Reflections on the profound influence of poet, educator, and social activist Gwendolyn Brooks through examinations of her life and work.
"[A] superb tribute...[an] essential collection."—Booklist
“But each time I read Miss Brooks, each time I revisit her poems, they climb up on my knees and sit in tight contentment. They speak to me of form and color, patterns and dawns. They talk of myths; they tell me where flesh lives, where a troop of young heroes and sheroes lean back in chairs, ‘beautiful. Impudent. Ready for life.’ Where the young ‘Live not for battles won. / Live not for the-end-of-the-song. / Live in the along.’”
—Sonia Sanchez, from the Foreword
“Gwendolyn Brooks wrote and performed her magnificent poetry for and about the Black people of Chicago, and yet it was also read with anguish, delight, and awe by white people, successive waves of immigrants, and ultimately the world.”
—Bill Ayers, from the Introduction
“If a person from another planet, continent, or culture wishes to gain insight into the inner workings, the comings and goings of Black people in America, an excellent place to begin a formal or informal education is with the poetry of Gwendolyn Brooks.”
—Haki R. Madhubuti, from the Afterword
