Trouble the Water: 250 Years of African-American PoetryJerry Washington Ward The haunting refrain of the anonymous spiritual "Were You Dere?," the classic rhymes of Frances Ellen Watkins Harper's "Bury Me in a Free Land," the jazz beat of Maya Angelou's "Times-Square-Shoeshine-Composition," and the exquisite balance of Etheridge Knight's haikus-the entire rich and varied tradition of African-American poetry appears in this superb anthology, unified throughout by the authenticity of experiences wrung straight from the soul.Trouble the Water, the first collection to cover close to 300 years of poetic achievement in 400 important works by African-American writers, features women as half the contributors and includes nearly 50 poems from the 1980s and 1990s. |
Contents
Soon One Mawnin | 6 |
Phillis Wheatley | 12 |
On Virtue 12 c 1797c 1883 | 21 |
Copyright | |
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Africa African-American ain't Aint Rachel American Book Award beat beauty bird black hands blood Bloodstorm blue Bob Kaufman brothers color Cunjah dance dark dead death dreams drum Dudley Randall earth Etheridge Knight face feel feet fly away home freedom gone gonna grenada Gwendolyn Brooks hair Harlem Harriet Harriet Tubman head hear a rumbling heard heart heaven jazz Jean Toomer kill land Langston Hughes Lawd light live look Lord Ma Rainey Marse mighty mind moon mother move Negro never nigger night peace Permission to reprint Poems poet poetry pow pow rain remember reprint granted river Robert Hayden rock sand scream shadow sing slave smile song soul spirit stars street sweet tears tell thee thing thou tree underground voices walk waters wind woman words