A poet of existential magnitude, deep intellect and playful subversion, America's Nicole Sealey writes poems that are restless in their empathic, lucid awareness of what it means to be human. This is first UK edition of her first book-length collection is published at the same time as her new book, The Ferguson Report: An Erasure.
Celebrated as one of Publishers Weekly's Top 10 Poetry Books of Fall 2017, this collection showcases innovative verse that explores profound themes and emotions. The poet's unique voice and striking imagery invite readers to engage deeply with the human experience, reflecting on love, loss, and identity. The work stands out for its lyrical quality and thought-provoking content, making it a significant contribution to contemporary poetry.
At turns humorous and heartbreaking, The Animal After Whom Other Animals Are Named explores in both formal and free verse what it means to die, which is to say, also, what it means to live. In this collection, Nicole Sealey displays an exquisite sense of the lyric, as well as an acute political awareness.
Nicole Sealey began making erasures from the US Department of Justice's 2015 report detailing bias policing and court practices in the city of Ferguson, Missouri, three years after the murder of Michael Brown by Ferguson police. She revisits that investigation in an act of erasure that reimagines the entire original text as it strips it away.