Can't Stop Won't Stop Book Cover
Can’t Stop Won’t Stop is a newly released chapbook anthology of poems by Black Twin Cities poets written in the wake of George Floyd’s murder. The chapbook features work by Philip S. Bryant, Keno Evol, Sherrie Fernandez-Williams, Bernard James, Douglas Kearney, Michael Kleber-Diggs, Sagirah Shahid, Maya Washington, and Pushcart Prize-nominated poet Mary Moore Easter, who edited the anthology.
The chapbook’s poems are varied in style and equal in power and beauty: Sagirah Shahid’s poem “Familiar Fruit” weaves her retelling of the tear gas, pepper spray and rubber bullets on Lake Street with memories of eating Carolina Reapers in a past summer. Sherrie Fernandez-Williams’ poem is a lyrical piece on homeland written after June Jordan’s “A Song for Soweto.” Douglas Kearney’s poem “Block Party Say It” mixes graphic design and text in a form he calls “performative typography.”
Rain Taxi released Can’t Stop Won’t Stop during the Twin Cities Book Festival, which was held virtually in October. Earlier this year, the organization made an anti-racism pledge: they’ve committed to work toward systemic change in the publishing industry, which has long excluded the work of BIPOC and marginalized writers.
“This is only one step on a long road, but it’s one we’re proud to take. The words, attention, and emotion on display in these nine poems is astounding,” said Rain Taxi Director Eric Lorberer in a press release.
Don’t just take his word for it, though—you can purchase Can’t Stop Won’t Stop here. Rain Taxi also partnered with iDream.tv to create a video of the poets reading their work, which is available on their website. The chapbook’s publication was supported by BookMobile, a Minneapolis-based company that provides book printing and design services to publishers.
