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Overview
Immerse yourself in the heart and soul of African American literature with The 100 Best African American Poems. This diverse anthology offers a vibrant tapestry of voices that echoes centuries of struggle, triumph, and profound insight.
The 100 Best African American Poems is a riveting exploration of African American life, culture, and history, as seen through the lens of poetry. The anthology spans different periods and styles, showcasing the richness and variety of African American poetic expression.
From legendary poets like Langston Hughes and Maya Angelou to contemporary voices pushing the boundaries of poetic art, Giovanni's expertly curated selection provides a comprehensive view of the African American poetic tradition. Each poem is a lyrical journey that invites readers to engage with poignant themes, stirring narratives, and powerful emotions.
Key Features:
- Diverse Voices: Includes works from a variety of poets, both legendary and contemporary, encompassing a broad spectrum of styles and themes.
- Cultural Journey: Embarks on a lyrical exploration of African American life, culture, and history.
- Comprehensive: Provides a panoramic view of African American poetic tradition, spanning different periods and movements.
- Engaging and Poignant: Invites readers to engage with thought-provoking themes and emotions.
Product Details
ISBN-13: | 9781402221118 |
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Publisher: | Sourcebooks |
Publication date: | 11/01/2010 |
Pages: | 256 |
Sales rank: | 285,478 |
Product dimensions: | 8.40(w) x 11.66(h) x 0.94(d) |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
From the Introduction:
Poems are like clouds on a June morning or two scoops of chocolate ice cream on a sugar cone in August...something everyone can enjoy. Or maybe poems are your cold feet in December on your lover's back...he is in agony but he lets your feet stay...something like that requires a bit of love. Or could it be that poems are exactly like Santa Claus...the promise, the hope, the excitement of a reward, no matter how small, for a good deed done...or a mean deed from which we refrained. The promise of tomorrow. I don't know. It seems that poems are essential. Like football to Fall, baseball to Spring, tennis to Summer, love Anytime. Something you don't think too much about until it is in Season. Then you deliciously anticipate the perfection. African American poems are like all other poems: beautiful, loving, provocative, thoughtful, and all those other adjectives I can think of.
Poems know no boundaries. They, like all Earth citizens, were born in some country, grew up on some culture, then in their blooming became citizens of the Universe. Poems fly from heart to heart, head to head, to whisper a dream, to share a condolence, to congratulate, and to vow forever. The poems are true. They are translated and they are celebrated. They are sung, they are recited, they are delightful. They are neglected. They are forgotten. They are put away. Even in their fallow periods they sprout images. And fight to be revived. And spring back to life with a bit of sunshine and caring.
These poems, this book, admit I cheated. The idea of this and no more would simply not work for me. I needed these plus those. My mother's favorite poem by Robert Hayden, plus James Weldon Johnson beginning a world that included the longing of the unfree for a loving God. My own fun "Ego Tripping" reaching to embrace Margaret Walker's "For My People." "Train Rides" and "Nikki-Rosa" read by old and loving friends. But also the newness: Novella Nelson lending that sultry voice to the youngsters; Ruby Dee bringing her brilliance to the Gwendolyn Brooks cycle. My Virginia Tech Family wanted to participate: our president Dr. Charles Steger reading "The Negro Speaks of Rivers," recognizing all our souls "have grown deep like the rivers." We celebrate our Hips; we See A Negro Lady at a birthday celebration. Our friends from James Madison University and West Virginia University came to celebrate poetry with us, too. I love these poems so much. The only other thing I would have loved is Caroline Kennedy reading "A Clean Slate."
At the end of a loving day of laughter in Jeff Dalton's studio, when Clinton's makeup had taken forty years off some of us and twenty-five off others, we all came together with one last great cry: the Dean of our College; the Director of Honors; young, old, professional, professor, and recited in one great voice "We Real Cool." Yeah. We are. This book says Poetry Is For Everyone. What a Treat to be Snowbound with The 100* Best African American Poems (*but I cheated).
I did cheat.
It's true.
But I did not lie.
Nikki Giovanni
Poet
12 December 2009
Table of Contents
Dedication: The Aunt: xxi Track 1
Mari Evans
1. For My People: 1 Track 2
Margaret Walker
2. Leroy: 3
Amiri Baraka (LeRoi Jones)
3. Ars Poetica: Nov. 7, 2008: 4
L. Lamar Wilson
4. Ka'Ba: 8
Amiri Baraka (LeRoi Jones)
5. When You Have Forgotten Sunday: The Love Story: 9 Track 3
Gwendolyn Brooks
6.
The Sermon on the Warpland: 11 Track 4
Gwendolyn Brooks
We Real Cool: 12 Track 5
Gwendolyn Brooks
7.
Jazz Baby Is It In You: 13
Antoine Harris
"I Fade Into the Night": 14
Adam Daniel
8. Old Lem: 15 Track 6
Sterling A. Brown
9. I Am Accuse of Tending to the Past: 17 Track 7
Lucille Clifton
10. I Am A Black Woman: 18 Track 8
Mari Evans
11. Who Can Be Born Black?: 20 Track 9
Mari Evans
12. Nikka-Rosa:21 Track 10
Nikki Giovanni
13. Knoxville, Tennessee: 23 Track 11
Nikki Giovanni
14. The Dry Spell: 24 Track 12
Kevin Young
15. Those Winter Sundays: 26 Tracks 13 & 14
Robert Hayden
16. Frederic Douglass: 27
Robert Hayden
17. The Negro Speaks of Rivers: 28 Track 15
Langston Hughes
18. Choosing the Blues: 29
Angela Jackson
19. My Father's Love Letters: 30
Yusef Komunyakaa
20. The Creation: 32 Track 16
James Weldon Johnson
21. A Negro Love Song: 36
Paul Laurence Dunbar
22. Lift Every Voice and Sing: 37
James Weldon Johnson
23. Go Down Death: 39
James Weldon Johnson
24. Between Ourselves: 42
Audre Lorde
25. The Union of Two: 45
Haki R. Madhubuti
26. Ballad of Birmingham: 46
Dudley Randall
27. A Poem to Complement Other Poems: 48
Haki R. Madhubuti
28. No Images: 51
Waring Cuney
29. Between the World and Me: 52
Richard Wright
30. Theme for English B: 54
Langston Hughes
31. Harlem Suite
Easy Boogie: 56
Langston Hughes
Dream Boogie: 57
Langston Hughes
Dream Boogie: Variation: 58
Langston Hughes
Harlem: 58
Langston Hughes
Good Morning: 59
Langston Hughes
Same in Blues: 60
Langston Hughes
Island: 61
Langston Hughes
32. The Blue Terrance: 62
Terrance Hayes
33.
The Mother: 64 Track 17
Gwendolyn Brooks
A Bronzeville Mother Loiters in Mississippi. Meanwhile, a Mississippi Mother Burns Bacon: 66
Gwendolyn Brooks Track 18
The Last Quatrain of the Ballad of Emmett Till: 72
Gwendolyn Brooks
A Sunset of the City: 73 Track 19
Gwendolyn Brooks
34. Things I Carried Coming to the World: 75
Remica L. Bingham
35. Topography: 77
Remica L. Bingham
36. Beneath Me: 79
Jericho Brown
37. Autobiography: 80
Jericho Brown
38. Parable of the Sower: 82
Pamela Sneed
39. Heritage: 86
Countee Cullen
40. Yet I Do Marvel: 91 Track 20
Countee Cullen
41. Incident: 92 Track 21
Countee Cullen
42. We Wear the Mask: 93 Track 22
Paul Laurence Dunbar
43. Triple: 94
Georgia Douglas Johnson
44. The Heart of a Woman: 95 Track 23
Georgia Douglas Johnson
45. Woman With Flower: 96
Naomi Long Madgett
46. The Idea of Ancestry: 97
Etheridge Knight
47. Don't Say Goodbye to the Porkpie Hat: 99
Larry Neal
48. Cleaning: 105
Camille T. Dungy
49. Boston Year: 106 Track 24
Elizabeth Alexander
50. She Wears Red: 107
Jackie Warren-Moore
51. Commercial Break: Road-Runner, Uneasy: 110
Tim Seibles
52. Before Making Love: 114
Toi Derricotte
53. Be-Bop: 115
Sterling Plumpp
54. Personal Letter No. 3: 116 Track 25
Sonia Sanchez
55. Poem at Thirty: 117 Track 26
Sonia Sanchez
56. A Poem for Sterling Brown: 118 Track 27
Sonia Sanchez
57. Marchers Headed for Washington, Baltimore, 1963: 120
Remica L. Bingham
58. And Yeah...This is a Love Poem: 123
Nikki Giovanni
59. The Carousel: 123
Gloria C. Oden
60. Only Everything I Own: 127
Patricia Smith
61. Lot's Daughter Dreams of Her Mother: 128 Track 28
Opal Moore
62. The Girlfriend's Train: 131
Nikky Finney
63. Back from the Arms of Big Mama: 136
Afaa Michael Weaver
64. Mama's Promise: 139 Track 29
Marilyn Nelson
65. Bop: A Whistling Man: 142
Lyrae Van Clief-Stefanon
66. Homage to My Hips: 144 Track 30
Lucille Clifton
67. Train Ride: 145
Kwame Dawes
68. Train Rides: 148 Track 31
Nikki Giovanni
69. A Great Grandaddy Speaks: 153
Lamonte B. Steptoe
70. Eddie Priest's Barbershop & Notary: 154
Kevin Young
71. View of the Library of Congress From Paul Laurence Dunbar High School: 156
Thomas Sayers Ellis
72. Drapery Factory, Gulfport, Mississippi, 1956: 159 Track 32
Natasha Trethewey
73. Some Kind of Crazy: 161
Major Jackson
74. From: 163
A. Van Jordan
75. Freedom Candy: 165
E. Ethelbert Miller
76. The Supremes: 167
Cornelius Eady
77. Jazz Suite
Nikki Save Me: 169
Michael Scott
"Nikki, If You Were a Song...": 170 Track 33
Kwame Alexander
Haiku: 170
DJ Renegade
Untitled: 170
Nadir Lasana Bomani
"I Wish I Could've Seen It...": 171
Leodis McCray
78. That Some Mo': 174
DJ Renegade
79. Sometime in the Summer There's October: 175
Kwame Alexander
80. Dancing Naked on the Floor: 178
Kwame Alexander
81. Harriet Tubman's Email 2 Master: 180
Truth Thomas
82. A River That Flows Forever: 181 Track 34
Tupac Shakur
83. The Rose that Grew from Concrete: 181 Track 34
Tupac Shakur
84. Rochelle: 182
Reuben Jackson
85. All Their Stanzas Look Alike: 183
Thomas Sayers Ellis
86. From the Center to the Edge: 185
Asha Bandele
87. The Subtle Art of Breathing: 187
Asha Bandele
88. Southern University, 1963: 192
Kevin Young
89. Poetry Should Ride the Bus: 195
Ruth Forman
90. Blues for Spring: 197
Colleen J. McElroy
91. The Bicycle Wizard: 198
Sharon Strange
92. Bicycles: 199
Nikki Giovanni
93. A Clean Slate: 200
Fred D'Aguiar
94. Song Through the Wall: 201
Akua Lezli Hope
95. A Seat Saved: 203
Shana Yarborough
96. Sunday Greens: 205
Rita Dove
97. The Untitled Superhero Poem: 206
Tonya Maria Matthews
98. Mercy Killing: 209 Track 35
Remica L. Bingham
99. If You Saw a Negro Lady: 210
June Jordan
100. Ego Tripping (There May Be a Reason Why): 212 Track 36
Nikki Giovanni