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In a 2019 interview for her book Magical Negro, Morgan Parker says of her work as a poet:

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I think the space of the poem really lends itself to exploring all the levels of Black culture. That’s really what I’m aiming to do, is explore the simultaneity of Blackness, and a multiplicity of Blackness, the way that the past and present interact with each other and inform each other, and the way they’re both situated at the front of our brains as Black people.

Here are ten poems that explore past and present, pain and love, language and family, history and identity, all written by contemporary Black poets. They’re each available for free download:

“Let Me Handle My Business, Damn,” Morgan Parker

“Hymn to a Hurricane,” Rachel Eliza Griffiths

“No Cap,” Hanif Abdurraqib

“upon viewing the death of basquiat,” Mahogany L. Browne

“A Man of Thirty-Five, Smooth and White, Slight, Well-Bred, and Masterful,” Simone White

“enough food and a mom,” Francine J. Harris

“When I Grow Up, I Want to Be a Martyr,” Cortney Lamar Charleston

“I’d Come Back from the Grave to Celebrate the End of Capitalism,” Nikki Wallschlaeger

“Naturalized Citizen,” Hafizah Geter

“When the Neighbors Fight,” Terrance Hayes

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Black Historypoems and poetryAfrican American ReviewCallalooColumbia: A Journal of Literature and ArtMississippi ReviewPoetryThe American Poetry Review

Resources

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Let Me Handle My Business, Damn
By: MORGAN PARKER
Poetry, Vol. 206, No. 1 (APRIL 2015), p. 14
Poetry Foundation
Hymn to a Hurricane
By: Rachel Eliza Griffiths
Callaloo, Vol. 29, No. 4, American Tragedy: New Orleans under Water (Autumn, 2006), pp. 1307-1308
The Johns Hopkins University Press
No Cap
By: Hanif Abdurraqib
Mississippi Review, Vol. 47, No. 3, THE WINTER 2020 ISSUE (WINTER 2020), pp. 10-11
University of Southern Mississippi
upon viewing the death of basquiat
By: MAHOGANY L. BROWNE
Poetry, Vol. 206, No. 1 (APRIL 2015), p. 18
Poetry Foundation
A Man of Thirty-Five, Smooth and White, Slight, Well-Bred, and Masterful
By: Simone White
Callaloo, Vol. 32, No. 4, Middle Eastern & North African Writers (Winter, 2009), pp. 1079-1080
The Johns Hopkins University Press
enough food and a mom
By: FRANCINE J. HARRIS
Poetry, Vol. 204, No. 5 (SEPTEMBER 2014), pp. 416-417
Poetry Foundation
"When I Grow Up, I Want to Be a Martyr"
By: CORTNEY LAMAR CHARLESTON
Poetry, Vol. 211, No. 2 (NOVEMBER 2017), p. 150
Poetry Foundation
I'd Come Back from the Grave to Celebrate the End of Capitalism
By: Nikki Wallschlaeger
The American Poetry Review, Vol. 46, No. 4 (JULY/AUGUST 2017), p. 44
Old City Publishing, Inc.
Naturalized Citizen
By: Hafizah Geter
Columbia: A Journal of Literature and Art, No. 53 (2015), pp. 60-61
Columbia: A Journal of Literature and Art
When the Neighbors Fight
By: Terrance Hayes
African American Review, Vol. 50, No. 4, Commemorative Issue: 50 Years of AAR (Winter 2017), p. 455
The Johns Hopkins University Press on behalf of African American Review (St. Louis University)