KNUCKLEHEAD

A love letter in verse to Black boys and men.

In this collection, poet Keith reclaims the label knucklehead in a series of entries addressed to Black boys and men, who are often prejudged by society. In this work that is part memoir and part inspirational advice, he writes about the healing role poetry had and continues to have in his life. The first letter offers readers an affirmation—an intentional invitation to the unheard to join him on this journey and a declaration that he sees and understands them: “whatever force from whatever source / that created the planet that can’t fit inside of you / is the same blast that brought about the one / rotating inside of me too.” The poems fluidly move through history, harking back to the author’s African roots. There are pieces about his childhood: Fighting was central to much of his young life due to other people’s toxic understanding of masculinity. A noteworthy piece on silence demonstrates how policing and prisons silence Black boys and men; another poem speaks to the power of language. Other entries describe falling in love and Keith’s marriage to his husband, serving as a beacon of hope for the queer and questioning. Black-and-white illustrations are interspersed among the poems in this thematically wide-ranging collection, which flow well into one another.

Will resonate deeply with readers and poets on a path of self-discovery.