“Kevin Powell returns with a poetic time capsule written with love in honor of his mother’s evolution. Powell investigates the nature of our country's oppression through the generational wounds survived and passed on. These poems are a testament to the healing work of Kevin Powell, as they revel in the power of forgiveness, abundance, and lineage.” —Mahogany L. Browne, Lincoln Center's inaugural poet in residence and author of Vinyl Moon
When Kevin Powell’s elderly mother became ill, he returned home every week to take her grocery shopping in Jersey City. Walking behind her during those trips, Powell began to hear her voice, stories, and language in a new way—examining his own healing while praying for hers.
Grocery Shopping with My Mother originated as social media posts about these visits and evolved into a breathtaking collection of thirty-two new poems, crafted like an album, plus four bonus tracks celebrating a great love of wordplay. Culturally rooted in the literary traditions of Ntozake Shange and Allen Ginsberg, Powell’s poems honor the likes of V (formerly Eve Ensler), bell hooks, and Sidney Poitier.
Grocery Shopping with My Mother dives into the complexities of relationships and contemporary themes with honesty and vulnerability. Creatively and spiritually inspired by Stevie Wonder’s Songs in the Key of Life, Powell’s poems shift in form and style, from praise chants to reverential meditations to, most importantly, innovative hope.
ISBN-13: 9781593767433
Media Type: Hardcover
Publisher: Catapult
Publication Date: 12-06-2022
Pages: 192
Product Dimensions: 5.40(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.90(d)
KEVIN POWELL is one of the most acclaimed political, cultural, literary, and hip-hop voices in the United States. A poet, journalist, civil and human rights activist, and filmmaker, he is the author of fourteen previous books. Powell’s next title will be a biography of Tupac Shakur. A native of Jersey City, New Jersey, he lives in Brooklyn, New York.
Table of Contents
Poet's Note xv
Side 1
Grocery Shopping with My Mother 3
A Praise Song for Sidney Pokier 14
Happy 22
Brotha Man 25
For Miss Shirley LeFlore 30
For Miguel Algarín 37
For Cicely Tyson 40
Call Him D-Nice 44
For V (formerly Eve Ensler) 51
Dear Kobe 55
Letter to bell hooks 60
Compass: I 68
For New York City 71
Hope Wanted 75
Our Mothers 77
The Beatles 79
Side 2
We them people 83
Tupac and Biggie 88
Haiku for Black Boys 98
Enough 99
Baseball 100
My Father 107
Janet Jackson Never Lies 111
When I Found Malcolm X 113
America 117
I am magic 123
Haiku for Vangie 130
Valentine Haiku 131
For You 132
Love 134
Jamaican Love Poem 136
A Love Sonnet 138
Bonus Tracks
For aunt cathy 141
Reality Check 151
September 11th 155
Son2Mother 157
Acknowledgments 166
Self-Portrait 169
Kevin Powell's Previous Books 171
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