& more black

by t'ai freedom ford

Overview

t'ai freedom ford's second collection of poems, & more black, is direct, ingenious, vibrant, alive, queer, & BLACK. By turns tough and sexy, wrapped up in the evolving language and sonics of life, these poems take their cue from Wanda Coleman's American Sonnets as they rhapsodize and dialogue with artists such as Carrie Mae Weems, Glenn Ligon, and Wangechi Mutu, along with many other musicians, artists, and writers. The kinetic energy of ford's words leap off the page in rebellious, stunning, and revelatory fashion-poems that mesmerize with sheer velocity and telling pauses. & more black won the Lambda Literary Award in Lesbian Poetry in 2020 and was a finalist for the Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780999501214
Publisher:	Augury Books
Publication date:	07/01/2019
Pages:	104
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 7.90(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

t'ai freedom ford is the author of two poetry collections, HOW TO GET OVER from Red Hen Press and & MORE BLACK from Augury Books, winner of the 2020 Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Poetry and finalist for the Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award. t'ai lives and loves in Brooklyn where she is an editor at No, Dear Magazine.

Editorial Reviews

06/24/2019

“Is this body possible? or do i/ merely exist as melancholy gesture—” asks Ford (how to get over) in her second collection, a double-sided book of rapid-fire lyrics that consider black art in America. “when whitewash tries/ to render your black spectacular irrelevant/ your heartbeat whisper: i be i be i be,” she writes. Elsewhere: “fuck flux: this universe tryna render you/ redundant... gravitate/ black and rotate that axis till this universe/ (((collapses))).” Throughout, black visual artists (many of them New York–based) provide inspiration and sounding boards for Ford’s own generative impulse, filling the book with visual references and a kaleidoscope of experiences that shed light on Ford’s own contribution. Many of these poems approximate sonnets in 13 and 14 lines, as in a series that stretches across multiple pages to relay a personal narrative amid a larger cultural history. While on occasion, the poems seem to offer formulaic experiences and stereotypes without fully exploring their deeper implications, Ford’s sharp humor and unflinching gaze make this an engaging and wide-ranging work. (July)

Publishers Weekly

Go Magazine: "& More Black, ford's second book, is comprised of two beautiful back-to-back books for black butches about dyke dowry's and other gay dynamics and against a culture that relentlessly perpetrates anti-black violence."

Publishers Weekly: "Throughout, black visual artists (many of them New York-based) provide inspiration and sounding boards for ford's own generative impulse, filling the book with visual references and a kaleidoscope of experiences that shed light on ford's own contribution....ford's sharp humor and unflinching gaze make this an engaging and wide-ranging work."

Heavy Feather Review: "Funked-up with the dark of the Gothic, with the hip-hop of the future, with electric vibrato and too much to swallow, t'ai freedom ford's & more black gets inside your lungs and Styx with you."

From the Publisher