We Made it to School Alive

$15

Poems by Quartez Harris

Painting by RA Washington

March, 2024

First Outlandish Press Edition with 4 new poems

60 pages

——

Beyond the brilliance of his imagery, and the potency of metaphor, what Quartez Harris offers in We Made It To School Alive is a continuation in the legacy of black storytelling. He is a generous and thoughtful narrator — an archivist of not only vulnerable landscapes but also the noble people traversing them. This book is a brilliant force for the uplift of young black folks, and the people who love them.

- Hanif Abdurraqib

To be young, gifted, and Black is to be alive, fighting to stay alive. Quartez Harris captures every inch of that fight in We Made It To School Alive. You will find yourself submerged into Quartez’s poetry because it is a story you think you know until you read his words. His writing is fearless because it has to be; he is writing from the pain and trauma systematically inflicted on the bodies of students of color within the walls of school buildings around the U.S. Harris’ writing is truthful and captivating. I am in awe of his talent. The field of education needs Quartez Harris’s work more than ever to explain the margins that need to be at the center.

- Dr. Bettina Love