Every Morning A Foot Is Looking...

Bonita Lee Penn


Bonita Lee Penn's poems are an unflinching testimony, a praise song
for community in the tradition of black truth tellers. Unafraid to reach
into hidden spaces, Penn explores and expresses the beauty of Black
culture that is not often celebrated. She bravely navigates the relationship
between the seen and unseen stories that live in shadows but need
to be brought to light.

-Lita Hooper, Author of Thunder in Her Voice: The Narrative of Sojourner Truth

A House In Its Hunger

Jennifer Steele


Steele is the night watch-woman of the silenced and sublime
that live among us. Her spotlight language around the loves,
the loneliness, and those hidden places that keep our diary histories,
gets released in her aperture of verses. What wasn’t said in those long
lost memories gets said, and heard in these beguiling poems.

-Parneshia Jones, Author of Vessel: Poems

Underworlds

Patrick Sylvain


In UNDERWORLDS, his debut English language collection of poems,
Patrick Sylvain takes the reader on a contemporary exploration
of Caribbean & Haitian histories...where each poem is a relic,
bellowing “ancestral tongues” in an attempt to “un-scab
the past." This is a collection that appeals to all generations.

Departure

Samuel Miranda


“It’s all here: Elegies and ekphrasis, free verse and form,
espiritu and bugaloo too! Sami Miranda is an artist of
the highest order. This latest offering from one of DC’s
most beloved and respected multidisciplinary creators,
Departure will let new readers in on something the rest
of us have known for decades: Sami Miranda is the real deal."

-John Murillo, Author of UP JUMP THE BOOGIE

Letters from Congo

Danielle Legros Georges


LETTERS FROM CONGO is a powerful collection that invites readers to
journey every air mile traveled by a family pushing against the
uncertainty of life in exile. In these 13 intimate and epistolary poems,
an address, or a physical location where someone can be reached,
swiftly morphs into a statement about the delicate nature
of voicing one’s political opinions under Haiti's Duvalier regime.

A Letter of Resignation

Enzo Silon Surin


In A Letter of Resignation, Enzo Silon Surin has crafted
a poetic composition that laments both the historic
and contemporary ‘matterless’ nature of black lives in America.
It is a masterpiece. Much like James Baldwin before him, Surin’s
gripping work is equal parts a catalog of black suffering and
a bold declaration of independence from the tyranny of racism...

- Truth Thomas, author of Speak Water, winner of an NAACP Image Award

Fear of Dogs & Other Animals

Shauna M. Morgan


There is poetry so necessary, so essential to our
living that it becomes bread or air or water.
Fear of Dogs and Other Animals is this type of work.
Clear, precise, and unflinching, Shauna M. Morgan
has written a holy river for her readers, a space
we can immerse ourselves to be held, seen, and cleansed.

- Mariahadessa Ekere Tallie,
author of Dear Continuum: Letters to a Poet Crafting Liberation

The Next Verse Poets Mixtape

Henderson, Joiner, Pegram, Surin


The next verse poets mixtape is a poetry sampler
of ethnographic significance. 4 poets represented by
4 poems each, offer insight into the shared experiences
of black Americans in today’s political and social climate.
These poems, each layered and plain, coax reverence
as each poet explores the intricacies of the familiar.

Cracked Calabash

Lisa Pegram


"Deliciously rich in sensuous detail that often slides into
metaphor, Cracked Calabash keeps surprising, poem after poem.
Using a variety of poetic strategies, Lisa Pegram confronts
issues of gender and race, celebrating both women and
brownness. This filled-to-the-brim little book will delight
your palate, even as it offers unforgettable bite."

- Martha Collins, author of Day Unto Day

A Hard Summation

Afaa Michael Weaver

“Somewhere there must be a place without race,
where I can get up and get our necessaries and not
have to face a hammer made out of nastiness just
for me, just to weigh me down when I want to sing.”

—excerpt from Butterbeans and Susie, a Depression Duet

CENTRAL SQUARE PRESS

is dedicated to giving voice to the stories and experiences of African-American, Caribbean, and Caribbean-American communities through high-quality poetry that inspires social justice advocacy. We are in the process of curating an anthology that we hope to bring to you in 2025.

MORE SOON