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Come See about Me, Marvin (Made in Michigan Writers)

Come See about Me, Marvin (Made in Michigan Writers)

Current price: $18.89
Publication Date: September 3rd, 2019
Publisher:
Wayne State University Press
ISBN:
9780814347225
Pages:
88

Description

An imagined personal exchange with Marvin Gaye, in verse, on life in Michigan.

come see about me, marvin is accessible, honest poetry about and for real people. In the collection, brian g. gilmore seeks to invite the reader into a fantastical dialogue between himself and Marvin Gaye--two black men who were born in the nation's capital, but who moved to the Midwest for professional ambitions. In trying to acclimate himself to a new job in a new place--a place that seemed so different from the home he had always known--gilmore often looked to Marvin Gaye as an example for how to be. These poems were derived as a means of coping in a strange land.

The book is divided into four sections, beginning with section one, "love that will shelter you," and features poems about dealing with life in Michigan as it is in reality. Sections two and three, "nowhere to hide" and "no ordinary pain," include poems about the brutality of the Midwest and some of the historical realities as gilmore came to understand them. The final section, "let your love come shining through," attempts to invoke hope in poetry.

come see about me, marvin is gilmore's answer to life's perplexing issues, with Marvin Gaye as the perfect vehicle to explore these ideals. Readers of poetry and lovers of Motown will embrace this love letter to a local legend.

About the Author

brian g. gilmore was born and raised in Washington D.C. He is the author of three previous collections of poetry, including We Didn't Know Any Gangsters, a 2014 NAACP Image Award Nominee. Both a Cave Canem Fellow and Kimbilio Fellow, he currently teaches social justice law at Michigan State University.