Black Lives, Lines, and Lyrics: Lines, Lyrics, and Laments for Black Life, Love, Loss, and Liberty Paperback - 2021

Black Lives, Lines, & Lyrics conveys the 21st Century Black experience through lines and verse. Divided into three measures, this poetry collection provides rhythmical reflections on black experiences with racial and social injustice, a poetic account of the lives lost to police brutality and racial violence, and a lyrical celebration of the beauty, resilience, and humanity of Black people.

Part I, "Black Lyrics," provides a poetic perspective of the highs and lows of living while Black in the 21st Century.

Part II, "Black Lives," is a poetic account of the lives lost to police brutality and racial violence.

Part III, "Black Lines," is a nod to a different kind of poetic form, rap music, or Hip Hop, paying homage to the best of Black Excellence.

Readers agree that Black Lives, Lines, and Lyrics is a "body of art," an "amazing book of lyrical content," and "one of the most profound books" they have read "since the likes of Zora Neale Hurston and Maya Angelou." Author D.B. Mays "invites you to have a better understanding of the experiences of Black Lives in a three-part journey." Poems, like "AmeriKKKa," "Hypocrisy on the Hill," and "The Black Book: Lessons You Should Know" are "thought-provoking and liberating."

One reader called the work an "overdue gem that navigates through one of civilization's most sad and challenging realities. D.B. Mays covers so many bases with tremendous grace, style and clarity. A must-read for staying connected with today's call for universal peace and justice." Other readers wrote that it is an "absolutely amazing book of poetry and lyrical content" "has such a wide variety of poetry," and "compelling storytelling." Poems, such as "Stunning," "My Grandparents' Living Room," "Goldilocks," "The Run," and "#SayHerName" evoke "emotional" responses that make readers nostalgic, laugh, and even cry.

The book aims to help people of all backgrounds gain an appreciation for the beauty and endurance of Black people while bringing the realities of the discrimination and racism that Black people face in America and really, around the world, to the forefront of our social consciousness, conversations, and communities. This poetry collection is written for Black people, about Black people, and to Black people but it is also, an open and standing invitation to non-Black people to get to know us and our experiences a little better.