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Wayne State University Press

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Abandon Automobile

Detroit City Poetry 2001

Edited by Melba Joyce Boyd and M. L. Liebler

By WSU Faculty, Detroit, Poetry

Paperback
Published: September 2001
ISBN: 9780814328101
Pages: 424 Size: 6x9
$24.99

Do poets' surroundings shape their viewpoint and work? Abandon Automobile seeks to address this question by bringing together the work of more than one hundred of Detroit's most acclaimed and accessible poets. Writing about location as if it were a living entity, these poets visualize Detroit as a variety of complex archetypes—the city becomes a savior, a beast, a nurturing mother, a seductress, a friend, an enemy. Like the city itself, the poetry represented is diverse and the poems are by turns tender, forceful, introspective, and vital. In the introduction to the volume, Melba Joyce Boyd and M. L. Liebler show how Detroit's poetry scene has changed over the years to embrace political movements and cultural transformations. Readers will find that one doesn't need to be a Detroit native to enjoy the many themes of this anthology. The exciting range of voices represented in this collection will appeal to anyone interested in poetry, regional literature, and urban life.

Published by: Wayne State University Press

Melba Joyce Boyd is the chair of the Department of Africana Studies at Wayne State University. She is the author of five books of poetry, including Song for Maya (Broadside Press/Detroit River Press, 1983), The Inventory of Black Roses (Past Tents Press, 1989), and Letters to Ché (Ridgeway Press, 1996), and the author of Discarded Legacy: Politics and Poetics in the Life of Frances E. W. Harper, 1825-1911 (Wayne State University Press, 1994).

M. L. Liebler, a faculty member at Wayne State University and founding director of the YMCA National Writer’s Voice Project of Metro Detroit, is author of several books of poetry, including Written in Rain (Tebot Bach Press, 2000), and Stripping the Adult Century Bare (Viet Nam Generation Press, 1995).

Contributors Include:
Sarah Addae, Saladin Ahmed, Ron Allen, Alise Alousi, Mitzi Alvin, Olivia V. Ambrogio, Alvin Aubert, Irvine Barat, Sadio Bey, Faraq Z. Bey, Terry Blackhawk, Melba Joyce Boyd, William Boyer, Jill Witherspoon Boyer, Donna Brook, Semaj Brown, James Burdine, Anthony Butts, Mary Ann Cameron, Norene Cashen, Leon Chamberlain, Hayan Charara, Esperanza M. Cintrón, James Clay, Andrei Codrescu, Walter Cox, Stella Crews, Robert Dana, Jim Daniels, Toi Derricotte, Mark Donovan, Gloria Dyc, Henrietta Epstein, Linda Nemec Foster, Larry Gabriel, Joan Gartland, José Garza, Dan Georgakas, Charles A. Gervin, Michele Gibbs, Perri Giovannucci, Maurice Greenia, Jim Gustafson, Bill Harris, Aurora Harris, Kaleema Hasan, Robert Hayden, Errol A. Henderson, Barbara Henning, Lolita Hernandez, Jerry Herron, Ellen Hildreth, Edward Hirsch, Ann Holdreith, Daniel Hughes, Clark Iverson, Murray Jackson, Geoffrey Jacques, Stephen Jones, Lawrence Joseph, Nubia Kai, Aneb Kgositsile, Faye Kicknosway, Margo Lagattuta, Oliver Lagrone, Christine Lahey, Michael Lauchlan, Janet Lawless, Philip Levine, M. L. Liebler, Naomi Long Madgett, Mike Madias, Peter Markus, Marc Maurus, Judith McCombs, Raymond P. McKinney, Ken Mikolowski, Derek P. Miller, Mary Minock, Christine Monhollen, Wardell Montgomery, Jessica Care Moore, Jan Mordenski, Edward Morin, Ted Nagy, Schaarazetta Natelege, David J. Nelson, Kristin Palm, Ted Pearson, T. R. Peters, Sarah Jeanne Peters, Tom Peters, Lawrence Pike, Aaron Ibin Pori Pitts, Sonya Marie Pouncy, Jon Randall, Dudley Randall, Marilynn Rashid, Kevin Rashid, Eugene B. Redmond, John R. Reed, Leslie Reese, Rod Reinhart, Judith Roche, Michele Valerie Ronnick, Michael Ashton Rosemond, Irene Rosemond, John Rybicki, Osvaldo R. Sabino, Jacqueline Rae Rawlson Sanchez, Steven Schreiner, Denise Sedman, Dennis Shea, John Sinclair, Ella Singer, W. D. Snodgrass, Elizabeth Anne Socolow, Sr., Keith Carter Sterling, Trinidad Sánchez, Renée Tambeau, Teresa Tan, Keith Taylor, Dennis Teichman, Stephen Tudor, Melanie Van Der Tuin, George Tysh, Chris Tysh, Hilda Vest, Anca Vlasopolos, Rayfield Waller, David Watson, Barrett Watten, Kim Webb, Mary Ann Wehler, Willie Williams, Tyrone Williams, Karen Williams, kim d. hunter

The middle of our country, in and around Detroit, is a place that is alive and animated with poets. Here is a rich and diverse collection of poetry-so much of the highest quality-equal to what any city, state, or even nation, could provide. This is a poetry of resistance and humanity, a testament to a locale which also achieves universal appeal."-Barry Wallenstein, City College of New York

– Barry Wallenstein, City College of New York

Abandon Automobile: Detroit City Poetry 2001 is an exciting and necessary addition to the growing body of working-class literature with all its energy and vitality, its industrial-strength grit, its clarity and honesty. These poems are so alive, they practically leap off the page. This book is not to be missed."

– Maria Mazziotti Gillan, Paterson Poetry Center, Passaic Community College