Rajnii Eddins’ In The Coded Language Of This Mortal Tongue is a consistently moving, entrancing, and melodic collection of poems which address what fellow poet Amiri Baraka called “the changing same”. Eddins’ characteristically terse, riveting , (and frequently stinging) ruminations on the multi-lane highway that is – again to quote Baraka-“the African in the West”-are also laced with a love for language and its numerous aural possibilities… I highly recommend reading these works out loud. Let the words roll around your mortal tongues like a beverage of choice. We are more than a little lucky to have poets like Rajnii Eddins in this world.

Reuben Jackson
Poet/ Archivist, Felix E. Grant Jazz Archives, University of The District Of Columbia

Originally from Seattle Washington, Spoken Word Poet/ Emcee and Teaching Artist Rajnii Eddins has been engaging diverse community audiences for over 27 years. He was the youngest member of the Afrikan American Writers Alliance at age 11 and has been actively sharing with youth and community in Vermont since 2010. His work Their Names Are Mine aims to confront white supremacy while emphasizing the need to affirm our mutual humanity.