WINNER OF THE FELIX DENNIS PRIZE FOR BEST FIRST COLLECTION SHORTLISTED FOR THE T.S. ELIOT PRIZE FOR POETRY 2020 A startlingly radical and surreal poetic journey, RENDANG takes the reader from West Sumatra to Planet Mongo via Gray's Inn Road, alighting on Indonesian artefacts, gentrification, and citizenry. RENDANG is an urgent comment on what it means to be a person now, a dissection of and love letter to the histories, places, and things that make us. Through adept and complex language play, a ludic voice, and a masterful command of form, Will Harris creates a poetry that charts the ambivalences, difficulties, and voices of our contemporary landscape.
Winner of the Cave Canem Northwestern University Press Poetry Prize In his second collection of poetry, Reginald Harris traverses real and imagined landscapes, searching for answers to the question “What are you?” From Baltimore to Havana, Atlantic City to Alabama—and from the broad memories of childhood to the very specific moment of Marvin Gaye singing at the 1983 NBA All-Star Game shortly before his death—this is a travel diary of internal and external journeys exploring issues of race and sexuality. The poet traveler falls into and out of love and lust, sometimes coupled, sometimes alone. Autogeography tracks how who you are changes depending on where you are; how where you are and where you’ve been determine who you are and where you might be headed.
Poetry. Photographs by Monica Claire Antonie. Cover art by Clark V. Fox. ONE MORE BEAT contains 27 poems by Harris Schiff with 27 photographs by Monica Claire Antoine. In his introduction, Schiff describes the formation of the second and third generations of New York School poets within the context of U.S. social and historical developments (1960 to the present). The book is dedicated to Ted Berrigan. "This book is a must read for anyone who wants to know what was going on in the 70's and early 80's with poetry in the East Village."-Barbara Henning
The instant New York Times bestseller featured on NPR's Weekend Edition with Scott Simon! B. J. Novak (bestselling author of The Book With No Pictures) described this groundbreaking poetry collection as "Smart and sweet, wild and wicked, brilliantly funny--it's everything a book for kids should be." Lauded by critics as a worthy heir to such greats as Silverstein, Seuss, Nash and Lear, Harris's hilarious debut molds wit and wordplay, nonsense and oxymoron, and visual and verbal sleight-of-hand in masterful ways that make you look at the world in a whole new wonderfully upside-down way. With enthusiastic endorsements from bestselling luminaries such as Lemony Snicket, Judith Viorst, Andrea Beaty, and many others, this entirely unique collection offers a surprise around every corner. Adding to the fun: Lane Smith, bestselling creator of beloved hits like It's a Book and The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales, has spectacularly illustrated this extraordinary collection with nearly one hundred pieces of appropriately absurd art. It's a mischievous match made in heaven! "Ridiculous, nonsensical, peculiar, outrageous, possibly deranged--and utterly, totally, absolutely delicious. Read it! Immediately!" --Judith Viorst, bestselling author of Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day
The Poetry of the Americas provides an expansive history of relations between poets in the US and Latin America over three decades, from the Good Neighbor diplomacy of World War II to 1960s Cold War cultural policy.
A sharp, haunting, and lyrical collection that attempts to understand what we owe the spaces we inhabit. The full-length debut from francine j. harris, allegiance is about Detroit, sort of. Although many of the poems are inspired by and dwell in the spaces of the city, this collection does not revel in any of the cliché cultural tropes normally associated with Detroit. Instead, these poems artfully explore life in a city where order coexists with chaos and much is lost in social and physical breakdown. Narrative poems on the hazards, betrayals, and annoyances of city life mix with impressionistic poems that evoke the natural world, as harris grapples with issues of beauty and horror, loyalty and individuality, and memory and loss on Detroit's complicated canvas. In twelve sections, harris introduces readers to loungers and bystanders, prisoners' wives, poets pictured on book jackets, Caravaggio's Jesus, and city priests. She leads readers past the lone house on the block that cannot be walked down, through layers of discarded objects in the high school yard, and into various classrooms, bars, and living rooms. Shorter poems highlight the persistence of nature-in water, weeds, orchids, begonias, insects, pigeons, and pheasants. Some poems convey a sense of the underbelly, desire, and disgust while others treat issues of religion, both in institutional settings and personal prayers. In her honest but unsentimental voice, harris layers personal history and rich details to explore how our surroundings shape our selves and what allegiance we owe them when they have turned almost everything to ashes. Throughout allegiance, harris presents herself as an extraordinarily perceptive poet with a compelling and original voice. Poetry lovers will appreciate this exciting debut collection.
Poets for Harris is a collective of poets from across the United States committed to protecting artistic freedom and supporting the historic campaign of Kamala Harris for president. All net profits from sales of this book will be donated to VoteRiders. A few hours after President Biden announced he would not be seeking re-election and Vice President Kamala Harris was named his preferred candidate, Win With Black Women, led by founder Jotaka Eaddy (and author of the foreword for this collection), kicked off an organic tsunami of volunteer organizations with a historic 44,000-strong Zoom call. Win With Black Men, White Women: Answer The Call!, White Dudes for Harris, Comics for Kamala, Cat Ladies for Kamala, and many more soon followed. San Francisco Bay Area poets Liz Cahill and James Morehead, during a break at a local open mic, asked the question: “Where are the poets?” And Poets for Harris was born. Like many of the over 100 grassroots organizations, Poets for Harris started from nothing more than an idea and the determination to do something. Fast forward to Sunday, September 15, the 61st anniversary of the 16th Street Baptist Church Bombing in Birmingham, Alabama, and an extraordinary lineup of poets took to a virtual mic for a nearly four-hour livestream event, viewed (as of this writing) by nearly two thousand people. Even more poets participated online by contributing videos, which were shared thousands of times on social media. This book builds on that event with contributions from Pulitzer Prize nominees and finalists, poets laureate, and authors, including: Poets for Harris is a collective of poets from across the United States committed to protecting artistic freedom and supporting the historic campaign of Kamala Harris for president. All net profits from sales of this poetry anthology will be donated to VoteRiders. Contributing poets include: Lauren K. Alleyne, Regina Harris Baiocchi, Carmine Di Biase, Tennison S. Black, Tabitha Bozeman, Clarise Annette Brooks, Dustin Brookshire, Liz Cahill, Melisa Cahnmann-Taylor, Tina Cane, Kai Coggin, Nick Courtright, Brennan DeFrisco, Lenny DellaRocca, Lauren Ducrey, Cornelius Eady, Regina YC Garcia, Ella Gordon, Salaam Green, Carol Guess, Jared Harél, Judy Ireland, Patricia Spears Jones, Mike Jurkovic, Ben Kline, Dorianne Laux, Matthew Layne, Morgan Liphart, Elise Liu, Jennifer Martelli, Donna Masini, Tyler Mills, James Morehead, Caridad Moro-Gronlier, Lisa Mottolo, Gloria Muñoz, ayodele nzinga, Donald Platt, Maya Raveneau-Bey, Victoria Redel, J.R. Rice, Jessica Sabo, Lisa Marie Simmons, Susannah Winters Simpson, Kelsey Stancliffe, L.J Sysko, Pamela Wax, Steven Willis, and Emanuel Xavier.
The appreciation of Zen philosophy and art has become universal, and Zen poetry, with its simple expression of direct, intuitive insight and sudden enlightenment, appeals to lovers of poetry, spirituality, and beauty everywhere. This collection of translations of the classical Zen poets of China, Japan, and Korea includes the work of Zen practitioners and monks as well as scholars, artists, travelers, and recluses, ranging from Wang Wei, Hanshan, and Yang Wanli, to Shinkei, Basho, and Ryokan.
A new translation of a beloved anthology of poems from the golden age of Chinese culture—a treasury of wit, beauty, and wisdom from many of China’s greatest poets. These roughly three hundred poems from the Tang Dynasty (618–907)—an age in which poetry and the arts flourished—were gathered in the eighteenth century into what became one of the best-known books in the world, and which is still cherished in Chinese homes everywhere. Many of China’s most famous poets—Du Fu, Li Bai, Bai Juyi, and Wang Wei—are represented by timeless poems about love, war, the delights of drinking and dancing, and the beauties of nature. There are poems about travel, about grief, about the frustrations of bureaucracy, and about the pleasures and sadness of old age. Full of wisdom and humanity that reach across the barriers of language, space, and time, these poems take us to the heart of Chinese poetry, and into the very heart and soul of a nation.
