Beyond the Frontier: African-American Poetry for the 21st Century - Book Review

Edited by E. Ethelbert Miller Black Classic Press, December 2002 $24.95, ISBN 1-574-78017-4

Most of the 162 poets in Beyond the Frontier are widely published, working poets and authors who write in various genres. Among the more recognizable names in this collection are Aafa, Houston Baker, Toi Derricott, Cornelius Eady, Primus St. John, Toni Asante Lightfoot, Lenard D. Moore, Tracie Morris, Kalamu ya Salaam and Michael S. Weaver.

The collection is organized into five sections: "Landmarks: People and Places"; "Dancing on the Shore With Spirits"; "Singers and Musicians"; "Blood and Disappointment in the Land"; and "Beyond the Frontier." There are varied poetic forms, including narratives, jazz poems, slam poems, sestina, haiku, couplets and sonnets. There are poems about life's everyday occurrences that are metaphors for change: mawiya kai el jamah bomani's short poem called "Roots" for example, or Lori Tsang's poem called "Lunching." There are poems in which rage and grief catalog the many levels of loss that have been a part of our history--from natural and unnatural death, to self-hatred, misogyny, rape and other crimes. There are poems that stand as cautionary tales about lost generations, as in Mbali Umojo's "Say Something: A Change Is Gonna Come." Some poems, such as Robert Fleming's, warn of humanity's lost connection in this technological age. The others, which are prayer poems, come not only from traditional Christian theologies but also from the earth-bound spirituality of our ancestors.

The best poems are like doorways into new territory, which is precisely the metaphor that unfolds in this collection.

--Linda Joy Burke is a poet and writer in Maryland.

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