https://garyallenjackson.com/books daily 0.75 2026-02-16 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e93538d36d8d1437970ff6e/2ae55606-b2f6-4cd1-a171-2e7d914e6644/9780826368430.jpg Books “In Gary Jackson’s stories-in-poems, superhumans of color navigate violence, visibility, and legacies in the fractured US. Leading otherwise quotidian lives, the heroes experience hangovers, hookups, therapy sessions, and late-night stakeouts too. These ordinary encounters underscore the invisible labor of code-switching and self-erasure. Pushing the superhero form in messier, more human directions is the book’s genius. small lives is a daring poetry collection that fuses comic book myths with searing truths, asking what it means to be seen in a world that’s determined to forget you.” — Foreword Reviews (⭐ Starred Review) “There’s a charmed and charged theater in Gary Jackson’s small lives that’s rare in contemporary poetry. At its center, this book is about power: who has it, how it twists, how it’s weaponized, how it’s abdicated. On its face, it’s a superhero story in the tradition of Moore’s The Watchmen. A welcome counterbalance to our thirty-second culture, small lives is a tender, gritty thriller that resists hopelessness.”—Maya Marshall, author of All the Blood Involved in Love “In small lives, Gary Jackson assembles an intricate universe and a compelling story of a team of black superhumans that discover their powers and themselves in a volatile and cynical world. With prose poems, erasure, and powerful storytelling, these poems blur genres and open your mind to witness amazing feats, the rise and fall of heroes, and maybe even a world saved from itself. Jackson has gifted us with a book that is focused, compassionate, and brimming with imagination.”—Juan J. Morales, author of Dream of the Bird Tattoo: Poems and Sueñitos “In Gary Jackson’s compelling third collection, we encounter a fable of sorts. And in the best of fables, the stories told from the perspectives of the Invincible Woman, the Telepath, and Willpower Man all share resonances with our pasts and present. Jackson’s skillful examination of the extraordinary as it mirrors the quotidian invites readers to wonder at the spectacle of supernatural beings who share the brightness of the sun while their interior lives are filled with intense doubt, fear, and hope. Jackson makes these small lives loom large and fierce, bringing all to gather around to watch miracles happen while also encouraging us to acknowledge the cost.”—Oliver de la Paz, author of The Diaspora Sonnets https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e93538d36d8d1437970ff6e/1621278850911-N6PSAUO9A1I2Y5HXO5W2/9780826363015.jpg Books “origin story is both intensely intimate and utterly everyman. These are poems of both great weight and profound lightness. . . It is impossible to read origin story and not feel obliged to think hard about one’s own upbringing, impossible not to be moved and changed by what these poems bring to light.”—Tim Seibles, author of Fast Animal “From post–Korean War era to the present day, ongoing brutalities upon Black bodies, and the complexities of a speaker born to a Black-Asian mother and Black father, Jackson’s poems in origin story reveal the porous interconnectedness of our boundaries—bloodlines, memories, trauma, silences—and how origin stories and their contested retellings hold deep roots to our sense of betrayal and belonging.”—Esther Lee, author of Sacrificial Metal “Gary Jackson’s origin story is a powerful meditation on how we return to and turn away from our beginnings. These exquisite poems search out the source of belonging, whether to people or place. Jackson deftly shows us what can happen when fracture begets connection and erasure becomes revelation. Elegiac, irreverent, and deeply American, this collection testifies to the persistence of memory.”—Amy Fleury, author of Sympathetic Magic “In origin story, Gary Jackson delivers a work of beauty and talent. Like so much honey down our throats, he channels the voices of his mother, his grandparents, his family, and his encyclopedic knowledge of comics to create a new and necessary universe. It challenges racism and carried assumptions while creating an honest dialogue that ultimately ends with connection and compassion. These poems are where the body becomes word.” —Juan J. Morales, author of The Handyman’s Guide to End Times: Poems https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e93538d36d8d1437970ff6e/1590073179340-LBZ2MF32IJ0D48JY8RB9/missing%2Byou%2Bmetropolis%2Bphoto.jpg Books - “Gary Jackson's Missing You, Metropolis embodies a voice uniquely shaped and tuned for the twenty-first century. Playful, jaunty, rueful, and highly serious--sometimes within a singular poem--this persona has been forged in the caldron of popular iconography, especially in the culture of the comic book. Anything is possible in such created time and space; immediate tension exists in a climate where otherworldly figures are defined by earthly matters and concerns. The funny-book world is a perfect landscape for innuendo and signification, and Jackson uses these aptly. This first collection of poems is gauged by a sophisticated heart.” — Yusef Komunyakaa “For all its disarming charm and surface breeziness, as well as the deliberate use of couplets and quatrains to mimic the formal borders that contain a comic’s narrative, this book sounds profound depths of rage, lust, sorrow, and estrangement. . . . Missing You, Metropolis heralds a new voice unafraid to embrace pop culture, and to discover in it a world at once paradoxical, desired, and cruel.” — Rain Taxi Review of Books https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e93538d36d8d1437970ff6e/1621278190878-HC3JYGVL3CRYIOCUYKPH/The+Future+of+Black_IG.png Books - Superstars of poetry have created work around both real-life and fictional superheroes in this innovative collection of poetry and art. Both the original and reprinted work in this compilation are by some of the most influential Black poets, including Lucille Clifton, Terrance Hayes, Nikki Giovanni, and Tracy K. Smith, alongside striking illustrations by John Jennings, Kevin Johnson, and many other visual artists…whether taking the pop culture figures found in comics and films and placing them in unfamiliar territory, as in editor Gary Jackson’s “Nightcrawler Buys a Woman a Drink,” or revisiting timeless commentary on economic and social inequality, as in Gil Scott-Heron’s “Whitey on the Moon,” the offerings will please fans of both contemporary and classic poets. This unique volume is a wonderful addition to library collections invested in the celebration of Black voices and Black visual art. — Allison Escoto, Booklist Published by Blair https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e93538d36d8d1437970ff6e/1621279869880-VEY0LD4DOXN91FQXZMTO/9781598536669.jpeg Books - African American Poetry: 250 Years of Struggle & Song —Edited by Kevin Young Published by Library of America https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e93538d36d8d1437970ff6e/1627595101191-NTG09LK7285S3S8VQBP8/ice+on+a+hot+stove.jpeg Books - Ice on a Hot Stove: A Decade of Converse MFA Poetry — Edited by Denise Duhamel & Rick Mulkey Published by Clemson University Press https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e93538d36d8d1437970ff6e/1608661901387-LFIKBH4IR4OGUPAMGPOW/image-asset.jpeg Books - A Measure of Belonging: Twenty-One Writers of Color on the New American South —Edited by Cinelle Barnes Published by Hub City Press https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e93538d36d8d1437970ff6e/1608662466159-MHXREK49OIAYHQBD82L8/welcome+to+the+neighborhood.jpg Books - Welcome to the Neighborhood: An Anthology of American Coexistence —Edited by Sarah Green Published by Ohio University / Swallow Press https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e93538d36d8d1437970ff6e/1608662557949-H230V4UL36VJQASZ2ZK5/bodies+built+for+game.jpg Books - Bodies Built for Game: The Prairie Schooner Anthology of Contemporary Sports Writing —Edited by Natalie Diaz & Hannah Ensor Published by University of Nebraska Press https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e93538d36d8d1437970ff6e/1590097661292-OIPPFA217J4ZWS6OEVRN/multiverse.jpg Books - Multiverse! An Anthology of Superhero Poetry of Superhuman Proportions —Edited by Rob Sturma & Ryk Mcintyre Published by Write Bloody Publishing https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e93538d36d8d1437970ff6e/1608662619877-OU8MS2WNGC3Y6V5VSUGP/drawn+to+marvel.jpg Books - Drawn to Marvel: Poems from the Comic Books —Edited by Bryan D. Dietrich & Marta Ferguson Published by Minor Arcana Press https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e93538d36d8d1437970ff6e/1608662702927-KU748E7J1UAF9HHBSVM8/shattered.jpg Books - Shattered: The Asian American Comics Anthology —Edited by Jeff Yang, Parry Shen, Keith Chow, Jerry Ma Published by The New Press https://garyallenjackson.com/publications daily 0.75 2025-03-06 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e93538d36d8d1437970ff6e/1627600636039-LPBPM8A4DZIMGAAX3OSH/Screen%25252BShot%25252B2021-07-29%25252Bat%25252B6.56.14%25252BPM.jpg Work https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e93538d36d8d1437970ff6e/1627600656879-LORAIQNEEQQSG0KTR4ZQ/Screen%252BShot%252B2021-07-29%252Bat%252B6.56.47%252BPM.jpg Work https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e93538d36d8d1437970ff6e/1627600162893-4WN6HX9HHYJMSCC2JVS2/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-07-29%2Bat%2B7.08.10%2BPM.jpg Work From the Fishouse https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e93538d36d8d1437970ff6e/1627607310664-DR07HVSB8ACPPO4TQ1UF/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-07-29%2Bat%2B6.57.19%2BPM.jpg Work https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e93538d36d8d1437970ff6e/1627599906299-5Z3IGSCXFDZBN49X87QN/Screen%25252BShot%25252B2021-07-29%25252Bat%25252B6.56.54%25252BPM.jpg Work https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e93538d36d8d1437970ff6e/1627607676853-9ROASUDJEH5IO9DF9DSP/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-07-29%2Bat%2B9.13.22%2BPM.jpg Work https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e93538d36d8d1437970ff6e/1631404970946-TFS0I0G1VA8SLSJ5HCTU/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-09-11%2Bat%2B8.01.24%2BPM.jpg Work https://garyallenjackson.com/home daily 1.0 2026-02-16 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e93538d36d8d1437970ff6e/f96a4a16-d611-47f1-9f88-111a045ed554/IMG_2642.jpg Home https://garyallenjackson.com/bio daily 0.75 2025-08-30 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e93538d36d8d1437970ff6e/b39ee01c-ce9c-49ec-b55a-50535514d3b4/Jackson+photo+B%26W+large.jpg Bio - Born and raised in Topeka, Kansas, Gary Jackson is the author of the poetry collections, small lives, (University of New Mexico Press, 2025) origin story (University of New Mexico Press, 2021), both part of the Mary Burritt Christiansen Poetry Series, and Missing You, Metropolis (Graywolf, 2010), which received the 2009 Cave Canem Poetry Prize. He’s also co-editor of The Future of Black: Afrofuturism, Black Comics, and Superhero Poetry (Blair, 2021). His poems have appeared in numerous journals including Callaloo, The Sun, Los Angeles Review of Books, Gulf Coast, and Copper Nickel. He’s published work in several anthologies, including Shattered: The Asian American Comics Anthology, African American Poetry: 250 Years of Struggle and Song, and A Measure of Belonging: Twenty-One Writers of Color on the New American South. He was featured in the 2013 New American Poetry Series by the Poetry Society of America, and received fellowships and residencies from Cave Canem, Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, and Art Omi. He’s been a guest on the BBC News World Service: The Cultural Frontline, and given readings and craft talks for Carnegie Hall, Folger Theater, and various venues across the country. In 2023, he was selected to serve as part of the Cave Canem Cultural Preservation Project Team to record the oral histories of the first-year fellows and founders of Cave Canem. He’s taught classes and led workshops everywhere from Albuquerque, New Mexico, to Charleston, South Carolina, to Anyang, South Korea, and currently lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He is the Toi Derricotte Endowed Chair of English in the Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences at the University of Pittsburgh, and the Director of the Center for African American Poetry and Poetics. Photo by Ben Chrisman