100 Best African American Poems with CD Book

Dedication: The Aunt: xxi — Track 1
Mari Evans

1. For My People: 1 — Track 2
Margaret Walker

2. Leroy: 3
Amiri Baraka (LeRoi Jones)

3. Ars Poetica: Nov. 7, 2008: 4
L. Lamar Wilson

4. Ka'Ba: 8
Amiri Baraka (LeRoi Jones)

5. When You Have Forgotten Sunday: The Love Story: 9 — Track 3
Gwendolyn Brooks

6.
The Sermon on the Warpland: 11 — Track 4
Gwendolyn Brooks We Real Cool: 12 — Track 5
Gwendolyn Brooks

7.
Jazz Baby Is It In You: 13
Antoine Harris
"I Fade Into the Night": 14
Adam Daniel

8. Old Lem: 15 — Track 6
Sterling A. Brown

9. I Am Accuse of Tending to the Past: 17 — Track 7
Lucille Clifton

10. I Am A Black Woman: 18 — Track 8
Mari Evans

11. Who Can Be Born Black?: 20 — Track 9
Mari Evans

12. Nikka-Rosa:21 — Track 10
Nikki Giovanni

13. Knoxville, Tennessee: 23 — Track 11
Nikki Giovanni

14. The Dry Spell: 24 — Track 12
Kevin Young

15. Those Winter Sundays: 26 — Tracks 13 & 14
Robert Hayden

16. Frederic Douglass: 27
Robert Hayden

17. The Negro Speaks of Rivers: 28 — Track 15
Langston Hughes

18. Choosing the Blues: 29
Angela Jackson

19. My Father's Love Letters: 30
Yusef Komunyakaa

20. The Creation: 32 — Track 16
James Weldon Johnson

21. A Negro Love Song: 36
Paul Laurence Dunbar

22. Lift Every Voice and Sing: 37
James Weldon Johnson

23. Go Down Death: 39
James Weldon Johnson

24. Between Ourselves: 42
Audre Lorde

25. The Union of Two: 45
Haki R. Madhubuti

26. Ballad of Birmingham: 46
Dudley Randall

27. A Poem to Complement Other Poems: 48
Haki R. Madhubuti

28. No Images: 51
Waring Cuney

29. Between the World and Me: 52
Richard Wright

30. Theme for English B: 54
Langston Hughes

31. Harlem Suite
Easy Boogie: 56
Langston Hughes Dream Boogie: 57
Langston Hughes Dream Boogie: Variation: 58
Langston Hughes Harlem: 58
Langston Hughes Good Morning: 59
Langston Hughes Same in Blues: 60
Langston Hughes Island: 61
Langston Hughes

32. The Blue Terrance: 62
Terrance Hayes

33.
The Mother: 64 — Track 17
Gwendolyn Brooks A Bronzeville Mother Loiters in Mississippi. Meanwhile, a Mississippi Mother Burns Bacon: 66
Gwendolyn Brooks — Track 18
The Last Quatrain of the Ballad of Emmett Till: 72
Gwendolyn Brooks A Sunset of the City: 73 — Track 19
Gwendolyn Brooks

34. Things I Carried Coming to the World: 75
Remica L. Bingham

35. Topography: 77
Remica L. Bingham

36. Beneath Me: 79
Jericho Brown

37. Autobiography: 80
Jericho Brown

38. Parable of the Sower: 82
Pamela Sneed

39. Heritage: 86
Countee Cullen

40. Yet I Do Marvel: 91 — Track 20
Countee Cullen

41. Incident: 92 — Track 21
Countee Cullen

42. We Wear the Mask: 93 — Track 22
Paul Laurence Dunbar

43. Triple: 94
Georgia Douglas Johnson

44. The Heart of a Woman: 95 — Track 23
Georgia Douglas Johnson

45. Woman With Flower: 96
Naomi Long Madgett

46. The Idea of Ancestry: 97
Etheridge Knight

47. Don't Say Goodbye to the Porkpie Hat: 99
Larry Neal

48. Cleaning: 105
Camille T. Dungy

49. Boston Year: 106 — Track 24
Elizabeth Alexander

50. She Wears Red: 107
Jackie Warren-Moore

51. Commercial Break: Road-Runner, Uneasy: 110
Tim Seibles

52. Before Making Love: 114
Toi Derricotte

53. Be-Bop: 115
Sterling Plumpp

54. Personal Letter No. 3: 116 — Track 25
Sonia Sanchez

55. Poem at Thirty: 117 — Track 26
Sonia Sanchez

56. A Poem for Sterling Brown: 118 — Track 27
Sonia Sanchez

57. Marchers Headed for Washington, Baltimore, 1963: 120
Remica L. Bingham

58. And Yeah...This is a Love Poem: 123
Nikki Giovanni

59. The Carousel: 123
Gloria C. Oden

60. Only Everything I Own: 127
Patricia Smith

61. Lot's Daughter Dreams of Her Mother: 128 — Track 28
Opal Moore

62. The Girlfriend's Train: 131
Nikky Finney

63. Back from the Arms of Big Mama: 136
Afaa Michael Weaver

64. Mama's Promise: 139 — Track 29
Marilyn Nelson

65. Bop: A Whistling Man: 142
Lyrae Van Clief-Stefanon

66. Homage to My Hips: 144 — Track 30
Lucille Clifton

67. Train Ride: 145
Kwame Dawes

68. Train Rides: 148 — Track 31
Nikki Giovanni

69. A Great Grandaddy Speaks: 153
Lamonte B. Steptoe

70. Eddie Priest's Barbershop & Notary: 154
Kevin Young

71. View of the Library of Congress From Paul Laurence Dunbar High School: 156
Thomas Sayers Ellis

72. Drapery Factory, Gulfport, Mississippi, 1956: 159 — Track 32
Natasha Trethewey

73. Some Kind of Crazy: 161
Major Jackson

74. From: 163
A. Van Jordan

75. Freedom Candy: 165
E. Ethelbert Miller

76. The Supremes: 167
Cornelius Eady

77. Jazz Suite
Nikki Save Me: 169
Michael Scott
"Nikki, If You Were a Song...": 170 — Track 33
Kwame Alexander Haiku: 170
DJ Renegade Untitled: 170
Nadir Lasana Bomani
"I Wish I Could've Seen It...": 171
Leodis McCray

78. That Some Mo': 174
DJ Renegade

79. Sometime in the Summer There's October: 175
Kwame Alexander

80. Dancing Naked on the Floor: 178
Kwame Alexander

81. Harriet Tubman's Email 2 Master: 180
Truth Thomas

82. A River That Flows Forever: 181 — Track 34
Tupac Shakur

83. The Rose that Grew from Concrete: 181 — Track 34
Tupac Shakur

84. Rochelle: 182
Reuben Jackson

85. All Their Stanzas Look Alike: 183
Thomas Sayers Ellis

86. From the Center to the Edge: 185
Asha Bandele

87. The Subtle Art of Breathing: 187
Asha Bandele

88. Southern University, 1963: 192
Kevin Young

89. Poetry Should Ride the Bus: 195
Ruth Forman

90. Blues for Spring: 197
Colleen J. McElroy

91. The Bicycle Wizard: 198
Sharon Strange

92. Bicycles: 199
Nikki Giovanni

93. A Clean Slate: 200
Fred D'Aguiar

94. Song Through the Wall: 201
Akua Lezli Hope

95. A Seat Saved: 203
Shana Yarborough

96. Sunday Greens: 205
Rita Dove

97. The Untitled Superhero Poem: 206
Tonya Maria Matthews

98. Mercy Killing: 209 — Track 35
Remica L. Bingham

99. If You Saw a Negro Lady: 210
June Jordan

100. Ego Tripping (There May Be a Reason Why): 212 — Track 36
Nikki Giovanni