Raw Beats: Urban Poetry is a poetry book written from the perspective of a Black Poet. It contains three chapters of poems about the current political and social struggles of urban life. The joys of life are also revealed in poems about love and family. What is Urban Poetry? Why should you read it? The answers may surprise you. Urban poetry is commonly used by poets to describe the social and racial injustices of living in the urban core of large cities. Many poets before Diane have covered topics such as poverty, stress, and survival. Reading this book will make you feel something real. Raw Beats has similar expressions voiced with rhythm, angst, and unapologetic rawness. It shouts, cries, and caresses the mind and soul. In Raw Beats, urban poetry puts you in the city, in the heart, and in the life of an urban poet. Experience the social injustices of our time through literature. Discover pain, life, death, relationship woes, love, and political protest poetry in Raw Beats. Set in the real world of urban characters, the poems will jump at you, make you angry, and some will make you laugh. After reading Raw Beats: Urban Poetry, the reader will gain insight into the trials and triumphs of living in urban America. Like Nikki Giovanni, Diane was greatly motivated by the Civil Rights movement. Gil Scott-Heron's influence is evident in Diane's use of words and her ability to take pain and set it to rhyme. You will take away a favorite poem from Raw Beats. You will say it, sing it and hold it close to your heart.