America, a Love Story

New poems on love, family, and art from the author of Soil: The Story of a Black Mother's GardenAmerica, A Love Story is Camille T. Dungy's powerful testament to living and loving as a Black woman and mother in today's America, and her first book of poetry in almost a decade. Piercingly honest and deeply compassionate, this poetry moves through the mounting griefs of contemporary American life with unwavering clarity. The book is part indictment, part celebration--full of gratitude, fear, resistance, and hope. Dungy explores intimacy, parenting, racism, history, and the natural world with clarity and depth. Some poems reflect on the past; others respond to the work of contemporary Black artists. Many are formally playful, including a series of 700-character poems inspired by the 700 hours of sleep a mother loses in her child's first year. Gorgeous, bright, and bold, these poems speak from the edges--between mother and child, body and earth, self and country. They hold tension and tenderness in equal measure, creating a space for love amidst uncertainty.[sample poem] To enter our own empty house She was seven when we stoppedusing keys. One less thing to lose.Now we punch a combination.Easy, but hopefully not so easya stranger could guess. This is whereI should stop. They are boundto be angry, my beloveds. I amgiving away all our secrets again.Vulnerability is the root of much fury. =I was small. A stone in the yardhid a metal case with a lidthat slid like a matchbox topto reveal our key. Lifting that rockI thought of bashing someone's head. I thought of harm lurking, dressedin the body of some stranger. =Sometimes, I wrestle my daughter.I make her tiny body work itselfout from under the weight I make of my own. In this way I try to teach her how it feels to break free.America, A Love Story