A thread in the thick rigging of night
by Isaac Pickell
A thread in the thick rigging of night moves through moral and political labyrinths. It follows the thread of individual personhood into the vast tangle of its historical and material determinations, addressing labor, race, law, war, genocide, and individual survival. This collection moves us from “another quiet little Sunday” and mundane realities of wage work, to the facts of the Middle Passage & Manifest Destiny, to capitalist imperialism, and to US support for genocide in Palestine—and then back again to the individual who feels these realities shadowing his daily life. And yes, struggling under such weight can unmoor you, shredding all certainties. Still, these poems move with such guidance, clarity, and rigor, that they help create the first-person plural that they long for—and they welcome you in. (25 pp. / October 13, 2024)
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Isaac Pickell is a Black and Jewish poet, PhD candidate, and adjunct instructor in Detroit. A Cave Canem Fellow, Isaac is a graduate of Miami University's Master of Fine Arts program in Creative Writing. He is the author of two previous works of poetry, the full-length collection It’s not over once you figure it out (Black Ocean, 2023) and the chapbook everything saved will be last (Black Lawrence Press, 2021). You can find him at isaacpickell.com.