The 100 Best African American Poems

I love the meaning trying the poems

This is my first audio, and an excellent compilation to ad to my spoken word collection. it brought the artists work to real life for me Some male voice where appropriate would have made perfect. well done sisters.A good purchase

I decided to get this book because I'm lacking collections and books of poetry in my library and was won over immediately when I saw it on Kim Lechelle's You Tube channel. I felt what better way to start a collection with this one. The book was edited by Nikki Giovanni which is definitely a selling point. She has chosen some of the most poignant, lyrical, culturally rich poems by some of the most prominent writers from the African-American community - some gone for many years and others still alive today. The poems are direct and full of feeling and emotions that follow the history of African-Americans through the years. At times I found some of the poems a little too sad but I accepted their realness and the history they depict and quickly left that critic on the back burner. The thing that really won me over the most about this book was the CD that accompanied it. All the poems came alive for me even more. Some I've listened to quite a few times because they were recited in such a vivacious, tangible fashion. Two of my favourite poems are Who Can Be Born Black? by Mari Evans and A Bronzeville Mother Loiters in Mississippi. Meanwhile, A Mississippi Mother Burns Bacon by Gwendolyn Brooks (extremely well recited on the CD).

I received my copy of "100 Best African American Poems" edited by Nikki Giovanni, recently and went to town reading and reviewing it. I was amazed and memories of reading some of my favorite poems came flooding back. This is an important piece of work for all African-Americans and for non-African-Americans alike. It contains a very diverse group of poets. There is an omission for whatever reason of a couple of my favorite poets but overall they are not missed.I noticed the advertisement for the book stated that there was a CD that contained some of the poems being read and I thought I would have to purchase that separately, and I was willing to do it. To my surprise the CD is included with the book and I am loving the spoken word. I agree with the other review that this will make a great gift.

The author is pretty awesome in her own right and she made some good selections of others' poetry.