Jericho Brown Poems

Jericho Brown is a contemporary poet who works as the director of the Creative Writing Program at Emory University. He won the Whiting Writers’ Award and several fellowships. His first book was Please, and his second was The New Testament. His next collection won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry.

Duplex

by Jericho Brown

‘Duplex’ by Jericho Brown explores physical and mental abuse, looking at how memory can impact a person.

This is a fantastic Jericho Brown poem. It is about the power of memory and how it shapes our sense of home and self. The speaker explores the dark demands of memory, which can be more intense than their struggles and desires.

A poem is a gesture toward home.

It makes dark demands I call my own.

Memory makes demands darker than my own:

My last love drove a burgundy car.

Explore more poems from Jericho Brown

Bullet Points

by Jericho Brown

Bullet Points by Jericho Brown explores hate crimes in America, particularly looking at those of the police against Black Americans.

The Tradition

by Jericho Brown

The Tradition is the titular poem from Pulitzer Prize winner Jericho Brown’s poetry collection. It brings to light the maltreatment of African Americans in the present US, while relating it to the past.

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