Paperback
978-1-77212-510-8Size: 5¼" x 9"
Pages: 120
Pages: 96
epub
978-1-77212-533-7Pages: 120
Kindle
978-1-77212-534-4Pages: 120
I Am Still Your Negro
An Homage to James Baldwin
Robert Kroetsch Series
By Valerie Mason-John
Social Justice Poetry
Spoken-word poet Valerie Mason-John unsettles readers with potent images of ongoing trauma from slavery and colonization. Her narratives range from the beginnings of the African Diaspora to the story of a stowaway on the Windrush, from racism and sexism in Trump’s America to the wide impact of the Me Too movement. Stories of entrapment, sexual assault, addictive behaviours, and rave culture are told and contrasted to the strengthening and forthright voice of Yaata, Supreme Being. I Am Still Your Negro is truth that needs to be told, re-told, and remembered.
I was your Negro
Captured and sold
I am still your negro
Arrested and killed
—from “I Am Still Your Negro”
Book details
Publication date: January 2020Series: Robert Kroetsch Series
Keywords: African-Canadian, spoken word, social justice, environmental justice, Queenie, environmental racism, #metoo, Anita Hill, queer, Black feminism, anorexia, bulimia, Sierra Leone, Windrush Generation, Kona, Yoruba, Thomas Peters, sexual assault, drug culture, decolonization, immigration, social media
Subject(s): POETRY / Canadian, POETRY / Women Authors, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Black Studies (Global), Poetry / Spoken Word / Canadian Literature, African-Canadian, spoken word, social justice, environmental justice, Queenie, environmental racism, #metoo, Anita Hill, queer, Black feminism, anorexia, bulimia, Sierra Leone, Windrush Generation, Kona, Yoruba, Thomas Peters, sexual assault, drug culture, decolonization, immigration, social media, Poetry, Canadian Literature, Poetry, Relating to Black British African people, Black Authors and Authors of Colour, Women's Studies
Publisher(s): The University of Alberta Press
Book details
Publication date: January 2020Series: Robert Kroetsch Series
Keywords: African-Canadian, spoken word, social justice, environmental justice, Queenie, environmental racism, #metoo, Anita Hill, queer, Black feminism, anorexia, bulimia, Sierra Leone, Windrush Generation, Kona, Yoruba, Thomas Peters, sexual assault, drug culture, decolonization, immigration, social media
Subject(s): POETRY / Canadian, POETRY / Women Authors, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Black Studies (Global), Poetry / Spoken Word / Canadian Literature, African-Canadian, spoken word, social justice, environmental justice, Queenie, environmental racism, #metoo, Anita Hill, queer, Black feminism, anorexia, bulimia, Sierra Leone, Windrush Generation, Kona, Yoruba, Thomas Peters, sexual assault, drug culture, decolonization, immigration, social media, Poetry, Canadian Literature, Poetry, Relating to Black British African people, Black Authors and Authors of Colour, Women's Studies
Publisher(s): The University of Alberta Press
Valerie Mason-John. Poet, author, and public speaker Valerie Mason-John (a.k.a. “Queenie”) highlights issues of the African Diaspora and the Black, female, Queer identity, and resists the currently existing overt and covert forms of colonialism through their fierce and brave writing. They are the author /editor of ten books. Their debut novel, Borrowed Body, won the 2006 Mind Book of the Year Award. They co-edited the award-winning anthology, The Great Black North: Contemporary African Canadian Poetry, and co-produced blackhalifax.com. Their most recent book is an edited collection: Afrikan Wisdom: New Voices Talk Black Liberation, Buddhism, and Beyond. Valerie lives in Vancouver. Find them online at valeriemason-john.com.
George Elliott Clarke.
"[T]he wide range of Mason-John’s vision ... traverses history, geography, and culture.... [Her poetry] is significant for its reappraisal of our collective past, which so often overlooks or writes over marginalized voices and experiences. [Mason-John is] explicit in calling out a hypocritical Canadian multiculturalism that pays lip service to inclusion while simultaneously entrenching systemic biases and processes that maintain a racist and exclusionary status quo." [Full review at https://quillandquire.com/review/the-response-of-weeds-a-misplacement-of-black-poetry-on-the-prairies/ ]
"This poetry collection grabs you... Readers are confronted with the violence of the Black experience, from the haunting spectre of slavery to the current and ongoing terrorizing of the Black diaspora at the hands of the police. All of the messy, the painful, the enraging -- what we’re conditioned to believe as shameful -- is laid bare for the readers and brought to the fore. Many of these accounts traverse various places -- whether in the U.K., the U.S., or Canada -- and the bluntness and force of her words arrest you." [Full article at https://vancouversun.com/entertainment/books/book-review-i-am-still-your-negro-by-valerie-mason-john]
Included on CBC Books's list of top Canadian poetry of the year in December 2020.
“The topics range from slavery and colonization to global politics and historical realities, addressing the racialized and gendered intersections of African identity, diaspora, and ancestry…. Mason-John’s poetry sheds light on these harsh realities through personal and vulnerable narratives. Their writing also offers hope for our futures by reminding readers of our collective reservoir of power, resilience, and creativity. With these tools in our hands and our ancestors beside us, we may still be negros, but we ain’t silent about it no more.” [Full article at https://arrow-journal.org/language-and-personal-narrative-in-revolutionary-poetry/]
"I Am Still Your Negro takes no prisoners. With sheer brilliance, Valerie Mason-John creates poems that burn Babylon and Rome; bring you to tears; make you shout hallelujah. Her voice is that of the lamenting mother, vengeful goddess, triumphant warrior, compassionate lover, a cool ruler with a pure heart. I am left with only one conclusion about this book: it is a tour de force."
"I Am Still Your Negro hauls us all up by the collar to face our shared complicity. A lot of damage has been inflicted through racism, sexism, greed. Mason-John opens some wounds in the hope of healing them."
Gerald Lampert Memorial Award, League of Canadian Poets, Canada
Long-listed
2021
Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize, BC and Yukon Book Prizes, West Coast Book Prize Society, Canada
Short-listed
2021
AUPresses Book, Jacket, & Journal Show - Poetry and Literature, United States
Winner
2021
xiii ID
xvii Introduction
#Undocumented
Back a Yard
My Father’s Prayer
Sticks and Stones
#ThisIsAfricanDiaspora
Yaata’s Lament
The Ghost of Thomas Peters
I Am Africa
African Feet
The Windrush
I Am Still Your Negro
Another One Bites the Dust
#MeToo
Yaata’s Yowl
Business
Golden Virginia
The Villain
The Perfect Road
The Couplet
#MeToo
Playing Dead
#IfMyPlantsCouldSpeak
Yaata’s Groan
Yellowknife
The Binge
The VindaLoo
Anorectic
#Swag
Yaata’s Manifesto
The Front Line
Sixty Seconds
Stalk Time
Mothercare
#RaveScene
Yaata’s Rap
Essentials for Heaven
Cinders Time
My First Half
Class A
#Intersectionality
Yaata’s Prophecy
Self Portrait 1: The Colour of My Skin
Self Portrait 2: Call Me My Name
Mani-Festation
A Wake
Forget and Pretend
Again Becoming
Farewell My Fiend
Yaata’s Epilogue
Acknowledgements
Valerie Mason-John. Poet, author, and public speaker Valerie Mason-John (a.k.a. “Queenie”) highlights issues of the African Diaspora and the Black, female, Queer identity, and resists the currently existing overt and covert forms of colonialism through their fierce and brave writing. They are the author /editor of ten books. Their debut novel, Borrowed Body, won the 2006 Mind Book of the Year Award. They co-edited the award-winning anthology, The Great Black North: Contemporary African Canadian Poetry, and co-produced blackhalifax.com. Their most recent book is an edited collection: Afrikan Wisdom: New Voices Talk Black Liberation, Buddhism, and Beyond. Valerie lives in Vancouver. Find them online at valeriemason-john.com.
George Elliott Clarke.
"[T]he wide range of Mason-John’s vision ... traverses history, geography, and culture.... [Her poetry] is significant for its reappraisal of our collective past, which so often overlooks or writes over marginalized voices and experiences. [Mason-John is] explicit in calling out a hypocritical Canadian multiculturalism that pays lip service to inclusion while simultaneously entrenching systemic biases and processes that maintain a racist and exclusionary status quo." [Full review at https://quillandquire.com/review/the-response-of-weeds-a-misplacement-of-black-poetry-on-the-prairies/ ]
"This poetry collection grabs you... Readers are confronted with the violence of the Black experience, from the haunting spectre of slavery to the current and ongoing terrorizing of the Black diaspora at the hands of the police. All of the messy, the painful, the enraging -- what we’re conditioned to believe as shameful -- is laid bare for the readers and brought to the fore. Many of these accounts traverse various places -- whether in the U.K., the U.S., or Canada -- and the bluntness and force of her words arrest you." [Full article at https://vancouversun.com/entertainment/books/book-review-i-am-still-your-negro-by-valerie-mason-john]
Included on CBC Books's list of top Canadian poetry of the year in December 2020.
“The topics range from slavery and colonization to global politics and historical realities, addressing the racialized and gendered intersections of African identity, diaspora, and ancestry…. Mason-John’s poetry sheds light on these harsh realities through personal and vulnerable narratives. Their writing also offers hope for our futures by reminding readers of our collective reservoir of power, resilience, and creativity. With these tools in our hands and our ancestors beside us, we may still be negros, but we ain’t silent about it no more.” [Full article at https://arrow-journal.org/language-and-personal-narrative-in-revolutionary-poetry/]
"I Am Still Your Negro takes no prisoners. With sheer brilliance, Valerie Mason-John creates poems that burn Babylon and Rome; bring you to tears; make you shout hallelujah. Her voice is that of the lamenting mother, vengeful goddess, triumphant warrior, compassionate lover, a cool ruler with a pure heart. I am left with only one conclusion about this book: it is a tour de force."
"I Am Still Your Negro hauls us all up by the collar to face our shared complicity. A lot of damage has been inflicted through racism, sexism, greed. Mason-John opens some wounds in the hope of healing them."
Gerald Lampert Memorial Award, League of Canadian Poets, Canada
Long-listed
2021
Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize, BC and Yukon Book Prizes, West Coast Book Prize Society, Canada
Short-listed
2021
AUPresses Book, Jacket, & Journal Show - Poetry and Literature, United States
Winner
2021
xiii ID
xvii Introduction
#Undocumented
Back a Yard
My Father’s Prayer
Sticks and Stones
#ThisIsAfricanDiaspora
Yaata’s Lament
The Ghost of Thomas Peters
I Am Africa
African Feet
The Windrush
I Am Still Your Negro
Another One Bites the Dust
#MeToo
Yaata’s Yowl
Business
Golden Virginia
The Villain
The Perfect Road
The Couplet
#MeToo
Playing Dead
#IfMyPlantsCouldSpeak
Yaata’s Groan
Yellowknife
The Binge
The VindaLoo
Anorectic
#Swag
Yaata’s Manifesto
The Front Line
Sixty Seconds
Stalk Time
Mothercare
#RaveScene
Yaata’s Rap
Essentials for Heaven
Cinders Time
My First Half
Class A
#Intersectionality
Yaata’s Prophecy
Self Portrait 1: The Colour of My Skin
Self Portrait 2: Call Me My Name
Mani-Festation
A Wake
Forget and Pretend
Again Becoming
Farewell My Fiend
Yaata’s Epilogue
Acknowledgements
