“G. Winston James pours his poetry onto paper like literary lava that scintillates as it sizzles, and burns its way into the depths of your soul. Its incandescent brilliance and fierce tenderness are a testament to the power of the written word. This wonderful book is a flaming debut from a poet who is destined to take his place amongst the foremost writers of our time.”
Dorothy Randall Gray
Author, Soul Between the Lines
“Lyric is poetry – seasonal, sacred and subtle. G. Winston James joins the voices of my brothers Donald, Craig, and Assotto. I feel blessed to witness such healing words found in struggle. It’s a joy knowing that with so many fallen there are still trees standing, comforting, shading and bearing the fruits of our lives.”
B. Michael Hunter
Managing Editor, Sojourner: Black Gay Voices in the Age of AIDS
“These naked-baby poems speak with lost innocence and costly experience. Taken together, this collection of flute-like poems is an act of magic by which the exile conjures not just a new home for himself, but an empire of the soul conceived in reflection, founded on honesty and built of imagination.”
Michael Lassell
Author, A Flame for the Touch that Matters
“Lyric has passion and mercy, rage and redemption, visionary power and resignation. It gives pleasure and prescription to us all – those who share the communities G. Winston James represents so well; and those who wish to find a way in.”
Catherine E. McKinley
Co-Editor, Afrekete: An Anthology of Black Lesbian Writing
“Here are poems about the possibilities that lie between black men: love and loss, honesty and trust, and above all, home. Beautiful, vivid, sensual – and yes, lyrical – these poems by G. Winston James will open the eyes and heart and appeal to the spirit of black people everywhere.”
Lisa C. Moore
Editor, RedBone Press
“G. Winston James writes like a soothsayer, speaking dreams and singing truths. With Lyric, his impressive first collection of poems, James has recorded the emotional, spiritual and sensual histories of the black gay male.”
Bruce Morrow
Co-Editor, Shade: An Anthology of Fiction by Gay Men of African Descent
“With an URGENT HEART, G. Winston James SET RIVERS FREE, set poems free. In this his first, outstanding collection of poems, these poems break your heart and comfort you all at once. With insight and clarity, he moves along the broken road, creating THE PERFECT PLACE FOR SORROW TO DROWN and the sun to rise. Lush… Daring… Dramatic… Essential…”
Cheryl Boyce Taylor
Author, Raw Air