The 100 Best African American Poems
Go-to poet and reigning literary activist Giovanni admits in her introduction that she “cheated”: she just couldn’t keep to that nice round number in the title. And who can blame her. As Giovanni enthuses in her peppy introduction, “Poems are like . . . two scoops of chocolate ice cream . . . something everyone can enjoy.” Her vivid and affecting selections add up to a complexly pleasurable anthology. The delight is in the musical, inventive, and vivid language; the astute insights and humor, passion and tenderness. But these are poems born of suffering and injustice, even as they reach for truth and wisdom. Margaret Walker Alexander’s “For My People” sets the tone in its embrace of African American history, and well-known poets such as Gwendolyn Brooks, Lucille Clifton, Robert Hayden, and Kevin Young follow, along with many new voices, all treated equally, since no poet biographies are included. Langston Hughes asks, “What happens to a dream deferred?” Georgia Douglas Johnson answers, “Dream your dream anew.” Poets and other performers read 36 poems on the accompanying CD. --Donna Seaman