Frederick-douglass Knowles II

Blackrosecity Frederick-douglass Knowles II

BlackRoseCity is a collection of poems exploring the underpinnings of interpersonal relationships in communities isolated by socio-political barriers and reflecting the memories of a city youth growing up in Norwich. The setting is the urban and suburban neighborhoods of Norwich, Connecticut. The citizens refer to it as Rose City, after its official flower. Through narrative snapshots, BlackRoseCity invites the reader to witness the lives of a small town's blossoming youth, as well as the imprisonment within a concrete garden of the town's adults, trapped in economic and psychological despair. The poems are seen through the eyes of a young boy nicknamed "Cabbage Head" who at the beginning of the larger narrative is eight years old. As the manuscript progresses, the poems reflect Cabbage Head's growth from an inquisitive child, into an experimental adolescent, eventually evolving into a knowledgeable young man.