Kontemporary Amerikan Poetry

by John Murillo

Book Overview

John Murillo's second book is a reflective look at the legacy of institutional, accepted violence against African Americans and the personal and societal wreckage wrought by long histories of subjugation. A sparrow trapped in a car window evokes a mother battered by a father's fists; a workout at an iron gym recalls a long-ago mentor who pushed the speaker "to become something unbreakable." The presence of these and poetic forbears--Gil Scott-Heron, Yusef Komunyakaa--provide a context for strength in the face of danger and anger. At the heart of the book is a sonnet crown triggered by the shooting deaths of three Brooklyn men that becomes an extended meditation on the history of racial injustice and the notion of payback as a form of justice.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1945588470
• ISBN13: 9781945588471
• Release Date: March 2020
• Publisher: Four Way Books
• Length: 88 Pages
• Weight: 0.39 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.7" x 9.0"