The BreakBeat poets: new American poetry in the age of hip-hop

Kevin Coval : Introduction

Randall Horton (1961) : An (i)witness say he still had the mike in his hand

Joel Dias-Porter aka DJ Renegade (1962) : Turning the tables ; Wednesday poem

Thoas Sayers Ellis (1963) : An excerpt from Crank shaped notes

Quraysh Ali Lansana (1964) : Mascot ; Crack house ; Seventy-first & King Drive

Evie Shockley (1965) : Duck, duck, redux ; Post-white

Tony Medina (1966) : Everything you wanted to know about hip hop but where afraid to be hipped for fear of being hopped ; The keepin' it real awards

Willie Perdomo (1967) : Shit to write about ; Word to everything I love ; Writing about what you know

Mario (1967) : Agate

Roger Bonair-Agard (1968) : Honorific or black boy to black boy ; Fast - how I knew ; In defense of the code-switch or why you talk like that or why you gotta always be cussing

Lynne Procope (1969) : Shine (for Joe Bataan) ; All night

Patrick Rosal (1969) : B-boy infinitives ; Kundiman ending on a theme from t la rock ; A note to Thomas Alva ; Ode to the cee-lo players

Tracie Morris : Untitled

Jason Carney (1970) : America's pastime

LaTasha N. Nevada Diggs (1970) : Who you callin' a jynx? (after mista popo) ; Damn right it's betta than yours ; Gamin' gabby

Mitchell L. H. Douglas (1970) : Manifesto, or ars poetica #2 ; Preface to a twenty volume homicide note

Adrian Matejka (1971) : Beat boxing ; Robot music

Jessica Care Moore (1971) : mic check, 1-2

John Murillo (1971) : Ode to the crossfader ; 1989 ; Renegades of funk

Francine J. Harris (1972) : Stitches ; Pull down the earth ; This is a test

T'ai Freedom Ford (1973) : How to get over (senior to freshman) ; how to get over (for my niggas) ; how to get over (for Kanye)

Suheir Hammad (1973) : Break (rebirth) ; Break (sister) ; Break (embargo)

Marty McConnell (1973) : The world tells how the world ends ; Object

John Rodriguez (1973-2013) : Bronx bombers ; What I saw was not your funeral ; At my best

Mariahadessa Ekere Tallie (1973) : Paper bag poems ; Global warming blues ; Sunday ; Possible (for Amiri Baraka)

Tara Betts (1974) : Hip hop analogies ; Switch

Paolo Javier (1974) : From all convulsions

Douglas Kearney (1974) : Quantum spit ; No homo ; Drop it like it's hottentot venus

Avery R. Young (1974) : A prayer fo mama Brenda Matthews (warrior brew) ; After an artis(t) talk

Lemon Andersen (1975) : The future

Michael Cirelli (1975) : The message ; Astronomy (8th light)

Kevin Coval (1975) : The crossover ; Jewtown ; Molemen beat tapes ; White on the block

Jericho Brown (1976) : Motherland

Mahogany L Browne (1976) : When 12 play was on repeat ; Upon viewing the death of basquiat ; nameless

Aracelis Girmay (1977) : Elegy in gold ; Break

Idris Goodwin (1977) : Say my name ; Old ladies and dope boys ; These are the breaks

Enzo Silon Surin (1977) : Corners

Mayda Del Valle (1978) : It's just begun

Denizen Kane (1978) : Ciphers pt. 1 ; Vigil pt. 1

Paul Martinez Pompa : I have a drone

Kyle Dargan (1980) : Crews ; Slang ; O.P.P.

Tarfia Faizullah (1980) : 100 bells : Nocturne in need of a bitch ; Blossoms in the dark ; Self-portrait as slinky

Samantha Thornhill (1980) : Elegy for a trojan ; Ode to a star fig ; Ode to gentrification ; Ode to a killer whale

Aleshea Harris (1981) : Harbor

Jacob Saenz (1982) : Evolution of my block ; Evolution of my profile ; GTA : Sandreas (or, 'Grove Street bitch!')

Nadia Sulayman (1982) : Bint ibrahim

Sarah Blake (1984) : Ha ha hum ; Adventures

Adam Falkner (1984) Small poems for big

Marcus Wicker (1984) : Stakes is high ; When I'm alone in my room sometimes I stare at the wall, and in the back of my mind I hear my conscience call ; Ars poetica in the mode of j-live ; Bonita applebum

Michael Mlekoday (1985) : Self portrait with gunshot vernacular ; Self portrait from the other side ; Thaumaturgy

Kristiana Colon (1986) : To the notebook kid

Ciara Miller (1987) : In search of black birds

Morgan Parker (1987) : Let me handle my business, damn

Joshua Bennett (1988) : When asked about my hometown : an admission ; When asked about my hometown : an anecdote ; Love letter to Zack, the black power ranger

Alysia Nicole Harris (1988) : When I put my hands in the air it's praise

Britteney Black Rose Kapri (1988) : Winthrop Ave. ; We house : after Krista Franklin's definition of funk

Angel Nafis (1988) : Legend ; Ghazal for my sister ; Conspiracy : A suite ; Gravity

Jose Olivarez (1988) : Ode to the first white girl I ever loved ; Home court

Joy Priest (1988) : No country for black boys

Ocean Vuong (1988) : Always & forever ; Self-portrait as exit wounds ; Prayer for the newly damned ; Daily bread

Fatimah Asghar (1989) : When tip drill comes on at the frat party or, when refusing to twerk is a radical form of self-love ; Unemployment ; Pluto shits on the universe

Franny Choi (1989) : Pussy monster ; Impulse buy

Nate Marshall (1989) : On caskets ; Prelude ; Picking flowers ; Juke

Aaron Samuels (1989) : Broken ghazal in the voice of my brother jacob

Danez Smith (1989) : Cue the gangsta rap when my knees bend ; Twerk (v.) ; Dinosaurs in the hood ; Dear white America

Jamila Woods (1989) : Defense ; Blk girl art ; Deep in the homeroom of doom ; Daddy dozens

Benjamin Alfara (1990) : What the eyes saw

Safia Elhillo (1990) : A suite for ol' dirty

Aziza Barnes (1992) : Juicy (an erasure)

Camonghne Felix (1992) : Badu interviews Lamar (an erasure) ; Police

Steven Willis (1992) : Beat writers

Reed Bobroff (1993) : Four elements of ghostdance

Malcolm London (1993) : Grand slam

Kush Thompson (1994) : This, here

E'mon McGee (1996) : My niece's hip-hop

Angel Pantoja (1997) : Murder is my name

Nile Lansana (1997) and Onam Lansana (1999) : Lesson one

Ars poeticas & essays

Quraysh Ali Lansana : Art, artiface, & artifact

T'ai Freedom Ford : Artist statement

Michael Mlekoday : Artist statement

Douglas Kearney : Artist statement

Angel Nafis : Artist statement

Aziza Barnes : A locus of control and the erasure

Tara Betts : Life is good : How hip-hop channels duende

roger Bonair-Agard : Journeying to the break : The cost of the pilgrimage

Patrick Rosal : The art of the mistake : Some notes on breaking as making

Nate Marshall : Blueprint for breakbeat writing

Reprinted poems

Acknowledgments

Biographies.