LatinosUSA

Unsung Canaan Ballads is a poetry collection by Chyrel J. Jackson of culture, honesty, family, history, emotion, resilience, and literary excellence. It’s a love letter to Black people living in an imperfect and whitewashed world. This compilation celebrates the poetically lyrical sisterhood, Black poets, and Black writers. There is something for the grieving soul. Words of encouragement for the sad or hurting soul. Healing for the lost and seeking soul. During loss sometimes we fight to hold on to ourselves. This compilation of poems is healing for the brokenhearted. It reminds us that healing takes time. No one can orchestrate life events. Eventually wholeness and happiness is found through simple things. Music, art, books, nature, poetry, and family. It’s time to grab your favorite beverage and nestle into what feels like a little bit of home, Unsung Canaan Ballads.

What Readers Say

WOW! SistersRocNRhyme’s Unsung Canaan Ballads is a revelation! It’s a definitive blueprint of masterful storytelling about Black culture. In the gallery of poetic passages, I found myself immersed in a maze of wonderment reminiscent of a mahogany museum. Hypothetically, if such a museum exists, this book would represent the map of hidden treasures. Author Chyrel Jackson proves once again why she is a premier modern-day poet and this book, along with her previous acclaimed works with her sister Lyris, will undoubtedly be included as a collector series for serious poet enthusiasts. This is an exceptional piece of work!

— Author Juntu Ahjee

Sample Poems

Harold’s Chicken with a Side of Black Culture

Black urban dwelling
spaces have been defined
as ghetto tenement slums.
City front stoop brownstones
and high-rise apartment buildings.
Martin Luther King Avenue,
South, North, East and
West sides of the block.
Bright and beautiful Metropolis Landscapes.
Breathtaking skylines
nothing says City girl quite like shopping on the
Mag Mile.
The best food, music, art,
people, and culture are created within these
confines.
We like our tea, lemonade, and beverages
sweet.
Our orders of Harold’s fried
chicken with salt and pepper,
mild sauce on the side; and an extra helping of Mama’s peach cobbler/caramel
cake to go.
If you know, then you know!

~~

Hues of Blue Tattooed on my Heart

All this time has passed,
and I still look for you in
every sunrise and each calendar month that
circles the months of June and September.
I see your faces in the memories of our lives, as confetti speckled traces
of indigo hue stardust is left upon the
moon.
The years pass but I can’t forget you.
Dear God, my heart won’t let me.
Tattooed forever upon my heart.

Paperback

eBook