Shackamaxon

Poet David Livewell beckons you to follow him down the streets where he spent his childhood in North Philadelphia. This prize-winning collection guides readers through the working-class neighborhood of Kensington, not as tourists or passersby, but as open-eyed observers of the visceral and unique spirit of the locales and its inhabitants. Through his use of metrics and poetic forms, Livewell skillfully weaves together harsh urban narratives with tragic regional history to create a colorful mosaic of colonial hope, industrialization, religion, racism, memory, and the current state of the American dream. These poems give a voice to people and places, both past and present, whose untold stories of suffering, survival, love, and family will resonate with readers from diverse worlds.