Headlines

Headlines is a poetry collection based on current media headlines surrounding black people and our existing notions of “blackness”. The headlines present an accurate contemporary view into the current zeitgeist of “blackness”. Media headlines are revealing historical and sociological artifacts that provide insights into any society. I utilize media headlines to analyze our current notions regarding “blackness” and all it entails. Writing poems derived from headlines is certainly an interesting undertaking because although I am writing poems based on our current experiences, there are common historical threads that consistently become entrenched in the various headlines. Contemporary preconceptions of blackness seem to have difficulty dislodging themselves from past notions and narratives.

Michael Fraser is published in Best Canadian Poetry in English 2013 and 2018. He has won numerous awards, including Freefall Magazine’s 2014 and 2015 poetry contests, the 2016 CBC Poetry Prize, the 2018 Gwendolyn Macewen Poetry Competition, and the 2022 Lesley Strutt Poetry Prize. Headlines is his sixth poetry collection.