by Marvin K. White

In nothin’ ugly fly, Marvin K. White follows his celebrated last rights by charting the course from being a boy "dangerous and unexpected" to being a man who becomes "expected" through loving another man.  The black bird that is his poetry emerges out of the relation between what is said and what is only hinted in the voice and music of his work.  In his best poems, the self asserted is fiercely witty and soul-filled, and it embodies the whole flock of men he acknowledges, honors and celebrates.  This is a book that lifts off and lifts up. —Forrest Hamer, Author, Middle Ear

Wise and wry, Marvin K. White’s nothin’ ugly fly is a pleasure and a treasure. There are spare poems of concentrated emotion and intensity.  There are swirling rococo pieces with all the creeping vines, veils and frou-frou appropriate to nightclub divas.  Most of all, nothin’ ugly fly is a lovingly honest rendering of family, faith and the falling and rising of the body black. —Jaime Cortez, Editor,Virgins, Guerrillas & Locas

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Marvin K. White,  M.Div., is a graduate of the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley CA, and a former pastor associate at Glide Memorial Church in San Francisco. In addition to being a sought-after preacher, collaborator and thought leader, he is currently an arts liaison and a co-facilitator of the Faith Leaders Round Table at the Haas Institute for a Fair and Inclusive Society. He is the author of four collections of poetry published by RedBone Press; Our Name Be Witness, Status and two Lammy-nominated collections, last rights and nothin’ ugly fly. As a public theologian and community-based artist, he is articulating a vision of social, prophetic and creative justice through being a poet, artist, teacher, facilitator, activist, community organizer, preacher, homemaker, cake baker, and Facebook Statustician.

[Photo © 2011 by Duane Cramer.]

76 pp.

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