Roxane Beth Johnson

A novel based on the life of the author's great-grandmother follows the story of Vyry, the child of a white plantation owner and one of his slaves, through the years of the Civil War and Reconstruction.

33rd Annual Northern California Book Award Nominee “Black Crow Dress is narrative, yet it subverts narrative in its deliberate cultivation of the fragment; its rhythms are those of the blues and the latter’s abbreviated style, and the thump thump of the work song. Black Crow Dress is, indeed, a chorus of voices we have too seldom heard and listened to.” —Drunken Boat “. . .a stunning collection that evokes a tragic, unjust world; Johnson has a gift for metaphor and narrative that builds throughout.” —Library Journal, starred review “. . .Black Crow Dress is a vital addition to any contemporary poetry assortment.” —Midwest Book Review “These poems move forward like a novel in verse with a real understanding of the differences between the past and history. Or, as Johnson herself says in the opening poem, ‘Each one is hungry for a voice & music to re-bloom.’ This is a poet the best readers will be reading for the rest of their lives.” —Jericho Brown “Roxane Beth Johnson reminds us the poet’s inscrutable work is to listen. Her abiding presence creates a lamplit space to commune with the ghosts of her ensalved ancestors and to breathe them onto the contemporary page. The result is startling: narratives tender and haunting, of an unforgettable intimacy. These voices were in the room with me; I felt them in my body.” —Jennifer K. Sweeney