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I Am the Rage

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Notes From Black Reads

If the daily, no, hourly news reports about unresolved racial tension and inequalities haven’t informed the world, then our call to attention are the poems of Dr. Martina McGowan. The succinct, sharp and direct poems in I am The Rage require us to finally confront that which society ignores. Her words, along with the beautiful illustrations by Diana Ejaita, encourage us, no, command us to “wake up.” McGowan shouts from her heart to do so before it’s too late — and we cannot afford to wait that long.

I am the Rage is not just a poetry book. It is a call-to-action.

NOW A NAUTILIS AWARD WINNER & BCALA 2022 Honor Poetry Award Winner!

This evocative collection of thirty poems puts readers in the position of feeling, reflecting, and empathizing with what it means to be Black in America today. Dr. Martina McGowan, a doctor and grandmother who has been a victim of and an advocate against social, racial, and sexual injustices, uses powerful free verse poetry to express the range of emotions, thoughts, and grief she had following the deaths of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd, the subsequent Black Lives Matter protests, and the ongoing attacks against the Black community.

For those who are moved by the poetry of Amanda Gorman and Maya Angelou, Dr. McGowan's poems are a glimpse into the Black experience and will stay with you long after you've read them. Her unforgettable words are brought to life through powerful illustrations by Diana Ejaita, whose work has been featured in Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, and The New York Times, making it a beautiful poetry gift book for women and men.

Praise for I am the Rage:

"I am The Rage is a timely look at generations of trauma and inaction."—Bustle

"A raw and searing examination of America's reckoning with racism."—POPSUGAR

"These poems reverberate with the powerful grief of a woman who speaks the vulnerability of living in a world where being black makes you a target."—Pamala A. Thiede, Amazon customer review

ISBN-13: 9781728245072

Media Type: Paperback

Publisher: Sourcebooks

Publication Date: 02-02-2021

Pages: 112

Product Dimensions: 5.00(w) x 7.40(h) x 0.60(d)

Table of Contents

I Am the Rage 1

Forever Lost between Sunlight and Shadow (for Breonna) 5

Motivated Forgetting 9

Human Enough 11

Navigating This Hazardous Terrain 15

Benediction Number 9 17

There Is Too Little Time 20

America's Postpartum Depression 22

In My Rearview Mirror 24

America's Music 28

Numb to the News 30

Rhetoric 35

We Still Stand (Noble and Proud) 37

A Shocking New Race War 39

How Could We Not Have Appreciated That 42

Why We Beat Our Children 47

A New Song 50

Not Again 52

Be Careful What You Ask of Me 54

Traffic Stop 56

How You Hate to Rape Me 61

Tale of Two Georges 65

America, Something Is Wrong 68

Juneteenth 71

We Are Alike, You and I 75

BIPOC 78

Spoken Words Fail Me But… 80

Cultural Upheaval 82

Today, I Cannot… 83

What Sadness We Carry in Ordinary Times 88

Acknowledgments 93

About the Author 95