The Walmart Republic (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780990320401)

Quraysh Ali Lansana is from Enid, OK. Christopher Stewart was raised in Dallas, small Texas towns, and Chicago neighborhoods. A white man and a black man born in post Kennedy, post-King southern and midwestern USA, though both disagree with those geographical tags. Through these poems, the poets assert that their births, their ways of seeing, and their pains are rooted in what Ali Lansana's OU film professor termed "the Walmart Republic," a land where shopping center is community center. Where the failures of the father are re-learned in the lessons of the son. As poet Elise Paschen declares, "Quraysh Ali Lansana and Christopher Stewart pack the punch in these gritty poignant poems. Their poetic techniques counterpoint each other from lyric narratives to sharp edgy sonic bursts, creating a novel-like narrative. We follow two different journeys which begin in the Bible Belt and reach adulthood in places across the map. These gutsy poems explore identity and race against the backdrop of an ever-changing America.

Author: Quraysh Ali Lansana, Christopher H. Stewart
ISBN-10: 0990320405
ISBN-13: 9780990320401
Publisher: Mongrel Empire Press
Language: English
Published: 09/13/2014
Pages: 90
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.29lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.19d
Award: Oklahoma Book Award - Finalist