Where Do I Sit. (E-book)
$3.99
“After Dr. Neal Hall’s first two books of poetry, Nigger For Life, and Winter’s A’ Coming Still, here is another book that displays the skill, breadth, and versatility with which he has honed his craft. Where Do I Sit does not jettison the sharp denunciations of racial and economic injustice that appeared in his first collections. On the contrary, there are poems, such as “In the Wake of Trayvon, What Matters Next,” in which he advances an explanation for contemporary anti-black racism and provides a corresponding call for black economic autonomy – “buy black or buy from that”. Other poems appeal for ethical interventions, such as “Free will is not free” from “Before Me . . . Still”; and drawing from Dr. King “we all suffer greatly at the appalling silence of good people ” addressed in the poem “A Long Walk“. This book provides the reader with broad social analyses and solutions. It is not a lament, but a call for action that intersperses epic representations with deeply lyrical reflections such as in “Hand,” and on love, personal loss, and a range of sentiments. Reading Where Do I Sit, one has the impression that Dr. Hall can turn any sentiment, observation, and object into a reason for poetry.”
Dr. Gerard Aching, Director of the Africana Studies and Research Center at Cornell University, and author of Freedom From Liberation: Slavery, Sentiment, and Literature in Cuba
- 2016 Hollywood Book Award – 1st Place Prize, Poetry
- 2016 Northern California Book Award – 1st Place Prize, Poetry
- 2016 Southern California Book Award – 1st Place Prize. Poetry
- 2016 Great Midwest Book Award – 1st Place Prize. Poetry
- 2016 London Book Award – 1st Place Prize. Poetry
- 2017 Los Angeles California Book Award – 1st Place Prize, Poetry
- 2017 Great Northwest Book Award – 1st Place Prize, Poetry
- 2017 Great Southwest Book Award – 1st Place Prize, Poetry
- 2016 New England Book Award – 1st Place Prize. Poetry
- 2016 New York Book Award – 1st Place Prize, Poetry