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Conjuring numerous voices and characters across oceans and centuries, Faster Than Light explores widely disparate experiences through the lens of traditional poetic forms. This volume contains a selection of Marilyn Nelson's new and uncollected poems as well as work from each of her lyric histories of eighteenth-, nineteenth-, and twentieth-century African American individuals and communities.
Poems include the stories of historical figures like Emmett Till, the fourteen-year-old boy lynched in 1955, and the inhabitants of Seneca Village, an African American community razed in 1857 for the creation of Central Park. "Bivouac in a Storm" tells the story of a group of young soldiers, later known as the Tuskegee Airmen, as they trained near Biloxi, Mississippi, "marching in summer heat / thick as blackstrap molasses, under trees / haunted by whippings." Later pieces range from the poet's travels in Africa, Europe, and Polynesia, to poems written in collaboration with Father Jacques de Foiard Brown, a former Benedictine monk and the subject of Nelson's playful fictional fantasy sequence, "Adventure-Monk!" Both personal and historical, these poems remain grounded in everyday details but reach toward spiritual and moral truths.

Table of Contents

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  1. Cover
  2. p. 1
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  1. Title Page, Copyright
  2. pp. 2-9
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  1. CONTENTS
  2. pp. ix-xii
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  1. I. LYRIC HISTORIES
  1. A Wreath for Emmett Till
  2. pp. 3-9
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  1. WITNESS
  2. p. 10
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  1. PESTILENCE
  2. p. 11
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  1. A VOYAGE BY SEA
  2. p. 12
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  1. KEEPER OF THE KEYS
  2. pp. 13-14
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  1. FAT ON THE FIRE
  2. p. 15
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  1. MEG
  2. p. 16
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  1. COWS IN THE SHADE
  2. p. 17
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  1. SAP RISING
  2. p. 18
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  1. FARM GARDEN
  2. p. 19
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  1. THE FREEDOM BUSINESS
  2. p. 20
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  1. ON ABRIGADOR HILL
  2. pp. 21-22
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  1. DINAH’S LAMENT
  2. p. 23
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  1. NOT MY BONES
  2. pp. 24-25
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  1. SKY-LAND
  2. pp. 26-27
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  1. CONDUCTOR
  2. p. 28
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  1. THE COTILLION
  2. p. 29
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  1. ADDRESS
  2. p. 30
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  1. THOMPSON AND SEAMAN VOWS, AFRICAN UNION CHURCH
  2. p. 31
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  1. WORDS AND WHISPERS
  2. pp. 32-33
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  1. LITTLE BOX
  2. p. 34
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  1. MIRACLE IN THE COLLECTION PLATE
  2. pp. 35-36
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  1. SISTERS OF CHARITY
  2. p. 37
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  1. UNCLE EPIPHANY
  2. p. 38
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  1. THE BOOK
  2. p. 39
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  1. FAMILY
  2. p. 40
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  1. THE TAO OF THE TRIAL
  2. p. 41
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  1. MISS ANN ELIZA HAMMOND
  2. p. 42
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  1. ETYMOLOGY
  2. p. 43
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  1. ALBERT HINKLEY
  2. p. 44
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  1. WORTH
  2. p. 45
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  1. WATKINS LAUNDRY AND APOTHECARY
  2. pp. 46-47
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  1. OLD SETTLERS’ REUNION
  2. p. 48
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  1. FOUR A.M. IN THE WOODS
  2. p. 49
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  1. CAFETERIA FOOD
  2. p. 50
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  1. CALLED
  2. p. 51
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  1. MY PEOPLE
  2. p. 52
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  1. CHEMISTRY 101
  2. p. 53
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  1. FROM AN ALABAMA FARMER
  2. p. 54
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  1. BEDSIDE READING
  2. pp. 55-56
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  1. POULTRY HUSBANDRY
  2. pp. 57-58
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  1. 1905
  2. pp. 59-60
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  1. VEIL-RAISERS
  2. p. 61
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  1. HOW A DREAM DIES
  2. pp. 62-63
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  1. THE DIMENSIONS OF THE MILKY WAY
  2. p. 64
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  1. RUELLIA NOCTIFLORA
  2. pp. 65-66
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  1. GOLIATH
  2. p. 67
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  1. HOUSE WAYS AND MEANS
  2. p. 68
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  1. “GOD’S LITTLE WORKSHOP”
  2. pp. 69-70
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  1. EUREKA
  2. p. 71
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  1. MINERALOGY
  2. pp. 72-73
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  1. LAST TALK WITH JIM HARDWICK
  2. p. 74
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  1. MOTON FIELD
  2. p. 75
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  1. BUGLE CALL RAG
  2. p. 76
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  1. CHATTANOOGA CHOO-CHOO
  2. p. 77
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  1. JUMP, JUMP, JUMP
  2. p. 78
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  1. SHE’S CRAZY WITH THE HEAT
  2. p. 79
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  1. RED-HOT MAMA
  2. p. 80
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  1. THAT MAN OF MINE
  2. p. 81
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  1. IMPROVISATION, 1948
  2. p. 82
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  1. DRUM SOLO, 1950
  2. p. 83
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  1. THE SONG IS YOU
  2. p. 84
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  1. II. OTHER SELECTED POEMS
  1. FASTER THAN LIGHT
  2. pp. 87-91
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  1. CACHOEIRA TALES
  2. pp. 92-112
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  1. TRIOLETS FOR TRIOLET
  2. pp. 113-116
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  1. III. NEW AND UNCOLLECTED POEMS
  1. MILLIE-CHRISTINE
  2. pp. 119-125
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  1. A SMALL GOOD NEWS
  2. p. 126
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  1. LITTLE DIALOGUE WITH THE MUSE
  2. p. 127
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  1. FIRST ALZHEIMER’S SONNET
  2. p. 128
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  1. SECOND ALZHEIMER’S SONNET
  2. p. 129
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  1. THE TRUCELESS WARS
  2. p. 130
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  1. LIVE JAZZ, FRANKLIN PARK ZOO
  2. p. 131
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  1. TO THE CONFEDERATE DEAD
  2. pp. 132-134
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  1. BIVOUAC IN A STORM
  2. pp. 135-136
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  1. SIX-MINUTE DOGFIGHT
  2. p. 137
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  1. WRITTEN IN CLOUDS
  2. p. 138
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  1. HONOR GUARD
  2. p. 139
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  1. ETERNAL OPTIMIST
  2. p. 140
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  1. PSALM FOR ANOTHER PEOPLE
  2. p. 141
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  1. NINE TIMES NINE, ON AWE
  2. pp. 142-144
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  1. IN THE WAITING ROOM
  2. pp. 145-147
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  1. THE MOHEMBO ROAD
  2. pp. 148-151
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  1. FOR THE FEAST OF CORPUS CHRISTI
  2. pp. 152-153
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  1. HOW TO BE HUMAN NOW
  2. pp. 154-158
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  1. FROM “ADVENTURE-MONK!”
  2. pp. 159-162
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