<DIV><p><br> <b>A National Poetry Series winner, chosen by Edward Sanders.</b></p><p><br>&ldquo;What power. Smith&rsquo;s poetry is all <I>poetry.</I> And visceral. Her poems get under the skin of their subjects. Their passion and empathy, their real worldliness, are blockbuster.&rdquo;&mdash;Marvin Bell</p><p><br>&ldquo;I was weeping for the beauty of poetry when I reached the end of the final poem.&rdquo;&mdash;Edward Sanders, National Poetry Series judge</p><p><br>From Lollapalooza to Carnegie Hall, Patricia Smith has taken the stage as this nation&rsquo;s premier performance poet. Featured in the film <I>Slamnation</I> and on the HBO series <I>Def Poetry Jam,</I> Smith is back with her first book in over a decade&mdash;a National Poetry Series winner weaving passionate, bluesy narratives into an empowering, finely tuned cele-bration of poetry&rsquo;s liberating power.</p></DIV>