Power and Possibility: Essays, Reviews, and Interviews

Poets on Poetry

by Elizabeth Alexander

A volume in the Poets on Poetry series, which collects critical works by contemporary poets, gathering together the articles, interviews, and book reviews by which they have articulated the poetics of a new generation. Elizabeth Alexander is considered one of the country's most gifted contemporary poets, and the publication of her essays in The Black Interior in 2004 established her as an astute critic and cultural commentator as well. Arnold Rampersad has called Alexander "one of the brightest stars in our literary sky . . . a superb, invaluable commentator on the American scene." In this new collection of her essays, reviews, and interviews, Alexander again focuses on African American artistic production, particularly poetry, and the cultural contexts in which it is created and experienced. The book's first section, "Black Arts 101," takes up the poetry of Paul Laurence Dunbar, Sterling Brown, Lucille Clifton, Gwendolyn Brooks, and Rita Dove (among others); artist Romare Bearden; dancer Bill T. Jones; and dramatist August Wilson. A second section, "Black Feminist Thinking," provides engaging meditations ranging from "My Grandmother's Hair" and "A Very Short History of Black Women and Food" to essays on the legacies of Toni Cade, Audre Lorde, and June Jordan. The collection's final section, "Talking," includes interviews, a commencement address---"Black Graduation"---and the essay "Africa and the World." Elizabeth Alexander received a B.A. from Yale University, an M.A. from Boston University, and a Ph.D. in English from the University of Pennsylvania. She has published four books of The Venus Hottentot (1990); Body of Life (1996); Antebellum Dream Book (2001); and, most recently, American Sublime (2005), which was one of three finalists for the Pulitzer Prize. Her play, Diva Studies , was produced at the Yale School of Drama. She is presently Professor of American and African American Studies at Yale University.

Genres: Nonfiction

208 pages, Paperback

First published August 10, 2007

About the author

Elizabeth Alexander is a Quantrell Award-winning American poet, essayist, playwright, university professor, and scholar of African-American literature and culture. She teaches English language/literature, African-American literature, and gender studies at Yale University. Alexander was a fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard during the 2007-08 academic year.

Alexander's poems, short stories, and critical writings have been widely published in such journals and periodicals as The Paris Review, American Poetry Review, The Kenyon Review, The Village Voice, The Women's Review of Books, and The Washington Post. Her play Diva Studies, which was performed at Yale's School of Drama, garnered her a National Endowment for the Arts creative writing fellowship as well as an Illinois Arts Council award.

On December 17th, 2008 it was announced that she will compose a poem which she shall recite at the Presidential Inauguration of Barack Obama in January 2009.

Reviews

[Jane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Alexander's essays are well worth reading. Her essays about black artists and writers increased my understanding of some of her poems. Her voice is wise and sorely needed in today's world.

[Diann Blakely]

Once again Alexander proved herself more attuned than most by the very title of her second, and, as the title indicates, very varied collection of prose, which encompasses a plethora of topics and chapters that are multiply instructional as well as generous, giving us personal glimpses into the life and mind of one of our generation's most truly astonishing literary figures. Alexander continues to manage the public spotlight and the private space from which poems spring with dazzling aplomb.

Indeed, POWER AND POSSIBILITY is a key document in what I believe is a great third flowering of African-American poetry, one whose seed was planted by Toi Derricotte and Cornelius Eady through their co-founding of Cave Canem in 1996 and began a special burgeoning in the months leading toward Obama's election, when this book first reached my hands.  While Alexander is all too familiar with the kind of power that crushes the soul, my own, upon finishing this excellent collection, felt enabled--to steal from the title of her selected poems--to rise toward radiance. As for "possibility," I felt lifted as well, toward what remains and abides, toward redemption and the audacity of hope.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh, I loved this collection of pieces by and with the poet, Elizabeth Alexander. This is one of those books I wish I had read before this. But my, my, my it was good. The author’s reflection on and celebration of African-American poets and writers opened my eyes to a few I didn’t know and caused me to rejoice in the reminders of the power of the words of others (like the playwright August Wilson). Every section of this book: Essays, Reviews and Interviews is strong. I really loved it.

[Joan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thoughtful, readable, entirely enjoyable. Alexander reminded me that I need to surround myself with women of color who form the community that nourishes me, that grounds me in something larger than what I might see every day.

[Mendi]

Looks juicy.