In June 2021, we celebrate the 25th anniversary of the literary organization Cave Canem which was established to educate, promote, and support Black poets. I’ve shared the work of just a few during this month’s podcasts, however, the list of poets—both Fellows and Faculty—and their recent books merits further mention and I’m happy to provide a partial list to get readers started—and to remind them to discover other collections on their own!
- Cameron Awkward-Rich, Dispatch: Poems
- Joshua Bennett, Owed
- Reginald Dwayne Betts, Felon
- Tommye Blount, Fantasia for the Man in Blue
- CM Burroughs, Master Suffering
- Cortney Lamar Charleston, Doppelgangbanger
- Adrienne Christian, Worn
- Toi Derricote, New and Selected Poems
- Safia Elhillo, Home Is Not A Country
- Camonghne Felix, Build Yourself a Boat
- Nikky Finney, Love Child’s Hotbed of Occasional Poetry
- Erica Hunt, Jump the Clock: New & Selected Poems
- Major Jackson, The Absurd Man
- Jacqueline Jones-Lamon, What Water Knows
- Douglas Kearney, Sho
- Indigo Moor, Everybody’s Jonesin’ for Something
- John Murillo, Kontemporary American Poetry
- Sonia Sanchez, Collected Poems
- Natasha Trethewey, Monument: New & Selected Poems
- Arisa White, Who’s Your Daddy?
- Keith S. Wilson, Fieldnotes on Ordinary Love
and the collections I’m excited about that are being published later in 2021:
- Yusef Komunyakaa, Everyday Mojo Song of Earth, New and Selected Poems
- Adrian Matejka, Somebody Else Sold the World
- Phillip B. Williams, Mutiny