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
Paper Pistol

Paper Pistol

Jenkins, Raphael

Paperback

Series: Miller Williams Poetry Prize

General Poetry

ISBN10: 1682262855
ISBN13: 9781682262856
Publisher: University of Arkansas Press
Published: Mar 2 2026
Pages: 142
Weight: 0.38
Height: 0.33 Width: 5.50 Depth: 8.50
Language: English

Finalist, 2026 Miller Williams Poetry Prize

Following in the footsteps of poets like Hanif Abdurraqib, John Murillo, and Robert Hayden, Raphael Jenkins's Paper Pistol considers tenderness, heteronormativity, male friendship, grief, and the various violences implemented by and against Black men. Channeling a multitude of speakers, this collection explores Black fatherhood and the totems we bequeath to our young, whom the hunter . . . see[s as] a field of bucks instead of a / field of boys. What marred your vision & made us look so killable? With humor and vivid imagery, Paper Pistol ultimately champions familial care and poetry as the ultimate weaponry, even in the wake of generational violence. If a pistol were made of paper, the poet dreams. If a piece / of paper were capable of killing. If a peace. If peace / were possible.

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