Pyramid of Bone

by Thylias Moss

Although many of Moss's poems discuss race and gender, these subjects are, explains scholar Langdon Hammer, simply "starting points for her work...her poetry makes such facts of identity seem unfamiliar, their meanings not to be predicted, unavailable to the naked eye." Known for startling metaphors and vivid imagery, Moss's work demonstrates an expansive imagination that seeks to connect at times wildly disparate subjects.

Genres: Poetry

54 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1989

About the author

Thylias Moss is a multiracial maker, an award-winning poet, recipient of a MacArthur "Genius" grant, and twice nominated for the National Book Critics Circle Award in poetry.

Reviews

[Productive Procrastinator · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5. Moss is such an amazing and tragically underrated poet. To think I never would have discovered her moving, opaque, and complex works if I hadn't been browsing YouTube late at night and hearing her be name-checked by Harold Bloom in a passing comment of an interview. Sometimes its things like that that almost make scrolling through the internet aimlessly, absorbing largely useless tidbits of information and unrecognised fragments of revelation, too tired to focus, but too alert to sleep, almost worthwhile.

[Chet]

Parents outside the nursery window do not believe/they might raise assassins or thieves