The Birth Of All Things is a joyous collection with the breath of Amaker's newborn daughter running through. Despite The current chaos of our times, these poems conjure a world filled with magic and music that centers us and keep us brave. Birth spins into music into poetry. These Poems find a steady pulse in the beat of Marcus Amaker's own heart, they defy the rulebook of nature and makes air where there is shallow breath. A necessary collection: Organic, generous and life-giving. - Cheryl Boyce-Taylor, author of Arrival (Northwestern University Press) and mother of Phife (A Tribe Called Quest)
The cover of Marcus Amaker's The Birth Of All Things features a stunning painting of a black boy, eyes closed, standing in the sun, before skies awash in blue. This opening image signals where the poet wants to take us. But before we get there, he must level with us. We must talk about race, about class, about xenophobia, and homophobia, and we must look deep inside ourselves to face our own anxieties and fears. Along this journey, the poet is blunt: "Black spirits can not be absent / from anything. Especially in South Carolina" and "fear is / sustenance, and we hold solitude tighter than / meat on the bone." This collection provides the rhythm and sensibilities readers have come to expect from Amaker, who is known for his spoken word poetry and musicianship. These poems beg to be read aloud, to feed us meditations on what it means to be human, to have empathy for our fellow humans, as well as all the beauty the poet has found as a new parent. In the end, Amaker calls us to hope, no matter how great our fears, reminding us: "Light follows us / wherever we go, / no matter how shadowed the mind." - Andrew Clark, author of Jesus in the Trailer (Main Street Rag Press)
