{"product_id":"the-desk-was-already-here-poems-paperback","title":"The Desk Was Already Here: Poems - Paperback","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cp style=\"text-align: right;\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/reportcopyrightinfringement.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eReport copyright infringement\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eShamon Lawrence\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe Desk Was Already\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003cstrong\u003eHere\u003c\/strong\u003e is the debut poetry collection from Shamon Lawrence, a writer and educator answering a question Countee Cullen posed nearly a century ago: Why would God make a poet Black and bid him sing? This collection is the song.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWritten in the quiet ache between classroom bells and long silences, Lawrence reckons with the impact of structures that never asked him to speak. His poems trace the sacred architecture of desks. Those inherited, assigned, built over, or broken down. Spanning from the desks where Black boys are told to be still, to the ones where Black men are asked to perform miracles as teachers, The Desk Was Already Here traces the sacred, strained lineage between student and educator.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWith nods to Hughes, Cullen, and the Black Baptist tradition, Lawrence builds a lyrical record of what school never teaches but always enforces: the burden of where you're placed, the pressure of what you're expected to become, and the quiet acts of care that keep Black students and teachers going.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis collection is part hymn, part indictment, part field note from an educator who knows the difference between compliance and communion. In these pages, the desk is not merely a setting, but a witness. A relic. A wound. A calling.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn The Desk Was Already Here, Lawrence dares to imagine what it means to teach, to write, and to live as if the desk were hallowed, and to sing anyway.\u003c\/p\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 64\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.15 x 8.5 x 5.5 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e June 19, 2025\u003c\/div\u003e\n            ","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43725768294535,"sku":"9798218714826","price":12.91,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0601\/2623\/2711\/files\/iDglx9Hd_x9798218714826_19bec164-f0e3-4fd4-bee8-0f1071518ad1.webp?v=1768229428","url":"https:\/\/booksby.splitshops.com\/products\/the-desk-was-already-here-poems-paperback","provider":"Books by splitShops","version":"1.0","type":"link"}