Wheels

Using the power of language to explore and discover patterns of meaning, this collection brings the lyric poem face to face with the external worldwith its politics, social upheavals, and ideological complexity. Whether it is a poem about a near victim of a terrorist attack reflecting on the nature of grace, a president considering the function of art, or a Rastafarian defending his faith, the selections all seek illumination in understanding the world. They are as much about the quest for love and faith as they are about finding pathways of meaning through the current decade of wars and political and economic uncertainty.

Kwame Dawes is an award-winning poet and author who has received the Forward Poetry Prize, the Hollis Summers Poetry Prize, and the Pushcart prize for poetry, among others. He is the author of 12 poetry collections, a short story collection, a play, three critical works, and the novel She's Gone. He lives in Columbia, South Carolina.