The University of New Orleans Press has published 鈥淚 Am New Orleans,鈥� a poetic compendium of what it means to be and to miss New Orleans featuring the work of 36 contemporary poets.
In 1968, Marcus Christian鈥檚 definitive poem 鈥淚 Am New Orleans鈥� celebrated the 250th anniversary of the city鈥檚 founding. Now, contemporary poets take up Christian鈥檚 enduring theme, simultaneously an assertion and a point of inquiry: what, and who, is New Orleans today?
Christian, who was a writer-in-residence and history professor at the University of New Orleans, was a prolific writer whose poetry often satirized Jim Crow laws. His collection of work is housed in the University鈥檚 Earl K. Long Library.
The collection will be the Crescent City鈥檚 latest major contribution to African American poetry, but far from the first, taking as an antecedent 鈥淟es Cenelles,鈥� the first anthology by American poets of color, published in New Orleans in 1845.
鈥淚 Am New Orleans,鈥� can be purchased from any of 色色研究所 Press鈥� local bookstore affiliates or online at uno.edu/unopress.
