Serious poetry collections continue to be birthed. The evidence:

Arc & Hue
By Tara Betts
Willow Books, September 2009
Excerpt from "Why I Collect The Hair":

Years ago, a college boyfriend left my bed
to go home. His mother honed in
on the brassy streaks
and pulled them off
with what white girl are you seeing?
So, I'm still plucking, gathering up
small tumbleweeds in my palm,
clues that deny brown
coiled inside me.

Psalm of the Sunflower
By Antoinette Brim
Willow Books, September 2009
Excerpt from "A small house by the sea":

She sometimes thinks of leaving
but only recently finished decorating the house.
Everything has a place. She's put
everything in its place. How could she
take it all apart, pack it all away. Where
would she go anyway, though she longs
for a small house by the sea. A place
all her own, where she can look out
at the water and get a sense of forever.

Pulling Scabs
By Curtis L. Crisler
Willow Books, September 2009
Excerpt from "Spectaculations":

Sometimes a child can save your life:
burn your throat on fermented lullabies
instead of Jim Beam, save your liver
from happening to cirrhosis and his friends,
make you playground and run like a cholera
victim to pick up antsy soccer kids. A child
gives you another day and the best thing
for you is another day.

Prayers Like Shoes
By Ruth Forman
Whit Press, December 2009
Excerpt from "When We Were Not Looking":

This war take a toll on you
hear it in your laugh
thinner than it used to be
still hug me in your voice though
and i hug back

The Lingua Franca of Ninth Street
By Randall Horton
Main Street Rag, September 2009
Excerpt from "Blues Birthed into Go-Go":

The granddaddy, from Mississippi  
red mud, migrated to DC with gospel
& the breeze of Emmett Till's cry
ringing his ears like a field holler.

A slow harmonic voice, he could 
pluck a guitar & keep four/four time,
sing brackish sorrow in the low note--
make a woman swallow laughter.

Also check out Liberation Narratives: New and Collected Poems 1966-2009 by Haki Madhubuti. This recently released collection is the most complete compilation of the poet-activist's career.

Lisa Cortés has been navigating the entertainment industry for more than twenty years. She worked at Def Jam during the hip-hop label's early days in the 80s. She cofounded a company with Russell Simmons that represented music producers. She even started her own record label.

Eventually the Yale graduate turned her talents towards film, officially entering the game as an assistant to director Lee Daniels during the making of Monster's Ball. Since then, her producer credits have included The Woodsman and Shadowboxer. Now, she's traveling around the world promoting her new project, Precious, the emotionally-charged film that she executive produced.

Books on the Root talked with Cortés about the representation of black women in film, healing, and the work of Octavia Butler.

Books on the Root: Tell me about Precious.
Lisa Cortés: Precious was a very political and personal film for me to make. It was political because so many of the issues, from literacy to overall neglect and sexual abuse are so prevalent in the film but not talked about or addressed actively as they should be. The film has provided a tremendous forum for healing and discussion.

It was personal because as a black woman, I don't see myself when I go to the movies. I don't see the beauty and range of our journeys. Not everyone in Precious is good; there are bad people; there are people who transform. There is a range of black women in Precious from Mo'Nique to Paula [Patton] to Gabby [Sidibe] to Mariah [Carey] to Sherri [Shepherd] that shows a full spectrum of who we are. When's the last time we could go to the movies and see ourselves in such complexity and handled with such intelligence?

BOTR: Do you think the film will help to change that lack of diverse representation of black women?
LC: I hope that this film will encourage all filmmakers to look through the tremendous range that we represent and the treasure chest of black actors and actresses to work with, and to not see stories as black or white, but as human stories.

BOTR: You've said that Precious was one of the most challenging and complex projects of your career. What made it so challenging and complex?
LC: The first thing that made it challenging was honoring the source material, the book Push [by Sapphire], which was exquisitely written and loved by so many.  You don't want to hear that the book is so much better than the movie. We wanted to live up to the world and characters that Sapphire created.

The second challenge was production, to create a world that was set in 1987, which made it a period piece. It was a challenge to find the right people, to bring these characters to life, and to supplement all the different aspects of production with elements that really service the project.

BOTR: When did you first read Push?
LC:  I read it in 1996 when it first came out. I was in the music industry. I wasn't making films at that time.

BOTR: What was your initial reaction to the book?
LC: What's amazing is that not only is Sapphire a gifted novelist, she's also a poet. So the book is a skillful blend of narrative fused with poetry. It was one of the wildest rides I've ever taken. I read it in one sitting. It was so vivid and real. In undergrad, I tutored, so I met a lot of precious girls and I thought that her story was conveyed with dignity, drama, and humor, which made it such a fantastic read. Then I started breathing again. I don't think I was breathing the entire time I read the book. 

BOTR: Sapphire has a quick cameo in the movie. Did you work with her during the film's development?
LC: After Monster's Ball, this is the first project we tried to get. Sapphire respectfully passed. When she saw Shadowboxer, she said yes. All that she asked was to read the final draft. She said to us, "I'm not a filmmaker. I trust you guys." She read the final draft and gave a few notes which were incorporated. She came to the set a couple of times, and seemed to enjoy the process. She trusted that we were going to honor the story and make it look beautiful.

BOTR: Why do you think it was important to bring life to the voice of Claireece Precious Jones through film?
LC: If you look at the literacy rates, twenty-five percent of adults in this country don't have a literacy rate that will allow them to get a job. Not everyone is going to be able to experience this story through word. Also, the movie is playing internationally, and the power of cinema is that you don't have to know what they're saying. You can watch the moving images and get it. Film can sometimes go places that the printed word can't.

It's also an expansive vision of what we as black women go through. Lee has crafted a film that has incredibly beats. People say that they can't get it out of their heads.

BOTR: How do you respond to criticisms of the movie that say it's a negative portrayal of black life?
LC: Anyone who feels is it too negative is not looking at the transformative journey that Precious goes on. It's hopeful and very true. And there's a lot of beauty in the film. The actors in it are all beautiful from Lenny Kravitz to Gabby to Mo'Nique. There's such beauty in the performances. It's beautifully shot, and there's a lot of humor. This film is not one note. You'll see the cracks in the sidewalks, and if you look closely, you'll also see the rose growing from one of those cracks.

BOTR: At the screening in Washington, DC, director Lee Daniels said he made this film to heal. What do you think is the healing power of the film?
LC: The transformative power of the film is on so many levels. Precious is quite real. Even if you've haven't been a victim of abuse, you can open your heart and see the type of engagement that you have with precious girls and boys, for abuse isn't limited to young women. There's also the recognition of humanity that's so important.

It's interesting because I've been getting a lot of calls from people in the entertainment industry who have started mentoring groups. There are so many ways that we can make a difference in our own communities. The film speaks to how community is an important part of Precious' healing and transformation.

BOTR: What's another book you'd love to see turn into a movie?
LC: The science fiction of Octavia Butler. Definitely.

For the last couple of weeks, Amazon and Wal-Mart have been at war online. The megastores are heavily discounting highly anticipated book releases and causing a windstorm among publishers and other opponents who see the business tactics as disastrous on an already fragile industry.

Currently, Wal-Mart has priced its "Top 50 Preorders" of titles like Sarah Palin's Going Rogue and James Patterson's I, Alex Cross at $8.98 whereas Amazon is selling those titles for $9.00. And according to the Wall Street Journal, these two brilliant giants are selling the books at a loss.

The price war comes off as a "who's got the biggest discount" contest rather than a strategy to offer savings to customers. Perhaps that's why Target and Sears joined the battle. No one wants to look like they have a small, you know, discount.

But what about the consumer? Sure, the immediate savings of snatching a new hardcover for nine bucks when it usually retails for more than twenty dollars sounds good now. But are there long-term implications for the book industry and independent bookstores that can't possibly slash prices so low? Many indies have closed citing reasons of bleak economic climate and increased competition by megastores and online sellers. Will consumers become spoiled by these deals and expect lower prices on all books? Will it only be a matter of time before Wal-Mart and Amazon, who don't exclusively sell books, expect publishers to carry the discounts on their backs?

James Surowiecki writes inThe New Yorker:

"Outraged book publishers and booksellers are making exaggerated claims about how the discounts will devalue books and wreck the industry. But they're right about one thing. The real competition in this price war is not between Wal-Mart and Amazon but between those behemoths and everyone else-and the damage everyone else is incurring is deliberate, not collateral. Wal-Mart and Amazon have figured out how to fight a price war and win: make sure someone else takes the blows."

Barbara Meade, co-founder of Washington, DC-based independent bookstore Politics and Prose made an interesting point: "It's a totally different market. If Wal-Mart started selling pork chops for $1.79 a pound, they're not going to put Whole Foods out of business. There is plenty of room for everyone."

But in war, there's always a loser. The question is: who will that be?

When trendy goes wrong: In August, author Teri Woods, best known for her True to the Game street fiction trilogy, threw a party at the hard-to-get-into New York club Greenhouse to celebrate her new book Alibi.

Unfortunately, the majority of her 175 invitees couldn't get in. The reason? They're claiming racism.

But this isn't just talk. A one billion dollar class-action suit has been filed against the club according to the New York Daily News.

One of the plaintiffs, Kashan Robinson, told the Daily News, “They should have just put up a sign that said, ‘No Coloreds Allowed’. There was no reason for them to not allow us into that club, except for the color of our skin.”

Woods agrees and is apparently thinking of pursuing her own legal case. She told the paper that most of her black guests (which amounted to about one hundred people), including her family and friends, were denied entry while white invitees had been let in. Woods also said that she received text messages from the club's owner Barry Mullineaux that "had something to do with ‘your people’ and ‘fat’.

Naturally, Mullineaux disagrees with the claims and calls the charges “bogus.”

Even if the club's intentions weren't racist (although that would be hard to argue), I know if it was my book party, a sista would be hot. I find it hard to believe that there wasn't a conversation with management about door policies prior to Woods scheduling her launch party at Greenhouse.

Would I be billion-dollar hot? No. But hot nonetheless, and I would definitely seek some sort of retribution.