AUTHOR. EDITOR. POET. PROFESSOR.
LEN LAWSON
Photo by Michael Dantzler
Publications
Essays
Poems
2023
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"Elegy for Chadwick Boseman" This Is the Honey: An Anthology of Contemporary Black Poets (Print)
"Work Is" What Things Cost: An Anthology for the People (Print)
"Interlude (When I place a ring on my finger)" South Carolina Review (Print)
"flail (n.,v.)" Poetry Northwest (Print)
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2022
"My S. Carolina Concealed Weapons Permit Instructor Notices That My Driver’s License Mistakenly Indicates I Am Not a Black Male" & "Black Child’s Fifth Grade Homework"
"Simone Biles: GOAT Therapy" Callaloo
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"Spaceships on Bankhead Revisited" Aunt Chloe
"Yes I Am / No, I Haint" Poetry Northwest
2021
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"Hypotenuse" *Palette Poetry Prize, 3rd place* Palette Poetry
"Psychology for Black Folk" Jasper Writes Series
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"Birdie" Twelve Mile Review (print)
"Elegy for Chadwick Boseman" Rogue Agent
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2020
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Two Poems Aunt Chloe: A Journal of Artful Candor
Three Poems Cola Literary Review (formerlyYemassee Journal)
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"Snap Beans" African American Review
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2019
"The Emancipation of Aunt Jemima and Uncle Ben" Cosmonauts Avenue
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Five Poems Queen Mob's Tea House
"Something about a Black Boy" *Pushcart Prize Nominee* Border Crossing
"Frozone's Bride" Ninth Letter
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"Mural Me" Stonecoast Review (Print)
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"Battle Hymn for the Soul" Callaloo Journal
2018
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Two Poems South Florida Poetry Journal
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"Portrait of George Stinney, Jr., as Police Report and Trial"
*Gigantic Sequins Summer Contest Finalist*
Gigantic Sequins (Print)
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"The Black Body Is a Wind Chime" Thrush Poetry Journal
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"When I Fly Too Close to the Sun I Don't Smell Melting Wax" The Good Men Project
2017
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"Battle Royal" Pennsylvania English (Print)
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"Plan B" (w/ audio) The Baltimore Review
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"A Blind Man Gives You [In]Sight" SYZYGY, The Solar Eclipse Poetry Invitational (Print)
"The Things You Should Hear" Fall Lines Vol. IV (Print)
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2016
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"I'm Human, Too" (w/ audio) HEArt Online Journal (defunct)
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"You've Heard This Before" The Good Men Project
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Two Poems The James Franco Review
Two Poems Public Pool (defunct)
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Four Poems (w/ Interview) Connotation Press
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"Google search for black lives matter" Winter Tangerine Review
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"I Hate My Own Breath" & "Skinny Boy" Pittsburgh Poetry Review (Print)
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Three Poems Drunk in a Midnight Choir
"Feel the Vibration: Marky Mark & the Funky Bunch"
*Best of the Net Nominee* Yellow Chair Review
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"I Write My Body Eclectic" (w/ Audio) [PANK] Magazine
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"Praise Song for the Waters" *Mississippi Review Poetry Prize Finalist*
Mississippi Review
"Down South" Charleston Currents
"Briefcase of Little Tortures" & "Separation" Up the Staircase Quarterly
2015
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"Threes" & Excerpt from "Page from the Coward's Playbook" Jasper Magazine
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"Deep Sea" *Pushcart Prize Nominee* & "Uncle J's Blues"
The Petigru Review (Print)
"Traffic Stop" & "Sounds of the Police" pluck! Black Poets Speak Out Issue
"Homeless Ex-con at Columbia Midlands Regional Transit Authority"
"Dead to You" *Best of the Net Nominee* Diverse Voices Quarterly (defunct)
"Mosquito Music" Control Literary Magazine
"Smashing Bottles" *Berfrois Poetry Prize Finalist* Berfrois Magazine
2014
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"Burn" & "Sunday Night Revival" Pamplemousse Magazine (Print)
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"Summer Night Revival" The Southern Tablet
"This Life Ain't Fit for Nobody" The Southern Tablet