Music, scriptures and mature themes take center stage in The Poetic Repercussion, the second book of poetry by UGA alumnus Mark Anthony Thomas.
“Poetry has integrated pop culture trends for pure performance and live delivery,” says Thomas, who earned a bachelor’s degree in marketing in 2001. “With this book, I wanted to show that a young, black man could write in cross-
cultural forms of traditional and contemporary poetry and music while addressing the social and generational topics people would enjoy reading.”
Venturing through a multitude of interlinking themes, Thomas narrates through conservative subjects while exploring areas that many will find surprising.
Metaphorically set in a “psychiatrist’s chair,” the poems deal with athletics, causes of the Iraqi war and hip hop music’s influence on American culture. Heavily influenced by the artists of the Harlem Renaissance, Thomas pays tribute to Langston Hughes, Jean Toomer and Countee Cullen. All poems allude to biblical scriptures, noted as “instruments” associated with each piece. Exceptions include those dedicated to hip hop, Halle Berry’s Academy Award and Charlayne Hunter-Gault and the late Hamilton Holmes, the first African-Americans to enroll at UGA and receive baccalaureate degrees.