Tar Heel Born: A Native Son Speaks on Race, Religion, & Reconciliation (PB) (2015)

Tar Heel Born is a collection of seven narrative poems that reflect on one man's conflicted relationship with his home state of North Carolina. It flows between critique and praise, interweaving the brute ugliness of racism and anti-gay attitudes with the love of a beautiful land and the graciousness of a people. Ultimately, Tar Heel Born is a love letter to home, a vividly universal example of using childhood challenges as a springboard to greater self-discovery and acceptance. (Also includes the bonus poem, Obamanon: Living the Obama Phenomenon.)