BRASSBONES & RAINBOWS is the debut poetry collection of Shirley Bradley LeFlore, an oral poet and?performance artist from St. Louis, Missouri who has been on the scene for over five decades. While LeFlore tackles social, political and cultural issues with a profound love for humanity, she also provides insight into self-identity, inner-strength, beauty and faith. A literary griot, LeFlore shares the fabric of verse through jazz, blues and gospel music. Blending realism with lyricism that is interspersed with humor, these short and accessible verses flow in an easy going, smooth and soothing Southern American dialect mixed with African American Vernacular English -- its intensity changing from poem to poem -- with words serving as musical notes. BRASSBONES & RAINBOWS is a stunning testament to Shirley Bradley LeFlore, a story singer whose words will certainly roll off your tongue.
RIVERS OF WOMEN, THE PLAY by poet and oral performer Shirley Bradley LeFlore is a stage-play of poems accompanied with photographs by award-winning, Chicago-based photographer Michael J. Bracey. Bracey matches his images with LeFlore's poetry, adding a visual dimension that succeeds in endowing every poem with an added sense of depth and emotionality through his unique mode of multilayered conceptualization. RIVERS OF WOMEN is LeFlore's most prolific work of poetry rooted in the stories and voices of womanhood. Readers will hear the music and see the dance as they flip through the pages.
BRASSBONES & RAINBOWS is the debut poetry collection of Shirley Bradley LeFlore, an oral poet and?performance artist from St. Louis, Missouri who has been on the scene for over five decades. While LeFlore tackles social, political and cultural issues with a profound love for humanity, she also provides insight into self-identity, inner-strength, beauty and faith. A literary griot, LeFlore shares the fabric of verse through jazz, blues and gospel music. Blending realism with lyricism that is interspersed with humor, these short and accessible verses flow in an easy going, smooth and soothing Southern American dialect mixed with African American Vernacular English -- its intensity changing from poem to poem -- with words serving as musical notes. BRASSBONES & RAINBOWS is a stunning testament to Shirley Bradley LeFlore, a story singer whose words will certainly roll off your tongue.
RIVERS OF WOMEN, THE PLAY by poet and oral performer Shirley Bradley LeFlore is a stage-play of poems accompanied with photographs by award-winning, Chicago-based photographer Michael J. Bracey. Bracey matches his images with LeFlore's poetry, adding a visual dimension that succeeds in endowing every poem with an added sense of depth and emotionality through his unique mode of multilayered conceptualization. RIVERS OF WOMEN is LeFlore's most prolific work of poetry rooted in the stories and voices of womanhood. Readers will hear the music and see the dance as they flip through the pages.