Every Shut Eye Ain't Asleep: An Anthology of Poetry by African Americans Since 1945
Using Robert Hayden and Gwendolyn Brooks's poetry as "emblematic" successes, this anthology selects 35 African American poets (spanning three generations) who were born between 1913 and 1962 and came of age after 1945. Besides the well-known Amiri Baraka, Lucille Clifton, Rita Dove, and Etheridge Knight, the editors feature little-known or younger poets like Elizabeth Alexander, Gerald Barrax, Jayne Cortex, and Dolores Kendrick. (Curiously, James Baldwin, Nikki Giovanni, June Jordan, and Quincy Troupe are omitted.) With an introduction, headnotes, and selective bibliographies, this valuable work from a mainstream press updates Robert Hayden's Afro-American Literature, Dudley Randall's New Black Voices , and Abraham Chapman's New Black Voices. Recommended for public libraries. --Frank Allen, West Virginia State Coll., InstituteCopyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.