What the Mirror Said
The Necessity of Black Women in Poetry
Will be published approx. on 21. April 2026
Book
Paperback/Softback
100 pages
978-0-472-04019-3 (ISBN)
Description
When did you feel the pull of poetry? For Ashley M. Jones, the moment she knew she would be a poet was at seven years old-reciting "Harriet Tubman" by Eloise Greenfield. That moment, that poem, showed her there was a place for her in the world of literature as her full Black self. As she continued to grow as a person and a poet, becoming the first person of color and the youngest person to serve as Poet Laureate of Alabama, Jones encountered so many incredible Black women poets who showed her the possibilities.
Part critical essay, part personal essay collection, What the Mirror Said traces the influence of nine Black women poets in Jones's writing and life. She brings together historical biographical information, personal reflection, and close readings as she explores personal connections to poets from Phillis Wheatley to Patricia Smith. This book is expansive in its study, from classical metrical scansion to metaphorical explication. In offering new ways to interpret poems by important contemporary poets, What the Mirror Said makes the case for the need to study and celebrate Black women poets.
Part critical essay, part personal essay collection, What the Mirror Said traces the influence of nine Black women poets in Jones's writing and life. She brings together historical biographical information, personal reflection, and close readings as she explores personal connections to poets from Phillis Wheatley to Patricia Smith. This book is expansive in its study, from classical metrical scansion to metaphorical explication. In offering new ways to interpret poems by important contemporary poets, What the Mirror Said makes the case for the need to study and celebrate Black women poets.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Ann Arbor
United States
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Unsewn / adhesive bound
Dimensions
Height: 201 mm
Width: 135 mm
Thickness: 10 mm
Weight
136 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-472-04019-3 (9780472040193)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Ashley M. Jones is Associate Director of the University Honors Program at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and the Founding Director of the Magic City Poetry Festival. Her most recent book is Lullaby for the Grieving (2025).
Content
Chapter 1: What Can a Poem Do?
Chapter 2: Phillis Wheatley and the Master's Tools/Resistance in the Name of the Lord: A Radical Poetics
Chapter 3: Poetry Is Life Distilled: Brooks and the Breaking of Form
Chapter 4: "Anything She Don't Want To Do, She Don't Have To": Voice, Agency, and Blackness in the Life and Poems of Lucille Clifton
Chapter 5: A Haiku for Sister Sonia Sanchez
Chapter 6: Poetry Will Never Be a Luxury: The Necessity of Authentic Expression in the Works of Audre Lorde
Chapter 7: There Are Black People in Nature: The Poetry and Influence of Camille Dungy
Chapter 8: The World on Fire: Patricia Smith and a New Path for Form and Political Poetry
Chapter 9: Rita Dove: A Love Letter
Bibliography
Chapter 2: Phillis Wheatley and the Master's Tools/Resistance in the Name of the Lord: A Radical Poetics
Chapter 3: Poetry Is Life Distilled: Brooks and the Breaking of Form
Chapter 4: "Anything She Don't Want To Do, She Don't Have To": Voice, Agency, and Blackness in the Life and Poems of Lucille Clifton
Chapter 5: A Haiku for Sister Sonia Sanchez
Chapter 6: Poetry Will Never Be a Luxury: The Necessity of Authentic Expression in the Works of Audre Lorde
Chapter 7: There Are Black People in Nature: The Poetry and Influence of Camille Dungy
Chapter 8: The World on Fire: Patricia Smith and a New Path for Form and Political Poetry
Chapter 9: Rita Dove: A Love Letter
Bibliography