psychology, and literature. This work embodies the potential of poetry to forge new connections between aesthetic expression and the often onerous facts of human existence. Poems such as Still Life and Detour Ahead produce a juxtaposition of inspired poetic form and rich, complex realities of life, addressing topics of joy and love, race, class, politics, and the aesthetics of the everyday. With a contemporary and sophisticated tenor, Jacques lends his uniquely moving and provocative perspective to advancing discourse in these critical topics. For all of the social themes they address, these poems equally serve to investigate modes of producing poetry in general. Ars Poetica, The Problem of Speech Genres, The Subject of the Poem, and many others directly challenge traditional notions of form through intentional and intricate reflexive commentary. Through these poems, Jacques has achieved a balance between form and function, allowing readers to embark on a rhythmic journey of expression, language, and human existence.
eBook