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Onomatopoeia bursts into the scene with the very special snap that characterizes Shaheed's poetry. Askia M. Touré, winner of the 1989 American Book Award in Poetry, has written:
“Margie Shaheed’s sonorous chapbook Onomatopoeia is a subtle though visionary chant to life’s sacred essence, clad in the colloquial rhythms of the ordinary working people in America’s contemporary inner cities. She uses such everyday tasks as catching the bus to bring the reader face-to-face with cultural experiences which are often hidden by the sensational headlines of the corporate media. In her often dramatic urban serenades, the black, brown and beige folks come center stage to share their tortured brilliance, subtle language and survival wisdom with a spiritually starved world. I look forward to future sagas from this gifted cultural shaman.”
Onomatopoeia is 32 pages long and contains 21 poems. These poems are story and recollection, celebration and protest, gift and reclamation. Shaheed tells of "Catching the Bus" and "Overheard Conversation", of "American Wildfire: Ferguson, Missouri" and "Rhyme and Rituals".
Margie Shaheed's first book, Mosaic, published by NightBallet Press in 2013, has drawn widespread interest across the United States, and to date has sold nearly one thousand copies. Dr. Mary Weems of Cleveland wrote this (part of a review for Ohioana Quarterly) after reading the poems in Mosaic:
"These are the poems of a storyteller clearly connected to her African ancestry, oral tradition, and the history of Black people in America."
Margie Shaheed is a community poet, writer, and dynamic performance artist who conducts creative writing workshops for children and adults in a variety of settings, including traditional classrooms, libraries, theaters, and community arts centers. Believing poetry to be a tool for personal healing, she also conducts poetry workshops in clinical settings, including community health centers and outpatient substance abuse programs. Her work has also been published in Essence Magazine, Black Magnolias Literary Journal, The Mom Egg Review, Blackberry: A Magazine, and online at Femficātiō, Split This Rock, and TimBook Tu.
NightBallet Press congratulates Shaheed on winning the 2014 Hidden Charm Press Poetry Chapbook Contest—her book of poetry The Playground will be published by Hidden Charm Press in June 2015—and on having her anthropological nonfiction book Tongue Shakers: Interviews and Narratives on Speaking Mother Tongue in a Multicultural Society accepted for publication by Hamilton Books!
Photo taken at Ohioana 2014 by Julie Moore, used with permission.
Shaheed, who presented on a panel at Ohioana, is holding her previous NBP collection, Mosaic.
Shaheed, who presented on a panel at Ohioana, is holding her previous NBP collection, Mosaic.
Printed on crisp white paper, with a white cardstock cover and pine green cardstock insert, Onomatopoiea is a steal at only $10 plus $3 shipping/handling. It is available for purchasing beginning TODAY, Friday February 20, 2015 through PayPal right here in this posting, or on Amazon. Get it now, as her books tend to sell out quickly...and you don't want to miss a single sizzle of this exciting new collection!
But wait! Before you buy, you might want to read the paragraphs below, treat yourself and save some money!
NightBallet Press recently celebrated Cleveland poet RA Washington. His collection of poems and essays in The Paris Notebooks details a Black man's recent sojourn in Paris. Washington, a Cleveland icon, is a vibrant poet, musician, theorist, and much more.
Sam Allard of Scene Magazine has written:
"The bookshelves at Guide to Kulture aren't just stocked, they're curated. RA Washington has...been rocking and rolling at the helm of he westside's coolest book-and- culture warehouse for more than a year. It's certainly much more than a bookstore. Washington sells and repairs antique typewriters and has made the shop's basement a co-op workshop for the creation of 'zines. The basement is also where the readings and performances go down—Cleveland's version of a Parisian salon."
As a Black History Month special offer, NightBallet Press is making both Onomatopoeia by Margie Shaheed and The Paris Notebooks by RA Washington available for only $15 postage free through this PayPal link—get the Yin and the Yang of the Cleveland poetry scene in one envelope! And we'll even throw in some freebie publications from other local presses. Be sure to use this PayPal link for your purchase of both books.