{"product_id":"the-black-maria-poems-1","title":"The Black Maria Poems","description":"\u003cb\u003ePraise for Aracelis Girmay:\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \"[Girmay's] every loss--she calls them estrangements--is a yearning for connection across time and place; her every fragment is a bulwark against ruin.\" --\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eO, The Oprah Magazine\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Taking its name from the moon's dark plains, misidentified as seas by early astronomers, \u003ci\u003ethe black maria\u003c\/i\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 humanistic notion of seeing beyond: seeing violence, seeing grace, and seeing each other better.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e\"to the sea\"\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003egreat storage house, history\u003cbr\u003e on which we rode, we touched\u003cbr\u003e the brief pulse of your fluttering\u003cbr\u003e pages, spelled with salt \u0026amp; life,\u003cbr\u003e your rage, your indifference\u003cbr\u003e your gentleness washing our feet,\u003cbr\u003e all of you going on\u003cbr\u003e whether or not we live,\u003cbr\u003e to you we bring our carnations\u003cbr\u003e yellow \u0026amp; pink, how they float\u003cbr\u003e like bright sentences atop\u003cbr\u003e your memory's dark hair\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003eAracelis Girmay\u003c\/b\u003e is the author of three poetry collections, \u003ci\u003ethe black maria\u003c\/i\u003e; \u003ci\u003eKingdom Animalia\u003c\/i\u003e, which won the Isabella Gardner Award and was a finalist for the NBCC Award; and \u003ci\u003eTeeth\u003c\/i\u003e. The recipient of a 2015 Whiting Award, she has received grants and fellowships from the Jerome, Cave Canem, and Watson foundations, as well as Civitella Ranieri and the NEA. She currently teaches at Hampshire College's School for Interdisciplinary Arts and in Drew University's low residency MFA program. Originally from Santa Ana, California, she splits her time between New York and Amherst, Massachusetts.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"OUATB","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49081250185471,"sku":"*R0162924*","price":7.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0487\/5550\/7364\/files\/18640843482879_b3bcddc7-7ebc-4891-924d-9d3fd640a9cd.jpg?v=1787596000","url":"https:\/\/shop.onceuponatimebooks.com\/products\/the-black-maria-poems-1","provider":"Once Upon a Time Books AR","version":"1.0","type":"link"}