Talking "White" is a collection of lyric poetry that takes a hard look at the intra-cultural bullying that takes place within the African American community. With poems like "Ostracized" "Keeping it Real" and "The Post-Black Manifesto" Maria James-Thiaw skillfully brings cultural identity politics to light. At the same time she honors literary ancestors including Langston Hughes, Jean Toomer and others in her own family who rose above their circumstances and overcame obstacles. James-Thiaw bridges the gap between page and stage with a collection of poetry that is moving and emotional, unapologetically tackling tough issues. Talking "White" is a thought-provoking look at how a new generation of African Americans define identity. "Saucy, witty, and vibrant, this lyrical collection resides in 'Langston's neighborhood'-it delivers verbal music, up-tempo incantations that embody social history and personal narrative in sensual lines we want to read aloud. The intimate tone allows us to feel connected to our poet, Maria James-Thiaw. Her blues are ours; her laughter uplifts us" Marilyn Kallet, prize-winning poet and professor at The University of Tennessee - Knoxville "Only an author who has truly mastered both the instrumentation of words and the instinctual music of the emotions behind them could have written the book Maria has created. She paints tender and intensely personal portraits of everything from fledgling romance to resolving racial identity, yet I felt and found myself in every experience she described. Most of us struggle to find just the right words to bring someone into a moment with us; Maria has captured an entire book of them" ~Carla Christopher, Poet Laureate of York (2010-2013)

Talking "White"

Literature & Fiction

James-Thiaw, Maria

Poetry

iUniverse

<p>A health care system built on bias and inequity, a system of policing that snatches our sons & daughters from our arms, and a pandemic painting a target on our backs - this is 2020 through the eyes of a black woman with chronic illness.\nIf you've ever been dismissed, ignored, suspected, or accused by a healthcare provider, you will relate to these verses.\n----\nIn this "Corona-cation"-created collection, Maria James-Thiaw delivers personal poetic reflections on chronic illness and mortality, race relations, and family history. The speaker's experiences form a colored chronicle of "Despair-ities" as fluidly surreal as Dali's melting clocks, in which she "folds up her somedays" in response to an immune system that "unpeels her like fresh fruit," yet conjures music even from suffering ("My sister's cells sickle"). Her pain-pricked body is a voodoo doll. Even a right-wing white supremacist becomes a left-handed kindred soul whose "nerves burn like crosses on each vertebra." Count Each Breath scrapes the poem-bone raw. Its verses burn with rage, against an uncertain future, an unredeemed past, and a bruised and bruising, black and blue-and white-America.<br />
- Vernita Hall, author of Where William Walked: Poems About Philadelphia and Its People of Color</p>

Count Each Breath

Wild Ink Publishing LLC

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Books by James-Thiaw, Maria

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by James-Thiaw, Maria. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Talking "White"

Count Each Breath