For Adults


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The Meeting House.jpg

The Meeting House
(Antrim House 2016)

Faster Than Light.jpg

Faster Than Light
(LSU Press, 2012)

cover The Cachoeira Tales.jpg

The Cachoeira Tales
(LSU Press, 2005)

cover The Thirteenth Month.jpg

The Thirteenth Month
(Oberlin College Press 2005)

The Fields of Praise.jpg

The Fields of Praise
(LSU Press, 1997)

cover Euripides, 1.jpg

Euripides, 1
(Penn Press 1997)

cover Magnificat.jpg

Magnificat
(LSU Press, 1994)

cover The Homeplace.jpg

The Homeplace
(LSU Press, 1990)

cover Mama's Promises.jpg

Mama's Promises
(LSU Press, 1985)

What they’re saying

“a poet of stunning power, able to bring alive the most rarified and subtle of experiences.” —LSU Press

Using domestic settings and memories of her own childhood, Nelson fashions poetry which “sometimes sings, sometimes narrates” —Kirkland C. Jones, Dictionary of Literary Biography

“Her words teach us how to praise ourselves by praising each other.” —Yusef Komunyakaa

Nelson’s poetry “reaches back through generations hemmed in on all sides by slavery and its antecedents; all along the way she finds sweetness, and humor, and more complicated truth than its disguises have revealed.” —Suzanne Gardinier, Parnassus

“quietly lyrical” voice and poems of “simple wisdom and straightforward, indelible stories.” —Miller Williams, African American Review