Beat Beyond

In this collection of essays, interviews, and notes, Major Jackson reveals and revels in the work of poetry to not only limn and give access to the intellectual width and spiritual depth of poets, but also to amplify the controversies and inner conflicts that define our age: political unrest, climate crises, the fallout from bewildering traumas, and the social function of the art itself. Accessible and critically minded, Jackson avoids pedantry and provisional judgments by returning to the poem as an unparalleled source of linguistic pleasure that structures a multilayered “lyric self.” In his interviews, Jackson illustrates poetry’s distinct ability, through metaphor and expressive language, to mediate the inexplicable while foregrounding the possibilities of human song.Collected over several decades, these essays find Jackson praising mythmaking in Frank Bidart and Ai’s poetry, expressing bafflement at the silence of white-identified poets in the cause of social and racial justice, unearthing the politics behind Gwendolyn Brooks’s Pulitzer Prize, and marveling at the “hallucinatory speed of thought” in the poetry of a diverse range of poets including Mei-Mei Berssenbrugge, Brenda Hillman, Afaa Weaver, Forrest Gander, and Terrance Hayes. This collection passionately surveys the radical shifts of the art and notes poetry’s ardor and cultural value as a necessity for a modern sensibility.

"For teachers, it's a unit-worthy syllabus of poets whose work intersects and mutually inspires throughout the last century, with discussion questions to boot. For scholars, it's thoughtful research on poets like Countee Cullen and Lucille Clifton, a sharp-eyed breakdown of the 1950 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry award letter that made Gwendolyn Brooks the first Black woman recipient, and a short, persuasive thesis on the historical poem as a defining national genre. . . For critics, of course, it's a giddy chance to catch a younger Jackson at our own task, writing low-key ekphrastics as he turns his metronome ear and poet's tongue on someone else's art." --World Literature Today --GK Schatzman "World Literature Today" (3/1/2023 12:00:00 AM), "The acclaimed poet explores the intellectual and spiritual elements of poetry and the social function of art through essays, interviews and notes." --The New York Times-- "The New York Times" (7/27/2022 12:00:00 AM), "A Beat Beyond is a collection for the weary writer, for poets who feel themselves becoming invisible, and for any person who desires a liberation of language and lyric. With prose that transcends the bounds of mere musicality, Major Jackson invites us to investigate just how poetry 'puts in an appearance.' From the academy, to conversations in the grocery store, to churches, to hip-hop music, poetry is a sound guide that can lead us to the center of language." --Kashif Andrew Graham, Chapter 16--Kashif Andrew Graham "Chapter 16" (8/29/2022 12:00:00 AM), "Charles Baudelaire famously wrote 'always be a poet, even in prose, ' and in his welcome new collection, A Beat Beyond, acclaimed poet Major Jackson explores subjects as expansive as Amiri Baraka, Elizabeth Bishop, vintage radios, and The Roots. Through expertly crafted and engaging essays, talks, reviews, and even liner notes, Jackson lyrically demonstrates his expansive intellect and how 'poetry conveys the richness of living in the music of ourselves.'" --Mandana Chaffa, Editor-at-Large, Chicago Review of Books--Mandana Chaffa, "Gathering essays, talks, and reviews, A Beat Beyond offers readers a window into the poetics of a (pun intended) Major figure in contemporary American poetry. These crisp, highly readable pieces articulate the aesthetics informing Jackson's editorial practices and sketch the readings, musics, lived experiences, and resulting insights that comprise the 'lyrical self' of a Black poet with Philadelphia roots." --Evie Shockley, Zora Neale Hurston Professor of English, Rutgers University--Evie Shockley

Major Jackson is Professor of English, Director of Creative Writing, and Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Chair in the Humanities at Vanderbilt University.Amor Kohli is Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of African and Black Diaspora Studies at DePaul University.