{"title":"Aracelis Girmay","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003e\u003ca title=\"About Aracelis Girmay\" href=\"https:\/\/www.boaeditions.org\/collections\/aracelis-girmay\"\u003eAracelis Girmay\u003c\/a\u003e is the author of four books of poems: GREEN OF ALL HEADS\u003cstrong\u003e \u003c\/strong\u003e(BOA Editions, 2025); \u003ca title=\"The Black Maria\" href=\"https:\/\/www.boaeditions.org\/collections\/aracelis-girmay\/products\/the-black-maria\"\u003e\u003ci\u003ethe black maria\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e (BOA Editions, 2016); \u003ci\u003eTeeth\u003c\/i\u003e (Curbstone Press, 2007), winner of the GLCA New Writers Award; and \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003e\u003ca title=\"Kingdom Animalia\" href=\"https:\/\/www.boaeditions.org\/collections\/aracelis-girmay\/products\/kingdom-animalia\"\u003e\u003ci\u003eKingdom Animalia\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e (BOA Editions, 2011), winner of the 2011 Isabella Gardner Poetry Award and a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Hurston\/Wright Legacy Award. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eShe is also the author\/illustrator of the collage-based picture book \u003cem\u003echanging, changing\u003c\/em\u003e. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eFor her work, Girmay was nominated for a Neustadt International Prize for Literature in 2018. For the last several years, Girmay was on the faculty of Hampshire College's School for Interdisciplinary Arts and before that taught community writing workshops with young people in New York and California. She has received grants, training, and fellowships in support of her work from the NEA, the Whiting Foundation, Civitella Ranieri, the Cave Canem Foundation, and the Community~Word Project, among other programs. From 2021-2025, Girmay served as the editor of BOA Editions' Blessing the Boats Selections and is on the editorial board of the African Poetry Book Fund.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eShe is the editor of \u003ca title=\"How to Carry Water\" href=\"https:\/\/www.boaeditions.org\/collections\/aracelis-girmay\/products\/how-to-carry-water-selected-poems-of-lucille-clifton\"\u003e\u003ci\u003eHow to Carry Water: Selected Poems of Lucille Clifton \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e(BOA, 2020) and \u003cem\u003eSo We Can Know: Writers of Color on Pregnancy, Loss, Abortion, and Birth\u003c\/em\u003e (Haymarket Books).\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"kingdom-animalia","title":"Kingdom Animalia","description":"\u003ch4\u003eWinner of the 2011 Isabella Gardner Poetry Award\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe poems in this highly anticipated second book are elegiac poems, as concerned with honoring our dead as they are with praising the living. Through Aracelis Girmay’s lens, everything is animal: the sea, a jukebox, the desert. In these poems, everything possesses a system of desire, hunger, a set of teeth and language. These are poems about what is both difficult and beautiful about our time here on earth.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch4\u003e\"Elegy\"\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhat to do with this knowledge\u003cbr\u003ethat our living is not guaranteed?\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003ePerhaps one day you touch the young branch\u003cbr\u003eof something beautiful. \u0026amp; it grows \u0026amp; grows\u003cbr\u003edespite your birthdays \u0026amp; the death certificate,\u003cbr\u003e\u0026amp; it one day shades the heads of something beautiful\u003cbr\u003eor makes itself useful to the nest. Walk out\u003cbr\u003eof your house, then, believing in this.\u003cbr\u003eNothing else matters.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eAll above us is the touching\u003cbr\u003eof strangers \u0026amp; parrots,\u003cbr\u003esome of them human, \u003cbr\u003esome of them not human.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eListen to me. I am telling you\u003cbr\u003ea true thing. This is the only kingdom.\u003cbr\u003eThe kingdom of touching;\u003cbr\u003ethe touches of the disappearing, things.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch6\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/h6\u003e\n\u003ch6\u003e© BOA Editions, Ltd. 2011\u003c\/h6\u003e","brand":"BOA Editions, Ltd.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46050738831589,"sku":"9781934414682","price":17.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0982\/0178\/products\/KINGDOM_ANIMALIA.jpg?v=1527683286"},{"product_id":"the-black-maria","title":"the black maria","description":"\u003ch4\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eA \u003cspan\u003e“\u003c\/span\u003eBest Book of 2016\u003cspan\u003e”\u003c\/span\u003e for\u003ci\u003e The New Yorker, \u003c\/i\u003ethe\u003ci\u003e Boston Globe\u003c\/i\u003e, the\u003ci\u003e Chicago Review of Books, \u003c\/i\u003eand\u003ci\u003e Publishers Weekly\u003cbr\u003eAn O, The Oprah Magazine 2016 \u003cspan\u003e“\u003c\/span\u003eGem of the Genre\u003cspan\u003e”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e 2016 #1 in Poetry Top 10\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA \u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cspan\u003e“\u003c\/span\u003eMost Anticipated Book of Spring 2016\u003cspan\u003e”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA \u003ci\u003eLibrary Journal\u003c\/i\u003e 2016 Poetry Top Pick\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWinner of a 2015 Whiting Award for Poetry\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWinner of \u003cem\u003ePoetry\u003c\/em\u003e magazine\u003cspan\u003e’\u003c\/span\u003es 2016 Bess Hokin Prize\u003c\/strong\u003e\n\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTaking its name from the moon’s dark plains, misidentified as seas by early astronomers, \u003cem\u003ethe black maria\u003c\/em\u003e investigates African diasporic histories, the consequences of racism within American culture, and the question of human identity. Central to this project is a desire to recognize the lives of Eritrean refugees who have been made invisible by years of immigration crisis, refugee status, exile, and resulting statelessness. The recipient of a 2015 Whiting Award for Poetry, Girmay’s newest collection elegizes and celebrates life, while wrestling with the notion of seeing beyond: seeing violence, seeing grace, and seeing each other better.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch4\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“\u003c\/span\u003eFirst Estrangement\u003cspan\u003e”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eI do not remember back then\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003ewhen I was trying to leave one world\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003efor the next, my girl-mother on the table,\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eall her darkness torn\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003efor our two-headedness,\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ewhen around our violence floated\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003ethe universe, \u0026amp; we,\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003ethe naked astronauts\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eat our ends, at our beginnings,\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eyears away from that staggering\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eout of one depth into another,\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eI remember her when I crack, again,\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eopen the (already) starlight of the pomegranate,\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003ewhen I bow my ear down toward it like a deer,\u003cbr span=\"\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003ethe hunger comes, faintly it screams\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ethe memory of stars,\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eof estrangement, the lungs\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003epumping with air\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHow I take, \u0026amp; take\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003ewhat I cannot give back\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch4\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePraise for \u003cem\u003ethe black maria\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“\u003c\/span\u003e[Girmay\u003cspan\u003e’\u003c\/span\u003es] every loss—she calls them estrangements—is a yearning for connection across time and place; her every fragment is a bulwark against ruin.\u003cspan\u003e”\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cstrong\u003e—\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eO, The Oprah Magazine\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“\u003c\/span\u003eThis year, I’ve sought out and found solace in language, both poetry and prose. Aracelis Girmay’s \u003cem\u003ethe black maria\u003c\/em\u003e has left images still planted deep within me.\u003cspan\u003e”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Ada Limón,\u003ci\u003e The New Yorker\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“\u003c\/span\u003eCrowned by an extraordinary long poem interweaving the childhood of astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson . . . Aracelis Girmay\u003cspan\u003e’\u003c\/span\u003es third book of poetry looks at the crimes committed against African Americans throughout history and now . . . These poems repeat themselves, reuse lines, feel anxious and scattershot, but there is beauty and imperative witness everywhere here.” \u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e—\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cem\u003eNPR Books\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“\u003c\/span\u003ethe black maria\u003c\/i\u003e isn’t just some of the best poetry I read this year, it’s also one of the most powerful and memorable collections I’ve read as an adult.\u003cspan\u003e”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cspan\u003e—\u003c\/span\u003eAdam Morgan, \u003ci\u003eChicago Review of Books\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“The long history of abuse against African Americans threads through this latest excavation by Girmay, whose work always lays bare the importance of history and the vertigo caused by its unknowing.”—\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eBoston Globe\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“Girmay [weaves] together intimate and communal stories to express the emotional agony of an exploited and paling culture. the black maria has an agenda, but not the one we might expect; rather than issuing a call to action for the Eritrean diaspora, the poet employs personal and ancestral experience to catalyze a unified, remembered loss. Her poetry is therefore a call for the recognition of vulnerability and subjectivity: in the poet’s own words, ‘\u0026amp; so to tenderness I add my action.’ At times, the collection reads like a historical text; occasionally, it feels like angst immortalized in a diary; most often, the black maria reads like a poeticized eulogy—at once a celebration of life, an effort at reconciliation with death, and a testament to the unifying power of loss.”\u003cstrong\u003e—\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eBoston Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Girmay, winner of a 2015 Whiting Award, crafts a moving collection of lyrical, image-thick poems that balance on the knife edge separating vulnerability and unapologetic strength. The lives of Eritrean refugees and immigrants serve as the collection’s thematic foundation, though Girmay also thoughtfully dissects and examines blights of America’s current sociopolitical climate, particularly police brutality and the murders of such young black women and men as Renisha McBride and Jonathan Ferrell . . . Girmay effortlessly slips between collective history and personal memory, tackling the subject of black pain without victimizing herself or exploiting the voices of the marginalized.” \u003cstrong\u003e—\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly, *Starred*\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Whiting Award winner Girmay recalls the larger African diaspora as she commemorates more than 20,000 people who have died sailing from North Africa to Europe in a bid for a better life . . . Using bold, sharply lyric language, she addresses the drowned as ‘you,’ encircling them in community and giving them a humanity and individuality death statistics belie. VERDICT: Beautiful, brilliant, and palpably angry; an important book all readers can appreciate.” \u003cstrong\u003e—\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eLibrary Journal, *Starred*\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Lunar maria, dark, basaltic plains on the moon’s surface, take their name from the Latin word for seas, identified as such by mistaken astronomers. This fascinating confusion fuels Girmay’s third poetry collection, which co-opts the sailing-obsessed tales of Odysseus, adopts African slave Abram Gannibal, ancestor of renowned Russian poet Alexander Pushkin, and testifies on behalf of the wrongfully accused Black Panther George Jackson, among many others. . . . astoundingly effective, [this] bright, ambitious work deserves several rereadings. A self-described ‘inheritor of Eritrean, Puerto Rican, and African American traditions,’ Girmay is a dazzling, wildly dynamic poet.” \u003cstrong\u003e—\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eBooklist\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Aracelis Girmay’s new poetry collection, \u003ci\u003ethe black maria\u003c\/i\u003e—a haunting, blistering, vital examination of the African diaspora from 15th-century slave ships to Neil deGrasse Tyson—is a book of memories and seas . . . One cannot help but be reminded of Claudia Rankine’s \u003ci\u003eCitizen: An American Lyric\u003c\/i\u003e . . . maybe this ‘John Henryism’ is the memory Girmay brings out as she traverses the African continent, from the Congo under the Belgians to present-day Asmara, and back in time to Luam and Abram when black children were being abducted and sold as gifts. More than any other question, \u003ci\u003ethe black maria\u003c\/i\u003e forces us to ask ourselves if anything has truly changed since then.”  \u003cstrong\u003e—\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eChicago Review of Books\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“\u003c\/span\u003ethe black maria\u003c\/em\u003e, Aracelis Girmay’s intricate epic of black survival, enraptures the reader in a gaze that looks simultaneously backward and forward, toward past and future that are impossible to see yet crucial to imagine.\u003cspan\u003e”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e—\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003ePloughshares\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“\u003c\/span\u003ethe black maria\u003c\/em\u003e emerges from a spirit of elegy, moral vision, and protest, and places itself in traditions that include June Jordan, Paul Celan, Joy Harjo, and James Baldwin. Unique to this collection is Girmay’s signature willingness to risk narrative sentiment and lyric authenticity, which she inhabits with remarkable force, willing her readers to be remade in her visionary healing.\u003cspan\u003e”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cspan\u003e—\u003c\/span\u003eSCOUT\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“\u003c\/span\u003ethe black maria\u003c\/em\u003e is rich with countless descriptions of the sea, and Girmay manages to make each seeing new, nimbly crafting each poem to possess and plunge the reader into its glimmering pages, offering us an ocean full of voices, full of historical remnants . . . Not only does she reach a hand into the heart-root and depths of the reader, she fills the page with urgent breath, line after line, a singing that asks you to listen, to lie down, be washed clean in its waiting ocean. How I look forward to returning for the breath between these pages, again and again.”\u003cb\u003e—Safiya Sinclair, \u003ci\u003eOn the Seawall\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“Girmay proves herself a distinctly original lyric voice . . .\u003cem\u003e the black maria\u003c\/em\u003e elegizes the dehumanizing effects of colonialism and institutionalized racism, yet champions the documentary power of language to overcome the silences that threaten to swallow trauma. In our age of historical amnesia, Girmay’s potent poems are necessary reading for anyone committed to addressing global questions of race, justice, and equality.”\u003cstrong\u003e—\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003ePlume\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“\u003c\/span\u003e[Girmay’s] project seems to be our deep and ongoing subjectivity, our vulnerability to history, to one another, to desire, and to the belief in something large and lasting that we might belong to. There’s empathy, play, and fearlessness here, and both formal and emotional range. The beauty of these poems is always married to a deep, implacable pang. Their consolation is always rooted in the unifying force of remembered loss.” \u003cstrong\u003e—2015 Whiting Award Selection Committee\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“\u003c\/span\u003eIn Aracelis Girmay we have a poet who collects, polishes, and shares stories with such brilliant invention, tenderness, and intellectual liveliness that it is understandable that we think of her as the blessed curator of our collective histories. There is in her art the vulnerability of one who lives inside of the stories that she gathers in this remarkable collection. Her poems set off alarms even as they transform the world she inhabits, showing us, in the process, exactly what she asks of Romare Bearden’s art: ‘…how not to \/\/ assign all blackness near the sea \/ a captivity.’ This is one of the many sweet contradictions in \u003cem\u003ethe black maria\u003c\/em\u003e, which ‘is a black flag \/ wounding the pastoral.’ I am deeply thankful that we have a poet of her unique and singular talent writing today.\u003cspan\u003e”\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cstrong\u003e—Kwame Dawes\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“There is a saying in Spanish, ‘Cada cabeza es un mundo,’ which translates ‘every mind is a universe unto itself.’ And Girmay’s world, universe, opens new ways of seeing the simplest things and giving them voice. Everything contains some clue of another self, body or kindred spirit. Like an archaeologist, she digs deeply finding herself in every living thing, even in the inanimate. Her magic is poetry at its best.” \u003cstrong\u003e—National Books Critics Circle\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch6\u003ePublication Date: April 12, 2016\u003cbr\u003eISBN: \u003cstrong\u003e 978-1-942683-02-5\u003c\/strong\u003e\n\u003c\/h6\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e© BOA Editions, Ltd. 2016\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #696969;\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 12px;\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #696969;\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 12px;\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BOA Editions, Ltd.","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":49518718517477,"sku":"9781942683025","price":17.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":49518718550245,"sku":"2370000783899","price":20.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0982\/0178\/products\/TheBlackMaria_FinalFront_5a7929ab-c075-4917-9cd6-ea4707c68ea5.jpg?v=1527683358"},{"product_id":"how-to-carry-water-selected-poems-of-lucille-clifton","title":"How to Carry Water: Selected Poems of Lucille Clifton","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEdited with a Foreword by Aracelis Girmay, \u003ci\u003eHow to Carry Water: Selected Poems of Lucille Clifton\u003c\/i\u003e celebrates both familiar and lesser-known works by one of America’s most beloved poets, including 10 newly discovered poems that have never been collected.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThese poems celebrating black womanhood and resilience shimmer with intellect, insight, humor, and joy, all in Clifton’s characteristic style—a voice that the late Toni Morrison described as “seductive with the simplicity of an atom, which is to say highly complex, explosive underneath an apparent quietude.” Selected and introduced by award-winning poet Aracelis Girmay, this volume of Clifton’s poetry is simultaneously timeless and fitting for today’s tumultuous moment.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eA special thank you to the Lannan Foundation and to all of our \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.boaeditions.org\/pages\/lucille-clifton-challenge-grant\" title=\"Learn more about the Lucille Clifton Challenge Grant\"\u003eClifton Challenge Grant\u003c\/a\u003e supporters and \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.kickstarter.com\/projects\/boaeditions\/lucille-cliftons-selected-poems\/description\" title=\"Help us publish How to Carry Water: Selected Poems of Lucille Clifton\"\u003eKickstarter\u003c\/a\u003e backers for making this book possible!\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003ePraise for Lucille Clifton\u003cbr\u003e\u003cscript src=\"\/\/lithub.com\/b\/v1\/bookmarks.js?ver=1.5\"\u003e\u003c\/script\u003e\n\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"bm-reviews\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Clifton was one of America’s great poets, whose work throughout her lifetime was committed to chronicling and celebrating black lives. The honesty, joy, wisdom, and hope she brought to this task is regenerative.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Tracy K. Smith, former U.S. Poet Laureate\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Clifton’s earliest poems could have been written yesterday, and her later works could have been written decades ago. Each poem is always its own world. Her poems touch on the political, the personal, the spiritual.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Reginald Dwayne Betts, \u003ci\u003eThe New York Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Open up to any page and Clifton delivers a word. Whether the subject is roaches, family, death, or surviving, she has a psalm for all occasions. She can create the most complicated magic out of the simplest words.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Danez Smith, \u003ci\u003eThe Week\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch4\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003ch4\u003e\u003cb\u003ewater sign woman\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ethe woman who feels everything\u003cbr\u003esits in her new house\u003cbr\u003ewaiting for someone to come\u003cbr\u003ewho knows how to carry water\u003cbr\u003ewithout spilling, who knows\u003cbr\u003ewhy the desert is sprinkled\u003cbr\u003ewith salt, why tomorrow\u003cbr\u003eis such a long and ominous word.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ethey say to the feel things woman\u003cbr\u003ethat little she dreams is possible,\u003cbr\u003ethat there is only so much\u003cbr\u003ejoy to go around, only so much\u003cbr\u003ewater. there are no questions\u003cbr\u003efor this, no arguments. she has\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eto forget to remember the edge\u003cbr\u003eof the sea, they say, to forget\u003cbr\u003ehow to swim to the edge, she has\u003cbr\u003eto forget how to feel. the woman\u003cbr\u003ewho feels everything sits in her\u003cbr\u003enew house retaining the secret\u003cbr\u003ethe desert knew when it walked\u003cbr\u003eup from the ocean, the desert,\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eso beautiful in her eyes;\u003cbr\u003ewater will come again\u003cbr\u003eif you can wait for it.\u003cbr\u003eshe feels what the desert feels.\u003cbr\u003eshe waits.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BOA Editions, Ltd.","offers":[{"title":"Cloth","offer_id":40573179723947,"sku":"9781950774142","price":28.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":40573179756715,"sku":"9781950774159","price":20.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0982\/0178\/products\/HowToCarryWater_FC_RGB.jpg?v=1587558091"},{"product_id":"green-of-all-heads","title":"GREEN OF ALL HEADS","description":"\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eWinner of the 2026 PEN\/Voelcker Award for Poetry\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eLonglisted for the 2026 Griffin Poetry Prize\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0in;\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb id=\"docs-internal-guid-720e8d36-7fff-762a-bb0c-4d372ddd24aa\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWritten over the span of a decade,\u003cem\u003e \u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eGREEN OF ALL HEADS\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e is a work of formal range and emotional urgency. In the coinciding wakes of tragic loss and new motherhood, Aracelis Girmay examines the entangled temporalities of an aging parent and newly born children.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003eThis vital work grapples with what it means to attend to life in the context of corporate industries of birth and death. In language shaped by these pressures, she turns to what is small, unruly, nationless, plural – flowers, speech – to reach toward new relational and political possibility. Away from the fixed and monumental, and toward that which is fleeting, she writes: “-- i am learning to lift -- my voice -- like a flower -- in -- a field of flowers --” The result is a language broken and emboldened by love.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch4\u003ePraise for \u003cem\u003eGREEN OF ALL HEADS\u003c\/em\u003e \u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“In many African-based cosmologies, death is not the end of life nor does it mark an absence of the living. 'Heads' are not only the origin of reason and thought but a sacred realm where time expands and our ancestors keep on living. In \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cem\u003eGREEN OF ALL HEADS\u003c\/em\u003e,\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e Aracelis Girmay mourns her father’s death, but the experience becomes a knot in a web of relations between the human body, memory, political history, the capitalist economy on death and the trans-physical. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cem\u003eGREEN OF ALL HEADS\u003c\/em\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003etakes us to Eritrea, Piñones, Puerto Rico (sacred land of the maroons), to funeral homes in the U.S., dentist offices and bodegas\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e—\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003emaking\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e us question how we live the death of our loved ones, how, for some, it has become an individual experience. Yet Girmay insists on the communal, shared understanding of death\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThrough this masterfully written poetry collection, centered on the materiality of memory and remembrance, we connect with that which exists at the other side of perception.  Aracelis Girmay creates territories of simultaneity and convergence, while pondering death as a communal experience.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAt last, we have a collection of poetry that talks about death in our intimate language of affections.” \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e—Mayra Santos-Febres, author of \u003cem\u003eLa otra Julia\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eBoat People\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“…is liturgy, is prayer, is\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eGREEN OF ALL HEADS\u003c\/i\u003e, for the living and for the dead; for the quotidian and for the extraordinary.  Precipitated by the unexpected transition of her father to the realm of the Ancestors, the poet Aracelis Girmay decodes the Great Code that is poetry to bring to the ‘smallest bone of (our) ear’ the single memory that is love, fecund in its singularity. Alongside the poet we pace the rhythms of grief as well as the everyday to approach the revelation that while death never rhymes with life, it provides us the extended bassline riff supporting our livity —those bright, bold notes echoing the sound we were and are and will be running out of this life. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e…is benediction, is prayer, is eulogy, is chant; is mourning ground, is grief, genealogies of; is life, is is \u0026amp; am, is altar, is\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eGREEN OF ALL HEADS\u003c\/i\u003e, filmy netsela of blessings gently landing on our heads to embrace, to hold our fragile mortality, ever luminous in the ordinary.” \u003cstrong\u003e—m. nourbeSe philip, author of \u003ci\u003eShe Tries Her Tongue – Her Silence Softly Breaks and Zong!\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch4\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003ch4\u003eCHILDHOOD\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn the apartment with the orange\u003cbr\u003eshag carpet, is one long table\u003cbr\u003esurrounded by chairs,\u003cbr\u003eonly four of them matching,\u003cbr\u003eand cups and pitchers and food, and large,\u003cbr\u003esilver plates for sharing, a pot,\u003cbr\u003ea ladle, a child’s small and noisy toy,\u003cbr\u003eand all of it empty of people.\u003cbr\u003eEveryone has rushed out hurriedly\u003cbr\u003ein the middle. Somewhere,\u003cbr\u003ethat room exists still, floating\u003cbr\u003etoward the sun. The meat\u003cbr\u003eand grapes petrified with years.\u003cbr\u003eThe cloth bleached by light\u003cbr\u003epersisting through the windows.\u003cbr\u003eNow the rattling of plates, the clattering\u003cbr\u003eof forks and spoons. Louder to us it calls\u003cbr\u003ethe nearer it gets to the end.\u003cbr\u003eIt is saying one last thing.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BOA Editions, Ltd.","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":47644559147237,"sku":null,"price":19.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Paperback (signed)","offer_id":47644559180005,"sku":null,"price":35.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":47644559212773,"sku":null,"price":30.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"ebook","offer_id":48134926958821,"sku":null,"price":5.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0982\/0178\/files\/GreenOfAllHeads_CVR_1200px_RGB_SM.jpg?v=1743784663"},{"product_id":"boa-classic-book-bundle","title":"Boa Classic Book Bundle","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWith this one-time purchase you will receive a box of 5 best-selling titles from Boa with a few goodies from the publisher (broadsides, bookmarks, pins, etc.) at a greatly discounted rate.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eThe Boa Classic Book Bundle includes the following paperback collections:\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cem\u003eBlessing the Boats: New and Selected Poems 1988-2000\u003c\/em\u003e by Lucille Clifton\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cem\u003eRose\u003c\/em\u003e by Li-Young Lee\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Tiny Journalist\u003c\/em\u003e by Naomi Shihab Nye\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cem\u003ethe black maria\u003c\/em\u003e by Aracelis Girmay\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cem\u003eWhen I Grow Up I Want to Be a List of Further Possibilities\u003c\/em\u003e by Chen Chen \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFor even greater discounts and incentives, check out our annual \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.boaeditions.org\/products\/subscriptions\"\u003eBoa Book Lovers Subscription.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BOA Editions, Ltd.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47128969281765,"sku":null,"price":70.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0982\/0178\/files\/SpringBundleIG_2.jpg?v=1783707425"}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0982\/0178\/collections\/AGirmay_AuthorPhoto_Credit_Sheila_Griffin_2.jpg?v=1478191976","url":"https:\/\/shop.boaeditions.org\/collections\/aracelis-girmay.oembed","provider":"Boa Editions","version":"1.0","type":"link"}