Afaa Michael Weaver is why poetry matters. Born in East Baltimore, a factory worker for almost 15 years before winning a NEA fellowship to attend Brown, Afaa Michael Weaver's poems are as hearty and sensuous as the blues that drive them and as humble, and transcendent as the eastern writing that gives them flight. He is a poet in the Whitman tradition, meditative and lyrical, with an ear for the soul of America and a mind for its renaissance. A Fulbright Scholar, Pew Fellow and two-time Pushcart Prize winner, Weaver was one of the seminal members of the Cave Canem writer's group. A "student" of Langston Hughes, he considers Lucille Clifton as his mentor.
The Government of Nature, his 12th book, shows a writer at the height of his grace. From "The Path": Without my umbrella I forget the rain, welcome each drop to forget me. The stones take more time to know, their separate grooves and slopes, different slanting into the light, one face for the moon, one face for the clouds. In a Boston Globe interview a number of years back, Weaver said, "At a time when people don't have a lot of time to read, a poem has a chance. If these things were put in supermarkets, people would pick them up." Afaa Michael Weaver's poems deserve more than a chance. Essential and beautiful, they are amongst the best writing we have in America today.
Afaa Michael Weaver
was our Fall 2013 featured artist and we have sold out of our seasonal supply of his book, but you can purchase direct from his publisher. For more info, click here.
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