Akhona

In this wrenching and spiritual collection, Darius Omar Williams takes a closer look at the institution of the black church using a specific language to highlight the joy, pain, highs and lows of sexuality, disease, homophobia, spiritual elitism and pre-mature death. With titles including "Blessed Assurance," "Rapture" and "Look at Your Neighbor," these poems chart the sexual and spiritual terrain of black gay experience in a confessional, blunt and praise-filled voice. Blending southern black church tradition with contemporary black gay culture, Williams's poems are fresh, original and long overdue.