A 2020 Benjamin Franklin Award Silver Winner. Traversing twenty-three years of earth and breath, Quraysh Ali Lansana's first new and collected poems roadmaps small town Oklahoma to southside Chicago in compelling poems that question, surprise and dare. As a direct descendent of the Black Arts Movement and last student of Miss Gwendolyn Brooks, Lansana explores the complicated internal and external terrain of Blackness and history from a post-King, post-Kennedy childhood through the election of the first non-White president, while grappling with the definition of home. These are poems that cry, sing, scream and see. "There are reasons why this book should be put in a capsule and sent into space so everyone in the next galaxy could see, hear, and understand, what it was to be black in America. Heritage. Heritage. Heritage, from the poet's great-great grandfather; to the poems in Harriet Tubman's voice." Grace Cavalieri, The Washington Independent Review of Books "Reading these gripping, and, at times, funny poems is an education and delight as they chart a poet's evolution from childhood infatuations to youthful trials to fatherhood and middle age . . . The Skin of Dreams is a robust must-read, a perfect addition to every poetry collection." Booklist, Starred Review "Quraysh Ali Lansana has woven a roadmap of poems and prophecy from Tulsa to Chicago, slowly breaking open the voices of history with each step. Here is a friendship journey, a father/son Southside Chi meditation for the 21st century blues. Follow the path to enter your own skin." Tyehimba Jess , Pulitzer Prize winner, Olio "The poems chronicle the dedication Lansana has put into keeping history current, chronicling the human experience through the African American presence. In this collection, he 'captures present moments fleeting seconds' understanding 'we will never be here again, ' but we're grateful for his song, which keeps harkening back while pushing us forward." A. Van Jordan , Rise and Quantum Lyrics "Poetry as more than a decorative furnishing in American literature, Lansana extends and reifies a long tradition of communal voicings, political activism, and social engagement but not at the expense of his own self-hood." Major Jackson , Roll Deep and Hoops "Lansana is a poet of such power, grace, and witness: how glorious it is to have the many threads of his work drawn into this stark and heartbreaking collection. He mourns our losses, celebrates family, friends, fatherhood, tells us what the country is, has been, can be." Rilla Askew , Most American and Kind of Kin Quraysh Ali Lansana is the author of eight books of poetry in addition to textbooks and works for children. A former faculty member of both the Writing Program of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and the Drama Division of The Juilliard School, Lansana served as Director of the Gwendolyn Brooks Center for Black Literature and Creative Writing at Chicago State University and was an Associate Professor of English/Creative Writing. His work Our Difficult Sunlight: A Guide to Poetry, Literacy & Social Justice in Classroom & Community (with Georgia A. Popoff) was published in March 2011 by the Teachers & Writers Collaborative and was a 2012 NAACP Image Award nominee. His most recent books include The Whiskey of Our Discontent: Gwendolyn Brooks as Conscience & Change Agent, with Georgia A. Popoff (Haymarket Books, 2017) and The BreakBeat Poets: New American Poetry in the Age of Hip Hop with Kevin Coval and Nate Marshall (Haymarket Books, 2015). Lansanas work appears in Best American Poetry 2019, and he was recently named a Tulsa Artist Fellow.