Johnson, Roxane Beth. Black Crow Dress. Farmington, ME: Alice James Books, 2013.

A collection of lyrically intense persona poems about the emancipation of slaves in their myriad voices as well as a meditation on the self. The collection’s imagery takes the reader from churchyard to church, chanting the old spirituals, as Johnson seeks to embody the spirits of the dead. (Publisher’s abstract, abridged)