Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1994. dj. SIGNED hardcover first edition - African American poet's fourth highly praised collection. Dustjacket comments from Mark Doty and Andrew Hudgins, among others. SIGNED on the title page by the poet as 'Marilyn Nelson.' 56 pp. ISBN: 0-8071-19210.

Chicago: Tia Chucha Press, 1991. First edition - Collection of poems by young author who was the recipient of the 1989 Gwendolyn Brooks Award. 52 pp. ISBN: 0-96242871x.

Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1985. SIGNED first edition - His first book, a collection of poetry and the fifth title in the Callaloo Poetry Series published by the University of Kentucky (this copy has a University Press of Virginia sticker pasted over the original publication information.). ISBN: 0-912759-054.

Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press, (1992. ). First edition - African American writer's third collection of poetry, A title in the Pitt Poetry series. 75 pp. ISBN: 0-8229-54699.

New York: William H. Morrow, 1982. First edition - African American writer's second collection of poems - the first section - Letters from a New England Negro - consists of epistolary poems set in 1867-1868 during Emancipation and the second section centers around blues singer Bessie Smith. 112 pp. . ISBN: 0-688-011772.

Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 1975. dj. First edition - African-American writer's first book of poems - and her second book. On her other works, her name is shown as Sherley Anne Williams. ISBN: 0-8195-2079-9.

Naperville, IL: Sourcebooks / Media Fusion, (2007.). SIGNED first edition - "Like Harlem renaissance poet Langston Hughes, who first popularized the blues as a poetic form, California Poet Laureate Al Young has written about the blues, played the blues and drawn inspiration from the blues." 120 poems in the book plus this includes an audio CD with "More than 60 minutes of gripping, dynamic blues poetry (often with a live band), plus Langston Hughes' soulful reading of 'The Weary Blues'."SIGNED on the title page. Square format. 254 pp.

Berkeley, CA: Loveletter Editions. (2006.). SIGNED first edition - Young has been the California Poet Laureate, the recipient of NEA, Guggenheim and Fulbright Fellowships, as well as the PEN/Library of Congress Award for Short Fiction and the PEN/USA Award for Non-Fiction. Yusef Komunyakaa says this collection "invites readers to travel the depth and breadth of his bountiful imagination. There is a deep singing inside of Al Young's poetry, with a hint of Ocean Springs beneath a distilled signifying in the hands of a master code switcher. This seasoned voice knows the music and folklore, the history and lingo..." INSCRIBED on the title page and dated in 2007. Cover art and illustrations by Vivian Torrance. 134 pp. ISBN: 1427601143.

New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2005. dj. Hardcover first edition - Award-winning Black poet's fourth book - a film noir novel in verse - one which "channels the world of detective movies, picking up its lingo and dark glamour in five 'reels' of poetry - the adventures of a 'soft-boiled' private eye, known as A.K.A. Jones, and an ingenue turned femme fatale, Delilah Redbone, whos come to town from down south." 141 pp. ISBN: 1-400042097.