T. J. Anderson III has published poems in Callaloo, Black Renaissance Noire, Sarasota Review of Poetry, Sulfur, lift, and Indiana Review. A former Fulbright Scholar at Cairo University, he is the author of Notes to Make the Sound Come Right: Four Innovators of Jazz Poetry (University of Arkansas Press), the highly acclaimed spoken-word CD, Blood Octave (Flat Five Recordings), and the chapbook At Last Round Up (liftbooks). Anderson currently lives with his family in Roanoke, Virginia, and teaches at Hollins University.

Books by T. J. Anderson III:

About River to Cross:

"Fueled with ecstatic rage and syncopated with jazzed-up pistons and B-bop timing belts, T. J. Anderson's River to Cross is a long ride and deep plunge into the American subconscious. Lyrical, linguistically inventive, and deadly serious, Anderson wields surrealism to create surprising metaphors and revelatory dream symbols for our age, for the struggles our spirits and bodies engage. Attuned to "you who are off' and taking the pulse of "that red bud that brews/the blood in bloom," River to Cross is a momentous achievement worthy of our attention and celebration."
—Khaled Mattawa

"With a keen sense of Nommo—the power of the word-Anderson is commander-in-chief on this odyssey through landscapes that lie behind the whites of our eyes and the skin of our teeth, with imagery frothing with life, sometimes scary, always seductive. How about "Blood Octave," yeah, oh yes—and what about "A Sonic Language"—and what about, and what about—that's how it goes: inspiration all the way: soulful, bodyful, spiritful, Black-ful, beauty-ful—it's more than black-and-white-on-paper."
—Brenda Dixon Gottschild

"River to Cross by T.J. Anderson III is an interesting mix of poems filled with blood octaves, flaming pomegranate trees, visitations and dedications to jazz musicians such as Eric Dolphy and Coleman Hawkins. This is a wonderful volume of poetry, vibrant and insightful to the last riff."
—Jayne Cortez