Name: Dark // Thing: Poems
ISBN: 9780807170601

dark // thing is a multifaceted work that explores the darkness/otherness by which the world sees Black people. Ashley M. Jones stares directly into the face of the racism that allows people to be seen as dark things, as objects that can be killed/enslaved/oppressed/devalued. This work, full as it is of slashes of all kinds, ultimately separates darkness from thingness, affirming and celebrating humanity.

Book Details

Publisher: Pleiades Press
Publish Date: Feb 12nd, 2019
Pages: 80
Language: English
Edition: undefined - undefined
Dimensions: 9.00in - 8.50in - 0.20in - 0.30lb
EAN: 9780807170601
Categories: • General

About the Author

Ashley M. Jones, a faculty member in the creative writing department of the Alabama School of Fine Arts, received an MFA in Poetry from Florida International University. Her debut poetry collection, Magic City Gospel, won the silver medal in poetry in the 2017 Independent Publishers Book Awards. A winner of the 2015 Rona Jaffe Foundation Writer's Award, Jones authored poems appearing or forthcoming in a number of publications, including the Academy of American Poets, Tupelo Quarterly, Prelude, Steel Toe Review, Fjords Review, Quiet Lunch, Poets Respond to Race Anthology, and The Harvard Journal of African American Public Policy.

More books by Ashley M. Jones

Book Cover for: Reparations Now!, Ashley M. Jones

Book Cover for: Magic City Gospel, Ashley M. Jones

Book Cover for: Voices of Resistance An Anthology by Sister City Connection Connection, Laura Secord

Book Cover for: Lullaby for the Grieving, Ashley M. Jones

What people are saying

Aimee Nezhukumatathil

@aimeenez

2 years

🇵🇭🇮🇳 New York Times bestselling author of WORLD OF WONDERS (nature essays) • glitter & narwhals & roller-skates • 4 books of poems too • @CurtisBrownLtd

And for the record I adore Ashley M. Jones’ poems and am no fan of our state leadership…but our current and former MS state poet laureates are top notch — among the most conscientious, hard working, and thoughtful poets in this country.

Last call for our Tom Howard/Margaret Reid Poetry Contest. Two top prizes of $3,000 each. Deadline: September 30. https://t.co/X19ov9twLg

Deadline Jan 1: The Blossom Contest; no fee, all themes accepted; BIPOC writers may submit 1-3 unpublished poems (limit: 2 pages per poem) or 1 unpublished story or essay (limit: 3,000 words) to win $200; final judge: Ashley M. Jones | https://t.co/9P0QKHvlxF HT @newpages https://t.co/JyovB3bThO

Author: TENDERNESS and TROUBLE THE WATER (@boaeditions) and a chapbook, BLACK SAND (@foundlingspress) | Wannabe Art Historian | He/Him

There are also ekphrastic poems inspired by Ross's work from Roger Reeves, Quraysh Ali Lansana, Kwoya Fagin Maples, Courtney Faye Taylor, and Ashley M. Jones. Give em a read! We love an ekphrastic moment. https://t.co/Huq1Z8yafz

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Praise for this book

dark // thing explores the operating costs incurred when blackness--black hair, black bottom, black diction and excellence--are perceived, but not uniquely seen. Ashley Jones has penned towns like Birmingham, Alabama and Flint, Michigan; penned America through the lens of Harriet Tubman, Dwayne Wayne, and the Emancipation Proclamation in a pitch tuned for everyone, whether you're jonseing for sonnets, sestinas, or mathematical proofs. It is imperative that you read these poems, teach these poems, breathe deep this gift of a book.--Marcus Wickers