Carla M. Cherry's fourth poetry collection is about love and liberation. This medley of poems exalts the joys of childhood, self-acceptance, and falling in love, and grapples with gun violence, cultural appropriation, police brutality, and the neglect of the mentally ill. Her epic poem, "A Daughter Speaks", is an homage to the courage of Congresswoman Maxine Waters, Therese Patricia Okoumou, and the ordinary people across various identities who give us hope for a brighter future. These Pearls Are Real is like a bouquet of potpourri. May you find rejuvenation within its cover.
Author Biography
Carla M. Cherry is an English teacher who holds degrees from Spelman College, New York University, and Lehman College of the City University of New York. She has published three other books of poetry through Wasteland Press: Gnat Feathers and Butterfly Wings (2008), Thirty Dollars and a Bowl of Soup (2017), and Honeysuckle Me (2017). Her poems have appeared in Anderbo, Obscura, Eunoia Review, Dissident Voice, Random Sample Review, MemoryHouse Magazine, Bop Dead City, Down in the Dirt, In Between Hangovers, Firefly Magazine, Picaroon Poetry, Streetlight Press, Ariel Chart, Wallpaper, the Same, Zathom.com, and an upcoming issue of Hollow from Broken Tooth Press.
