Poetry
- Wannabe Hoochie Mama Gallery of Realities' Red Dress Code: New & Selected Poems (Persea Books, 2016)
- Tokyo Butter: Poems (Persea Books, 2006)
- Slave Moth: A Narrative in Verse (Persea Books, 2004)
- Last Chance for the Tarzan Holler (1998)
- Small Congregations: New and Selected Poems (1993)
- Rainbow Remnants in Rock Bottom Ghetto Sky (1991)
- At Redbones (1990)
- Pyramid of Bone (1989)
- Hosiery Seams on a Bowlegged Woman (1983).
Prose
- New Kiss Horizon (2017), a romance
- Tale of a Sky-Blue Dress (1998), a memoir
- Talking to Myself (1984), a play
- The Dolls in the Basement (1984), a play
- I Want To Be (Dial Books for Young Readers, 1995)
Awards
- MacArthur Fellowship (1996)[8]
- Guggenheim Fellowship (1995)
- Dewar's Profiles Performance Award (1991)[9]
- Whiting Award (1991)
- Witter Bynner Poetry Prize (1991)[9]
- Artist's Fellowship from the Massachusetts Arts Council (1987)[9]
- NEA grant