Citizen : an American lyric
(Book)

Includes bibliographical references (pages 167-168).

$a You take in things you don't want all the time. The second you hear or see some ordinary movement, all its intended targets, all the meanings behind the retreating sounds, as far as you are able to see, come into focus. Hold up, did you just hear, did you just say, did you just see, did you just do that? Then the voice in your head silently tells you to take your foot off your throat because just getting along shouldn't be an ambition. --from back cover

New York Times Best Seller ; Winner of National Book Critics Circle Award in Poetry ; Winner of the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work in Poetry ; Finalist for the National Books Critics Circle Award in Criticism ; Winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize in Poetry.