Twelve Rounds: Between Rounds
Giving better than we get
we stand toe to toe
until the clanging bell
pulls us apart. Inhaling air
and water in the emptiness of time

I only like it better when the
pain comes washing clean,
heart leaping in my chest, pumping
the need to answer his every shot
with two of mine. Each gloved
caress continues calling, leaves an ache.

My body leans in to listen.

- Reginald Harris
 
Thursday November 13, 2003
7:00pm - 9:00pm  Station Building Auditorium #3
Readings by Maryland & D.C. Cave Canem Workshop Members hosted by Ten Tongues Author and Cave Canem Alumni Reginald Harris
Born in Annapolis, Maryland, Reginald Harris is a graduate of The Gilman School, Randolph-Macon College, and the Cave Canem: African-American Poetry Workshop/Retreat. Recipient of Individual Artist Awards for both poetry and fiction from the Maryland State Arts Council, he was a finalist for the 2000 Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize and winner of the POZ Magazine/Artery Rage and Remembrance 2001 Literary Contest. His work has appeared in the anthologies Brown Sugar, Bum Rush the Page, Role Call, and Black Silk, as well as numerous literary magazines. Reginald Harris is Head of the Information Technology Support Department for the Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore, and he is also Editor of Kuumba: Poetry Journal for Black People In The Life.
 
 
"What is important is craft and Harris delivers a gorgeous book of well-crafted poems which articulate an intimacy akin to Sharon Olds and Tony Hoagland's works." - Barbara DeCesare, Author of Jiggsaw Eyesore

 
"For years you have wanted to know what stories go in that house, behind those curtains, with those men and in those minds.  At last Reginald Harris breaks his family's silence and answers the gossip's questions with poetry so fraught with truth, that you finally feel like you got all the dirt on him you need.  And it is more tragic and more beautiful than you ever imagined." - Marvin K. White, Author of Last Rights

 
I love the way the poems move, the risks they take, and the surprising turns.  The sweep and passion kept us listening!" - Toi Derricotte, Author of The Black Notebooks
 
 
 
 

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