Kevin Young

"A book of elegy, loss, and what binds us to life, by a towering poetic talent. "We sleep long, / if not sound," Young writes early on in this exquisite gathering of poems, "Till the end/ we sing / into the wind." In scenes and settings that circle family and the generations in the American South--one poem, "Kith," exploring that strange bedfellow of "kin"--the speaker and his young son wander among the stones of their ancestors. "Like heat he seeks...

Across a turbulent history, Black poets created a rich and multifaceted tradition that has been both a reckoning with American realities and an imaginative response to them. 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 voice their passionate...

The Collected Poems of Lucille Clifton 1965-2010 combines all eleven of Lucille clifton's published collections with more than sixty previously unpublished poems. The unpublished works feature early poems from 1965-1969, a collection-in-progress titled Book of Days (2008), and a poignant selection of final poems.

In a collection of poetry inspired by the rhythms of the blues, the poet blends traditional lyric diction with African American idiom to create such verses as "Stride Piano," Gutbucket," and "Can-Can."

Poems about the various stages of grief, with 150 selections from a variety of 20th-21st century poets.

Giant steps presents a vibrant and wonderfully diverse collection of young black writing.

"Explores the twentieth-century poet's emulation of the everyday protagonist's search for connection, discussing the accomplishments of such early works as 'Homage to Mistress Bradstreet,' his middle-career writings including the 'Dream Song,' and his late religious poems."--Provided by publisher.