I am 27 and have never killed a man but I know the face of death as if heirloom my country memorizes murder as lullaby —from “For Fahd” Textured with the sights and sounds of growing up in East New York in the nineties, to school on the South Side of Chicago, all the way to the olive groves of Palestine, My Mother Is a Freedom Fighter is Aja Monet’s ode to mothers, daughters, and sisters—the tiny gods who fight to change the world. Complemented by striking cover art from Carrie Mae Weems, these stunning poems tackle racism, sexism, genocide, displacement, heartbreak, and grief, but also love, motherhood, spirituality, and Black joy. Praise for Aja Monet: ““[Monet] is the true definition of an artist.” —Harry Belafonte ““In Paris, she walked out onto the stage, opened her mouth and spoke. At the first utterance I heard that rare something that said this is special and knew immediately that Aja Monet was one of the Ones who will mark the sound of the ages. She brings depth of voice to the voiceless, and through her we sing a powerful song.” —Carrie Mae Weems Of Cuban-Jamaican descent, Aja Monet is an internationally established poet, performer, singer, songwriter, educator, and human rights advocate. Monet is also the youngest person to win the legendary Nuyorican Poet’s Café Grand Slam title.

t'ai freedom ford's second collection of poems is direct, ingenious, vibrant, alive, queer, and BLACK. & more black won the Lambda Literary Award in Lesbian Poetry in 2020 and was a finalist for the Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award.

Why do we need new art? How free is the artist in making? And why is the artist, and particularly the poet, a figure of freedom in Western culture? The MacArthur Award–winning poet and critic Susan Stewart ponders these questions in The Poet’s Freedom. Through a series of evocative essays, she not only argues that freedom is necessary to making and is itself something made, but also shows how artists give rules to their practices and model a self-determination that might serve in other spheres of work. Stewart traces the ideas of freedom and making through insightful readings of an array of Western philosophers and poets—Plato, Homer, Marx, Heidegger, Arendt, Dante, and Coleridge are among her key sources. She begins by considering the theme of making in the Hebrew Scriptures, examining their accountof a god who creates the world and leaves humans free to rearrange and reform the materials of nature. She goes on to follow the force of moods, sounds, rhythms, images, metrical rules, rhetorical traditions, the traps of the passions, and the nature of language in the cycle of making and remaking. Throughout the book she weaves the insight that the freedom to reverse any act of artistic making is as essential as the freedom to create. A book about the pleasures of making and thinking as means of life, The Poet’s Freedom explores and celebrates the freedom of artists who, working under finite conditions, make considered choices and shape surprising consequences. This engaging and beautifully written notebook on making will attract anyone interested in the creation of art and literature.

Praise for Slade's Poetry "Dr. Leonard A. Slade, Jr., is a gifted poet. His poems that deal with social issues reflect the complexity of people and relationships, as well as highlight some very troubling contemporary problems. Slade's poetry is truly a healing work of art." - Sandra M. Grayson Professor of English University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee "The beauty of Slade's poetry is the adequacy of their feeling and the fine images he discovers for their expressions. His poetry is a rich addition to our literary stores." - Houston A. Baker, Jr. Distinguished Professor of English Vanderbilt University "In spare, unpretentious verse Slade asks us to think about racism, history, love, the beauty of nature, the homeless, old teachers, young daughters, political hypocrisy - - and more. These are splendid, moving poems." -Elizabeth Ammons Former Dean The College of Arts and Sciences Tufts University "Dr. Leonard A. Slade, Jr.'s poetry presents a historical panorama of American blacks. His poems cover a range of subjects. They reflect the poet's values: family, education, love, nature, the history of blacks in the U.S., hypocrisy, and politics. Slade is a new breed of black poet." - R. Baird Shuman Professor Emeritus of English University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Leonard A. Slade, Jr., is Professor Emeritus, former Director of the Humanistic Studies Doctoral Program and the Master of Arts in Liberal Studies Program, Collins Fellow, and Citizen Academic Laureate at the University at Albany (SUNY). He has published in many journals and magazines and is the author of twenty-one books of poetry. He studied poetry with Pulitzer Prize winners Donald Justice and Stephen Dunn. For several summers, Slade studied poetry at Bennington College, Vermont; at The Bread Loaf Writers' Workshop, Middlebury College, Vermont; at The Martha's Vineyard Institute of Creative Writing in Fiction and Poetry; and at The Ragdale Artists' Colony, Lake Forest, Illinois. The recipient of many awards for his writing, teaching, and service, Slade has taught English and Africana Studies at the University at Albany (SUNY), Skidmore College, Union College, and RPI. He lives with his wife in Albany, New York.