{"product_id":"dear-mothership-poems-by-marcus-wicker","title":"Dear Mothership: Poems by Marcus Wicker (Paperback) (PREORDER)","description":"\u003cp\u003ePoetry Collection - African American and Black\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eRELEASE DATE: 9\/8\/2026 (WILL SHIP DIRECTLY FROM OUR SUPPLIER'S WAREHOUSE)\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFrom the author of Maybe the Saddest Thing and Silencer comes a playful yet profound poetry collection that orbits the intersections of public loss, private grief, (dis)connection, capitalism, and identity.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn Dear Mothership, Marcus Wicker channels the lyrical dexterity of Outkast and the speculative vision of poet Robert Hayden to chart a course through personal and political upheaval.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe collection’s centerpiece is the “Break Beat Crown”—Wicker’s original take on the heroic crown of sonnets—presented as a travelogue from an extraterrestrial who has touched down in modern-day Atlanta. Across linked poems, the outsider records field notes on pandemic discord, isolation, tenderness, late-stage capitalism, empathy, and art. The longer the speaker inhabits a dysfunctional society, the more alien he feels. In addition to these science fictional experiments, Wicker delivers affecting, personal poems grounded in lived experience: lingering grief over two miscarriages, the sudden death of a friend, a sustained search for joy on the other side of those heartbreaks.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWith its singular imagination, Dear Mothership kindles a new understanding of what makes us most human.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAUTHOR BIO: \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMARCUS WICKER\u003c\/strong\u003e is the author of three books of poetry: \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eDEAR MOTHERSHIP\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eSilencer\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, and \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eMaybe the Saddest Thing\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, selected by D.A. Powell for the National Poetry Series. His honors include a National Endowment for the Arts Creative Writing Fellowship, the Poetry Society of America's Lyric Poetry Award, a Pushcart Prize, and Ruth Lilly Fellowship, as well as fellowships from the Harvard Radcliffe Institute, The Fine Arts Work Center, and Cave Canem. Wicker's poems have appeared in \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Nation\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe New Republic\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Atlantic\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eOxford American\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, and \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003ePoetry Magazine\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e. He is an Associate Professor and the Orgill Chair of English at the University of Memphis, where he teaches in the MFA program\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Ecco","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50557445931201,"sku":"9780063487697","price":16.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0535\/7522\/1441\/files\/9780063487697.jpg?v=1788404138","url":"https:\/\/www.bookhavenbooks.com\/products\/dear-mothership-poems-by-marcus-wicker","provider":"Book Haven Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}