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Fingernails Across the Chalkboard: Poetry and Prose on HIV & AIDS from the Black Diaspora
Poems in Fingernails Across the Chalkboard
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Tara gives an overview of the book:

 A collection of poetry, fiction and creative non-fiction that records HIV/AIDS in a way that humanizes its existence and celebrates the living. Displaying writings themed to the Black Diaspora, this critical and creative body of work defines the dialogue that will be prevalent well into the 21st century. This volume contains four sections: “Stop walking for a minute, hear me,” which speaks to hard hitting truths surrounding HIV, “So young pretty” confronts multiple forms of abuse surrounding HIV: incest and rape in girls and women’s lives, “Pulsing somewhere distant” takes up issues of grieving and loss, and “We the meeting of twin edges, the same blood” includes writings about rebelling and resisting, activism and justice. The poetry and prose in this volume includes the work of Dennis Brutus, Tony Medina, Randi Triant, Truth Thomas, Duriel Harris, Frank X. Walker...
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 A collection of poetry, fiction and creative non-fiction that records HIV/AIDS in a way that humanizes its existence and celebrates the living. Displaying writings themed to the Black Diaspora, this critical and creative body of work defines the dialogue that will be prevalent well into the 21st century. This volume contains four sections: “Stop walking for a minute, hear me,” which speaks to hard hitting truths surrounding HIV, “So young pretty” confronts multiple forms of abuse surrounding HIV: incest and rape in girls and women’s lives, “Pulsing somewhere distant” takes up issues of grieving and loss, and “We the meeting of twin edges, the same blood” includes writings about rebelling and resisting, activism and justice. The poetry and prose in this volume includes the work of Dennis Brutus, Tony Medina, Randi Triant, Truth Thomas, Duriel Harris, Frank X. Walker, Arisa White, Tara Betts, L.E. Scott and Lamont B. Steptoe, among others.

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Note from the author coming soon...

About Tara

Tara Betts is the author of the poetry collection Arc and Hue on Aquarius Press' Willow Books imprint. Tara is a lecturer in creative writing at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ.  A Cave Canem graduate and VONA alum, Tara received her MFA from New England...

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Published Reviews

Feb.19.2011

For real, all one has to do is read Arc & Hue to know that Betts is a REAL poet. Not only does she write about a diverse range of expansive themes, but she also grounds these themes in her past and...

Feb.19.2011

Rich in vivid images and musicality, this collection is an authentic portal into the very pulse of life. With the use of repetitive forms like sestina and canzone and the smooth lyrical flow of her free...