{"product_id":"owed-isbn-9780143133858","title":"Owed","description":"\u003cb\u003eFrom a 2021 Whiting Award and Guggenheim Fellow recipient, a “rhapsodic, rigorous poetry collection, which pays homage to everyday Black experience in the U.S.” (\u003ci\u003eThe New Yorker\u003c\/i\u003e)\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eGregory Pardlo described Joshua Bennett's first collection of poetry, \u003ci\u003eThe Sobbing School\u003c\/i\u003e, as an \"arresting debut\" that was \"abounding in tenderness and rich with character,\" with a \"virtuosic kind of code switching.\" Bennett's new collection,\u003ci\u003e Owed\u003c\/i\u003e, is a book with celebration at its center. Its primary concern is how we might mend the relationship between ourselves and the people, spaces, and objects we have been taught to think of as insignificant, as fundamentally unworthy of study, reflection, attention, or care. Spanning the spectrum of genre and form--from elegy and ode to origin myth--these poems elaborate an aesthetics of repair. What's more, they ask that we turn to the songs and sites of the historically denigrated so that we might uncover a new way of being in the world together, one wherein we can truthfully reckon with the brutality of the past and thus imagine the possibilities of our shared, unpredictable present, anew.\u003cb\u003eFINALIST FOR THE NEW ENGLAND BOOK AWARD IN POETRY \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Themes of praise and debt pervade this rhapsodic, rigorous poetry collection, which pays homage to everyday Black experience in the U.S. . . . Bennett conjures a spirit of kinship that, illuminated by redolent imagery, borders on mythic, and boldly stakes claim to ‘some living, future \/ English, \u0026amp; everyone in it \/ is immortal.’” \u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eThe New Yorker\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “Bennett captures the beauty of what really matters in life—the memories, youth sports, family traditions and little moments that many of us take for granted . . . [\u003ci\u003eOwed\u003c\/i\u003e] couldn't have been more timely.” \u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eSalon\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Not only are these poems eloquent but also lyrical, intelligent, and, occasionally, funny. Most reflect upon and communicate the pain, joy, and intensity of the current Black experience . . . In a time when many confront and protest the racism prevalent in our society, Bennett’s new book is vital.”\u003cb\u003e —\u003ci\u003eLibrary Journal \u003c\/i\u003e(starred review) \u003cbr\u003e \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“[\u003ci\u003eOwed\u003c\/i\u003e] intertwines the author’s multifaceted professions as poet, performer, and professor through powerful, crisp poems that celebrate the complexity, joy, and heartbreak of the Black experience in America . . . Bennett’s poems are more necessary than ever.” \u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly \u003c\/i\u003e(starred review)\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“[A]stonishing poems that explore the past, childhood, family relationships, identity, and memory among many other themes, all expertly rendered through a mixture of forms . . . [Bennett] has a gift for building and setting vivid scenes and complex stories within the small frames of his stanzas.”\u003cb\u003e —\u003ci\u003eBooklist\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “We’re lucky to have Joshua Bennett’s \u003ci\u003eOwed\u003c\/i\u003e at this hour in America. The resonances of ‘ode’ and ‘owed’ underscore his tremendous acts of invention amid ‘an ever-expanding grand Black Epilogue.’ Lyrical and political fibers are woven through narratives as clear and idiosyncratic as the plastic on your grandmother’s couch. Owed fights for the ‘ground where the children can play \u0026amp; come home whole.’ Bennett swings with song and exaltation; he swings with resistance and defense. I’m glad to have his amazing collection right now. I will be glad to have it tomorrow.” \u003cb\u003e—Terrance Hayes, author of \u003ci\u003eAmerican Sonnets for My Past and Future Assassin\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“\u003ci\u003eOwed\u003c\/i\u003e is an indictment of the state even as it is an ode to the ongoingness of Black imagination. Here, a single moment shimmers with a million resonances of attention. So the world is loved this much. And what has been taken has been taken this much. Bennett insists on repair even as he mourns what is utterly irreparable. This book is part of a breathful, bodied fight for Black life. I am emboldened and sharpened by Bennett's genius and by his love made plain across each of these shimmering pages.” —\u003cb\u003eAracelis Girmay, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Black Maria\u003c\/i\u003e \u003c\/b\u003ePoet, performer, and scholar Joshua Bennett is the author of three collections of poetry: \u003ci\u003eThe Study of Human Life\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eOwed\u003c\/i\u003e,\u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eThe Sobbing School\u003c\/i\u003e; a book of criticism, \u003ci\u003eBeing Property Once Myself: Blackness and the End of Man\u003c\/i\u003e; and a work of narrative nonfiction, \u003ci\u003eSpoken Word: A Cultural History\u003c\/i\u003e. He received his PhD in English from Princeton University, and is currently Professor of Literature and Distinguished Chair of the Humanities at MIT. His writing has been published in \u003ci\u003eThe New York Times Magazine\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Paris Review\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003ePoetry\u003c\/i\u003e, and elsewhere. In 2021, he was the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and a Whiting Award in Poetry and Nonfiction. He lives in Boston.\u003cb\u003eToken Sings the Blues\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003eYou always or almost\u003cbr\u003ealways only one\u003cbr\u003ein the room\u003cbr\u003eMaybe two\u003cbr\u003eThree is a crowd\u003cbr\u003eThree is a gang\u003cbr\u003eThree is a company\u003cbr\u003eof thieves Three is\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003ewow there's so many of you\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThree will get you confused\u003cbr\u003ewith people that look nothing\u003cbr\u003elike you you get called\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eDevin \u003c\/i\u003eyour name isn't\u003cbr\u003eDevin you do your best\u003cbr\u003enot to ignore such casual\u003cbr\u003eerasure you know silence\u003cbr\u003ewill be received as affirmation\u003cbr\u003epraise even \u0026amp; you always affirmative\u003cbr\u003eYou affirmative action action figure\u003cbr\u003eYou fantastic first black\u003cbr\u003efriend You first-ballot\u003cbr\u003equota keeper You almost \u003cbr\u003ecry when your history\u003cbr\u003eprofessor says \u003ci\u003eyou know\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003ein this country the gold standard\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eused to be people\u003c\/i\u003e Funny how\u003cbr\u003eno one comes right out\u003cbr\u003e\u0026amp; says things like \u003ci\u003eyou people\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003eanymore it's all code\u003cbr\u003ewords like \u003ci\u003ethug\u003c\/i\u003e or \u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003ediversity hire\u003c\/i\u003e You diversity\u003cbr\u003eall by yourself You contain\u003cbr\u003emultitudes \u0026amp; are yet\u003cbr\u003econtained everywhere you go\u003cbr\u003econfined like there is always \u003cbr\u003esomeone watching you \u0026amp; isn't \u003cbr\u003ethere \u0026amp; isn't that the entire point\u003cbr\u003eof this flesh you inherited\u003cbr\u003ethis unrepentant stain be\u003cbr\u003etwice as good mama says\u003cbr\u003eas if what they have is worth\u003cbr\u003eyour panic worth measuring\u003cbr\u003eyour very life against \u0026amp; you always\u003cbr\u003eremember to measure\u003cbr\u003eYour hair, your volume, your tone\u003cbr\u003eover email, you perpetually\u003cbr\u003esorry You don't know why \u003cbr\u003eyou apologize to no one\u003cbr\u003ein particular just for being around\u003cbr\u003e\u0026amp; in your body at the same time\u003cbr\u003eYou know your body \u003cbr\u003eis the real problem\u003cbr\u003eYou monster You beast\u003cbr\u003eof burden You beast \u0026amp; burden\u003cbr\u003eYou horse but human\u003cbr\u003eYou centaur You map\u003cbr\u003ethe stars \u0026amp; pull back your bow\u003cbr\u003eto shoot\u003cbr\u003e the moon in its one good white eye\u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003eYou are everything\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003eyour big sister says\u003cbr\u003e\u0026amp; on your best\u003cbr\u003edays above ground you\u003cbr\u003ebelieve her","brand":"Penguin Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46300472213733,"sku":"NP9780143133858","price":24.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780143133858.jpg?v=1767734401","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/owed-isbn-9780143133858","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}