Saeed Jones’s debut poetry collection, Prelude to Bruise (2016), is an essential contemporary piece of work comprised of narrative free verse’s that tackle an African-American historical past that is present in our existing society. During the 1960’s African American Studies began to be implemented in American universities due to the Civil Rights Movement and the rise of Black Nationalism (penguin dictionary). While the title of the collection implies the commencement of bruising and its inescapability, the growth of the poems throughout indicate steady progress in our society. Much of the collections focus is on historical contexts of Jones past and beyond, integrating brutality, race, violence and power. An African-American Studies reading of the collection reveals that the brutal past of African-Americans still weighs on modern society. Jones’s imagery combines the physical environment and historical precedents to explicitly present the relationship between slavery and its aftermath, from the perspective of African-Americans. Imbricated throughout this collection are key mechanisms set to reveal how the natural world and the world of racism, in fact, coincide with one another. These in turn empower the speaker’s growth, enabling “I’s” and “Boys” ability to depart from boyhood and enter the world of man. Therefore, beginning the prelude to bruise.
The first poem in the collection, “Anthracite”, sets the pace for the journey to come by the use of universal metaphors that