Poetry

SOUTHERN MIGRANT MIXTAPE relays the experiences and observations of a black, queer man from Virginia who thought he was leaving racism and sexual intolerance behind in the regions where he initially experienced them. Plunge heart first into this emotive...

The poetry of America's first published black poet was published before the Revolutionary War and recognized throughout the English-speaking world. Phillis Wheatley was born in Africa, sold as a slave in America, and became a celebrity in Europe. This...

SON OF BYFORD is a meandering mining of meaning from the memory of many middle passages. This collection refracts 1970's shades of Black and blues that give way to hip hop, postmillennium tensions, and godless queer queryings, informed by love,...

Rooted in a legacy of social movements for change, East Oakland youth and students from Urban Promise Academy in the Fruitvale district have created a social justice club known as Warriors for Justice. Over the last five years, they have compiled...

There is a rhythmic rapidity to Uche Nduka's SCISSORWORK, the work of relentlessly cutting at the barrage of sensory data coming at us, leaving the syntax between dense blocks of text and epigrammatic and occasionally even whimsical poems, like paper...

Poetry. African & African American Studies. Longlisted for the 2020 National Book Award in Poetry. Like a ghost in the machine, TRAVESTY GENERATOR remixes programming codes and turns them to ruminate on the intersections of race and gender. Rhythmic,...

Everyone understands that life is hard, but self-love and dedication will always be the key. becoming. is a beautiful debut collection of poetry centering around themes of feminism, sexuality, race, and mental health. Renaada Williams's 100+ poems are...

In her debut poetry collection, What Had Happened Was, Ther? Alyce Pickens investigates the complex structures of Black storytelling. Addressing topics ranging from Black life, popular culture, and history to individual encounters with emotion, love, and...

Rowan Ricardo Phillips's fourth collection is a book as lustrous as the metal of its title. This beautiful, slender collection--small and weighted like a coin--is Rowan Ricardo Phillips at his very best. These luminous, unsparing, dreamlike poems are as...

51 achingly eloquent poems from a young Cave Canem fellow: W. J. Lofton's verses explore Black queer Southern identity, grief, love, and intimacy while enduring and witnessing unfreedom in America W. J. Lofton writes vivid, accessible poems that channel...

A hybrid collection that explores the dual nature of water as both a destructive and healing force, mirroring the experiences of Black women and girls. A hybrid collection of poetry and photography, Beyond the Watershed explores the various experiences...

Sunbreak: Notes on Hope, from breakout social media poet Donovan Beck, is a rousing collection of poetry and prose written in an effort to create a world in which poetry books are not just expressions of grief or loss but also ones of optimism and light...