This comprehensive and vibrant poetry anthology, curated by bestselling author and poet Kwame Alexander, presents a collection of contemporary anthems that are tender, piercing, and deeply inspiring. Featuring work from well-loved poets such as Rita Dove, Jericho Brown, Warsan Shire, Ross Gay, Tracy K. Smith, Terrance Hayes, Morgan Parker, and Nikki Giovanni, This Is the Honey is a rich and abundant offering of language.
This essential collection, in the tradition of Dudley Randall’s The Black Poets and E. Ethelbert Miller’s In Search of Color Everywhere, contains poems exploring joy, love, origin, race, resistance, and praise. These poets give voice to generations of resilient joy, where "each incantation," as Mahogany L. Browne puts it in her titular poem, is "a jubilee of a people dreaming wildly."
Themes and Voices
Jacqueline A. Trimble likens “Black woman joy” to indigo, tassels, foxes, and peacock plumes. Tyree Daye, Nate Marshall, and Elizabeth Acevedo reflect on the meaning of "home" through food, from Cuban rice and beans to fried chicken gizzards. Clint Smith and Cameron Awkward-Rich enfold us in their intimate musings on love and devotion.
From a “jewel in the hand” (Patricia Spears Jones) to “butter melting in small pools” (Elizabeth Alexander), This Is the Honey drips with poignant and delightful imagery, music, and raised fists. This definitive collection is fresh, memorable, and deeply moving, making it a must-have for any lover of language and a gift for our time.
August 20, 2020Edited by Lindsey Patterson and with a forward from Ruby Dee, A Rock against the wind is a collection of beautiful love poems by black poets from Nikki Giovanni to Carl Cook. Spending the past few weeks reading New York Time articles and starting my day with the news, this is the poetry book I needed during this period of racial unrest alongside the loneliness of the pandemic.
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Each poem from beginning to end emphasizes the words from Nikki Giovanni's poem Nikki- rosa where she says, "Black love is black wealth." Through hard ship, brutal racism, tragedy, black love remains constant and I was reminded of this as I eagerly flipped through the pages.
Similar to romantic comedies and all the romance novels I breeze through this was the perfect escape into a world of kisses, passion, and 'i love you's'. One thing that is special about this collection of poetry is that each poet's voice jumps off the page. So much so, I recommend re reading the poems and trying to guess which poet crafted which poem.
Whether its Sonia Sanchez's haiku or Nitozake Shange's many line breaks, all of the poems and letters create a certain intimacy that you sort of miss in those kissing scenes and meet cutes in some of our favorite novels. (I love those though.) For those who are looking to explore the beautiful world of black poetry or even just love poems I definitely recommend this book as you will be introduced to many unique voices who see love so differently.
That is another thing that this collection offers, many perspectives on the same universal topics of love, lust, and desire. Contrary to a poetry book by one single poet, you're able to flip through and see the voices you like and want to hear more from. For aspiring poets out there seeing the variety of form, structure, and use of literary devices could elevate's one understanding of poetry.
If you really want to take your reading experience to the next level finding the similarities and differences between the poems would be a good exercise. There's a certain crowd of people who have this view that poetry has to be sad, and of course it can be like any other form of artistic expression, but books like this prove that poetry can be a celebration of the amazing feelings buried inside of us. After reading this you'll believe in the phrase 'there are so many ways to say I love you.'
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I also recommend this anthology to beginners in poetry who are just dipping their toe in and anyone who is in love with language and beautiful scenes crafted in only three lines. Reading these poems was a beautiful, lyrical, and giddy experience that made my day each time I took it off of my shelf. I have no negative reviews or critiques, and in all honesty it deserves six stars, but hey I'm a very generous reader. I wanted more letters maybe that's my one critique.
A Legacy of African American Poetry
Only now, in the 21st century, can we fully grasp the breadth and range of African American poetry: a magnificent chorus of many voices, some familiar, others recently rescued from neglect. Discover, in these pages, how an enslaved person like Phillis Wheatley confronted her legal status in verse and how an antebellum activist like Frances Ellen Watkins Harper voiced her own passionate resistance to slavery.
Read nuanced, provocative poetic meditations on identity and self-assertion stretching from Paul Laurence Dunbar to Amiri Baraka to Lucille Clifton and beyond. Experience the transformation of poetic modernism in the works of figures such as Langston Hughes, Fenton Johnson, and Jean Toomer. Understand the threads of poetic history-in movements such as the Harlem and Chicago Renaissances, Black Arts, Cave Canem, Dark Noise Collective-and the complex bonds of solidarity and dialogue among poets across time and place.
See how these poets have celebrated their African heritage and have connected with other communities in the African Diaspora. Enjoy the varied but distinctly Black music of a tradition that draws deeply from jazz, hip hop, and the rhythms and cadences of the pulpit, the barbershop, and the street.
Key Poets and Their Contributions
This volume collects work from the earliest days of the African-American poetic tradition through Emancipation, the Harlem and Chicago Renaissances, the Black Arts Movement and the Dark Room Collective, bringing us into the 21st century. Legends and laureates are well represented, but where this collection excels is adding centuries of the lesser-known greats whose work was steady and remarkable, sometimes made furtively, sometimes with a touching thankfulness for ancestors.
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Together, it's a kind of history of American history - jazz, Emmett Till, slavery - but also a celebration of arts movements and a lively conversation across decades.
Poet Cornelius Eady on exploring the everyday lives of Black people in America
Anthology Highlights
- Features poems exploring joy, love, origin, race, resistance, and praise.
- Includes contributions from both celebrated and lesser-known poets.
- Traces poetic movements such as the Harlem and Chicago Renaissances.
- Showcases the influence of jazz, hip hop, and African heritage.
Notable Poets Featured
| Poet | Notable Themes |
|---|---|
| Phillis Wheatley | Confronting legal status and slavery in verse |
| Langston Hughes | Transformation of poetic modernism |
| Nikki Giovanni | Love and black identity |
| Rita Dove | Exploration of history and personal experience |
A Great Day in Poetry
In keeping with this tradition, Kwame Alexander has organized A Great Day in Poetry, with events primarily taking place on February 1, 2024-Langston Hughes’ birthday.
