Black History Literary Highlights

The Poetry Foundation is running a feature on Poems to Celebrate Black History Month that includes selections by some of today’s foremost poets. Featured works include “Letter to Brooks: Spring Garden,” by Major Jackson and “Praise Song for the  Day,” by Elizabeth Alexander.

Here’s an excerpt from “For you: anthophilous, lover of flowers,” by Reginald Dwayne Betts:

All this a way to dream green rose petals on the bed you love;

petrophilous, stigmatophilia: live near rocks, tattoo hurt;

for you topophilia: what place do you love? All these words

for love (for you), all these ways to say believe

in symphily, to say let us live near each other.