Grocery Shopping with My Mother

Poems

When Kevin Powell's elderly mother became ill, he returned home ever week to take her grocery shopping in Jersey City. Walking behind her during those trips, Powell began to hear her voice, stories, and language in a new way—and examined his own healing while praying for hers.

Grocery Shopping with My Mother originated as social media posts about these visits and evolved into a breathtaking collection of thirty-two new poems, crafted like an album, plus four bonus tracks celebrating a great love of wordplay.

Culturally rooted in the literary traditions of Ntozake Shange and Allen Ginsberg, Powell’s poems honor the likes of V (formerly Eve Ensler), bell hooks, and Sidney Poitier.

Grocery Shopping with My Mother dives into the complexities of relationships and contemporary themes with honesty and vulnerability. Creatively and spiritually inspired by Stevie Wonder’s Songs in the Key of Life, Powell’s poems shift in form and style, from praise chants to reverential meditations to, most importantly, innovative hope.

©2022 Kevin Powell (P)2023 Recorded Books

Great Poetry Collection

A great collection of poems read by the author. Emotional and moving. Audio quality was clear.

Poems on his mother and father

I appreciated the sincerity and rawness of the poetry.Kevin Powell is a hip hop poet that is a gift to understanding the effects of love, poverty, and femininity in a feminist prose.