'a':1A,18C,21C,33C,44C,67C,82C 'about':41C 'adult':37C 'afraid':108C 'age':23C 'alon':143C 'along':129C 'an':36C 'and':24C,38C,69C,124C 'are':134C 'as':35C,50C 'at':20C,46C 'away':59C 'be':91C,107C,125C 'can':72C 'challeng':49C 'christina':6B 'communic':110C 'don':105C 'done':92C 'dure':114C 'eighteen':47C 'everyth':40C 'feel':100C 'find':54C 'from':4A,60C 'go':77C 'grief':118C 'griev':62C,93C 'handl':79C 'have':25C 'home':5A,61C 'how':74C,97C 'i':9C 'in':56C 'is':48C,51C,66C 'it':80C 'kind':126C 'know':96C,138C 'let':136C 'long':2A 'lose':17C,32C,43C 'love':64C 'm':10C 'mother':45C 'need':89C,113C,120C 'no':26C,70C 'nobodi':94C 'not':11C,81C,142C 'of':28C,117C 'one':65C,71C 'or':30C,119C 'parent':19C,34C 'poem':133C 'process':68C 're':76C,99C,141C 'recollect':27C 'rememb':39C 'resnov':8B 'robin':7B 's':14C 'should':84C 'soul':83C 'sure':12C 't':106C 'take':121C 'tell':73C,85C,103C 'that':139C 'the':57C,130C 'them':29C,42C,104C 'these':132C 'time':116C,123C 'to':16C,31C,53C,78C,90C,109C,127C,135C 'tri':52C 'unless':101C 'way':3A,131C 'what':13C,111C 'when':87C 'will':95C 'world':58C 'wors':15C 'you':75C,86C,88C,98C,102C,112C,137C,140C 'young':22C 'your':63C,115C,122C 'yourself':55C,128C

I’m not sure what’s worse to lose a parent at a young age and have no recollection of them, or to lose a parent as an adult and remember everything about them. 

Losing a mother at eighteen is challenging as is trying to find yourself in the world away from home. Grieving your loved one is a process, and no one can tell how you’re going to handle it. 

Not a soul should tell you when you need to be done grieving. Nobody will know how you’re feeling unless you tell them. 

Don’t be afraid to communicate what you need during your time of grief or need. Take your time and be kind to yourself along the way. 

These poems are to let you know that you’re not alone.


A Long Way from Home

'a':1A,6C,10C,56C,91C 'all':65C 'and':19C,68C,94C 'anecdot':83C 'background':17C,36C 'black':62C 'can':75C 'catalyst':31C 'celebr':14C 'chapter':28C 'collect':11C 'comment':60C 'connect':76C 'conscious':52C 'consist':54C 'convers':44C 'cultur':18C,63C 'describ':85C 'discoveri':48C 'enjoy':90C 'entitl':29C 'experi':80C 'famili':16C,41C 'few':57C 'for':21C 'histori':42C 'hope':71C 'i':84C 'in':64C 'is':9C,46C,72C 'it':66C 'life':79C 'love':22C,50C 'make':25C 'map':33C 'my':15C,35C,40C,47C,59C,70C,87C 'of':12C,39C,49C,55C,58C 'on':61C 'other':97C 'out':34C 'owen':5B 'own':78C 'page':24C 'piec':38C 'pleas':89C 'poem':13C 'poetri':88C 'quest':20C 'scriptur':3A,8C,93C 'share':95C 'smother':2A,7C,92C 'test':67C 'that':32C,73C 'the':30C,43C,51C,82C 'these':23C 'three':27C 'to':81C 'triumph':69C 'tyra':4B 'up':26C 'which':45C,53C 'with':37C,96C 'within':86C 'you':74C 'your':77C

A Smothered Scripture is a collection of poems celebrating my family background, culture, and quest for love. 

These pages make up three chapters entitled: 

The Catalyst, that map out my background with pieces of my family history.

The Conversation, which is my discovery of Love.

The Consciousness, which consists of a few of my comments on Black culture in all its tests and triumphs. 

My hope is that you can connect your own life experiences to the anecdotes I describe within my poetry. Please enjoy A Smothered Scripture and share with others!


A Smothered Scripture

'a':9C,23C,34C 'abracadabra':1A,6C 'against':37C,85C 'and':20C,28C,42C,67C,83C,97C,106C,111C 'andromeda':53C 'anim':79C 'armi':70C 'art':31C 'art-mak':30C 'as':22C,33C 'background':87C 'booth':5B,100C 'brother':65C 'by':94C 'communal':105C 'complex':41C 'connect':84C 'continu':35C 'czech':49C 'dart':46C 'deepli':98C 'defianc':36C 'destruct':93C 'dexter':3B 'dour':96C 'ever':13C 'ever-turn':12C 'exist':45C 'extol':103C 'famili':21C 'film':57C 'for':81C 'foreground':77C 'friend':19C 'from':47C,55C 'galaxi':54C 'godard':59C 'grimm':66C 'hardship':43C 'heal':107C 'histor':90C 'hope':99C 'huang':74C 'human':26C 'is':8C 'l':4B 'letter':15C 'love':82C,112C 'lover':18C 'make':32C 'need':80C 'obsess':91C 'of':11C,44C,58C,63C,71C,88C,109C 'often':39C 'our':78C,89C 'overwhelm':40C 'persever':27C 'poem':76C,102C 'power':108C 'qin':72C 'republ':50C 's':101C 'seri':10C 'shi':73C 'sunshin':2A,7C 'tale':62C 'terracotta':69C 'testament':24C 'the':38C,48C,52C,56C,61C,64C,68C,86C,104C 'these':75C 'to':17C,25C,29C,51C,60C 'turn':14C,95C 'vulner':110C 'with':92C 'written':16C

Abracadabra, Sunshine is a series of ever-turning letters written to lovers, friends, and family as a testament to human perseverance and to art-making as a continuous defiance against the often overwhelming complexities and hardships of existence. Darting from the Czech Republic to the Andromeda Galaxy, from the films of Godard to the tales of the Brothers Grimm and the Terracotta Army of Qin Shi Huang, these poems foreground our animal need for love and connection against the background of our historical obsession with destruction. By turns dour and deeply hopeful, Booth’s poems extol the communal and healing powers of vulnerability and love.

Abracadabra, Sunshine

'250':4A,25C 'a':11C,35C,56C,65C,86C,140C 'achiev':179C 'across':34C 'activist':157C 'african':1A,90C,114C 'alongsid':186C 'ambiti':17C 'american':2A,68C,91C,103C,111C,115C 'an':71C 'and':49C,58C,70C,79C,99C,105C,126C,152C,156C,183C,198C,217C 'angel':48C 'antholog':18C,129C 'area':52C 'art':112C,210C 'as':42C,94C,139C,146C,194C 'assert':145C 'b':196C 'bay':51C 'beauti':80C 'been':63C 'befor':96C 'bennett':197C 'biggest':15C 'black':20C,53C,209C 'both':64C 'breadth':216C 'by':188C 'captur':76C 'center':41C 'central':98C 'challeng':101C 'chicago':44C 'coloni':29C 'counte':184C 'cowderi':201C 'creat':55C 'cullen':185C 'cultur':106C 'd.c':46C 'divers':83C 'ellen':159C 'encompass':117C 'enslav':147C 'ever':22C 'experiment':123C 'find':230C 'flower':204C 'form':113C 'formal':122C 'franc':158C 'fresh':170C 'from':27C,38C 'gather':24C 'georg':153C 'great':110C 'gwendolyn':195C 'hard':228C 'hard-to-find':227C 'harlem':43C,175C 'harper':161C 'has':62C 'here':214C 'histori':37C 'horton':155C 'hugh':182C 'imagin':72C 'in':85C 'includ':219C 'indispens':88C 'influenti':208C 'is':212C 'it':97C,100C 'kevin':9B 'kind':119C 'known':191C 'landmark':13C 'langston':181C 'later':203C 'lesser':190C 'lesser-known':189C 'like':149C 'literari':12C 'long':221C 'los':47C 'lyric':125C 'mae':199C 'mani':118C,220C 'mean':141C 'mose':154C 'most':16C 'move':132C 'movement':211C 'multifacet':59C 'never':95C 'of':6A,19C,81C,108C,120C,137C,142C,173C,180C,205C,224C 'one':107C 'open':130C 'or':226C 'origin':218C 'out':223C 'out-of-print':222C 'passion':164C 'peopl':148C 'period':30C 'philli':150C 'poem':231C 'poet':26C,54C,192C 'poetri':3A,21C,92C,104C,116C,138C 'power':78C,136C 'present':33C,172C 'print':225C 'protest':127C 'publish':23C 'realiti':69C 'reckon':66C 'reexamin':177C 'renaiss':176C 'repres':213C 'resist':165C 'respons':73C 'reveal':93C 'revelatori':171C 'rich':57C 's':169C 'self':144C 'self-assert':143C 'singl':87C 'slaveri':167C 'song':8A 'still':207C 'struggl':7A 'such':39C,193C 'testament':133C 'that':61C 'the':14C,28C,32C,50C,77C,109C,128C,135C,174C,178C,202C,206C 'their':163C 'them':75C 'this':82C 'to':31C,74C,102C,134C,166C,229C 'tradit':60C,84C 'turbul':36C 'v':200C 'vernacular':124C 'vers':121C 'vital':40C 'voic':162C 'volum':89C 'washington':45C 'watkin':160C 'wheatley':151C 'with':67C,131C,215C 'work':187C 'year':5A 'young':10B,168C

A literary landmark: the biggest, most ambitious anthology of Black poetry ever published, gathering 250 poets from the colonial period to the present

Across a turbulent history, from such vital centers as Harlem, Chicago, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, and the Bay Area, Black poets created a rich and multifaceted tradition that has been both a reckoning with American realities and an imaginative response to them. Capturing the power and beauty of this diverse tradition in a single indispensable volume, African American Poetry reveals as never before its centrality and its challenge to American poetry and culture.

One of the great American art forms, African American poetry encompasses many kinds of verse: formal, experimental, vernacular, lyric, and protest. The anthology opens with moving testaments to the power of poetry as a means of self-assertion, as enslaved people like Phillis Wheatley and George Moses Horton and activist Frances Ellen Watkins Harper voice their passionate resistance to slavery. Young’s fresh, revelatory presentation of the Harlem Renaissance reexamines the achievements of Langston Hughes and Countee Cullen alongside works by lesser-known poets such as Gwendolyn B. Bennett and Mae V. Cowdery. The later flowering of the still influential Black Arts Movement is represented here with breadth and originality, including many long out-of-print or hard-to-find poems.

African American Poetry: 250 Years of Struggle & Song

'110':42C '14':138C '1860':17C,30C 'a':21C,59C,122C,168C 'aboard':58C 'affect':161C 'african':1A,11C,18C,128C,157C 'after':32C 'alabama':57C,78C 'along':76C 'also':99C 'america':15C 'american':151C 'and':23C,45C,49C,53C,70C,98C,153C,173C 'at':112C 'attempt':92C 'be':71C,81C 'been':110C 'befor':80C 'benin':48C 'both':95C 'brought':12C,54C,147C 'call':61C,127C 'captiv':105C 'captur':52C 'charl':3B 'children':46C 'chronicl':5C 'civil':117C 'clotilda':62C 'communiti':123C 'creat':121C 'cultur':97C 'd':109C 'day':135C 'deliv':111C 'desper':91C 'distinct':139C 'end':114C 'enslav':40C 'exist':132C 'feel':182C 'fit':100C 'for':124C 'founder':155C 'from':47C 'hidden':72C 'histor':162C 'histori':175C 'illeg':13C 'impact':177C 'import':38C 'in':16C,27C,29C,73C,137C,165C,171C 'includ':65C,141C 'into':101C 'is':20C 'journey':64C 'labor':41C 'last':10C 'long':31C 'made':90C 'maintain':94C 'men':43C 'middl':68C 'mobil':56C 'moment':170C 'nigeria':50C 'novel':26C,164C 'novel-in-vers':25C,163C 'of':8C,39C,104C,115C,143C,156C,178C 'out':84C 'outlaw':36C 'parcel':83C 'passag':69C 'pivot':169C 'place':103C 'plantat':87C 'power':22C,160C 'recreat':167C 'river':79C 'savag':67C 'secret':82C 'ship':60C,145C 'shore':152C 'state':35C 'still':131C,181C 'stori':7C 'stun':24C 'survivor':120C 'swampland':75C 'that':142C,146C 'the':6C,9C,33C,37C,66C,74C,77C,102C,113C,116C,119C,144C,150C,154C,176C 'their':63C,96C 'them':148C 'themselv':125C 'they':89C,108C,126C 'this':134C,159C 'to':14C,55C,85C,93C,106C,133C,149C 'today':183C 'told':136C 'town':2A,19C,129C,158C 'unit':34C 'us':172C 'various':86C 'vers':28C,166C 'voic':140C 'war':118C 'water':4B 'we':180C 'were':51C 'where':88C 'which':107C,130C,179C 'women':44C 'world':174C

Chronicling the story of the last Africans brought illegally to America in 1860, African Town is a powerful and stunning novel-in-verse.

In 1860, long after the United States outlawed the importation of enslaved laborers, 110 men, women and children from Benin and Nigeria were captured and brought to Mobile, Alabama aboard a ship called Clotilda. 

Their journey includes the savage Middle Passage and being hidden in the swamplands along the Alabama River before being secretly parceled out to various plantations, where they made desperate attempts to maintain both their culture and also fit into the place of captivity to which they'd been delivered. 

At the end of the Civil War, the survivors created a community for themselves they called African Town, which still exists to this day. 

Told in 14 distinct voices, including that of the ship that brought them to the American shores and the founder of African Town, this powerfully affecting historical novel-in-verse recreates a pivotal moment in US and world history, the impacts of which we still feel today.

African Town

'36':45C 'a':42C 'africana':3A 'agap':1A 'allah':6C 'ancestor':51C 'and':14C,23C,31C,39C,54C 'begin':11C 'black':55C 'celesti':15C 'collect':43C 'do':25C 'down':20C 'face':38C 'father':13C 'fix':36C 'form':16C 'from':48C 'girl':18C,35C 'grandfath':27C 'harvest':9C 'have':40C 'high':29C 'his':33C 'journey':47C 'knight':5B 'lay':19C,28C 'life':52C 'love':53C 'majora':2A 'make':24C 'my':12C,26C 'of':44C,50C 'on':30C 'ophelia':4B 'pipe':34C 'poem':46C 'pride':22C,41C 'said':7C,17C 'shall':10C 'the':8C 'understand':49C 'with':32C 'your':21C,37C

Allah said, "The harvest shall begin..."

My father and Celestial form said, "Girl lay down your pride and make do." 

My grandfather lay high on and with his pipe, "Girl fix your face and have pride." 

A collection of 36 poems journeying from understanding of ancestors, life, love, and blackness.


Agape Majora Africana

'a':15C,47C 'age':119C 'all':1A,9C,106C,118C 'along':2A,10C,107C 'alway':80C,97C 'and':21C,30C,35C,88C,115C,141C,165C,174C 'are':69C,96C 'await':91C 'away':64C 'be':168C 'becom':160C 'been':40C 'best':137C 'birthday':140C 'bloom':5A,13C,98C,110C 'boundless':36C 'breath':162C 'can':156C 'classroom':125C 'collect':17C 'dark':154C 'dawn':93C 'day':61C,132C,135C,139C,176C 'delight':31C 'dure':126C 'each':145C 'even':83C 'everi':50C,175C 'find':81C 'focus':128C 'for':113C,120C,159C,161C,163C,166C,169C 'friend':138C 'from':65C 'fulli':73C 'gift':143C 'given':41C 'grace':37C,172C 'harper':7B 'here':75C 'holiday':142C 'how':54C 'illustr':19C 'in':32C,49C,99C,144C,149C 'into':27C 'invit':23C,70C 'is':14C,46C,111C,171C 'lesson':129C 'light':78C,151C 'live':72C 'make':157C 'matter':53C 'meant':104C 'men':114C 'moment':147C 'morgan':6B,42C 'mother':133C 'nation':136C 'nichol':8B 'no':52C 'now':77C 'of':18C,117C 'or':62C,152C 'perfect':112C 'place':67C 'poetri':20C,127C 'prose':22C 'purpos':48C 'race':58C 'remind':43C 'right':74C,76C 'room':158C 'run':63C 's':131C,134C 'season':51C 'set':87C 'share':123C 'simpli':167C 'sit':90C 'small':146C 'strike':16C 'stumbl':26C,164C 'sun':86C 'sunlight':29C 'teacher':121C 'that':94C 'the':28C,33C,85C,92C,100C,150C,153C 'there':45C,170C 'this':60C,66C 'through':59C 'to':25C,57C,71C,105C,122C 'today':173C 'valentin':130C 've':39C 'want':56C 'way':101C 'were':4A,12C,103C,109C 'when':84C 'whether':148C 'wild':34C 'will':79C 'with':124C 'women':116C 'you':3A,11C,24C,38C,44C,55C,68C,82C,89C,95C,102C,108C,155C

All Along You Were Blooming is a striking collection of illustrated poetry and prose, inviting you to "stumble into the sunlight" and delight in the wild and boundless grace you've been given. Morgan reminds you:

There is a purpose in every season
No matter how you want to race through this day or run away from this place, you are invited to live fully--right here, right now
Light will always find you, even when the sun sets and you sit awaiting the dawn
That you are always blooming in the way you were meant to
All Along You Were Blooming is perfect:

For men and women of all ages
For teachers to share with classrooms during poetry focused lessons
Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, National Best Friend Day, birthdays, and holiday gifting
In each small moment, whether in the light or the dark, you can make room for becoming, for breathing, for stumbling, and for simply being--for there is grace, today and every day.

All Along You Were Blooming

'1950s':22C '1950s-1960s':21C '1960s':23C 'a':6C,107C,118C 'all':111C 'all-too-tim':110C 'america':24C 'and':1A,27C,38C,79C,85C,95C,105C,122C,143C 'as':90C 'author':136C 'begin':72C 'black':70C 'both':117C 'but':76C 'centuri':100C 'centuries-long':99C 'chronolog':139C 'civil':17C,54C 'collect':49C,114C 'complet':132C 'convers':126C 'crucial':91C 'debut':47C 'document':61C 'equal':77C,106C 'erica':4B,44C 'event':62C,141C 'evoc':28C 'explor':14C 'eye':10C 'eye-open':9C 'fight':102C 'figur':84C 'for':103C 'from':57C 'histor':31C,134C 'histori':120C 'impact':8C 'in':20C,25C,35C,128C 'interspers':33C 'introduc':80C 'is':116C 'journey':12C 'just':89C 'justic':104C 'known':83C 'lesser':82C 'lesser-known':81C 'lesson':121C 'long':101C 'martin':5B,45C 'modern':130C 'moment':86C 'movement':19C,56C,94C 'much':124C 'much-need':123C 'nation':66C,97C 'need':125C 'note':138C 'of':41C,69C,140C 'open':11C 'our':96C,129C 'peopl':71C 'photo':32C 'photograph':135C 'poetri':48C 'poignant':108C 'power':7C,109C 'reader':51C 'research':142C 'right':18C,55C 'rise':3A 'rule':78C 's':46C,67C,98C,137C 'separ':75C 'shape':64C 'sourc':144C 'space':43C 'spare':26C 'starter':127C 'stun':36C 'that':13C,63C,87C,115C 'the':16C,53C,58C,65C,74C,93C 'through':15C,52C 'throughout':34C 'time':113C 'to':92C 'too':112C 'treatment':68C 'use':40C 'vers':29C,37C 'vital':119C 'vivid':39C 'walk':50C 'we':2A 'well':60C 'well-docu':59C 'were':88C 'white':42C 'with':30C,73C,133C 'world':131C

A powerful, impactful, eye-opening journey that explores through the Civil Rights Movement in 1950s-1960s America in spare and evocative verse, with historical photos interspersed throughout.

In stunning verse and vivid use of white space, Erica Martin's debut poetry collection walks readers through the Civil Rights Movement—from the well-documented events that shaped the nation’s treatment of Black people, beginning with the "Separate but Equal" ruling—and introduces lesser-known figures and moments that were just as crucial to the Movement and our nation's centuries-long fight for justice and equality.

A poignant, powerful, all-too-timely collection that is both a vital history lesson and much-needed conversation starter in our modern world. Complete with historical photographs, author's note, chronology of events, research, and sources.

And We Rise

'a':17C,42C,106C,130C 'all':72C 'and':27C,57C,86C,133C,140C,165C,170C 'anyth':32C 'appetit':1A,10C,161C 'are':65C,154C 'at':119C 'be':41C 'beauti':148C 'befor':37C 'between':68C 'charm':28C 'compil':18C 'court':25C 'deeper':131C 'demand':124C 'depth':52C 'develop':97C 'divin':111C 'drive':132C 'eager':61C 'encount':129C 'energi':134C 'ever':35C 'everi':120C 'explor':50C 'fan':84C 'far':152C 'feel':136C 'feign':87C 'for':5A,14C,88C,162C,172C 'from':98C 'go':157C 'guilti':55C 'happili':66C 'him':6A,15C 'honey':75C 'how':151C 'hunger':93C 'hungri':4A,13C 'imagin':125C 'immers':144C 'in':146C 'india':7B 'inhibit':59C 'inspir':142C 'into':105C 'intox':20C 'is':16C 'juici':74C 'just':150C 'known':36C 'leav':79C 'lick':81C 'lip':83C 'll':96C,113C 'lost':67C 'love':163C 'lover':107C,118C 'magnitud':91C 'make':46C 'mental':30C 'more':60C,89C,137C 'never':40C,128C 'norfleet':9B 'of':19C,53C,71C,92C,122C,149C 'or':135C 'page':70C,169C 'paradis':109C 'pivot':121C 'pleasur':56C 'poetri':100C 'ravish':116C 'romanc':166C 'romant':141C 's':108C 'satisfi':3A,12C,159C 'seduc':26C 'see':171C 'send':102C 'sensual':138C 'sex':164C 'sexual':139C 'skyrocket':104C 'so':110C 't':8B 'than':62C 'that':22C,44C,77C,94C 'the':51C,69C,90C,147C,168C 'there':38C 'these':73C 'this':99C 'time':43C 'to':2A,11C,49C,115C,143C,156C,158C 'turn':167C 'unequivoc':24C 'unlik':31C 've':34C 'vers':21C 'want':48C,114C 'when':63C 'wild':58C 'will':23C,39C,45C,78C,101C,127C,155C 'word':76C 'you':33C,47C,64C,80C,95C,103C,112C,126C,153C 'your':29C,54C,82C,117C,123C,160C 'yourself':85C,145C,173C

Appetite to Satisfy: Hungry for Him is a compilation of intoxicating verses that will unequivocally court, seduce, and charm your mental unlike anything you've ever known before. There will never be a time that will make you want to explore the depths of your guilty pleasures and wild inhibitions more eagerly than when you are happily lost between the pages of all these juicy, honeyed words that will leave you licking your lips, fanning yourself, and feigning for more.

The magnitude of hunger that you'll develop from this poetry will send you skyrocketing into a lover's paradise so divine you'll want to ravish your lover at every pivot of your demanding imagination. You will never encounter a deeper drive and energy or feel more sensually, sexually, and romantically inspired to immerse yourself in the beauty of just how far you are willing to go to satisfy your appetite for love, sex, and romance. Turn the page and see for yourself…

Appetite to Satisfy: Hungry for Him

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Augusta Savage was arguably the most influential American artist of the 1930s. A gifted sculptor, Savage was commissioned to create a portrait bust of W.E.B. Du Bois for the New York Public Library. 

She flourished during the Harlem Renaissance and became a teacher to an entire generation of African American artists, including Jacob Lawrence, and would go on to be nationally recognized as one of the featured artists at the 1939 World’s Fair. 

She was the first-ever recorded Black gallerist. After being denied an artists’ fellowship abroad on the basis of race, Augusta Savage worked to advance equal rights in the arts. And yet popular history has forgotten her name. 

Deftly written and brimming with photographs of Savage’s stunning sculpture, this is an important portrait of an exceptional artists who, despite the limitations she faced, was compelled to forge a life through art and creativity.

Augusta Savage

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BEASTGIRL & OTHER ORIGIN MYTHS is a collection of folkloric poems centered on the historical, mythological, gendered, and geographic experiences of a first generation American woman. From the border in the Dominican Republic, to the bustling streets of New York City, Acevedo considers how some bodies must walk through the world as beastly beings. How these forgotten myths be both blessing and birthright.

Beastgirl & Other Origin Myths

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Bedweather is a lullaby on intimacy and isolation told through rap music, romantic vignettes, sexy interludes, and satire on American empire. The poems track a second-class entity's pursuit of love and personal empowerment within a country that has left them to fend for themselves.

Bedweather

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Black Girl, they say you ain't 'posed to be here

Much of what twenty-first century culture tells black girls is not pretty: Don't wear this; don't smile at that. Don't have an opinion; don't dream big. And most of all, don't love yourself. In response to such destructive ideas, internationally recognized poet Mahogany Browne challenges the conditioning of society by crafting an anthem of strength and magic undeniable in its bloom for all beautiful Black girls.

Black Girl Magic

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From spoken word poet Jasmine Mans comes an unforgettable poetry collection about race, feminism, and queer identity.
 
With echoes of Gwendolyn Brooks and Sonia Sanchez, Mans writes to call herself—and us—home. Each poem explores what it means to be a daughter of Newark, and America—and the painful, joyous path to adulthood as a young, queer Black woman.

Black Girl, Call Home is a love letter to the wandering Black girl and a vital companion to any woman on a journey to find truth, belonging, and healing.

Black Girl, Call Home

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An inspirational, thought-provoking and emotional collaboration of free verse poems about Black love, skin, hardships, stereotypes & myths.

From poems about living in Black skin to experiencing Black love & the myths that Black love doesn’t exist this collection sheds light on real world issues from the perspective of a young Black woman who portrays what it’s like loving and living in a society where stereotypes, racism and prejudice are a reality. Black Love Isn’t A Myth strives to create a sense of awareness, community, unity and pride as its a reminder that Black Love is beautiful and magical but not mythical.

Black Love Isn’t A Myth

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BloodFresh is a celebration of identity. Ebony Stewart reclaims her own narrative to speak against the racism and colorism she’s experienced, while criticizing society’s treatment of women as sexual objects. This collection reaffirms the reader through storytelling as an open letter to retell, acknowledge, overcome, and learn new ways to use poetry as a coping technique. As BloodFresh reflects the importance of owning your own space, Stewart carves out a home for herself, her poems, and all of the readers who take refuge in her words.

Poetry & Novels in Verse