Divine Blue Light (For John Coltrane)

In May 2022, Will Alexander's previous book, Refractive Africa (2021, published in the U.S. by New Directions and in the U.K. by Granta), was named a finalist for the 2022 Pulitzer Prize in Poetry. Will Alexander, although hugely admired as one of the great avant-garde Black poets for many years with over a dozen books under his belt, is finally starting to gain national and international admiration from major outlets. Refractive Africa , was also reviewed in both the New York Times and The Guardian. Divine Blue Light will be published as volume 63 in the Pocket Poets series, with Will Alexander joining the ranks of Allen Ginsberg, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Frank O'Hara, Anne Waldman and, most recently, Tongo Eisen-Martin, among other great American poets. This book joins a list of recent City Lights titles by innovative contemporary Black poets including Tongo Eisen-Martin, Pamela Sneed, D.S. Marriott, Uche Nduka and great poets from the past like Bob Kaufman and Stephen Jonas. Alexander's surrealist-inspired poetry is a direct descendent of the work of Philip Lamantia and Bob Kaufman, two signature American poets from the Pocket Poets Series. Alexander is a lifetime resident of Los Angeles and is the current poet-in-residence at Beyond Baroque, a venerated poetry institution in the area. A poem appearing in this book was chosen and brought into orbital space by Dr. Sian Proctor on Space X's all-civilian mission, Inspiration4, in 2021.