Mahogany Browne
The Cave Canem Fellow is the Editor of His Rib: Stories, Poems & Essays by HER & Barbershop Chronicles, and author of several books including her latest book of poems: Destroy Rebuild & Other Reconstructions of the Human Muscle. Mahogany has released five LPs including the live album Sheroshima and is the Publisher and founder of Penmanship Books. As co-founder of the Off Broadway poetry production, Jam On It, and co-producer of NYC’s 1st Performance Poetry Festival: SoundBites Poetry Festival, Mahogany bridges the gap between lyrical poets and literary emcee. Her freelance journalism can be found in magazines Uptown, KING, XXL, The Source, Canada's The Word and UK's MOBO. She also facilitates performance poetry and writing workshops throughout the country, focusing on women empowerment and youth mentoring. She is the owner of PoetCD.Com, an on-line marketing and distribution company for poets and is the host and curator at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe.
Review of Destroy, Rebuild & Other Reconstructions Of The Human Muscle
“Destroy, Rebuild, & Other Reconstructions Of the Human Muscle is a stunning first book of poems by Mahogany Browne. Browne’s poetry rests comfortably as words that are excellent to hear and even more excellent to re-read. Browne has a relentless ability to bear witness, not just for her own personal experiences, but, for the male and female characters brought to the forefront. Her long poems are magic tricks; narratives that move so quickly a reader doesn’t realize he or she has been presented with an overlooked social problem. Browne’s shorter poems unfold subtly, line by line, with images that connect to other poets work, personal experiences, pop culture, and the amorphous definition of what it means to be a woman of color in 2009. Whether discussing the mental landscape of performing poems about ex-lovers or sharing the delight of a conversation with a nine year old, Browne’s poems resonate with a knowing ferocity. These poems relish their turns and surprises that exhilarate and reconstruct the ideas of identity, love, and the elusiveness of the human heart.”
Ekoko Omadeke
Destroy, Rebuild & Other Reconstructions of The Human Muscle
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New from Mahogany Browne, SWAG.
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