POETRY:
Black Lives, Lines, & Lyrics
Divided into three measures, Black Lives, Lines, and Lyrics provides rhythmical reflections on black experiences with racial and social injustice, a lyrical account of the lives lost to police brutality and racial violence, and a poetic perspective of living while Black in the 21st Century.
May these Lines, Lyrics, and Laments for Black Life, Love, Loss, and Liberty help you gain an appreciation for the beauty and endurance of Black people while bringing the realities of the discrimination and racism that Black people face in America to the forefront of your social consciousness, conversations, and community.
Reviews
"This body of art is one of the most profound books I have read since being exposed to the likes of Zora Neale Hurston and Maya Angelou. The author D.B. Mays invites you to have a better understanding of the experiences of Black Lives in a three part journey. Upon reading the first sentence in the preface , I knew I was beginning a journey that would prove to be thought provoking and liberating. After completing Black Lives, Lines, & Lyrics, I was left in awe! I found myself snapping my fingers as if I were at a poetry club as well as experiencing a range of emotions from anger to gratitude. This book is brilliantly composed and is worth purchasing."
"Absolutely amazing book of poetry and lyrical content! A rare achievement in using an old art form to provide social commentary on contemporary racial issues of today. It's brutally honest, yet optimistic, and painfully reflective, yet luminous and aspirational. It's spiritual in one sense and cathartic in another. After a year like 2020, Black Lives, Lines, and Lyrics came right on time. If you love great literature and thought provoking content, this is the book for you. If not, give it a try anyways. You might be surprised just how much you enjoy this compilation of brilliant pieces."
"This book of poetry hit hard in many places for me. Having grown up a young Black woman on the Southeast side of Cleveland, OH, the poems in Black Lives, Lines, & Lyrics resonate with me ... . These poems inspired me, encouraged me, and validated my emotions. I felt very seen in this book, and I know that what I am going through and have experienced has been acknowledged, challenged, and fought for in this book.
Some of my favorite poems are:
"A Soliloquy to the Storytellers"
"Blacktivity"
"My Little Girl’s Coils & Curls"
"Black Fist"
"Hypocrisy on the Hill"
"Black Lives Matter, Too"
"Oh, Won’t You Be My Neighbor"
"The Black Book: Lessons You Should Know"
I highly recommend this book for all. It is revolutionary. It is truth. It is love. It is BLACK LIFE.
Thank you to the author D.B. Mays for this book."
"This anthology of literary excellence is enriching to the soul and honors the history and legacy of Black Lives. I encourage everyone to purchase this poetic literary work and share it with your friends, colleagues, and your communities! Black Lives, Lines, & Lyrics is a great text to support conversations around race as Black lived experiences are poetically written to promote the visibility and honoring of Black bodies."
"Black Lives, Lines, & Lyrics is an overdue gem that navigates through one of civilization's most sad and challenging realities. D.B. Mays covers so many bases with tremendous grace, style and clarity. A must-read for staying connected with today's call for universal peace and justice."
"The poems in Black Lives, Lines, & Lyrics depict Black life in America. It displays the beauty, strength, stamina and joy being Black in America. This is a great book for the classroom to have colorful and invigorating discussions on these provocative poems. The poems make you feel and think on experiences in your life."
"Every page of Black Lives, Lines, & Lyrics is captivating. Emotions flow and anger as well because the issues discussed in this book are our reality, pure and uncut. Very happy to have an author who is not afraid to speak our truth and to share what we're feeling. Be sure to read "Black Haven" and "8 minutes and 46 seconds"; both are so touching."
"I was gifted Black Lives, Lines, & Lyrics by my mother. This book has such a wide variety of poetry and short stories! Honestly, I'm in awe at the work in this book. I got emotional for quite a few poems, cried even! I've even bought my cousin a copy, and she loves it too - we've shared certain poems with friends and read our favorites to each other. I'm so glad you wrote this book! This generation has a new read."
HISTORICAL FICTION
The Tree of Anglee: Progenies
(Book I)
Book I of the historical fiction trilogy, The Tree of Anglee, captures the complicated journeys of Anglee and her siblings. Progenies of first-generation, middle-class Black Natives, Anglee and her siblings struggle from older adolescence to young adulthood to uphold their family legacy while facing personal, socioeconomic, familial, and racial challenges in the 1960s, 70s, and 80s.
The Tree of Anglee: Progenies brings to light the irreparable harm that maintaining family legacies can have on the trajectory of a family. When the twigs and branches of Anglee's family tree cankers, some fruit will rot and other fruit will flourish, outcomes that will blight or bless their blossoms for many seasons to come.
HISTORICAL FICTION
The Tree of Anglee: Legacies (Book II)
The Tree of Anglee: Legacies and the sequel to Progenies, tells the story of the youngest generation of Anglee's family, the most promising of whom must contend with social stigmas surrounding their parentage and upbringing while working to uphold and improve the legacy and trajectory of a family that does not recognize their lineage.
Book II, Legacies, lays bare how complicated and questionable unions and the children born from them may twist the roots and shake the trunk but can also restore life to a dying family tree.
HISTORICAL FICTION
The Tree of Anglee: Ancestry
(Book III)
Based on a true story, Book III, The Tree of Anglee: Ancestry and the prequel to Progenies, chronicles the captivating rise, fall, and redemption of the elders of Anglee's family in their individual and collective rise to the middle-class from the 1940s to the 1970s.
Ancestry gives insight into the socioeconomic and racial challenges that the seed bearers of Anglee's tree faced, along with the personal sacrifices and compromises made, as they progressed from struggling sharecroppers to successful entrepreneurs.
Ancestry also brings forward the beginning of breaks and the forging of bonds as individual family members experience varying degrees of success, create conflicting family legacies, and fail to nourish the seeds that they plant.