Contents
Foreword by Terrance Hayes
Acknowledgments
Preface to the Second Edition
Introduction
The Golden Shovel / Terrance Hayes
A Sunset of the City
kitchenette building
Boy Breaking Glass
a song in the front yard
The Bean Eaters
HAILEY LEITHAUSER, What There Is to Spend
RACHEL RICHARDSON, A Halo for Her Invisible Hair
ANNE SHAW, Weather Report
RENÉE WATSON, An Aspect of Love
SUSAN WHEELER, Stay, Dear
ANDREW MOTION, Conjunction
CAITLIN DOYLE, The Parrot Man
SANDRA M. GILBERT, The Fava Bean-Eaters
DIANE GLANCY, Evening
JACK POWERS, Roadside Diner: Fairfield, Maine
CHRISTIAN ROBINSON, Next to the Flatware
PHILIP SCHULTZ, New Year's Eve in Times Square
MAJOR JACKSON, Stand Your Ground
ANGELA NARCISO TORRES, September, Chicago
JENNY BOULLY, Child Tipping Forever
CHELSEA DIXON, The Ache
QURAYSH ALI LANSANA, 1972 ford ltd
MIKE PUICAN, FUNERAL Sign
NATALIE RICHARDSON, Cure and Curry
DEBRIS STEVENSON, i. Cecil Park—High as the Swings ii. Dutch Pot Dancing
CATHERINE BROGAN, Boys Breaking Glass
M. AYODELE HEATH, Ornithology
TROY JOLLIMORE, Sleeping under Stars
ERIKA MEITNER, Meadowlands
DEB NYSTROM, When He Doesn't Come Home
CLARE POLLARD, Boy Breaking Glass, Peckham
DAVID WAGONER, That Boy Is Still Breaking Glass
JOHN COREY WHALEY, So There
KWAME DAWES, Grown Up
RAVEN HOGUE, Yazoo City
EUGENE GLORIA, The Maid
MAXINE KUMIN, At the Capitol Hill Suites, 1985
STEPHANIE STRICKLAND, In a Red Hat
RITA WILLIAMS-GARCIA, Meanwhile in the Henhouse
JAKE ADAM YORK, In Little Rock
KEVIN STEIN, Ars Poetica Composed While Dressing in the Dark
LIANE STRAUSS, Tender Visits
BRENDA CÁRDENAS, What Will We Give Our Children?
REGINALD GIBBONS, A Neighborhood in Chicago
LAURIE ANN GUERRERO, Play the Song
RUTH ELLEN KOCHER, If Divorce Were Our Concerto
SHAZEA QURAISHI, The Inconditions of Love
BRUCE SMITH, "Cry, Baby" Garnet Mimms & the Enchanters sang & "The Sky is Crying"
SPRING ULMER, Slave Ship Captain's Great-great Granddaughter
RONALD WALLACE, Lost softness softly makes a trap for us
JERICHO BROWN, Stay
KAREN VOLKMAN, Two Collisions
ADRIAN MATEJKA, The Explorer
LISA WILLIAMS, First Fight. Then Fiddle.
OLIVER DE LA PAZ, Blue Graffiti
DAVID GUTERSON, The Occasioned Contrition of a Cynic
LLOYD SCHWARTZ, Is Light Enough?
MATTHEW ZAPRUDER, Is Light Enough?
SANDRA BEASLEY, Non-Commissioned (A Quartet)
CM BURROUGHS, Stillborn [In Memory Of ]
LAURA MULLEN, Amen
CHRISTINA PUGH, Stand Your Ground
LEWIS TURCO, Omen
JASWINDER BOLINA, Jessie Mitchell's Father
UGOCHI NWAOGWUGWU, Split Personality
PETER KAHN, Gray
JOSÉ OLIVAREZ, On My Eyelashes
ALICIA OSTRIKER, Dry Hours
BARBARA JANE REYES, We pray, and
SASHA ROGELBERG, Who Has Given Us Life
GEORGE SZIRTES, We are things of dry hours and the involuntary plan
MICHAEL COLLIER, Len Bias, a Bouquet of Flowers, and Ms. Brooks
PATRICIA SMITH, Black, Poured Directly into the Wound
HONOR MOORE, Variation, the Birth of Lincoln West
TRACI BRIMHALL, Humbug Epithalamium
LEONTIA FLYNN, 1982
DOROTHEA LASKY, A Final and Unrepentant, Silent, Sorry Bird
TERESE SVOBODA, Bird Boy
TANA JEAN WELCH, Sanctuary
JANE YOLEN, Solitaire
NICOLE COOLEY, Of Marriage: River, Lake and Vein
COLLEEN MCELROY, Throwing Stones at the All White Pool
ALISON HAWTHORNE DEMING, Cartoon
NATHAN HOKS, The Empathy Nest
AMY LEMMON, Logistics for Thursday
RACHEL MCKIBBENS, Black Friday
LEAH UMANSKY, The Left-Hour
TRACY K. SMITH, Semi-Splendid
BARON WORMSER, Sentence
RACHEL CONTRENI FLYNN, Daughter-Mother
ADAM M. LEVIN, We were gonna go through with it, and then we lost it.
PATRICIA MCCARTHY, Childless Woman
SHARON OLDS, Missing Miss Brooks
KEVIN PRUFER, From the Hospital
JOSHUA MARIE WILKINSON, My Own Dead
RICHARD ZABRANSKY, The Single Neighbor Threatens My Family
AMA CODJOE, Body of a Woman, Tail of a Fish
ANDREA HOLLANDER, Her Mouth, His Eyes
JOYELLE MCSWEENEY, ASEA
RICHARD POWERS, So I Wait
AL YOUNG, Key to the Dollar Store
RITA DOVE, From the Sidelines
JACKIE WILLS, Johannesburg 2013
DAVID LEHMAN, Exact Change
WESLEY ROTHMAN, Incarceration Blues
JON DAVIS, Of Gwendolyn Brooks
ELIZABETH MACKLIN, Some Glowing in the Common Blood
MICHAEL RYAN, No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader.
TARA BETTS, Go
BOB HOLMAN, One Wants a Teller in a Time like This
AMANDA AUCHTER, Mary
AARON SAMUELS, When Grandma Goes to the Moon
JOHN HEGLEY, Pygmalion Director Wishes to Enliven Production
KIM ADDONIZIO, Queen of the Game
JENNIFER PERRINE, From Iraq, A Tattoo
DAVID BAKER, Stolen Sonnet
ASIA CALCAGNO, Gravestones
HELEN FROST, Softer Sounds
ROGER ROBINSON, Brixton Revo 2011
HOA NGUYEN, Offbeat
WILLIAM STOBB, Cousin
DAN SULLIVAN, There Are Mornings
FLORENCE LADD, Sadie and Maud
GAIL CARSON LEVINE, Maud and Sadie
DANIELLE CADENA DEULEN, Medics
MARK DOTY, Advice from Ms. Brooks, With Elaborations
CHERISE A. POLLARD, Reflections on Invictus
MAUREEN SEATON, Bigly in the Wild Weed
MALIKA BOOKER, A Parable of Sorts
PETER COOLEY, My Life Has Been No Smaller Than My Mind
MARIAHADESSA EKERE TALLIE, Gap-Toothed Woman
LINDSAY HUNTER, Our Home
JACOB POLLEY, Twelve Weeks
JON SANDS, Statue
DIANE SEUSS, back yard song
EVIE SHOCKLEY, song in the back yard
JEANANN VERLEE, Careful the Blood
FRED WAH, Somewhere where
JAMAAL MAY, The Names of Leaves in War
MICHELE PARKER RANDALL, Breaking House
TIMOTHY YU, Moon
MARILYN NELSON, Bird-Feeder
RAYMOND ANTROBUS, The Artist
HANNAH SRAJER, Third Infidelity
ONI BUCHANAN, Pasted to Stars Already
TISHANI DOSHI, Strong Men, Riding Horses
DOUGLAS KEARNEY, The Strong Strong Men Riding Strong Strong Horses after the West
TERI CROSS DAVIS, One Night Stand
EILEEN MYLES, Hot Water
RAVI SHANKAR, The Narcissist Breaks Up
DARA WIER, For Gwendolyn Brooks
MAXINE CHERNOFF, The sun had dimmed already
DANIEL DONAGHY, Somerset
MARIA MAZZIOTTI GILLAN, In Honor of Gwendolyn Brooks: A Shovel Poem
LANGSTON KERMAN, This Feels Permanent
DORIANNE LAUX, Lapse
E. ETHELBERT MILLER, Just a Friend after Sunset
NII AYIKWEI PARKES, Awaiting Dawn
LINDA PASTAN, One Day Soon
FIONA SAMPSON, Travel Literature
LEE UPTON, Already
DANIELLE ZIPKIN, Cold Sore
ELEANOR WILNER, Over and Over and All
YONA HARVEY, Necessarily
JULIA GLASS, Two Poems for Alec
TONY TRIGILIO, To Be in Love
SHARON G. FLAKE, She never saw life as hard
BOB HICOK, Oath
CAMARA BROWN, What I would ask of Manman Brigitte after seeing the African Burial Ground
CHRIS HAVEN, The dark hangs heavily
INDIGO WILLIAMS, Truth
PHILIP GROSS, Memento Mori
FRANCINE J. HARRIS, The Lot, Vacant Then
MARY CALVIN, 1950: Norco, Louisiana
STUART DISCHELL, Parisian Shuffle
CAMILLE T. DUNGY, Because it looked hotter that way
JOY HARJO, An American Sunrise
ELLEN HOPKINS, How Cool Are We?
GAHL LIBERZON, The Old NZ
TYLER MILLS, Hansel in College
DOROTHY MOORE, Cool Kids
SHARON OLDS, Thanks to Miss Brooks
HALEY PATAIL, The Golden Shovel (to bury the ghost)
KADIJA SESAY, Kriolising Kulcha
MAGS WEBSTER, Jessie from the Golden Shovel
SHOLEH WOLPÉ, We, the Basij
ALYSSA KELLY, Unforgivable
LEONA SEVICK, A Love Story
DAN BEACHY-QUICK, Places Never Gathered
WANG PING, She Shall Not Be
DEXTER L. BOOTH, Neo-Afronaut Anthem
KIMIKO HAHN, The Real Cool
HANA BEACHY-QUICK, Golden Shovel
PHIL DACEY, Parenthood
KENDRA DECOLO, Last Night On Earth We Go to Wendy's
SHARON DOLIN, It takes so little
ANTHONY JOSEPH, She threw verbs and arrows at my
IAN KHADAN, Death in Brain
TONI ASANTE LIGHTFOOT, Middle Dreams
BILLY LOMBARDO, At Johnnie's after Basketball Practice
NICK MAKOHA, The Shepherd . . .
BLAKE MORRISON, The Road to Wales
JOHN O'CONNOR, Immigrant
KEVIN SIMMONDS, Social Security
DOROTHEA SMARTT, Headway
DAVID ST. JOHN, Robert Johnson's Double-Edged Shovel
JEAN VALENTINE, Poem with Endwords by Reginald Shephard
KAREN MCCARTHY WOOLF, Of Ownership
AVERY R. YOUNG, pedagogy of a whoopin
RAPHAEL ALLISON, Double Golden Shovel
JULIA ALVAREZ, Behind the Scenes
ELLEN BASS, Morning (a twisted shovel)
MELISA CAHNMANN-TAYLOR, Frijolero Ex-Pats
FRED D'AGUIAR, Golden Shovel Borrowed from Derek Walcott and Gwendolyn Brooks
CALVIN FORBES, The Devil's Own
DAVID GILMER, When a Grief Has Come
KEITH JARRETT, Outside St. Dominic's Priory. Snapshot, July 2015.
AMIT MAJMUDAR, Selected Psalms from the Book of Brooks
CAROL MUSKE-DUKES, Accident
MOLLY PEACOCK, The Art of the Stroke:
TOM SLEIGH, Net
JACINDA TOWNSEND, Father
BUDDY WAKEFIELD, A Private Service Announcement
TYRONE WILLIAMS, That's Mr. Robert Johnson to You
ZOSY J. ARGUETA, Figure It Out
CORINA ROBINSON, Royalty
AMRITA CHAKRABORTY, Cold Alchemy
MARLENA WADLEY, Gemini
CHLÖE MOBLEY, Mad Boy / Sad Boy at School
Afterword
Title Index
Author Index