Fall 2026 | Rickey Laurentiis | Vol. 10, Iss. 2
Lauren K. Alleyne, Editor-in-Chief and Executive Director of the Furious Flower Poetry Center
JohnTyler Richards, Video Production Supervisor | Katharine V. Benson, Graduate Editorial Assistant
Alli Donnelly and Stephen Lunde, Student Videographers
Welcome to The Fight & The Fiddle, a publication of the Furious Flower Poetry Center at James Madison University. Each issue gives you a 360-degree view of a Black poet, including an interview, new poems, a critical essay, and a writing prompt inspired by our featured poet.
Rickey Laurentiis is the award-winning author of two collections of poetry. The first, Boy with Thorn (2015), won the Cave Canem Poetry Prize, Levis Reading Prize, the Thomas Gunn award for Gay Poetry and a Lambda Literary Award, and was a finalist for the Kate Tufts Discovery Award. Laurentiis’ second collection, Death of the First Idea was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, longlisted for the National Book Award, and nominated for an NAACP Image Award. Laurentiis has received fellowships and awards from the Whiting Foundation, Cave Canem, The Poetry Foundation, The National Endowment for the Arts, among others. She was raised and lives in New Orleans.
- Interview: Rickey Laurentiis speaks with Dr. Gbenga Adesina about revising the body, poetry and the self over time.
- Critical Essay: Dr. Ian-Khara Ellasante considers the trans poetics of Rickey Laurentiis’ Death of the First Idea
- Poems: Read new poems, “Coming Out of the Animal” and “Voyeur,” by Rickey Laurentiis
- Writing Prompt: Mirrors through time: How does a decade make you see (and write) differently?
Read transcription here.
Cover Design by Robert Mott
Cover Photo: Bob Adamek
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