Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611

  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
The Boley Rodeo: Poems, 2008-2026

The Boley Rodeo: Poems, 2008-2026

Nelson, Marilyn

Hardcover

General Poetry

PREORDER - Expected ship date December 9, 2026

ISBN10: 0807187399
ISBN13: 9780807187395
Publisher: LSU Press
Published: Dec 9 2026
Pages: 192
Weight: 0.99
Height: 0.98 Width: 6.24 Depth: 9.21
Language: English

Powerful, beautiful, and often deceptively simple, the poetry of Marilyn Nelson takes a polyphonic approach to rendering American lives of the past, present, and beyond. Voices speak from varied times and places, while the sound that results is that of a full-throated choir telling often-forgotten truths about human existence.

Collecting poems written since 2008, The Boley Rodeo features seven sections that capture the range of Nelson's artistry, from historical ruminations on grace and endurance to celebrations of artistic vocation and spirited flights of imagination: Sketches describing the annual Boley Rodeo, the nation's oldest all-Black rodeo, held in her mother's hometown. Excavations of the history of a Congregational church in Old Lyme, Connecticut, some of whose parishioners were slaveholders. Speculative fictions in which a young girl communes with the ghost of an enslaved person from the eighteenth century. Autobiographical pieces evoking a childhood spent moving between air force bases and searching for purpose and certainty while discovering a love of literature. Persona poems speaking in the voices of women artists from throughout history, followed by a sequence on the life and achievements of the Harlem Renaissance sculptor Augusta Savage. And, finally, tales of adventure and intrigue starring the monk Abba Jacob, a familiar figure from Nelson's earlier books, based loosely on a real-life friend and hermit, now recast as the hero of an international mystery thriller.

With The Boley Rodeo, Nelson provides further proof of the deep humanism, historical acumen, laugh-out-loud humor, and honest directness that have characterized her writing over the past five decades. It is a work of great emotion and consummate craft.

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