the new black

"Shockley's broad cultural resource, combined with her poetry's relaxed intentionality, helps give context to, position and display pieces in the vast puzzle of race and politics in America."?Stephen Lawrence, The Poetry Project Newsletter

"Shockley's work incorporates elements of myth without being patently 'mythical' and is personal without being self-indulgent, sentimental without being saccharine. ... Highly recommended to readers of cultural studies as well as poetry and for library collections of all types and sizes."?Chris Pusateri, Library Journal

"What Evie Shockley considers the new black defines itself with each poem in her daring collection. The new black, be it ideology or individual, is not afraid to question the validity of the concept of post-blackness or challenge our understanding of key figures in American history. One of the joys of the new black is Shockley's commanding embrace of classic form in modern context."?Mitchell L.H. Douglas, Los Angeles Review

"Both spare and lyrical, Shockley's poems often begin with an active interrogation of received poetic forms and practices, such as capitalization. But her work is also interested in subjectivity, the lyric tradition, and notions of place."?Zinzi Clemmons, Literary Hub from Poetry Foundation

"For readers looking for a challenging and masterful exploration of what we talk about when we talk about race, place, and womanhood, the new black is a wonderful and challenging read."?Elizabeth Booze, Hollins Critic

"She uses every form possible to establish the new woman: word games, persona poems, mesostics, concrete poetry, haikus, epistolary forms, prose poems, language poetry, typography. In all, she has something powerful to say. The anger and love furled into these poems have their roots in great historical figures and poets. Respect is paid to Shockley's traditions, in nontraditional ways This book is an homage to cultural memory in the newest way possible."?Grace Cavalieri, Washington Independent Book Review

"Shockley interrogates injustices towards black people and women in order to negotiate a path towards triumph and liberation."?Zoe Brigley, Poetry Salzburg Review

"Evie Shockley is a commanding young poet who asks us to feel, asks us to think, and she ends her book at the peak of its tension, 'new rules', new black, new game."?Richard Silberg, Poetry Flash

"In urgent, energized poetry that escapes across the page, Shockley manages grand, in-your-face emotion without ostentation, exploring the African American experience finally to arrive at an understanding of 'the new black'?both personal and poetic."?Library Journal, Best Poetry, 2011

"Shockley's work incorporates elements of myth without being patently 'mythical' and is personal without being self-indulgent, sentimental without being saccharine. Highly recommended to readers of cultural studies as well as poetry and for library collections of all types and sizes."?Chris Pusateri, Library Journal

"the new black doesn't need the likes of me to explain or sell it: it shouts, with glee and a kind of genius, its own achievement."?Ray MacDaniel, The Constant Critic