This Is the Honey
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This Is the Honey An Anthology of Contemporary Black Poets

A breathtaking new poetry collection on hope, heart, and heritage from the most prominent Black poets and writers of our time, edited by Why Fathers Cry at Night author and #1 New York Times bestseller Kwame Alexander. In this comprehensive and vibrant poetry anthology, bestselling author and poet Kwame Alexander curates a collection of anthems for our time, at turns tender and piercing, and deeply inspiring throughout. Featuring work from well-loved poets such as Claudia Rankine, Ross Gay, Jericho Brown, Warsan Shire, Amanda Gorman, Terrance Hayes, and Alice Walker, This is the Honey is a rich and abundant offering of language from the poets giving voice to generations of resilient joy. This essential collection contains poems exploring joy, love, origin, resistance, and praise. Jacqueline A.Trimble likens "Black woman joy" with indigo, tassels, foxes, and peacock plumes. Tyree Day, Nate Marshall, and Elizabeth Acevedo reflect on the meaning of "home" through food, from Cuban rice and beans to fried chicken gizzards. Clint Smith, Rachel Long, and Cameron Awkward-Rich enfold us in their intimate musings on love and devotion. From "jewels in the hand" (Patricia Spears Jones) to "butter melting in small pools in the hearts" (Elizabeth Alexander), This is the Honey drips with poignant and delightful imagery, music and raised fists. Marilyn Nelson puts it this way in "How I Discovered Poetry:" "It was like soul-kissing, the way the words / filled my mouth." This is the Honey is definitive, fresh, and deeply moving, a must-have for any lover of language and a gift for our time.
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Reviews

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Lindsay@schnurln
5 stars
Jun 16, 2024

Favorites:
- "Quilting the Black- Eyed Pea (We’re Going to Mars)" - Nikki Giovanni
- "On Voting for Barack Obama with a Nat Turner T- Shirt On" - Reginald Dwayne Betts
- "After People Stop Asking About Me" - Kyle Dargan
- "This Is the Honey" - Mahogany L. Browne
- "That’s My Heart Right There" - Willie Perdomo
- "In My Rush" - Jonterri Gadson
- "As Serious as a Heart Attack" - Kalamu ya Salaam
- "The Talk" - Gayle Danley
- "How We Made You" - Kwame Alexander
- "A Twice Named Family" - Traci Dant
- "R& B Facts" - Nicholas Goodly
- "Back to the Past" - Amanda Gorman
- "Stand" - Ruth Forman
- "grief" - toni blackman
- "Easter Prayer, 2020" - A.C. Frank X Walker
- "Tell Them What You Want" -  Jabari Asim
- "“I’m Rooting for Everybody Black”—Issa Rae" - Cortney Lamar Charleston
- "Elegy for Chadwick Boseman" - Len Lawson
- "Black Gold Redux (for Nina Simone)" - Jacqueline Johnson
- "San Diego and Matisse" -  Clarence Major
- "The Ragged and the Beautiful" - Safiya Sinclair
- "Zebra (For My Son)" - January Gill O’Neil

+10

Highlights

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Lindsay@schnurln

breath,

life after seven decades plus three years

is a lot of breathing. seventy three years on this

earth is a lot of taking in and giving out, is a

life of coming from somewhere and for many a bunch

of going nowhere.

-"Quality: Gwendolyn Brooks at 73" - Haki R. Madhubuti

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An unfettered falcon without fear of flight

-"Queen Bess" - Kimberly A. Collins

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Lindsay@schnurln

Vocalized anger of a generation

lived in your throat.

- "Black Gold Redux (for Nina Simone)" - Jacqueline Johnson

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Lindsay@schnurln

Officer how

You know I’m dead is that I seem to bow to you

-"In the Event Of" - Shane McCrae

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Lindsay@schnurln

make your grief earn its place

don’t allow it to take up space without

gifting you something

your existence, your presence a present

be present

make sure your grief is worth the pain

tell your tears what to do

cry on purpose, with deliberate intention

have your tears water your dreams

so that something beautiful blooms in their absence


allow them to flow, never imprison them

too many are drowning from the inside

suffocating from emotional suppression

internalizing oppression free your/ self imposed limitations

set your higher heights for your vibration


let those tears moisten your vocal chords

then moan

all ancestral- like, moan

like black grandmothers in the church pew

moan, make noise

loud enough for the heavens to hear you above

this is not the time for silence

- "grief" - toni blackman

This highlight contains a spoiler
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Lindsay@schnurln

why so afraid to stand up?

someone will tell you

sit down?


but here is the truth

someone will always tell you

sit down


the ones we remember

kept standing

- "Stand" - Ruth Forman

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There is no color on earth

that is not some child’s favorite

- "R& B Facts" - Nicholas Goodly

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All mermaids are black

and only hunt sailor men

who talk that fucknoise

- "R& B Facts" - Nicholas Goodly

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i have never been fullydomesticated

but i have been civilized

by women taught that the heart

is more than a muscle

a life drum whose function is

both physical blood

pumping

and spiritual longing to be embraced

- "As Serious as a Heart Attack" - Kalamu ya Salaam

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There is no room on this planet for anything less than a miracle

-"This Is the Honey" - Mahogany L. Browne

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Lindsay@schnurln

I want to feel

what my lips taste like

and how his it feels

good really feels.

-"Garden of the Gods" - Ama Codjoe

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