NECESSARY KINDLING

"[H]er dreams gather,/ in the mouths of ancestors,/ whispering the bitter code/ of what is possible," writes Ahmad, awarded the Janet Preston Prize by the Academy of American Poets, in this dignified, searing homage to African-American women, and the speaker's family members specifically. Describing one woman carrying "the long harp of her bones/ hardened like the inner shell/ of an unobtrusive mollusk/ singing to itself," the poet evinces the weight of history, endurance, carefully chosen words, self-protection and self-sacrifice. (Sept.)