ChickenBones: A Journal
for Literary & Artistic African-American Themes
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Featuring five pages per poet, 360 presents forty established and emerging Black poets in an anthology of contemporary
verse. Stylistically there is everything from rap-like performance verse to haiku, political rants to lyrical love songs,
narrative tales to personal meditations. 360 is a treasure map of Black poetry.
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Books by Kalamu ya Salaam
The Magic of JuJu: An Appreciation of the Black Arts Movement / 360: A Revolution of Black Poets
Everywhere Is Someplace Else: A Literary Anthology / From A Bend in the River: 100 New Orleans Poets
Our Music Is No Accident / What Is Life: Reclaiming the Black Blues Self
My Story My Song (CD)
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360° A Revolution of Black Poets
Edited by Kalamu ya Salaam with Kwame Alexander
Reviews
Kalamu ya Salaam with Kwame Alexander, eds. 360° A Revolution of Black Poets. BlackWords/Runagate Press, 1998
At poetry slams, in coffee houses and cafes, on spoken word CDs, and even featured in Hollywood movies, a new and exciting renaissance of Black poetry is emerging out of the oral tradition of African-American culture. 360: A Revolution of Black Poets presents the cutting edge of this poetic firestorm sweeping across America.
Featuring five pages per poet, 360 presents forty established and emerging Black poets in an anthology of contemporary verse. Stylistically there is everything from rap-like performance verse to haiku, political rants to lyrical love songs, narrative tales to personal meditations. 360 is a treasure map of Black poetry.
360 is published in conjunction with a two-day series of poetry readings, workshops, and film screenings at the Baltimore Museum of Art (Sept. 11) and the University of Maryland-College Park (Sept. 12).
Edited by New Orleans writer/producer Kalamu ya Salaam with writer/publisher Kwame Alexander, 360 includes sharp-edged new work from Amiri Baraka, a historic founder of the sixties Black Arts Movement, complemented by a moving elegy for a friend with cancer from activist/poet Tony Medina, editor of an award-winning anthology on political prisoner Mumia Abu Jamal.
Grand divas Sonia Sanchez, author of Wounded in the House of a Friend and Does Your House Have Lions, and Mari Evans, author of the classic I Am a Black Woman, are displayed side by side with the youthful albeit sophisticated musings of Apollo Showtime winner Jessica Care Moore and Pulitzer prize nominee Ruth Forman. Haki Madhubuti, who has sold over 3 million books, and poetry slam World Heavyweight Champ Quincy Troupe mix it up with performance poet D-Knowledge (featured in Poetic Justice and Higher Learning) and Dark Room Collective founder Thomas Sayers Ellis.Book Description at Amazon.com
The book is framed by two eloquent essaysI could almost call them manifestosby the editors. Kwame Alexanders foreword puts the book, and the September 98 poetry festival at the Baltimore Museum of Art that it commemorates, into the context of a history of black poetry, deftly blended with some wonderful passages of memoir. Kalamu ya Salaams afterword is more theoretical and polemic in tone: “Black poetry is popular poetry, meaning precisely that whether college-educated or street-wise, people like to hear Black poetry. Our audiences react to poetry readings as if they were in church, in a nightclub, or in bed with a lover.”Sam Schmidt, November 1998
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Kwame Alexander: FORWARD: Evolution of a New Era in Black Words (excerpt)
We are the direct literary descendants of the Black Arts Poets: Amiri Baraka, Mari Evans, Haki Madhubuti, Sonia Sanchez, Nikki Giovanni, Askia Toure, Sam Greenlee, June Jordan., Wanda Coleman, Larry Neal, Eugene Redmond, Carolyn Rodgers, Kalamu ya Salaam, The Last Poets, Jerry Ward, E. Ethelbert Miller, Keropatse Kgositile, Ntozake Shange, Quincy Troupe, and on and on.
We have among us emerging Black poets, a plethora of literary talent and potential: Thomas Sayers Ellis, wadud., Toni Asante Lightfoot, Kysha N. Brown, Tony Medina, Jessica Care Moore, Quraysh Ali Lansana, Glenis Redmond Sherer, Nadir Lasana Bomani, Shonda Buchanan, Tyehimba Jess, Kupenda Auset, DJ Renegade, asha bandele, Goldie Muhammad, Saul Williams, Ras Baraka, Kevin Powell, Michael Datcher, D-Knowledge, Stacey Lyn Evans, Ruth Foreman, A.K. Toney, and on and on. If these writers (including this author) can avoid ego-posturing and the trappings of the ever-increasing trendy commercialization of the arts, we will undoubtedly be prepared to accept the inevitable task of moving Black poetry forward in the next millennium. All that remains is for us to do it. . . .
The idea for 360° developed after I decided to start a publishing company that would provide publishing opportunities for the many talented literary voices of the Hip-Hop Generation. Thus BlackWords, Inc. was born. Through subsequent discussions (some more intense than others), with colleagues, friends and fellow poets several key issues were put on the table relative to the necessity of a conference with a strong focus on emerging writers. While these issues were by no means new they were new to these emerging literary voices, and thus needed to be dealt with in a public forum . . .
This anthology rejects the notion that Black poetry is exclusive to a particular theme or set of specific circumstances (other than how we got here). These poems and poets are representative of three generations of Black Words; of over thirty years of creative Black Fire. This book is a mapping of where Black poetry ahs been and where it is headed. The course looks beautiful. . . .
360° reflects that courage. An understanding of where we came from; an appreciation of who we are, and an acceptance of where we are going. We poets are eagerly crossing a literary bridge. Having been taught that we can make history, we are doing it. And that is Revolutionary!
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Table of Contents
Foreword
FORWARD: Evolution of a New Era in Black Words i Kwame Alexander 1 Life 2 Our Women 4 New School Sketches Amiri Baraka Answers In Progress 6 Fusion Recipe 7 Class Gas 8 Oklahoma 9 The Peoples Last Will & Testament 10 Ras Baraka HayesTilden (1877) 11 Ghetto Tales 14 Toni Blackman the black womans struggle 16 wheres daddy? 17 swampin 18 rwandan sleep 20 Nadir Lasana Bomani (untitled) 21 SHOOTING STARS 22 a poem for ruby mae 24 Roger Bonair-Agard daddy 26 Requiem 29 Kysha N. Brown when lost, ask for directions 31 nudity 34 fierce spherical woman 35 Wanda Coleman Dreams Without Means 36 Single Doom Occupancy 37 Bubble Eyes Declares War 39 I AINT YO EARTHMAMA (2) 40 Kamau Daáood Poet 41 For Paul Robeson 42 Balm of Gilead 44 D-Knowledge (Derrick Gilbert) BUTT Or The Giluteus Maximus Addictus Poem 46 Henna 48 Thomas Sayers Ellis Stretchin Out 51 BIG FOOT MUSIC (1975) 53 Mari Evans Liberation Blues 56 URBAN DAWN 58 If There Be Sorrow 59 I Am A Black Woman 60 Stacey Lyn Evans Deaf Jammin 61 HOW DO I KNOW 63 Requiem for Tupac Amaru Shakur 64 real soul food 65 Ruth Forman Venus Quilt 66 The Journey 68 Peter J. Harris A Sense of Ceremony 71 Only Wine 75 Angela Jackson Kinsmen: An Address 76 The Resolution 78 Moment 79 Festival 80 June Jordan Poem Against the Temptations of Ambivalence 81 Poem Of Commitment 82 1998 Mid-Day Philadelphia Haiku 85 Carolyn Cooley Joyner They Do Not Have To Nest In Your Hair 86 Mother 87 Agapé 88 Color Of Her 89 Sonia 90 Quraysh Ali Lansana give and go 91 window 93 the night before tomorrow 94 crutch 95 Toni Asante Lightfoot Haiku World Tour 1994 96 In Oklahoma 97 Cornucopia Breaks Her Silence 98 The Wilted Gardenia 99 Moses Came Down 100 Haki Madhubuti Books as Answer 101 Too Many of our Young are Dying 103 Poetry 104 MANNAFEST Tupac came to me in a dream 106 saviouress 108 after life drum part 1 109 We meet each other to discover God 110 and i lost myself 110 Laini Mataka FORGIVENESS WILL COME, BUT, NOT TODAY 111 KARMA 113 THE PERIOD 114 A WARNING TO EROS 115 Tony Medina Harlem to Havana 116 sometime in the summer theres october 117 E. Ethelbert Miller tomorrow 121 Roy Campanella: January, 1958 122 A House in Provincetown 123 another love affair / another poem 124 Slave Narratives 125 Jessica Care Moore Mirrors 126 October 127 Omaris magic star fish 129 Tracie Morris Beat Poet 131 HARDROCK 134 Prelude to a Kiss 135 Abiodun Oyewole Tags and Labels 136 BLACK 138 THE TREE OF LIFE 139 OUR TIME 140 Eugene Redmond HER BLACK BODY IN LIGHT 141 Ina Peabody, Sister-Friend 142 PARAPOETICS 144 DJ Renegade LANDSCAPE 146 150 BONIFAY ST. / APT. 716 / PGH. PA. 15210 147 CAN I ASK YOU A QUESTION 148 TRIBUTE 150 Kate Rushin ON THE EASTERN SHORE 151 A PACIFIST BECOMES MILITANT AND DECLARES WAR 153 Kalamu ya Salaam No Ordinary Waterfall 156 Theres no big accomplishment in acting white 157 snapshot: dawn in dar es salaam 160 Sonia Sanchez Poem for Some Women 161 This Is Not a Small Voice 165 Ntozake Shange advice 166 an invitation to my friends 168 on becomin successful 170 Glenis Redmond Sherer IF I AINT AFRICAN 171 How do you get yours? 174 Nichole L. Shields Happenings 176 Sweet But Sassy 177 MADD. 178 Momma in Red 179 The Crack of Dawn 180 Askia M. Touré SNOW WHITE: A REJOINDER 181 TO ADAM SMITH: A REJOINDER 183 FURIES: 1992 184 NUBIAN DAWN: A GODDESS SMILES 185 Quincy Troupe A RESPONSE TO ALL YOU ANGRY WHITE MALES 186 POEM FOR MY FATHER 189 wadud Hardcore 191 3003 194 Afaa Michael Weaver The Poets 196 Mamas Hoodlum 198 The Incomplete Heart 200 Afterword 360º is just a beginning! 203
Source: Kalamu ya Salaam with Kwame Alexander, eds. 360º A Revolution of Black Poets. Alexandria, VA: BlackWords, 1998.
posted 3 February 2007
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AALBC.com’s 25 Best Selling Books
For July 1st through August 31st 2011
Fiction
#1 – Justify My Thug by Wahida Clark #2 – Flyy Girl by Omar Tyree #3 – Head Bangers: An APF Sexcapade by Zane #4 – Life Is Short But Wide by J. California Cooper #5 – Stackin’ Paper 2 Genesis’ Payback by Joy King #6 – Thug Lovin’ (Thug 4) by Wahida Clark #7 – When I Get Where I’m Going by Cheryl Robinson #8 – Casting the First Stone by Kimberla Lawson Roby #9 – The Sex Chronicles: Shattering the Myth by Zane
#10 – Covenant: A Thriller by Brandon Massey
#11 – Diary Of A Street Diva by Ashley and JaQuavis
#12 – Don’t Ever Tell by Brandon Massey
#13 – For colored girls who have considered suicide by Ntozake Shange
#14 – For the Love of Money : A Novel by Omar Tyree
#15 – Homemade Loves by J. California Cooper
#16 – The Future Has a Past: Stories by J. California Cooper
#17 – Player Haters by Carl Weber
#18 – Purple Panties: An Eroticanoir.com Anthology by Sidney Molare
#19 – Stackin’ Paper by Joy King
#20 – Children of the Street: An Inspector Darko Dawson Mystery by Kwei Quartey
#21 – The Upper Room by Mary Monroe
#22 Thug Matrimony by Wahida Clark
#23 – Thugs And The Women Who Love Them by Wahida Clark
#24 – Married Men by Carl Weber
#25 – I Dreamt I Was in Heaven – The Rampage of the Rufus Buck Gang by Leonce Gaiter
Non-fiction
#1 – Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention by Manning Marable #2 – Confessions of a Video Vixen by Karrine Steffans #3 – Dear G-Spot: Straight Talk About Sex and Love by Zane #4 – Letters to a Young Brother: MANifest Your Destiny by Hill Harper #5 – Peace from Broken Pieces: How to Get Through What You’re Going Through by Iyanla Vanzant #6 – Selected Writings and Speeches of Marcus Garvey by Marcus Garvey #7 – The Ebony Cookbook: A Date with a Dish by Freda DeKnight #8 – The Isis Papers: The Keys to the Colors by Frances Cress Welsing #9 – The Mis-Education of the Negro by Carter Godwin Woodson
#10 – John Henrik Clarke and the Power of Africana History by Ahati N. N. Toure
#11 – Fail Up: 20 Lessons on Building Success from Failure by Tavis Smiley
#12 –The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander
#13 – The Black Male Handbook: A Blueprint for Life by Kevin Powell
#14 – The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates by Wes Moore
#15 – Why Men Fear Marriage: The Surprising Truth Behind Why So Many Men Can’t Commit by RM Johnson
#16 – Black Titan: A.G. Gaston and the Making of a Black American Millionaire by Carol Jenkins
#17 – Brainwashed: Challenging the Myth of Black Inferiority by Tom Burrell
#18 – A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose by Eckhart Tolle
#19 – John Oliver Killens: A Life of Black Literary Activism by Keith Gilyard
#20 – Alain L. Locke: The Biography of a Philosopher by Leonard Harris
#21 – Age Ain’t Nothing but a Number: Black Women Explore Midlife by Carleen Brice
#22 – 2012 Guide to Literary Agents by Chuck Sambuchino #23 – Chicken Soup for the Prisoner’s Soul by Tom Lagana #24 – 101 Things Every Boy/Young Man of Color Should Know by LaMarr Darnell Shields
#25 – Beyond the Black Lady: Sexuality and the New African American Middle Class by Lisa B. Thompson
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Sister Citizen: Shame, Stereotypes, and Black Women in America
By Melissa V. Harris-Perry
According to the author, this society has historically exerted considerable pressure on black females to fit into one of a handful of stereotypes, primarily, the Mammy, the Matriarch or the Jezebel. The selfless Mammys behavior is marked by a slavish devotion to white folks domestic concerns, often at the expense of those of her own familys needs. By contrast, the relatively-hedonistic Jezebel is a sexually-insatiable temptress. And the Matriarch is generally thought of as an emasculating figure who denigrates black men, ala the characters Sapphire and Aunt Esther on the television shows Amos and Andy and Sanford and Son, respectively.
Professor Perry points out how the propagation of these harmful myths have served the mainstream culture well. For instance, the Mammy suggests that it is almost second nature for black females to feel a maternal instinct towards Caucasian babies.
As for the source of the Jezebel, black women had no control over their own bodies during slavery given that they were being auctioned off and bred to maximize profits. Nonetheless, it was in the interest of plantation owners to propagate the lie that sisters were sluts inclined to mate indiscriminately.
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Migration, Labour Markets and the Rescue Industry
This book explodes several myths: that selling sex is completely different from any other kind of work, that migrants who sell sex are passive victims and that the multitude of people out to save them are without self-interest. Laura Agustín makes a passionate case against these stereotypes, arguing that the label ‘trafficked’ does not accurately describe migrants’ lives and that the ‘rescue industry’ serves to disempower them. Based on extensive research amongst both migrants who sell sex and social helpers, Sex at the Margins provides a radically different analysis. Frequently, says Agustin, migrants make rational choices to travel and work in the sex industry, and although they are treated like a marginalised group they form part of the dynamic global economy. Both powerful and controversial, this book is essential reading for all those who want to understand the increasingly important relationship between sex markets, migration and the desire for social justice. “Sex at the Margins rips apart distinctions between migrants, service work and sexual labour and reveals the utter complexity of the contemporary sex industry. This book is set to be a trailblazer in the study of sexuality.”Lisa Adkins, University of London
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The White Masters of the World
From The World and Africa, 1965
W. E. B. Du Bois Arraignment and Indictment of White Civilization (Fletcher)
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The Death of Emmett Till by Bob Dylan / The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll / Only a Pawn in Their Game
Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson Thanks America for Slavery
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The Journal of Negro History issues at Project Gutenberg
The Haitian Declaration of Independence 1804 / January 1, 1804 — The Founding of Haiti
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updated 16 October 2007
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Related files: What Is Life Black Arts and Black Power Figures Other Anthologies: New Negro Poets U.S.A. Black Fire The Black Poets Black Nationalism in America
