Illinois Authors

Kelsay Books 2022

Joseph is one of our most circumspect poets, even as she takes up our most nettlesome issues. Her work is profoundly humanistic — but she seems wary of the impulse to assume a position of moral superiority . . . but her tonal poise and patience evoke a person who lives among and close by the hurts and blunders even as she critiques them. An articulate participant within the court of public opinion, she does not stand to the side and carp. —Ron Slate, On the Seawall The author offers readers a window into the Black experience. Her free form poetry is replete with paradox and her descriptions of personal experiences and observations about life are often graphic and can be uncomfortable to read. Her writing style serves a purpose, though, to shed light on the ugly reality of life. Very thought-provoking and eye-opening! —Judges’ Comment, Feathered Quill Book Awards

Red Hen Press 2018

The poems in Allison Joseph's latest collection are smart, shameless, and empowered confessions of the best kind. In semi-autobiographical verse highlighting in turns light-hearted and harsh realities of modern black womanhood, these poems take the reader down A History of African-American Hair, visit with both Grace Jones and the Venus de Milo, send Janis Joplin to cheerleading camp, bemoan a treacherous first pair of high heels, and discuss vagina business. Funny, but never flippant, and always forthcoming about the author's own flaws and foibles, Confessions of a Barefaced Woman is sure to keep readers entranced, entertained, and enlightened.

Sibling Rivalry Press, LLC 2018

In Corporal Muse, poet Allison E. Joseph pulls back the curtain on her writing process, searching for (and finding) The Muse in unexpected places. These are poems of love and praise. They are time machine and magic spell. Corporal Muse is a cross-section of poetic technique so strong it conjures The Muse to wherever the reader holds this book.

Carnegie Mellon University Press, Pittsburgh : 2003.

A collection of poetry by Allison Joseph.

University of Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh : ©1997.

A collection of poetry by Allison Joseph.

Red Hen Press 2021

Lexicon is a worthy successor to Allison Joseph’s award-winning breakthrough, Confessions of a Barefaced Woman. This time around, this self-professed “barefaced woman” is setting her sighs/sights on language and what it does for and with and to her. Joseph loves language, making it her slippery passion in poems about childhood griefs and fashion faux pas, movie musicals and empty airports, “rules” for writing and rules for reading. Though Joseph loves language, it doesn’t always love her back—but in her wise, readable, and imaginative way, she persists while documenting the minefields of racism and sexism. Joseph finds joy in the most unlikely of places, and in Lexicon, her adoration for the written word lets us see those places in sharp and evocative relief. All hail this bounty, this Lexicon!

Steel Toe Books, ©2010.

The centerpiece of Allison Joseph's sixth full-length poetry collection is a sequence of thirty-four sonnets about losing her father.

Carnegie Mellon University Press, Pittsburgh, PA : 1997.

A collection of poetry by Allison Joseph.

Mayapple Press, Bay City, MI : 2009.

Poetry. African American Studies.

Ampersand Press, Bristol, RI : ©1992.

A collection of poetry by Allison Joseph.

Word Press, Cincinnati, OH : 2004.

Worldly Pleasures is a book about pushing past tribulations to seek joy: in play, in friendship, in relationship. Ranging from a memorable series of character portraits to sensual love poems, Allison Joseph's fifth full-length collection finds, in its clear, smooth lines, a way to celebrate the world despite its difficulties. Worldly Pleasures further establishes Joseph as one of the leading poets of her young generation.