Autogeography: Poems

by Reginald Harris

In his second collection of poetry, Reginald Harris traverses real and imagined landscapes, searching for answers to the question “What are you?” From Baltimore to Havana, Atlantic City to Alabama—and from the broad memories of childhood to the very specific moment of Marvin Gaye singing at the 1983 NBA All-Star Game shortly before his death—this is a travel diary of internal and external jour­neys exploring issues of race and sexuality. The poet trav­eler falls into and out of love and lust, sometimes coupled, sometimes alone. Autogeography tracks how who you are changes depending on where you are; how where you are and where you’ve been determine who you are and where you might be headed. 

Genres: Poetry

84 pages, Paperback

First published April 30, 2013

About the author

Recipient of Individual Artist Awards for both poetry and fiction from the Maryland State Arts Council, Reginald Harris is in charge of IT Support and public computer training for the Enoch Pratt Free Library. Co-complier of Carry The Word: A Bibliography of Black LGBTQ Books (Vintage Entity Press, 2007), his first book, 10 Tongues (Three Conditions Press, 2001) was finalist for a Lambda Literary Award and the ForeWord Book of the Year. His poetry, fiction, reviews and articles have appeared in numerous journals and websites, including 5 AM, African-American Review, Blithe House Quarterly , Black Issues Book Review, Gargoyle, Lodestar Quarterly , Poetry Midwest , Sou'wester and the Best Black Gay Erotica , Black Silk , Bum Rush the Page , Gathering Ground: A Reader Celebrating Cave Canem's First Decade , and Voices Rising: Celebrating 20 Years of Black Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Writing anthologies. Harris has done readings and workshops at various venues including the Bowery Poetry Club (New York, NY); Catonsville (MD) High School; Johns Hopkins University; Simmons College (Boston MA); and the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Born in Annapolis, Maryland, he lives with his partner in the Waverly neighborhood of Baltimore."

Reviews

[robin friedman · Rating 4 out of 5]

On The Road And On The City Streets

"The poet behind the wheel/is dangerous" as Reginald Harris warns the reader in the opening poem of his aptly titled collection of poetry, "Autogeography". Harris, the recipient of awards from the Maryland State Arts Council currently serves as information technology director and coordinator of Poetry in the Branches at Poets House, New York City. "Autogeography" received the 20120 Cave Canem Northwestern University Press Poetry Prize. This prize, offered every other year, is awarded to second collections of poetry by African American poets.

Harris' book explores his understanding of his experiences and his understanding of himself as a gay African American man. The roughly 40 poems in the collection have a tough, gritty, but introspective tone. Harris uses a variety of forms from traditional sonnets, to free verse, to prose poems. He pays a great deal of attention to the spacing and forms of the lines on the page. Most of the time, he does so effectively.

The poems carry to reader to a variety of places large and small including New York City, Atlantic City, Washington, D.C., Havana, Cuba, Atlanta, Pascagoula, Mississippi, Mobile, Alabama, and Jasper, Texas, which Harris his visited in life or imagination. A sonnet, "Among the Players" captures a scene I know well with the chess players, "undisturbed grand masters of the streets" at DuPont Circle in Washington, D.C. The most frequent setting for the poems is Baltimore. Here is how Harris describes his feelings about Baltimore in "Approaching Baltimore", a poem which echoes Langston Hughes' "Harlem: What Happens to a Dream Deferred".

"Learn to live with, love, imperfection,
the close enough to right, whatever
will make do (Magic City, Magic City, ya'll). Handsome men with
knife scars across the face, exhausted
women dragging three tattered chidren
down the street. What happens to a dream
transferred, outsourced, shuttered, boarded
up? Which ways take you in, and which way out? And what grows there?

Magic City, Magic City, ya'll Got that Magic City, Magic City, ya'll"

Besides exploring city streets and byways, Harris describes his life, his relationships with his family, discovering his sexual orientation, and the memories of his love affairs, successful and unsuccessful. Poems such as the sonnet "Leatherboy", "Atlantic City", and "Trailer Park Self-Portrait" offer raw portrayals of sexuality. Their tone is both sharp and reflective rather than self-pitying. The poem "The Lost Boys: A Requiem" explores the world of young African American men who succumbed to AIDS or to the many other perils of inner city life. Harris also frequently gets out of himself by writing about other people and about places. For example "Gospel" describes a woman singing as she leaves a city bus, leaving the passengers to "Contemplate/a God-shaped echo in the air." The sonnet "Crying Man with a Broom" tells the story of a poor, aging man reflecting upon a long forgotten broom, "the only relic of his former life". In "The Poets at the Ball Game" and "Marvin Gaye sings 'The Star-Spangled Banner', Harris combines poetry and arts with American sports in a fresh way.

"Autogeography" is an excellent second book by a young American poet. It shows a writer developing his own distinctive voice.

Robin Friedman

[Richard · Rating 1 out of 5]

Dull and predictable, unfortunately. It's hard to imagine this was published for any reason connected to writing well.

[willowdog · Rating 5 out of 5]

Personal and revealing portraits of being gay and a man of color are highlighted in these poems that are so positive and well written aming images by this word smith.