Reginald Harris is information technology director and coor­dinator of poetry in the branches for Poets House in New York City. The re­cipient of Individual Artist Awards for both poetry and fiction from the Mary­land State Arts Council, a Pushcart Prize nominee, and a Cave Canem fellow, his first book, 10 Tongues (2001), was a finalist for a Lambda Literary Award and the ForeWord Book of the Year. His poetry, fiction, reviews, and articles have appeared in numerous journals and websites, including 5am, African American Review, Gargoyle, and Sou’wester Journal; and in the anthologies Best Gay Poetry 2008 and The Ringing Ear: Black Poets Lean South.

Books by Reginald Harris:

Other poems on the web by Reginald Harris:
Five poems
"The Poet in Love"

About Autogeography:

"Auto meaning self or same, and Geography meaning earth writing. In Autogeography, Harris explores the geographies that have written his identity as an African American and as a gay male. His stylistically diverse collection is personal, contemporary, marked by the rhythms of African American music, inventive, and filled with a disarming wit. In "The Poet Behind the Wheel," Harris writes of the poet: "Do NOT let him drive you: / Buckle up and hours later / Who knows where you’ll arrive"—advice readers will be happy to ignore as Autogeography travels through a landscape of personal lyrics, descriptive portraits, and historical witness. This is poetry that wants to speak to readers and not above them. He walks the streets you walk, sees the people you see, feels—especially in "The Lost Boys: A Requiem"— the same heart-breaking despair over the plight of African American males (drugs, violence, AIDS, urban ruin) that you feel. Harris is driving and readers are lucky to be in the passenger seat."
— Janice Harington

"In Autogeography, Harris gives us the gift of quickening the treasure of black culture in poems that touch the enduring spirit of black people. He has baptized himself in that signifi­cant and signifying wellspring, the song of the African Ameri­can quotidian. The poet celebrates black life and the way it connects to humanity, the bright woven cloth of all our lives. This book is the hoodoo ring shout call and response for love."
—Afaa Michael Weaver