Skip to main content

poetry

So Much for America

Amaud Jamaul Johnson Southern Review
In a time when the murder of African Americans in plain sight terrifies the news, Poet Amaud Jamaul Johnson captures the feeling of capture.

poetry

Callie Barr’s Black Bottom

Malcolm Tariq Georgia Review
The identity of an African American woman Callie, who was William Faulkner’s maid, is seen from different perspectives in Malcolm Tariq’s poem.

books

Brown

L. Ali Khan New York Journal of Books
A new collection by the director of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture and poetry editor of The New Yorker consists of poems that, says this reviewer, "fit the bill of quantum poetry."

poetry

Your National Anthem

Clint Smith Harvard Kennedy School Journal of African American Public Policy
The poet Clint Smith draws a haunting link between Kaepernick the football player and his own son sitting in a grocery cart.

books

The Right Poetry Collection For Right Now

Walton Muyumba Los Angeles Times
This poet's sixth collection offers aims helping us reflect on our difficult times. Hayes, an African American poet, wrote this new collection during the first 200 days of the Trump administration.

poetry

Untitled #1

henry 7. reneau, jr.
Approaching the 50th anniversary of MLK’s murder, California poet henry 7 reneau, jr., writes, “There’s a sickness in people”—Malice…Greed…Denial—“in opposition to…common sense.” Not too late to do something about it.

books

“Up to Their Necks in Fuel”: On Patricia Smith’s Incendiary Art

Jonathan Farmer Kenyon Review
This poet and this book have just won the $100,000 Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award based at Claremont Graduate University. The prize is given to a mid-career poet, and is one of the top literary prizes given in the United States. It is a significant testament to the power of Smith's work. This review shows wide-ranging and powerful art that Patricia Smith practices.
Subscribe to African American poetry