On the Black Hand Side - by Gerald L Coleman (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

On the Black Hand Side is a collection of poems about black life, love, and justice. Coleman is engaged in the project of showing that black people's humanity, and their lives, matter. His work is a journey through his own experiences, in which-in the best traditions of poetry-he opens his literary veins and spills his own life, like incandescent blood, on the page. Coleman believes that poetry should be accessible and honest. On the Black Hand Side is a triumph in every sense. Join him as he takes you on a journey to the Black Hand Side.

Review Quotes

"Poetry ain't medicine, but if it was, this is what it would taste like and this is how it would be served: In images and with verbs, with honesty and with verve. Unball that fist. Unclench your butt cheeks. Swallow this elixir, this tonic. Be grateful for your humanity, your willingness to be healed. Then, thank a poet, starting with this one."

• Frank X Walker
• Kentucky Poet Laureate, NAACP Image Award in Poetry, Author of Buffalo Dance: The Journey of York

"Coleman's evocative, relatable poetry takes us on a journey through childhood shenanigans to an adulthood of self-discovery in a country that devalues his life for no reason other than the color of his skin. Read this very human collection, recognize we're all connected and become the change the world needs."

• Linda D. Addison
• Award-winning author, HWA Lifetime Achievement Award recipient and SFPA Grand Master.

"On the Black Hand Side feels like an epic jazz song. The first notes sound, questioning a tangential existence from other people's perceptions and shame, our secret selves and what, if anything, we must declare to the outside, other world; an interlude, and deafening silence, where history may be erased from books but never from our being. Then getting by- by bike or bus, or flying cardboard planes, the song takes on the hero's voice, buoyed by dreams-and then there's a growing sense of reckoning, a calling for austere, anonymous bodies to see the Black individual's, but the hands that turn the wheels of time are white and hesitating. Still, in finding our tribe, and spiritual homes, whatever love can be mustered and applied liberally like a poultice to the skin, the healing notes, familiar as a mother's touch, begin. The poems as verses singing, braiding history and youth, wronging, writing, and belonging. And in the center, the one thing holding this vast galaxy together isn't gravity at all, but love."

• Cristel Orrand
• Author of Heartwood: A Collection of Poetry & Prose

"Gerald L. Coleman makes it clear that he wants his poems to be accessible in not only how they are arranged, but the meaning and purpose behind them. The insights are beautiful and take you on a journey of the very real dualities that exist within our world. He touches on points of childhood nostalgia, life, and growth within each piece that keeps you reading. With each interlude, Coleman gives even more of himself to the reader. Coleman's voice fills each line with familiar mentions of authors, writers, inventors, and mythology and his connection to how they exist through his eyes. On the Black Hand Side is a fascinating discovery of the black human experience and leaves you feeling as if you were just sharing stories with an old friend, late into the night as it becomes day."

• Ashly McBunch
• Olympia Poet Laureate

"Gerald L. Coleman's "On the Black Hand Side" is part artist's manifesto, part collection of poems, and part memoir in micro-essays. This hybrid book deftly places tender and funny prose memories beside militant poems reminiscent of Langston Hughes and the latter Black Arts movement. The collection ends with some rather sexy love poems. The organizational logic is one that says, "Get to know the things I care about and I will let you get to know me." Throughout the collection, Coleman calls on philosophy, physics, theology, anthropology, and pop culture as sources for metaphor and imagery. These poems ask us to meet him "on the black hand side" and there we find a smart, witty, caring interlocutor who leaves us wanting to spend more time with him."

• Jeremy Paden
• Author of World As Sacred Burning Heart