{"title":"Saeed Jones","description":"","products":[{"product_id":"when-the-only-light-is-fire","title":"When the Only Light Is Fire","description":"In his debut chapbook of poetry, Saeed Jones walks on the periphery of the South, those places on the outskirts of town, in bars after midnight, and on dangerous backroads where most people keep their heads down or look the other way. Through Texas and Tennessee, Alabama and the riverbeds of the Mississippi, these poems wrap themselves in cloaks of masks and comfort; garments we learn are flammable if we stand too close to flames. D. A. Powell says of Saeed's work, \"Like Aeneas carrying his father from the ruined city of Troy, Saeed Jones brings all of his beginnings--the roots and tendrils of the kudzu vines, the 'sky burned to blazing, ' the lore and pain and wisdom of salvation--into a new space where art and beauty stagger the mind; where the story of transformation becomes part of the cultural body of who we are. I get shout-happy when I read these poems; they are the gospel; they are the good news of the sustaining power of imagination, tenderness and outright joy; they are the birth of a new poetry that baptizes with the Holy Spirit and with fire.\"","brand":"Saeed Jones","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43793309597738,"sku":"9781937420031","price":12.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0690\/0891\/6522\/files\/when-the-only-light-is-fire-2779624.jpg?v=1762151133"},{"product_id":"prelude-to-bruise","title":"Prelude to Bruise","description":"\u003cb\u003ePraise for Saeed Jones: \u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Jones is the kind of writer who's more than wanted: he's desperately needed.\"\u003cb\u003e--\u003ci\u003eFlavorWire\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"This book leaves your body transformed in a way that poetry should.\" \u003cb\u003e--\u003ci\u003eElevenEleven\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"I get shout-happy when I read these poems; they are the gospel; they are the good news of the sustaining power of imagination, tenderness, and outright joy.\"\u003cb\u003e--D. A. Powell\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Prelude to Bruise works its tempestuous mojo just under the skin, wreaking a sweet havoc and rearranging the pulse. These poems don't dole out mercy. Mr. Jones undoubtedly dipped his pen in fierce before crafting these stanzas that rock like backslap. Straighten your skirt, children. The doors of the church are open.\"\u003cb\u003e--Patricia Smith\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"It's a big book, a major book. A game-changer. Dazzling, brutal, real. Not just brilliant, caustic, and impassioned but a work that brings history--in which the personal and political are inter-constitutive--to the immediate moment. Jones takes a reader deep into lived experience, into a charged world divided among unstable yet entrenched lines: racial, gendered, political, sexual, familial. Here we absorb each quiet resistance, each whoop of joy, a knowledge of violence and of desire, an unbearable ache\/loss\/yearning. This is not just a 'new voice' but a new song, a new way of singing, a new music made of deep grief's wildfire, of burning intelligence and of all-feeling heart, scorched and seared. In a poem, Jones says, 'Boy's body is a song only he can hear.' But now that we have this book, we can all hear it. And it's unforgettable.\"\u003cb\u003e--Brenda Shaughnessy\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Inside each hunger, each desire, speaks the voice of a boy that admits 'I've always wanted to be dangerous.' This is not a threat but a promise to break away from the affliction of silence, to make audible the stories that trouble the dimensions of masculinity and discomfort the polite conversations about race. With impressive grace, Saeed Jones situates the queer black body at the center, where his visibility and vulnerability nurture emotional strength and the irrepressible energy to claim those spaces that were once denied or withheld from him. Prelude to a Bruise is a daring debut.\"\u003cb\u003e--Rigoberto González\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eFrom \"Sleeping Arrangement\" \u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eTake your hand out\u003cbr\u003efrom under my pillow. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAnd take your sheets with you.\u003cbr\u003eDrag them under. Make pretend ghosts. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eI can't have you rattling the bed springs\u003cbr\u003eso keep still, keep quiet. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eMistake yourself for shadows.\u003cbr\u003eLearn the lullabies of lint. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eSaeed Jones \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003eworks as the editor of BuzzfeedLGBT.","brand":"Saeed Jones","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43793309794346,"sku":"9781566893749","price":16.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0690\/0891\/6522\/files\/prelude-to-bruise-7992373.jpg?v=1762151133"},{"product_id":"prime-poetry-conversation","title":"Prime: Poetry \u0026 Conversation","description":"Prime: Poetry \u0026amp; Conversation is a first-of-its-kind document of poetry and ongoing conversation in the black, queer literary community, a necessity as the historically well-indexed canon of white queer writers continues to grow with little diversity. Sparked into existence by a Best American Poetry blog from Jericho Brown in which he singled out some of the most exciting young, black, and gay men writing today, Prime features poems by and dialogue between poets Darrel Alejandro Holnes, Saeed Jones, Rickey Laurentiis, Phillip B. Williams, and L. Lamar Wilson. Jericho Brown provides the introduction for this collection, which is proudly published by Sibling Rivalry Press.","brand":"Darrel Alejandro Holnes, Saeed Jones, Phillip B Williams","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43793310122026,"sku":"9781937420734","price":16.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0690\/0891\/6522\/files\/prime-poetry-conversation-2566065.jpg?v=1762151068"},{"product_id":"alive-at-the-end-of-the-world","title":"Alive at the End of the World","description":"\u003cb\u003ePierced by grief and charged with history, this new poetry collection from the award-winning author of \u003ci\u003ePrelude to Bruise\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eHow We Fight for Our Lives\u003c\/i\u003e confronts our everyday apocalypses.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn haunted poems glinting with laughter, Saeed Jones explores the public and private betrayals of life as we know it. With verve, wit, and elegant craft, Jones strips away American artifice in order to reveal the intimate grief of a mourning son and the collective grief bearing down on all of us. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eDrawing from memoir, fiction, and persona, Jones confronts the everyday perils of white supremacy with a finely tuned poetic ear, identifying moments that seem routine even as they open chasms of hurt. Viewing himself as an unreliable narrator, Jones looks outward to understand what's within, bringing forth cultural icons like Little Richard, Paul Mooney, Aretha Franklin and Diahann Carroll to illuminate how long and how perilously we've been living on top of fault lines. As these poems seek ways to love and survive through America's existential threats, Jones ushers his readers toward the realization that the end of the world is already here-and the apocalypse is a state of being.","brand":"Saeed Jones","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43793311301674,"sku":"9781566896511","price":16.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0690\/0891\/6522\/files\/alive-at-the-end-of-the-world-3794260.jpg?v=1762151067"},{"product_id":"peoples-project-poems-essays-and-art-for-looking-forward","title":"People's Project: Poems, Essays, and Art for Looking Forward","description":"\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eUSA TODAY\u003c\/i\u003e BESTSELLER\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eA liberatory anthology of twenty-seven writers--a community in book form--charting paths ahead for action and care in the face of political uncertainty, curated by Maggie Smith and Saeed Jones. \u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eInspired by Saeed Jones and Maggie Smith's conversations in the wake of the 2024 election, this is a collection of poems, essays, and visual art on what we--individually and collectively--can hold onto, and what we can work towards. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e In times of difficulty, with a government working against its own people, we must turn to our friends and loved ones to provide context, language, energy, and hope. \u003ci\u003eThe People's Project \u003c\/i\u003eoffers a range of perspectives, drawing wisdom from their communities and histories: from know-your-place aggression to crip time as a way forward, from finding strength in nature to how trans people provide a guide for the future, and how hope has everything to do with survival. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e We hope these meditations and strategies will provide you with inspiration and fortitude for the years ahead. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Featuring original and selected work from Alexander Chee, Chase Strangio, Tiana Clark, Hala Alyan, Aubrey Hirsch, Imani Perry, Abi Maxwell, Victoria Chang, Koritha Mitchell, Jason Silverstein, Alice Wong, Mira Jacob, Aruni Kashyap, Sam Sax, Ashley C. Ford, Marlon James, Eula Biss, Randall Mann, Danez Smith, Ada Limon, Kiese Laymon, Joy Harjo, Jill Damatac, Kay Jones, and Patricia Smith.","brand":"Saeed JonesMaggie Smith","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43793339449386,"sku":"9781668207024","price":22.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0690\/0891\/6522\/files\/peoples-project-poems-essays-and-art-for-looking-forward-4885532.jpg?v=1762150357"}],"url":"https:\/\/thepoetryshop.com\/collections\/saeed-jones.oembed","provider":"The Poetry Shop LLC","version":"1.0","type":"link"}