Anthologies of African American Writing

100 Best African American Poems

"The 100 Best African American Poems" . Ed. Nikki Giovanni. Naperville, IL: Sourcebooks MediaFusion, 2010. 228 pp. + 1 audio CD (70 min.).

Dedication: The Aunt /; Mari Evans --; For my people /; Margaret Walker --; Leroy /; Amiri Baraka (LeRoi Jones) --; Ars poetica: Nov 7, 2008 /; L. Lamar Wilson --; Ka'ba /; Amiri Baraka (LeRoi Jones) --; When you have forgotten Sunday: the love story ; The sermon on the warpland ; We real cool /; Gwendolyn Brooks --; Jazz baby is it in you /; Antoine Harris --; I fade into the night /; Adam Daniel --; Old Lem /; Sterling A. Brown --; I am accused of tending to the past /; Lucille Clifton --; I am a black woman ; Who can be born black? /; Mari Evans --; Nikki-Rosa ; Knoxville, Tennessee /; Nikki Giovanni --; The dry spell /; Kevin Young --; Those winter Sundays ; Frederick Douglass /; Robert Hayden --; The Negro speaks of rivers /; Langston Hughes --; Choosing the blues /; Angela Jackson --; My father's love letters /; Yusef Komunyakaa --; The creation /; James Weldon Johnson --; A Negro love song /; Paul Laurence Dunbar --; Lift every voice and sing ; Go down death /; James Weldon Johnson --; Between ourselves /; Audre Lorde --; The union of two /; Haki R Madhubuti --; Ballad of Birmingham /; Dudley Randall --; A poem to complement other poems /; Haki R Madhubuti --; No images /; Waring Cuney --; Between the world and me /; Richard Wright --; Theme for English B ; Harlem Suite ; Easy boogie ; Dream boogie ; Dream boogie (variation) ; Harlem ; Good morning ; Same in blues ; Island /; Langston Hughes --; The blue Terrance /; Terrance Hayes --; The mother ; A Bronzeville mother loiters in Mississippi. Meanwhile, a Mississippi mother burns bacon ; The last quatrain of the ballad of Emmett Till ; A sunset of the city /; Gwendolyn Brooks --; Things I carried coming into the world ; Topography /; Remica L. Bingham --; Beneath me ; Autobiography /; Jericho Brown --; Parable of the sower /; Pamela Sneed --; Heritage ; Yet do I marvel ; Incident /; Countee Cullen --; We wear the mask /; Paul Laurence Dunbar --; Trifle ; The heart of a woman /; Georgia Douglas Johnson --; Woman with flower /; Naomi Long Madgett --; The idea of ancestry /; Etheridge Knight --; Don't say goodbye to the porkpie hat /; Larry Neal --; Cleaning /; Camille T. Dungy --; Boston year /; Elizabeth Alexander --; She wears red /; Jackie Warren-Moore --; Commercial break: road-runner, uneasy /; Tim Seibles --; Before making love /; Toi Derricotte --; Be-bop /; Sterling Plumpp --; Personal letter no. 3 ; Poem at thirty ; A poem for Sterling Brown /; Sonia Sanchez --; Marchers headed for Washington, Baltimore, 1963 /; Remica L Bingham --; And yeah: this is a love poem /; Nikki Giovanni --; The carousel /; Gloria C. Oden --; Only everything I own /; Patricia Smith --; Lot's daughter dreams of her mother /; Opal Moore --; The girlfriend's train /; Nikky Finney --; Back from the arms of big mama /; Afaa Michael Weaver --; Mama's promise /; Marilyn Nelson --; Bop: a whistling woman /; Lyrae Van Clief-Stefanon --; Homage to my hips /; Lucille Clifton --; Train ride /; Kwame Dawes --; Train rides /; Nikki Giovanni --; A great granddaddy speaks /; Lamont B. Steptoe --; Eddie Priest's barbershop & notary /; Kevin Young --; View of the Library of Congress from Paul Laurence Dunbar High School /; Thomas Sayers Ellis --; Drapery factory, Gulfport, Mississippi, 1956 /; Natasha Trethewey --; Some kind of crazy /; Major Jackson --; From /; A. Van Jordan --; Freedom candy /; E. Ethelbert Miller --; The Supremes /; Cornelius Eady --; Jazz Suite: Nikki save me /; Michele Scott --; Nikki, if you were a song /; Kwame Alexander --; Haiku /; DJ Renegade --; Untitled /; Nadir Lasana Bomani --; I wish I could've seen it /; Leodis McCray --; That and some mo' /; DJ Renegade --; Sometime in the summer there's October /; Tony Medina --; Dancing naked on the floor /; Kwame Alexander --; Harriet Tubman's email 2 master /; Truth Thomas --; A river that flows forever ; The rose that grew from concrete /; Tupac Shakur --; Rochelle /; Reuben Jackson --; All their stanzas look alike /; Thomas Sayers Ellis --; From the center 2 the edge ; The subtle art of breathing /; Asha Bandele --; Southern University, 1962 /; Kevin Young --; Poetry should ride the bus /; Ruth Forman --; Blues for spring /; Colleen J. McElroy --; The bicycle wizard /; Sharan Strange --; Bicycles /; Nikki Giovanni --; A clean slate /; Fred D'Aguiar --; Song through the wall /; Akua Lezli Hope --; A seat saved /; Shana Yarborough --; Sunday greens /; Rita Dove --; The untitled superhero poem /; Tonya Maria Matthews --; Mercy killing /; Remica L. Bingham --; If you saw a Negro lady /; June Jordan --; Ego tripping (there may be a reason why) /; Nikki Giovanni.; CD contents:; The Aunt /; Mari Evans, read by Carolyn H. Dixon --; For my people /; Margaret Walker, read by Val Gray Ward --; When you have forgotten Sunday: the love story /; Gwendolyn Brooks, read by Ruby Dee --; We real cool /; Gwendolyn Brooks, read by the poet --; We real cool /; Gwendolyn Brooks, read by ensemble --; Old Lem /; Sterling A. Brown, read by Joanne V. Gabbin --; I am accused of tending to the past /; Lucille Clifton, read by Sue Ott Rowlands --; I am a black woman /; Mari Evans, read by Val Gray Ward --; Who can be born black? /; Mari Evans, read by Novella Nelson --; Nikki-Rosa /; Nikki Giovanni, read by Linda Dixon --; Knoxville, Tennessee /; Nikki Giovanni, read by the poet --; The dry spell /; Kevin Young, read by Novella Nelson --; Those winter Sundays /; Robert Hayden, read by Carolyn Rude --; Those winter Sundays /; Robert Hayden, read by the poet --; The Negro speaks of rivers /; Langston Hughes, read by Dr. Charles Steger --; The creation /; James Weldon Johnson, read by Terry L. Papillon --; The mother /; Gwendolyn Brooks, read by Rudy Dee --; A Bronzeville mother loiters in Mississippi. Meanwhile, a Mississippi mother burns bacon /; Gwendolyn Brooks, read by Rudy Dee and Nikki Giovanni --; A sunset of the city /; Gwendolyn Brooks, read by Rudy Dee --; Yet do I marvel /; Countee Cullen, read by Kevin G. McDonald --; Incident /; Countee Cullen, read by Gena E. Chandler --; We wear the mask /; Paul Laurence Dunbar, read by Novella Nelson --; The heart of a woman /; Georgia Douglas Johnson, read by Ethel Morgan Smith --; Boston year /; Elizabeth Alexander, read by the poet --; Personal letter no. 3 /; Sonia Sanchez, read by the poet --; Poem at thirty /; Sonia Sanchez, read by the poet --; A poem for Sterling Brown /; Sonia Sanchez, read by the poet --; Lot's daughter dreams of her mother /; Opal Moore, read by Ethel Morgan Smith --; Mama's promise /; Marilyn Nelson, read by the poet --; Homage to my hips /; Lucille Clifton, read by Ennis McCrery --; Train rides /; Nikki Giovanni, read by Virginia C. Fowler --; Drapery factory, Gulfport, Mississippi, 1956 /; Natasha Trethewey, read by Joanne V. Gabbin --; Nikki, if you were a song /; Kwame Alexander, read by Novella Nelson --; A river that flows forever, and The rose that grew from concrete /; Tupac Shakur, read by Novella Nelson --; Mercy killing /; Remica L. Bingham, read by Novella Nelson --; Ego tripping (there may be a reason why) /; Nikki Giovanni, read by the poet.

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