Recalling an era as tumultuous as our own, the poems in 1968 describe a childhood haunted by assassinations and other forms of American violence and a young boy’s yearning for love born, in part, out of that chrysalis of fear. 

“These history-haunted poems are passionate and poised, witty and blue, made out of a lifetime facing—and loving—the ‘killing machine’ of the world. Anthony Walton welcomes you in them like a friend. His artistry, so casual and elegant, reminds me why I read.”
— Langdon Hammer

“Gravitas, candor, melodicism -- by turns obdurate and becalmed, Anthony Walton writes about what matters with authority and style. His poems are grounded and they make you feel that history and pain can be talked about meaningfully, that we can understand others and ourselves better.”
— Vidyan Ravinthiran

“1968 is real.  As in authentic. As in resonant. As in grounded in the ordinary wonders and woes of human dailiness. At the same time, Walton’s poems are rooted in the Black male experience, shining their light on the internal and external worlds of that specific subjectivity. From their soundtrack of the blues and the noise of the streets, from their engagement with the personal and familial as well as the political and cultural, these poems invite readers to lean in, to listen to the stories they have to tell, and soak the wisdom they so generously offer.”
— Lauren K. Alleyne