Golden Ax
Penguin Publishing Group · Paperback · August 30, 2022
Longlisted for the 2022 National Book Award for Poetry Longlisted for the 2023 PEN Open Book Award Finalist for the Poetry Society of America's Norma Farber First Book Award “Outstanding . . . the poetry in these pages is intelligent, lyrical, as invested in the past as the present and future with witty nods to pop culture.” —Roxane Gay, author of Hunger “I’ve never read anything like it.
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- Who it’s for
- Wry turns meet layered meditations on Black history, womanhood, and the pursuit of freedom.
- Themes
- Black pioneers in the American West, Black womanhood, Freedom and its legacies
- Genres
- African American Poetry, American Poetry, Political & Protest Poetry
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Longlisted for the 2022 National Book Award for Poetry Longlisted for the 2023 PEN Open Book Award Finalist for the Poetry Society of America's Norma Farber First Book Award “Outstanding . . . the poetry in these pages is intelligent, lyrical, as invested in the past as the present and future with witty nods to pop culture.” —Roxane Gay, author of Hunger “I’ve never read anything like it.
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Truly a sublime experience.” —Jason Reynolds, author of Ain’t Burned All the Bright A groundbreaking collection about Afropioneerism past and present from Pushcart Prize-nominated poet and New York Times bestselling author Rio Cortez From a visionary writer praised for her captivating work on Black history and experience comes a poetry collection exploring personal, political, and artistic frontiers, journeying from her family's history as "Afropioneers" in the American West to shimmering glimpses of transcendent, liberated futures. In poems that range from wry, tongue-in-cheek observations about contemporary life to more nuanced meditations on her ancestors—some of the earliest Black pioneers to settle in the western United States after Reconstruction—Golden Ax invites readers to re-imagine the West, Black womanhood, and the legacies that shape and sustain the pursuit of freedom.
Westward in Verse
Wry turns meet layered meditations on Black history, womanhood, and the pursuit of freedom.
Come here for
- Poems that rethink the American West through Black history and family memory
- A lively blend of contemporary wit and ancestral reflection
Expect
- Personal, political, and artistic frontiers in conversation
- A reach from Reconstruction-era histories toward liberated futures
Where it sits
| African American Poetry | 99% |
|---|---|
| American Poetry | 59% |
| Political & Protest Poetry | 52% |
Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.
Publisher categories
- African American Poetry
- Place Poetry
- Family Poems
- Authors
- Rio Cortez
- Publisher
- Penguin Publishing Group
- Published
- August 30, 2022
- Format
- Paperback
- Theme
- Black pioneers in the American West · Black womanhood · Freedom and its legacies
- Reading lane
- African American Poetry