Leaving Saturn: Poems
by Major Jackson
Publication Date: Feb 08, 2002
List Price: $19.95
Format: Paperback, 75 pages
Classification: Poetry
ISBN13: 9780820323428
Imprint: University of Georgia Press
Publisher: University of Georgia Press
Parent Company: University of Georgia
Description of Leaving Saturn: Poems by Major Jackson
Leaving Saturn, chosen by Al Young as the winner of the Cave Canem Poetry Prize, is an ambitious and honest collection. Major Jackson, through both formal and free verse poems, renders visible the spirit of resilience, courage, and creativity he witnessed among his family, neighbors, and friends while growing up in Philadelphia. His poems hauntingly reflect urban decay and violence, yet at the same time they rejoice in the sustaining power of music and the potency of community. Jackson also honors artists who have served as models of resistance and maintained their own faith in the belief of the imagination to alter lives. The title poem, a dramatic monologue in the voice of the American jazz composer and bandleader Sun Ra, details such a humane program and serves as an admirable tribute to the tradition of African American art. Throughout, Jackson unflinchingly portrays our most devastated landscapes, yet with a vividness and compassion that expose the depth of his imaginative powers.
Books similiar to Leaving Saturn: Poems may be found in the categories below: