Frederick Joseph grew up without a father, and he's wondering now whether he wants to be one himself. As a child, he loved Broadway musicals when everyone else expected him to be into sports. Today he resists the suffocating expectations placed on him as a Black man in America through his poetry and essays, inviting men to break the mold of masculinity and embrace the full range of human emotions—sorrow, anger, love, and joy, and more.

Frederick's latest book is a collection of poems called We Alive, Beloved. He joins us to talk about the intersections of race and masculinity in America.

Frederick Joseph is the award-winning two-time New York Times bestselling author of The Black Friend and Patriarchy Blues, in addition to writing other books. His latest is a collection of poems called We Alive, Beloved. His first novel This Thing of Ours comes out in May 2025. He was a 2019 Forbes 30 under 30 list maker, and was included in The Root’s top 100 most influential African Americans. He’s also worked in advertising, activism, and philanthropy.

Full transcript available here at relationscapes.org.