Describes the joys of summer spent with family in Knoxville: eating vegetables right from the garden, going to church picnics, and walking in the mountains.

Black Feeling, Black Talk/Black Judgement is one of the single most important volumes of modern African-American poetry. This book, electrifying generations with its revolutionary phrases and inspiring them with such Nikki Giovanni masterpieces as the lyrical "Nikki-Rosa" and the intimate "Knoxville, Tennessee," is the seminal volume of Nikki Giovanni's body of work. Black Feeling, Black Talk/Black Judgement made Nikki Giovanni famous in 1968, and this reissue of her classic will enthrall those who have always adored her poems--and those who are just getting to know her work. As a witness to three generations, Nikki Giovanni has perceptively and poetically recorded her observations of both the outside world and the gentle yet enigmatic territory of the self. When her poems first emerged from the Black Rights Movement in the late 1960s, she immediately became a celebrated and controversial poet of the era. Written in one of the most commanding voices to grace America's political and poetic landscape at the end of the twentieth century, Nikki Giovanni's poems embody the fearless passion and spirited wit for which she is beloved and revered. Black Feeling, Black Talk/Black Judgement is one of the single most important volumes of modern African-American poetry. This book, electrifying generations with its revolutionary phrases and inspiring them with such Nikki Giovanni masterpieces as the lyrical "Nikki-Rosa" and the intimate "Knoxville, Tennessee," is the seminal volume of Nikki Giovanni's body of work. Black Feeling Black Talk/Black Judgement made Nikki Giovanni famous in 1968, and this reissue of her classic will enthrall those who have always adored her poems-and those who are just getting to know her work. As a witness to three generations, Nikki Giovanni has perceptively and poetically recorded her observations of both the outside world and the gentle yet enigmatic territory of the self. When her poems first emerged from the Black Rights Movement in the late 1960s, she immediately became a celebrated and controversial poet of the era. Written in one of the most commanding voices to grace America's political and poetic landscape at the end of the twentieth century, Nikki Giovanni's poems embody the fearless passion and spirited wit for which she is beloved and revered. "Nikki Giovanni is sometimes gentle, sometimes angry, and always moving." --Julius Lester in The Guardian.

An award-winning retelling of the Biblical creation story from a star of the Harlem Renaissance and an acclaimed illustrator James Weldon Johnson, author of the civil rights anthem "Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing," wrote this beautiful Bible-learning story in 1922, at the height of the Harlem Renaissance. Set in the Deep South, The Creation alternates breathtaking scenes from Genesis with images of a country preacher under a tree retelling the story for children. The exquisite detail of James E. Ransome's sun-dappled paintings and the sophisticated rhythm of the free verse pay tribute to Black American oral traditions of country sermonizing and storytelling: As far as the eye of God could see/ Darkness covered everything/ Blacker than a hundred midnights/ Down in a cypress swamp. . . . This beautiful new edition of the classic Coretta Scott King Award winner features a fresh, modern design, a reimagined cover, and an introduction of the remarkable life of James Weldon Johnson. Beneath the dust jacket, the case features a detail of Ransome's beautiful night sky, spangled with stars. A Junior Library Guild selection!

When your life is over, everything you did will be represented by a single dash between two dates—what will that dash mean for the people you have known and loved? As Joseph Epstein once said, “We do not choose to be born. We do not choose our parents, or the country of our birth. We do not, most of us, choose to die. . . . But within this realm of choicelessness, we do choose how we live.” And that is what The Dash is all about. Beginning with an inspiring poem by Linda Ellis titled “The Dash,” renowned author Mac Anderson then applies his own signature commentary on how the poem motivates us to make certain choices in our lives—choices to ignore the calls of selfishness and instead reach out to others, using our God-given abilities to brighten their days and lighten their loads. After all, at the end of life, how we will be remembered—whether our dash represents a full, joyous life of seeking God’s glory, or merely the space between birth and death—will be entirely up to the people we’ve left behind, the lives we’ve changed.

A superb selection of poems from both sides of the American Civil War features more than 75 inspired works by Melville, Emerson, Longfellow, Whittier, Whitman, and many others.

From one of America’s most celebrated poets, Nikki Giovanni, comes this poignant collection of poetry that celebrates the simple pleasures of everyday life and the bonds we share with those closest to us. “This slim volume delights on every page. There are stories, imaginings, whimsy, and startling images which prove the poet’s power and her command of language . . . Anyone with a love of language will be delighted with this book and the continuing publication of America’s treasured poet.”—San Francisco Book Review The poetry of Nikki Giovanni has spurred movements and inspired songs, turned hearts and informed generations. She's been hailed as a healer and as a national treasure. But Giovanni's heart resides in the everyday, where family and lovers gather, friends commune, and those no longer with us are remembered. And at every gathering there is food—food as sustenance, food as aphrodisiac, food as memory. A pot of beans is flavored with her mother's sighs—this sigh part cardamom, that one the essence of clove; a lover requests a banquet as an affirmation of ongoing passion; homage is paid to the most time-honored appetizer: soup. With Chasing Utopia, Giovanni demands that the prosaic—flowers, birdsong, winter—be seen as poetic, and reaffirms once again why she is as energetic, "remarkable" (Gwendolyn Brooks), "wonderful" (Marian Wright Edelman),"outspoken, prolific, energetic" (New York Times), and relevant as ever.