|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
Mother Tongues: Poems
Northwestern University Press, 2019 Paper: 978-0-8101-4135-3 | eISBN: 978-0-8101-4136-0 Library of Congress Classification PS3610.A385A6 2020 Dewey Decimal Classification 811.6
ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | TOC | REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE
ABOUT THIS BOOK
Winner of the 2018 Cave Canem Northwestern University Press Poetry Prize See other books on: African | African American & Black | Mother Tongues | Poems | Women Authors See other titles from Northwestern University Press |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Nearby on shelf for American literature / Individual authors / 2001-:
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Mother Tongues: Poems
ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | TOC | REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE
by Tsitsi Ella Jaji
Northwestern University Press, 2019
Paper: 978-0-8101-4135-3
eISBN: 978-0-8101-4136-0
Paper: 978-0-8101-4135-3
eISBN: 978-0-8101-4136-0
Winner of the 2018 Cave Canem Northwestern University Press Poetry Prize
Tsitsi Ella Jaji’s second full-length collection of poems, Mother Tongues, begins at home, with the first words and loves we learn, and the most intimate vows we swear. How deep does your language go back? Jaji’s artful verse is a three-tiered gourd of sustenance, vessel, and folklore. The tongues speak the beginnings and the present; they capture and claim the losses, the ironies, and a poet’s human evolution. Mother Tongues is a collection of language unto itself that translates directly to the heart.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
TSITSI ELLA JAJI is a poet and scholar from Zimbabwe. Associate professor of English at Duke University, she is the author of two books of poetry: Beating the Graves, awarded honorable mention for the 2015 Sillerman Prize, and Carnaval. Her poems have appeared in several anthologies and in journals including Black Renaissance Noire, Prairie Schooner, Bitter Oleander, New Coin, and Jalada.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Mother Tongues
Table of Contents (i)
Dedication: Our lingering embrace iii
mother tongue (1)
On the Isle of Lesbos 2
Our Mother of Stone 3
Daughtering 4
And They Didn’t Die 5
In Praise of the Great Cat 6
* lingua: corral 7
Five Bagatelles 8
Fingerings 10
flare 11
Symphony Dinner with Piano Soloist 12
Blue Note 13
Bandwagon 14
Cooking with Miles 15
Relaxing with Miles 16
* lingua: tongue-tied 17
Tell me something good 18
A Song at Dawn 19
Auxiliary 20
Prelude to a Kiss 22
First Guardian of Flight: The Angel of Time 24
Second Guardian of Flight: The Angel of Refinement 25
After Tonsure 26
* lingua: ladyfingers 27
Ethiopia Stretches Forth Her Hands 28
Manual for Initiation into the Zebra Sisterhood 29
Electioneered 30
Old News 32
After the Coup (or Not) 33
The Crystal River 34
Profile 36
How I Write 37
* lingua: good taste 38
Real Simple 39
Way Out West 40
Autumn Leaves 42
Marvin in Stereo/Right Ear 43
Marvin in Stereo/Left Ear 44
morning, 11.9.16 45
Burying Willie, Our Lion 46
Malick Sidibé’s Camera Calls 47
* lingua: gorgon 48
Benin Bronze 49
Unaccompanied Minor 50
Children’s Swings 51
Pond in Museum Garden 52
Ritual Object 53
The Body Counts 54
at war 55
Wildcat 56
* lingua: a quick tongue 58
The Graves Suite
Ballade: Thyroid Goes Rogue 59
3 Intermezzi for Unaccompanied Thyroid 62
Misterioso: Iodine 131 Meets the Royal Thyroid 63
Cadenza: Thyroid Rides Again 64
Koan of the Great Cat 66
* lingua: babble 67
We are the darker sister 68
Boy Lotus 69
Three Lessons on a Friday 70
Stumbling Block 71
Facing El Greco 72
When Thomas Finally Rolled Up, I Said 73
Infinitive
Table of Contents (i)
Dedication: Our lingering embrace iii
mother tongue (1)
On the Isle of Lesbos 2
Our Mother of Stone 3
Daughtering 4
And They Didn’t Die 5
In Praise of the Great Cat 6
* lingua: corral 7
Five Bagatelles 8
Fingerings 10
flare 11
Symphony Dinner with Piano Soloist 12
Blue Note 13
Bandwagon 14
Cooking with Miles 15
Relaxing with Miles 16
* lingua: tongue-tied 17
Tell me something good 18
A Song at Dawn 19
Auxiliary 20
Prelude to a Kiss 22
First Guardian of Flight: The Angel of Time 24
Second Guardian of Flight: The Angel of Refinement 25
After Tonsure 26
* lingua: ladyfingers 27
Ethiopia Stretches Forth Her Hands 28
Manual for Initiation into the Zebra Sisterhood 29
Electioneered 30
Old News 32
After the Coup (or Not) 33
The Crystal River 34
Profile 36
How I Write 37
* lingua: good taste 38
Real Simple 39
Way Out West 40
Autumn Leaves 42
Marvin in Stereo/Right Ear 43
Marvin in Stereo/Left Ear 44
morning, 11.9.16 45
Burying Willie, Our Lion 46
Malick Sidibé’s Camera Calls 47
* lingua: gorgon 48
Benin Bronze 49
Unaccompanied Minor 50
Children’s Swings 51
Pond in Museum Garden 52
Ritual Object 53
The Body Counts 54
at war 55
Wildcat 56
* lingua: a quick tongue 58
The Graves Suite
Ballade: Thyroid Goes Rogue 59
3 Intermezzi for Unaccompanied Thyroid 62
Misterioso: Iodine 131 Meets the Royal Thyroid 63
Cadenza: Thyroid Rides Again 64
Koan of the Great Cat 66
* lingua: babble 67
We are the darker sister 68
Boy Lotus 69
Three Lessons on a Friday 70
Stumbling Block 71
Facing El Greco 72
When Thomas Finally Rolled Up, I Said 73
Infinitive
REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE
If you are a student who cannot use this book in printed form, BiblioVault may be able to supply you with an electronic file for alternative access.
Please have the accessibility coordinator at your school fill out this form.
It can take 2-3 weeks for requests to be filled.
ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | TOC | REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE
