WATCH: Roger Reeves and A. Van Jordan on the Evolving Vitality of Verse

In Best Barbarian, his second collection, Whiting Award-winning poet Roger Reeves probes the apocalypses and raptures of humanity—climate change, anti-Black racism, familial and erotic love, ecstasy and loss. These poems roam across the literary and social landscape, visiting with Beowulf’s Grendel and the jazz musician Alice Coltrane, reckoning with immigration at the US-Mexico border and thinking through the fraught beauty of the moon on a summer night after the police have killed a Black man.

Reeves joins us virtually in conversation with award-winning poet A. Van Jordan (Rise) to share from this gleaming collection and discuss the evergreen and evolving vitality of verse.

Founded in October 2009 by Rebecca Fitting and Jessica Stockton Bagnulo, Greenlight Bookstore is an independent bookstore in Brooklyn, New York. Combining the best traditions of the neighborhood bookstore with carefully curated, community-minded events, Greenlight has earned a reputation as a literary destination. Greenlight has continued to serve its community during the COVID-19 pandemic with a diverse array of virtual events, and has been inspired by the movements for racial justice across the country to engage in the work of becoming a more anti-racist company. Learn more at greenlightbookstore.com or check them out @greenlightbklyn.