Wrapped in Black

This co-author of We Fish: The Journey to Fatherhood presents a mature book of poems representing the "Omari Character's" adult voice. The honesty and poignancy that readers fell in love with in the poems from We Fish are still present in this new volume. In fact, the shocking nature, language, and emotional content of many of these poems can only come from one place: the attempt for Omari to heal after thirty-three years of experiencing life as a black male in America. These poems confront issues of racism, and challenge notions of sexism and homophobia among heterosexual black men. These poems problematize the concept of love through unique and fresh perspectives. Wrapped in Black is a work that explores the themes of family, religion, education, and the quest to critically understand the self from a strong, thus often victimized, black male perspective. These poems are ambitious in that they dream to fulfill the true purpose for all poetry: to first have a human's life experiences shared, heard, and validated; then, to have the readers use the poems to begin to critically reflect on their own lives in order to come to understand that the power to transform their lives lies within each of them.