Blood on the Fog: Pocket Poets Series No. 62

Tongo Eisen-Martin's Blood on the Fog is a powerful collection of poetry that explores themes of love, loss, family, and faith through the lens of Black experience. It is a politically astute and socially aware book that uses poetry to challenge the status quo and inspire change. The New York Times praised it as "a rhapsodic follow-up to Tongo Eisen-Martin's Heaven is All Goodbyes," and it was a finalist for the California Book Award. Eisen-Martin's poetry is known for its swinging type body language and its ability to convey a sense of collective liberation.

\n Format: Paperback / softback
\n Length: 140 pages
\n Publication date: 07 October 2021
\n Publisher: City Lights Books
\n

Tongo Eisen-Martin's collection of poetry, "Blood on the Fog," has been recognized with numerous awards and accolades. The book was the 2021 Golden Poppy Award Winner for Poetry, selected by the California Independent Booksellers Alliance. In 2022, it was a finalist for the California Book Award. Eisen-Martin's poetry is known for its political astuteness, wisdom, and great humanity. It aims to conjure healing and provoke confrontation, inviting readers to embark on a journey through Black America.

Eisen-Martin's book disturbed me more than any other I read in 2021. It reminded me that poetry has the power to rewire our thinking and change our minds. It can jolt us out of patterns and back into intelligence, using language that is different from the rote language we are accustomed to hearing in speech and prose.

The collection explores themes of love, loss, family, and faith, refracted through the lens of Black experience. These poems honor intellectual tradition and ancestral knowledge while blazing a new path, recording and replaying the poet's sensory travels through America, from its packed metropolises to desolate anytowns.

Eisen-Martin's poetry is radical, outraged, knowing, wry, and deeply humane. It is a poetry of survival that soars with a vision of collective liberation. Praise for "Blood on the Fog" has been widespread. Gerald Horne, for example, described Eisen-Martin as today's premier revolutionary poet, praising his mastery of language and his ability to use it to expose the cruelty of imperialism.

In "Blood on the Fog," Eisen-Martin employs a swinging type of body language that combines the swinging swings of Ellington and Ali, knocking readers out inside. The poetry is filled with vivid imagery and powerful emotions, making it a captivating and thought-provoking read.

Overall, "Blood on the Fog" is a remarkable achievement in contemporary poetry. Tongo Eisen-Martin's powerful words and visionary poetry continue to inspire and challenge readers, reminding us of the power of poetry to rewire our thinking and shape our world.

\n Weight: 102g\n
Dimension: 158 x 125 x 10 (mm)\n
ISBN-13: 9780872868755\n \n