Noting the frustrating tendency for Black artists to be pigeonholed into the confines of various frameworks and ideologies--Black studies, women's studies, LGBTQIA+ studies, and so on--Bingham-Risher reveals the multitudes contained within Black poets, both past and present. By capturing the radical love ethic of Blackness amid incessant fear, she has amassed not only a wealth of knowledge about contemporary Black poetry and poetry movements but also brings to life the historical record of Black poetry from the latter half of the 20th century to the early decades of the 21st.
Examining cultural traditions, myths, and music from the Four Tops to Beyoncé, Bingham-Risher reflects on the enduring gifts of art and community. If you've ever felt alone on your journey into the writing world, the words of these poets are for you.
Remica Bingham-Risher is a Cave Canem fellow and Affrilachian poet. Her work has been published in the New York Times, the Writer's Chronicle, New Letters, Callaloo, and Essence, among other journals. She is the author of three volumes of her own poetry: Conversion, winner of the Naomi Long Madgett Poetry Award; What We Ask of Flesh, shortlisted for the Hurston/Wright Award; and Starlight & Error, winner of the Diode Editions Book Award. She lives in Norfolk, Virginia, with her husband and children.
- Publisher: Beacon Press (August 16, 2022)
- Language: English
- Hardcover: 248 pages
- ISBN-10: 080701592X
- ISBN-13: 9780807015926
- Item Weight: 1.25 pounds