In honor of the first Black History Month, The Poetry Shop is highlighting poetry from four movements where Black poets have made incredible contributions. Explore The Harlem Renaissance, The Black Arts Movement, Spoken Word, and a wide collection of Contemporary Black poets. Please feel free to review the options and contact us if there are any you feel should be considered for inclusion.
Harlem Renaissance Poetry
Centered in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City, an groundbreaking artistic moment arose in the 1920s and 1930s. While the movement covered a wide swath of artistic endeavors, the poets left an indelible mark on American arts and culture. Leveraging a diverse range of forms, poets often infused the hallmarks of jazz, ragtime, and blues style into their work. Look for Langston Hughes, Claude McKay, Georgia Douglas Johnson, Countee Cullen, and more.
Harlem Renaissance poetry from a book in our shop...
Mother to Son
Well, son, I’ll tell you:
Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.
It’s had tacks in it,
And splinters,
And boards torn up,
And places with no carpet on the floor—Bare.
But all the time
I’se been a-climbin’ on,
And reachin’ landin’s,
And turnin’ corners,
And sometimes goin’ in the dark
Where there ain’t been no light.
So boy, don’t you turn back.
Don’t you set down on the steps
’Cause you finds it’s kinder hard.
Don’t you fall now—
For I’se still goin’, honey,
I’se still climbin’,
And life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.
Collected Poems of Langston Hughes
$23.00
$28.00
28 in stock
Black Arts Movement Poetry
The Black Arts Movement was an artistic movement that reached its heights between 1965 - 1975 and has been described by many as the cultural equivalent or extension of the Black Power Movement. Amiri Baraka is credited with catalyzing the movement which gave rise to incomparable luminaries like Maya Angelou, Nikki Giovanni, Ishmael Reed, Audre Lorde, and Gwendolyn Brooks, just to name a few. The poetry is characterized by scintillating verse on Black self-determination, politics, and culture.
Black Arts Movement Poetry from a book in our Shop...
Coal
I
Is the total black, being spoken
From the earth's inside.
There are many kinds of open.
How a diamond comes into a knot of flame
How a sound comes into a word, coloured
By who pays what for speaking.
Some words are open
Like a diamond on glass windows
Singing out within the crash of passing sun
Then there are words like stapled wagers
In a perforated book—buy and sign and tear apart—
And come whatever wills all chances
The stub remains
An ill-pulled tooth with a ragged edge.
Some words live in my throat
Breeding like adders. Others know sun
Seeking like gypsies over my tongue
To explode through my lips
Like young sparrows bursting from shell.
Some words
Bedevil me.
Love is a word another kind of open—
As a diamond comes into a knot of flame
I am black because I come from the earth's inside
Take my word for jewel in your open light.
--
© Audre Lorde 1997, from The Collected Poems of Audre Lorde
Collected Poems of Audre Lorde
$21.95
$26.95
201 in stock
Spoken Word Poetry
There is no way for us to capture the modern Spoken Word movement in a collection. While all poetry is suited to be read aloud, Spoken Word poetry leans on the rhythmic pulse of the speaker. Performances and recordings are often layered accompanying music, blurring the lines between spoken poetry and the rhythms of hip-hop. As a form or method of performance, Spoken Word poetry emerge from other poetry movements, bringing along a wide open audience.
An excerpt of Spoken Word poetry from a book in our shop...
This Is Not a Small Voice
This is not a small voice
you hear this is a large
voice coming out of these cities.
This is the voice of LaTanya.
Kadesha. Shaniqua. This
is the voice of Antoine.
Darryl. Shaquille.
Running over waters
navigating the hallways
of our schools spilling out
on the corners of our cities and
no epitaphs spill out of their river
mouths.
This is not a small love
you hear this is a large
love, a passion for kissing learning
on its face.
This is a love that crowns the feet
with hands
that nourishes, conceives, feels the
water sails
mends the children,
folds them inside our history
where they
toast more than the flesh
where they suck the bones of the
alphabet
and spit out closed vowels.
This is a love colored with iron
and lace.
This is a love initialed Black
Genius.
This is not a small voice
you hear.
--
Excerpt, This is Not a Small Voice © Sonia Sanchez, Beacon Press, Boston,
Collected Poems
$19.95
$24.95
59 in stock
Contemporary Black Poetry
This collection is comprised of 32 remarkable poets, pulled from groups like Cave Canum, Furious Flow, and selected from bestselling poetry lists. This barely scratches of the poets publishing today and the range of genres, forms, and themes through their work. If there is a poet whose work you would like to see here, please help us out and let us know: info@thepoetryshop.com
An excerpt of contemporary poetry from a book in our shop...
Nina's Blues
Your body, hard vowels
In a soft dress, is still.
What you can't know
is that after you died
All the black poets
In New York City
Took a deep breath,
And breathed you out;
Dark corners of small clubs,
The silence you left twitching
On the floors of the gigs
You turned your back on,
The balled-up fists of notes
Flung, angry from a keyboard.
You won't be able to hear us
Try to etch what rose
Off your eyes, from your throat.
Out you bleed, not as sweet, or sweaty,
Through our dark fingertips.
We drum rest
We drum thank you
We drum stay.
--
© Cornelius Eady, "Nina's Blues," from Hardheaded Weather: New and Selected Poems, published by Putnam.
Hardheaded Weather: New and Selected Poems
$24.00
$29.00
148 in stock
Contemporary Black Poetry
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Counting Descent
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