Resisting Arrest: Poems to Stretch the Sky

by Tony Medina, Tony Medina (Editor)

An anthology of poetry addressing violence against African-Americans featuring work by Jericho Brown, Kwame Dawes, Rita Dove, Cornelius Eady, Martin Espada, Ross Gay, Jaki Shelton Green, Joy Harjo, Patricia Spears Jones, Allison Joseph, Yusef Komunyakaa, Jamaal May, Thylias Moss, Marilyn Nelson, Ishmael Reed, Sonia Sanchez, Quincy Troupe, Frank X Walker, Afaa MIchael Weaver, Mark Doty and more. Edited by Tony Medina. Proceeds from the sales of this book will be donated to the "Whitney M. Young Social Justice Scholarship" sponsored by The Greater Washington Urban League, Thursday Network.

Genres: Poetry

216 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2016

About the author

Tony Medina is a poet, graphic novelist, editor, short story writer, and author. Born in the South Bronx and raised in the Throgs Neck Housing Projects, Medina earned a BA in English at Baruch College, CUNY, on the GI Bill, and an MA and PhD at Binghamton University, SUNY, where he received the Distinguished Dissertation Award. Medina has published 22 books for adults and young readers, the most recent of which are Che Che Colé; Death, With Occasional Smiling; Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Black Boy; I Am Alfonso Jones; and Resisting Arrest: Poems to Stretch the Sky. Medina’s awards include the Paterson Prize for Books for Young People, the Langston Hughes Society Award, the first African Voices Literary Award, the Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award honor, and Special Recognition from the Arnold Adoff Poetry Award. He has appeared in several documentaries and CD compilations and has read/performed his work all over the United States, as well as in Germany, France, Poland, the Bahamas, Puerto Rico, and the Netherlands. The first professor of creative writing at Howard University, Medina’s poetry, fiction and essays appear in over 100 journals and anthologies, including Sheree Renée Thomas' Dark Matter, Ishmael Reed’s Hollywood Unchained and Kevin Young’s Library of America anthology, African American Poetry: 250 Years of Struggle & Song, and as an advisory editor for Nikki Giovanni’s Hip Hop Speaks to Children. Medina has also been featured on NBC's philanthropic reality show, Give, PBS’ White House Chronicle, CBS’ Great Day Washington, SiriusXM’s Kids Place Live, Medgar Evers College’s Writers on Writing, Forbes magazine, and has worked extensively with the non-profit literary organizations Say It Loud, Behind the Book, and Meet the Writers. Medina's book, Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Black Boy, was featured on Let's Learn NYC for PBS. Follow him on Facebook; Twitter: @PoetTonyMedina and Instagram: poettonymedina. His website is tonymedina.org.

Reviews

[Angela · Rating 4 out of 5]

Resisting Arrest: poems to stretch the sky is one of the most powerful collections of poems I have read. It’s raw. It’s edgy. It’s thought-provoking. It is painful and powerful at the same time. It’s hopeful. It is real. It deals with police brutality.

This book is not, however, a collection of poems filled with hate towards law enforcement and others in power. Although it is easy to imagine such a collection. It is instead an expression of many of the experiences that minorities (of many races) have had with law enforcement, the aftermath of those negative encounters, and the long-standing history of abuse that continues to exist between those in power and those not in power. Through poetry we are reminded that although slavery was abolished, many of its practices still exist, however what we call those practices (and the instruments used) have changed. Whips have been replaced with bullets and batons. Slave ships have been replaced by police cars. Plantations have been replaced by jails and prisons.

So many of the poems spoke to me, too many for me to mention here. But I want to share a few lines from some that really stood out and made me think.

The Sight of His Fist Is Fatal - For Michael Brown By Kenji C. Liu

Justifiable. We have so many ugly words
for murder.

Animals - By Nile Lansana

The color of his skin a condition
An imposition to harm without provocation

Sometimes I Get So Worried - By Maria Mazziotti Gillan

I am so worried I cannot breathe.
where is the America I grew up
believing in, everything we do now
seems designed to destroy it, a crack
opening down the middle of the country…

Sometime I get so worried
it is hard to breathe.

Let us all remember this:
"We are not our brother's keeper--we are our brother and we are our sister. We must look past complexion and see community." (Maya Angelou)

Resisting Arrest poems to stretch the sky

[Martina McGowan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was moved by many of these poems. This book is not for the faint of heart, and is no easy read-straight-through. Tony Medina has put together a thought provoking collection, which will hopefully move more of us from thought into action.

[Leilani Mroczkowski · Rating 4 out of 5]

A must-read anthology of poems that is emotionally provoking. Powerful. Painful.

[Marilyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Moving, passionate, angry, necessary. Full disclosure--I have one poem in this stirring book.