Crushed & Crowned

Crushed & Crowned guides the reader through a "museum of bodies," seeking to "illuminate thedarkest corners of our history. From sanitation workers killed in Memphis, to elegies aimed atresurrection, these poems forbid sleeping. Murals of saints guard refugees, statues replaceenslavers with confident Black teens, a high school teacher observes the joys and sorrows of hisstudents. These poems also stop us at one of the world's largest refugee camps, inviting us to seeLGBTQ refugees and their plight. These poems center the lives of Harriet Tubman and FrederickDouglass, considering their places in our history. These poems believe that if we read and livewith the right spirit, the "crushed" of our world can end up "crowned."