Recrudescence

About the Book

Recrudescence: Poems in the Key of Black is an eclectic collection of free-verse work poetry, a journey of blackness in the past and even now. The poems are illustrative—they bring many images to mind and they make intangible concepts feel tangible. The section “Knife” is open and real dealing with the male voyage through prostate cancer and its aftermath and the rawness of postsurgery life. Family, the calm of nature, and an intimate observation of people whose lives hold special meaning give depth to the collection as does the author’s personal insight gathered from living in a complex world. The concluding trilogy “Mama Dear” and the poetic memoir “Hallelujah Anyhow” are the author’s reminiscence about the mother he never knew because of her tragic early death. As one reader of the manuscript wrote, “I felt like I knew your mother . . . you truly captured who she was, her life, her sentiments and showed the effects of her presence and absence.”

About the Author

Eddie Bell is retired university educator, writer, poet, and freelance journalist/photographer. His prior three collections of free verse poetry have been well received by diverse audiences from New York to California. Eddie's work also appears in anthologies, journals, newspapers, and online. Eddie has presented his poetry at noted venues, including St. Marks Church in the East Village, NY; City College of NY, Poetry in Performance, Aaron Davis Hall; 4th Annual Midwest Poets & Writers Conference, Detroit, MI; 1st Annual Woodstock Poetry Festival, NY; and le Duc des Lombards Jazz Club, Paris, France. His work has been translated in to French and Russian. Eddie also has significant non-fiction credits as a journalist and author of two church-related books. In 2016 Eddie was poet-in-residence at Cal State San Bernardino. Eddie is a New York transplant living in Charlotte, NC with his wife, Wilhelmina. He was honored at the White House for initiating the purchase of the first work of art by an African American artist added the White House permanent art collection. He is a member of Poets & Writers and the Arts Advisory Council of Friendship Day School, NC.