The Skin of Dreams: New and Collected Poems 1995-2018
A 2020 Benjamin Franklin Award Silver Winner.
Traversing twenty-three years of earth and breath, Quraysh Ali Lansana's first new and collected poems roadmaps small town Oklahoma to southside Chicago in compelling poems that question, surprise and dare. As a direct descendent of the Black Arts Movement and last student of Miss Gwendolyn Brooks, Lansana explores the complicated internal and external terrain of Blackness and history from a post-King, post-Kennedy childhood through the election of the first non-White president, while grappling with the definition of home. These are poems that cry, sing, scream and see.
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"There are reasons why this book should be put in a capsule and sent into space so everyone in the next galaxy could see, hear, and understand, what it was to be black in America. Heritage. Heritage. Heritage, from the poet's great-great grandfather; to the poems in Harriet Tubman's voice." Grace Cavalieri, The Washington Independent Review of Books
"Reading these gripping, and, at times, funny poems is an education and delight as they chart a poet's evolution from childhood infatuations to youthful trials to fatherhood and middle age . . . The Skin of Dreams is a robust must-read, a perfect addition to every poetry collection." Booklist, Starred Review
"Quraysh Ali Lansana has woven a roadmap of poems and prophecy from Tulsa to Chicago, slowly breaking open the voices of history with each step. Here is a friendship journey, a father/son Southside Chi meditation for the 21st century blues. Follow the path to enter your own skin." Tyehimba Jess, Pulitzer Prize winner, Olio
"The poems chronicle the dedication Lansana has put into keeping history current, chronicling the human experience through the African American presence. In this collection, he 'captures present moments fleeting seconds' understanding 'we will never be here again, ' but we're grateful for his song, which keeps harkening back while pushing us forward." A. Van Jordan, Rise and Quantum Lyrics
"Poetry as more than a decorative furnishing in American literature, Lansana extends and reifies a long tradition of communal voicings, political activism, and social engagement but not at the expense of his own self-hood." Major Jackson, Roll Deep and Hoops
"Lansana is a poet of such power, grace, and witness: how glorious it is to have the many threads of his work drawn into this stark and heartbreaking collection. He mourns our losses, celebrates family, friends, fatherhood, tells us what the country is, has been, can be." Rilla Askew, Most American and Kind of Kin
