I knew next to nothing about George Washington Carver before reading this book - just a vague recollection about peanuts. Reading Carver: A Life in Poems was a wonderful revelation. The poems were beautiful and provided a rich portrait of an amazing man. This book was much more revealing than an ordinary biography. The small black and white photographs perfectly complement the poems. One of the poems notes that Carver always had a fresh flower in his lapel, even in winter. In many of the pictures in the book, you can see the flower. Beautiful. After reading Nelson's book, I looked at some additional information about Carver. One description I read, called him a "black Leonardo". Carver was truly, a renaissance man with multiple talents, who overcame many challenges. 
 The injustices Carver faced are documented in many of the poems. Two that made an impression on me were about lynching. In 1879 Carver witnesses a lynching and the poem The Perceiving Self describes this horror. Another poem, Goliath, is also about lynching. This poem is later in the book (probably early 1920's); so lynching continued. Carver's students wonder where is God; how can this happen. Carver advises do not fear and do not lose contact with God. Carver sums up his philosophy to the students, "But David slew Goliath with the only things he knew: the slingshot of intelligence, and one pebble of truth." 
 How a Dream Dies is one of my favorite poems. Booker T. Washington dies as World War I rages. Carver finds it hard to go on with his life. Together they were an amazing team - "winning back the birthright of the disinherited." The photograph with this poem is of Carver, but the caption notes that a monument at Tuskegee in his honor shows him lifting a veil from the eyes of a slave rising from a kneeling position. This refers to an earlier poem, Veil-Raisers which describes the partnership of Washington and Carver - "two veil-raisers. Walking our people into history." 
 I loved the last poem and the picture of Nelson's father, a Tuskegee Airman. Clearly, Carver was a peace loving man who hated war. The juxtaposition of Carver with his quest for bettering the lives of people through agriculture and the Tuskegee Airman finally being allowed to join other U.S. troops in WWII is deeply moving.