Overview

In supreme night, the troubles of double consciousness and anti-Black violence recede into the temporary haven of night. In poet Keith Donnell Jr.'s imagination, the cover of darkness, both familiar and mysterious, is transcendent. Here, oppressed peoples may find the power to live beyond the social and legal limitations imposed in daylight. These nights are not free of horror and tragedy, nor are they free of love, humor, anger or regret. The supreme night envelopes all that memory preserves, bends, and fabricates. The collection's micro-narratives, lyrics, monologues, and historical sources twist, bend, and cycle through, coalescing to memorialize the legacy of Black life in America. Both unique and ambitious in scope, humorous and heartbreaking, supreme night is a fractured song of witness, a romance with the veil. Its vibrant language and varied themes subvert expectations to celebrate the power of dissemblance, and the poet as keeper of knowledge and rogue histories.

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9781625571571

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Reviews

Inventive--a tongue free of fear, a language of Black alternativism and folk music. A heaven built brick by brick, reclamation by reclamation. Damn. I'm surrounded here in supreme night, first by myth then by rhythm. Donnell writes, ""A sermon, a subverter, no anomaly/ All that rumble young man, rumble."" And ain't it like a poet to use a collective fist towards rapture. These poems swing back, swing first. There is a place for us here in these poems. A salve for the burdened. A night worth wading. --Daniel B. Summerhill, Author of Divine, Divine, Divine & Mausoleum of Flowers

Author Information

Originally from Philly, Keith Donnell Jr. is a California-based poet, writer, and book editor. He is a graduate of the Creative Writing MFA Program at San Francisco State University. His work blends experimental poetics, storytelling, and historical artifacts to explore experiences of Black life in America, past and present. Keith is the previous author of The Move (Nomadic Press, 2021) and his work has appeared in journals and anthologies, including POETRY and Best American Nonrequired Reading.

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