5 Books Published by Main Street Rag on AALBC — Book Cover Collage

Excerpt

African Angel Goddess
No ethereal illuminations for her.
She was always earthbound,
attracted to nightlife, music,
places where folks were
dancing so hard,
bodies rain sweat.
African angel mother of humanity,
Lucy definitely isn’t her name.
See her wearing silver,
kicking ass, alligator boots.
Get right in my face shouting,
"girl, get the hell up!"

She wears her halo glinting
across her delta wide forehead.
The harp and horn thing she left
in heaven, but she’ll walk you
through any adversity knowing
all pathways in and out of hell.

She can visit wearing many disguises,
rags so dense
only the gold of her face is visible.
She speaks Mandarin,
Bantu, and Twi, same
sweet mother tongue to her.

Will meet you at the river Styx,
bored with crossing over
in that riggedy ass boat.
Might even give you a second chance,
cause its rebirth
and life that interests her.
She’s in the smoke where
women gather bearing arms,
refusing to be raped, murdered
and refugeed from their homes.
Women of war in Liberia,
Rwanda, Sierre Leone.
Women in Abuja,
Capetown, Harlem, Arusha.
New women everywhere,
gather to give birth to
a future we can inhabit.

… we have only to follow the thread of the heropath. And where we had thought to find an abomination, we shall find a god; where we had thought to slay another, we shall slay ourselves; where we had thought to travel outward, we shall come to the center of our own existence; where we had thought to be alone, we shall be with all the world.

poems by
Jason Mott

“The poems in The Lingua Franca of Ninth Street are like meditations that fracture us into a burning reflection. This is the mediated life personified through Lyric; the dead coming to radiant life after leaving blood and heart on the street. When I think of that old axiom about the difference between religious and spiritual people (religious folks are afraid to go to Hell; spiritual folks already been there), I think of these poems. Randall Horton is a spiritual poet and we’ll all be better for letting him be our guide.” —Willie Perdomo

“Horton defines intimate places in the American epic of the Great Migration, opening the tender spaces that define these lives as real. He announces a life after work in motifs spanning the culinary and the pugilistic. Springing from an imagination that admires Joe Louis for bringing it all home, this is an honest and admirable beginning for a poet, a collection full of integrity.” —Afaa Michael Weaver, Poet and Playwright Alumnae Professor of English, Simmons College

“People will find their way to Randall Horton’s poetry the way they find their way to church. Fifteen pages into The Definition of Place and you’ll stop and catch your breath. Horton’s poetry makes you want to trace your fingertips across the words. He writes like he is a contender for heavyweight poetry champion of the world. Read, praise and jab.” —E. Ethelbert Miller, Director African American Resource Center Howard University

“In this sweeping poetic drama, Randall Horton deftly manages the tangled intricacies of family, race, unbridled love and the stark moments of violence and regret that can define a lifetime. Real people — fallible, impulsive, doubting and fiercely determined souls — pulse in these pages Hellip; Horton’s lyrical touch blesses them with both history and heart.” —Patricia Smith Author of Teahouse of the Almighty (National Poetry Series Selection)