Of Poetry and Protest

July 18, 2016
This collection of poems and essays from 43 African-American poets, with photographs by Victoria Smith, functions as a platform for some of America’s most prominent black poets to share how they came to poetry, how poetry functions in the social milieu, and how poems can address social justice, protest, and history. In his preface, editor Cushway writes that he aimed to produce “a book that would contain reverberating elements that appeal to nontraditional readers of poetry.” As an introduction to some of the country’s finest black writers, it succeeds. The anthology largely focuses on established, prominent poets writing in accepted modes, though a handful of younger poets round it out, along with quotes, stand-alone essays, and art displayed prominently along with the portraits. The poetry itself addresses topics such as slavery and reconstruction, the civil rights era, Martin Luther King Jr., Move, Malcolm X, France’s May 1968 protests, Obama’s presidency, police murders, and the Black Lives Matter movement. Amiri Baraka, in his 2013 essay “Protest Poetry” (reprinted here), writes that African-American literature “reveals American lives, culture and history in a depth that nothing else is able to do.” Through the stories, struggles, beliefs, and work of these living black poets emerges the story of a nation. B+w photos.

Starred review from August 1, 2016
To All Those Who Have Died Because of the Color of Their Skin is the dedication to this large and magnetizing poetry anthology inspired by today's new iteration of the civil rights movement coalesced in protest against police killings of African American boys and men. Warr, himself a poet, explains in his introduction that this is an unapologetically political collection showcasing more than 40 living African American poets of black diversity and creative individualism, from Elizabeth Alexander ( Narrative: Ali, a poem in twelve rounds ) to Al Young ( Blues for Malcolm X ), engaged in the transformative work of truth-telling. Each poet is present in black-and-white photographs by Victoria Smith, a reverberating poet's statement, and his or her poem appearing on page spreads so expansive readers can fall headlong into these haunting works of love, family, community, hate, fear, violence, sorrow, outrage, and determination. This exceptional and powerful gathering includes Rita Dove, Cornelius Eady, Nikky Finney, Terrance Hayes, Angela Jackson, Tyehimba Jess, Yusef Komunyakaa, Quraysh Ali Lansana, Haki Madhubuti, Patricia Smith, Natasha Trethewey, and devorah major, who writes, i'm not going to carry banners of defeat / and wear shackles of resignation / i say i want to give thanks for community / that is birthing new freedoms / not burying fresh kill. (Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)