Copper Canyon Press has long been a supporter of young and emerging poets, and we continue that tradition with Roger Reeves’ highly anticipated first work, King Me.

When Reeves was young, he was a Pentecostal preacher. He also hung out in a barbershop, and listened to the barbershop talk. From these experiences, he absorbed distinct cadences and ways of speaking.

After Reeves left the Pentecostal church, he funneled his verbal energy into poetry.

Reeves studied rocket science at Princeton and is now working on a Ph.D. in Chicago.

When asked what his book was about, he said What it means to be a black man in American society.

Theme in the book includes sister’s bipolar disorder, and the traumatic undertones of her condition going untreated.

Title comes from when Reeves would play checkers with her sister and she would holler King me! King me! He loved that swagger and demand.

Cover art is owned by rapper Jay-Z