10 10 650 https://digitallis.isg.siue.edu/files/original/cb4023140eb6f7fc36e3e86fc858f284.pdf 06d4ad6a2055d7ce98d661c472904121 PDF Text Text INTRODUCTION \ During the last decade, Black American Poetry emerged ·). t rcm its assi gned position as an ille gitimate--and sometimes . ' eml:ja,rrssing --child of American literature to an official flower in the gar•den of' world writing . Everywhere, on all the continents, Black Poetry is vigorously read, studied and sometimes imitated. "Often i mitated but never dupli- cated," quip tbe disc jockeys on Black-oriented radio stations--assuring their l i steners that the "soul" or "Heirloom" of th e ir ancient tradition is still alive, well, and locked in Black safe-deposit boxes. Yet, while a silent reading of that cas ually delivered quip belies the charismatic power and verbal d ex t erousness in "how" it is sa:td, the internal rhyme and r hy thm a.re obvious. The "how" is always important in Bl ac k Poe t r7,r; a "how II that wi 11 be one of the corner stone s in tb e discussions that will follow. To say that Black Poetry is read all over the world, is not to say that it i s studied in equitabl e proportion to other kinds of poe try . Indeed the curr e nt rash of anthologi e s, indivi dual collections, and the re-issuin~ of previously published volumes, suggest that a literary vacuum of criminal proportions has been allowed to exist. The new publishing flood, coupled with the appearance of new Black publishing hous e s, makes the 3OO-year-old vacuum glaringly, paradoxically obvious. The absence of Black Poetry (or ., Black Literature) courses from English departments at l �predominantly white colleses is 1gnomjnously aided and abetted by the culpable neligence st most predominantly Black colleges--which have religiously placed Walt Whitman over Paul Lawrence Dunbar, H.B. Yeats and T.S. Eliot over Jean Toomer and Melvin B. Tolson, Robert Frost and Carl Sandburg over Owen Dodson and Robert Hayden, and Marianne I•-foore and Edi th Sitwell over Gwendolyn Brooks and Margaret Walker. One could go on, of course, reciting the cultural and litera1..y negligence so officially a part of the academic and grants-in-aid scenes. The purpose here, however, is to explore with teacher and student the vast richness of Black poetical and mythical life. The study and teachj_nrr, of Black Poetry presents many frustrations, challenges Bnd problems. Teachers preparing themselves to teach the subject must b e aware of the many pitfalls, not least among them heing the tendency of teacher and student alike to stray from the study of the poetry into political and rhetorical catharses. ''Black" is a political word in the United States--and in most of the world--a.nd to study or teach anything "Black" is to take a political position. The thin line between the ideological implications of a poem and the diatribes or ha:r•J};ues so many classrooms find themselves victims of is a line walked by all teachers and students of the Black Experience. Classroom teachers, then, must "se t " the a.t.mospbere by dealing from the beginning with subs t antive hackground materials. By "substantive" I mean the deepest philoso- 2 �pbical, reli gious, ethical, artistic a nd cos molog ical tenets (1 of Black Expression. Thusifurther purpose of this pamphlet is to examine the scope and range of Black Poetry via folk origins, methods of delivery, language, phonolOGY, reli giosity, racial character, recurring themes, indi vidual and group identity, and poetical devices as they are developed in Q. ~, Black Poetry or borrowed from other poetic~strains in the 1:testern world and elsewhere. Like all bodies of writing, Black literature stems from a folkloristic trunk, making the job of the teacher twofold: one) to deal with the great storehouse of folk materials and themes; and two) to explore the chrono lo gical development of Black Poetry--from rou ghly l 7l~6 to the present. There are some harmless differences among scholars over just where to start the study of Black written poetry . For example, in The Poetry of the Neg!o, Hughes and Bo nte ~ ps be gin with Lucy Terry's "Bars Fight," the account of an Indian ma.ssacre in Deerfield, Mass., in 1746. The Ne gro Carava_~ (an inclusive anthology edited by Brown, Davis and Le e) omits tbe Terry poem. Caravan was first issued in 1941 while the poetry anthology was published in 1949. The former be p.:ins its poetry section with Phillis Wheatley who firs t published poetry in 1770. Omitted also from Caravan is the work of ,Jupiter Hammon whose poetry was publised in broadside in 1760. In Calvacade (Negro American Writing from 1760 to the Present~ published in 1970 and edit e d by Davis and Redding, neither Terry nor Hammon appear and the poetry 3 �section ber-;5..ns with Phillis Wheatle y . :g:~_!l_y_~_1-ack America~ Poets (Robinson) opens with Terry ana Johnson's The Book of American Negro Poetry, with Dunbar. Tt seems that many teachers of Black Poetry be g in with Phillis Wheatley despite the fact that at least two Black poets were writing before her. All three of the earlier poets were slaves, pri vi ler-,:ed by their masters and t anp;ht to read and write. For the most part they were Spo t' • ,.;. bv I the sustained hardships ~pe,,.~eJK£~ the majority of their brothers and sisters of color; in short, the horrors of slavery--though certai nl~r known to thern--rarely touched them intimately. In preparing this pamphlet, T have as~umed that the teacher will want to cover the full history and range of Black Poetry. I have assumed, also, that the teacher will want to move systematically throu~h the wor ks--and establish some sense of historic~l development and tradition in Black History, Black Music, and Black Culture in general. Hence one of the main ingredients of the course - -as we move from unit to unit--will be the study of relateJ for ms of expression such as Folksongs, Spiri t uals, Blues, Jazz, Rhythm & Blues and what today is commo nly called ~0111 mllsic. earlier, however, the Black Experience is frustrating. As stated complex and At each juncture in the study of the Poetry, for example, ~ teacher will meet difficulties which may seem insurmountable. Some of these difficulties will be manifest in queutions such as "Is a poet considered �nwbit e " ex pe r ienc e ?," "C an a Bl Rck poet r e a ll:r r ecord Bla c k experience s a nd f ee l in? s i n E ngli s 'h''," "Ca n a wl1 ite poet wr it e a Bl a.c k· poen,. nf , II ( 1 1.• k e ·t h e WhL. 1• ve -I- mu si• c i. e.n w,h o h.as d eve 1 - oped a Hfeel Tl fo r Blac.k r1.us ic a rid ha s l e ar•nec1 t o rnas t er the technical vocabulary of tha t music ? ) "Ca n whi te people nundersta.nd" Black Po e Lry ? Tl, "Sh ould wb i. t e c.r i t ics of Black Poe t r y b e take n ser ious l y ?,'' "Is Bla ck Poe try primarily e motion and lacking in int e llect;?, 11 TI T.s the r·e a Black Aesth etic?, 11 "Can a whi te pr•ofes sor t each Bla c k Poe try?," !!How does Black Lang uage diff er fr om whi t e lanf-~U a ? e or E ng lish?" and ''D oes Black Poetry expr es s the nn j vers al h uma.n condition? 11 Blac k and whi t e st u/lents wi.1 1 ask tbes e qu e s t i ons, indicating in th e ir q u eries th a t t he y wan t; .-:·.ore realis t ic a..nJ direct answers to some of t he i n -h ous e is s ue s which ha ve consumed Black a et i v i s ts, ~r t i s t s, a cademi cians, and white scholars of the Black Experience. Th e Bla~ k and white teacher con.frontin~ a racia. l l y - t.,, i x ed class, an all-Black class or an all whit e clas s, will 11 ave t o work a p;ainst a. distre s sing pan orama of a nr;:er, re .i ec tion, f e ar, condescension, anti- i ntellec tualis m, i nte l lec t ua l sn c, 1,b ish nes s , re.cis rn , distrust--and any number of ot her c ombust i ons of the student personality . Tb e Black p oets do not make burdens li r,bter in that they, critically and thematically , a r c ois persed along a seemingly boundles s spectrum of opinio ns, attit udes, creative approaches, ideologies, tech nique s a nd li t er ary philosophies. The t e acher, preparing for eithe r a se me s t er or y ear-long course (or for a un i t t o be inte g:r·at e d into 5 11 Humanities �course, an Aneri.can literature course, or· a Black interdisciplinary project), will ha ve to s te ep hiri:self in the literature of the Black past in order to give tentative answers and carry on adeqcm t '3 discussions wben such questions as those listed arise. Having been exposed to Black poets of national stature--via television pro~rams such as Soul and Black Journal and at conferences, Black Arts festivals and community book parties--many st nD0 nts (es:_:,ec :i. ally Black students) may be informed, at th o popular le vel, about the opinions and reading styles of the poe t.; s. However, the teacher n1ust not--and this point has to he stre s sed a ~ain and again--must not succu -r,b to the temptr.i.tion to poetry up until 1965. ,, in True, there iP ,yrec.d <>-nd 11 skip all 'il""~wtw-.3 infes-"( Sf the Black Poetry produccJ out of what bas been called the Black Consciousness/Black Power/Black Nationalist/Black Arts/Nee-Pan-African Movement. Yet the te~.cher who defies the Blac:k tradition (or any tradition) will find himself engulfed in a maelstrom of conjecture and ideological hysteria; and the class, whose posture will be anti-historical, will be riddled with soap opern-type rhetorical drama about revolution and liberation and will smack, again, of anti-intellectualis n . Harold Cruse (The Crisis of The Negro Intellectual_) points out that ench generation of Black artists and activists suffers from a lack of historical/cultural continuity. That is, they fail to study (or for some l'eason are unaware of) the mistakes and the pitfalls of past struggles and consequently find I' 0 �themselves in predicaments not diss imilar to t~ose of their predecessors. As observed earlier, t he poets are not unanimous on what Black Poetr:r is supposed to do, wh y i l, whether whites can write or criticize it. di ve1~se be liefs and posit lons are nu111ero us: is written or Reasons for the the situation attending the birth and upbringin g of the poet; his reli gious affiliation (Robe rt Hayden is of the Baha'i faith; Askia rr,uhammad TourJ is a Sunni Muslim; El-Mub a jir [Jfarvin X] is a member of the Nation of Islarr1 [ :::ornmon called Black I'.tuslim~]; K. Curtis Lyle was re.i:_:N1 in the ·J8.tholi c church ); his polit- ical l e aning (which, ir. the cas e of ma ny writers, is also reli g ious); his preparation for po e try (did he go to a well-known wri te rs scho ol, pick his t al ent up ·,ia. individual study or apprentice under another writer); his associations with other noets (man:• Black poets, for ext:1,mple, hobno b with writers of other ra ci al extra.ctions; I met one Black poet in 1970 who had two masters der;rees ~rnt hat~ not beard of Melvin Bea.unorus To] son~' --a Plack poet pre.lsed by the white literary establishment as havine be sted Eliot, Po und, Stevens and company in his technical v i!•tuosi ty); his current personal · situation (does he live in the inner c i ty? teach? write full time? play a musical instr1m1e nt? write in other genres? read primarily Black poAts?), ana his feelings on the question: "Are you a poet first and t~en Black; or are you Black first and then a poet?" Harmless as it may seet,, thitf rhetorl~al utter has entrapped 7 �ideolo '-;ical and political prison}from which Sonic would like to extricate themselves by askin g simply: 11 1:Jbat difference does it make?" For the many poet s , however, it matters a great deal and they have written profusely _on the implications of this question and the several other-s listed earlier. The teacher must sample opinions of writers and students, sharing with students the diversity of opinions on the creative process just as the diverse creative works are shared. Such parity allows for a continual classroom balance in criticism, social undercurrents and the poe~s themsel~es. here would be illustrati ve. Perhaps some examples Novelist Ralph Ellison has suggested that he is a writer first and t~at his racial ideny(·-tr tity is subordinate t o thaL fact. ~Robert Hayden has taken a , . ' similar stand (see introductio~ to Kaleidoscope, Poems b~ American ~re,;ro Pc~_!E_, 1967). The sa.me position had been taken several decades earlier by poet Countee Cullen. In his critical-biocraphical introduction to Cullen's poetry (The Book of American Ne gro P_?etry, 1922, 1931) James Weldon Johnson observed that: Some critics have vent ured to state that Cullen is not an authentic Negro poet. This statement, of necessity, involves a definition of 11 a Negro poet II and of "Ne c~ro Poetry." There might be several definitions framed, but the question raised is pure irrelevance. Also there is in it a faint flare-up of the old taboo which would object to the use of "white" material by the NeGro artist, or at least re gard it with indulgent condescension. Cullen himself has decla~ed that, in the sense of wishin~ for consideration or allowances on account of race or or of reco gnizin~ for hi mself any limitation to G �"racial II the'1es and forms, he has no desire or intention of being a 1'Je gro poet. I n this be is not only within his ri ght; be is ri :'h t. . (italics mine) Johnson went on to note that hecause Cullen '1revolts against" racial enclosures, the ''best of his poetry is r;1otivated by race. II One could make a similar comment today about Ellison or Hayden. The works for which both are internationally acclaimed delve into the deepest regions of the Black man's psyche and feelings. Heanwhile some younp,er poer.s--those birthed in the 1960's--and several poets and critics that out, sometjmes not so straddle both generations lash Otf; ,•r,· diplomatically, at what they see as compensator y ,,and unnecessary self-deprecation by the older poets. Pulitzer Prize winner Gwendolyn Brooks said in a preface to Poerns From Prison that Etheridge Knight was not the "stifled artiste. 11 The comment represented an implied rebuttal to Black and white 11 acader:1ic II poets. Elsewhere Niss Brooks had referred to the "inelegance" of some Black Poetry as beinr; consistent with the bleak, drab landscape of hoplessness and despair felt by some inner-city dwellers. During the late Sixtl~s, she became a kind or matriarch of the New Black Poetr::r Hovement (at least in Chicago), ceased publishing with Harper and Row, and began to release her writings throu 0h Broadside Press--a new Detroit-based Black publishing house under the supervision of Dudley Randall, a poet, librarian, critic and translator. Miss Brooks' new consciousness, she declares, was achieved as a result of ha.vine attended a Bl~ck writers conference in 1968 at Fisk University where she heard poets Imamu Amiri Baraka 9 �(LeTioi Jones), Don L. Lee, Nikki Gi o?an ~i, no 7elist John Oliver Killens, a nd n host of other writers , ac t ivists end artists. The violent social explosions in Lhe cities, the Vietnam Har that took so many Black li ves and crippled so many otbers, the persistent ~ mer: ;ence of Afd.ca--e.11, Hiss 1 Brooks said, aided in the development of her new consciousness. She has written t;hat it 11 fri p:btens" her to think tbat if she had died before she reached fifty, "T would ba ve died a 'I'Tegro' fraction." Hayden, disclaimlng the Gwend ol:n1 Brooks' posj_tion, assumes he has been 'Black' all alon r: o.nd c ontinues to reject any singular, unarg uabl e position on the Black Aesthetic, or the poet-first, Black-secona_/:3lack-fi r st, poel:,-second controversy. Assessing Baraka, Hayden ad1n its thnt he recognizes the younger poet's power b ut deplores ''his Black nazis!':1 ." J. Saunders Redding , a dean of t he Black critical establishment, feels there is no such thi nr~~ as a ''Black Aesthetic If; Poet Paul Vese y (fo1~nerly Samuel Alle~) calls it ~a voya~e of discovery- -I Lhi nk i. t wi 11 y ield re t ur n not as r-Teetly as in mus :i.c, perhaps, · where the black aesthetic 6.01dna.tes an entire cultural area of the west.'' : iany poets and critics, on the other hand, ignore questions dealing with aesthetics, the level of Blackness in their work, to whom they direct their poems, and out of 1-1bat mood or spirit they urite. At the same time there are trends, some r e ~ional and some national, c(r)t\ tbat tl\JJui; l:;eacberslan id enlify . Needles s to say , identifyinrs and exploring these trends is i nwensel y rewardin g . 10 Essential to �a.n uncle-rs tandin;-:: c:i trends ano 9.tt i tudes :_., , ::1_ • :st.em fro rn the thej_r own an well as ':;he f~cneral litey,ar:· tradition, is a stud~r of slaver:, as it was :i.nstituterJ. ':,~- Europe and refined in the United 8 tates, a s tnc1y of Blo.1".k soc i~ 1_ West African anr ll.fro-A;:-1erican Folklo:..,., e. 1·,i story Rnd of- The tl10pouc:h teacher of Black Poetr:r will want to steep l:·i_ n self in the history of Western Civilization; he will 3 lso develop an appreciation for the cor:1p1.ex web o::' I31P..r..:k--:1hi te interrelationships in Ar.1erica., and prepn.-re hir.:scl:f to :': nide the studento througli the ofter, Gens e -filleo dI:1c 1.-<s s i.o ns. Slavery is not a pleasa ut th:I ~1:·: to rec a 11; and the teacher will soon notice that prac t ically (~1· c r ~:' pc e t writes about c;I f, ,, ('I \ ' ~ ~ i f,r ( / i f '-,\ / ~-.-~ <f r()«· lynching s--es?ecially poets writin ~ afte r" who do not deal with actual lynch-t:1 c s_, o.s k n ow or :i.nterpret them, dea] A v! c • Those poets have come to with balf-J.::·:1cl:t.1Ys, defile- r, ent and the l7i.ental and ph:rsical destn.: c.tion of Plack hm~n;1ity. Jf a discussion of slaver; is unpleasant, the 11, a consideration of lynchtne is horrorfy in J . The s~illed teRcher will man- euver judiciously throu e h t he rouch waters of such sessions-keeping cr::otiona.l deluges to a rri inii~ium ty presentinr:; facts ov·e r-pass-iona. te-, a·ccusa:tions or tear-drenched con:fe-s,s·iomh During such occasions, less the focus of the course becomes ~lurred and the classroom becomes a courtroom. At the same t:h1e, -the :-: eacher who cannot 11 �preside over v i p,orous a nd t.h orou;:h cHsc :rns:! o i-:s of t hese painful events and de tails may finC hi mself , a t l ater junctures, t rying t o br i d p;e eve n wi6er ~ulfs of d ou1; t, fru s tration, mistrust and al i enation . As ain, t he t eaching of Black Poetry ( or any aspect of t he Bl ac k Fxr:ieri e nce) assumes the complexit i e s of th e Black Ex pe r ie r,c e i t self. Ne vertheless, the st udy of Bla ck poe t r y t s i af i nitely rewarding because it is a vehicle wh i ch dis bi lls Lh e particular insights and pers pe ctives of Blac k Arr, e rica. ;1s 5_n t;o concise and authentic f orms: Ge r ~inc the ri ch r ural-Bi blical-urban idioms wi th colorful ly l uscious i ma gery and ( in ma ny cases) peerless technical proficie ncy i n t h e us e of l it erary En~lish and We stern poetical for ,r_s. 'Hhe n st udent s s pe confronted with the various poems on l ynchin ~s, f or exaMple, t he t eacher can lead them into an examination of posture, poetical toolery and overall ach ie vement or e ffectiveness of the poe ms. In 1.'l ri gh t 1 s "De tween the Horld e.nd He 11 the poet becomes t h e persona; the oak t r· ee na r rates in Dunbar's "The Haunted Oak~ Culle n speak s as ''I" in "Scottsboro, Too, Is 'Horth Its S onp, 11 which admoni s hes whit e American poets for remaining silent over unj us t t rea tme nt of Black men while they sing: ••• sharp and pr etty Tunes for Sacc o and u[m zetti, I said: He r e too's a cause de v inely spun For t ho se whos e ey es nr:-c on t b e sun, Here in epitome I s all di s c:rac e And e pic wr ong , Li ke wine t o br a c e The minstrel h e art, and b le.r c it into song . 12 �- .- ·-------· ___ ,. __ ' ._ -- .•IcKay's "The L~· ncbing " the k~.lli. nr; of the Black .nan .... ::; 111ade a.nalag ous to the crucifixi.o n ; a sonnet, and aweso'ne throughout, the poem c1csc-ends to 5.ts rh:rni :·lr~ couplet with a final irony: And little lnds, lynchers that were to ~e, Danced round the dreadful th:t nc; in fie ndis11 c;lee. Certainly in these poe ms-- and the dozens of others that employ the lynchine theme--there is rr1ll.cb f uel for papers, classroom discussion and teacher pr eperation, In the four poems mentioned, the poets span snch di verse forms as the sonnet, the ballad a nd free verse, Helpful in this area will be the additional inquir:r, by teacher and student, into the development of white hn te :,ro i1ps st~ e h as tbe Ku IQu.x (lflO tue ' h istor~ • r In an/.. o...f' race ., ~ Ot,S ~ s · ..• • I 1.1 ~ D;~o t s i• n a t rtrn.erica. 1<. • least a dozen A11erican co mmunities :in lc:'19, for example, caused McKay to write "If 1·!e :-::us t Die", a poi r:nan t sonnet with an even more poi g na n t: end :l nE; co u ple t -- Like men we'll face the murderous, cowardly pack, Pressed to the wall, dying , but fi [-:;hti ng back! -- W (1)'f{, t l --a poem which ,.,C lrnrcbill read before tbe F.o use of Coo1mons, during l"Jorld Har II, to spark his co t~ntryme n in the dim hours; during the 1972 prison re b elli on !n Attica, N.Y., j ournalis {found the poem scrj_ bb led on the wal 1 of n eel 1 Oi-- i'i{J.Jt,,+·~J,.t4ftt,H-~c/t;; and th0 national press attri b uted it t o a prisoner! . . . oJe «"<tric:hr'\C\ o Ftl I e r .. •\'\u r- . ,.__his'tory of slave revolts ( rr1 any :Slack poets write about them) and the patterns of v iolence i ~ America. Attuned teachers and student s will want t o co nsult so urces such as lCO Yee.rs of L:rnchj:E_G. ( 0 :i. n zberg ), 13 1 ~aek iss ues of Black �and liberal white news :ournals a~e pap e rs and e specially pa.st issues of The Cris ·is, the o.ffi c: ; al L ews and ori nj or: arm of the !Tationnl Assoc.:i.ation For 'l'he Ac1,ra t ic:ernenJ..; Of Colored People. ri _ ing the first a Crisis for over 2C years 1 Pr.. n., in 1910. f1•o m its he c ir..nir;._:; further reading , the teacher can refer to ~dited The ~r For bi b liography in section IV and appropriate sections of any of the numerous antholo s ies, text 1 ·, ooks and '..'! i', lio r;·raphical sources available. While I must adrait tha t information and opinions contained in this pa1nphlet reflect my own ;)iases as a teacher, critic, activist, and poe -f.. , tl1e patt.e:r-n for teachin e; is one qe•ir.- r•tr u.y adhered to across th.e country. Tbe organization of any cour•se is ccrtai n to mir1·or at least a minimum amount of the teacher's own political and critical Consequently, ·whe:n lee turi n:r, on or prepar:i. ng curricula for Black Poetry, I normally allow fore flexible outline, including opt!ons in both textb ook emphasis. t1se and period The same bolds true for- concentration or satu- ration of stuC:y with re ::;ards to indj_vidua.l poets. will have personal preferences; in fact, like the students, teachers may even have developed attachments to specific poets, attitudes about the poets or prejudices tollard poets who do not reflect what they feel is a. correct posture for Black Poetry. Just as there is great and health) diversit~ in the poetry and the poe t s, there will be 14 �diverc;cnt at titudes and crU:ical p.::- ~:, 1 .s o.f ··5.ew a.r:1on1; b e due to a e,e dlffere nces (the rr:;e:1e,rati.on ('8.p"?), a.s is t he case with the poets, and so;.1 e 1-r~:1 oc e tn·· re :-=;arcHess of a g e. The Blac.k 01• white tc ach e1· shonld e.r,;;1 hinself to the bes t of his a1)ili b:· with tbe tools of cr·i.. tic ism a nd a know- ledge of Black Cul t..ure~ He r:rns t; ha.ve sorne idea of wcat part "duali ty " plays in the lives of Blacks and how such "twoness" is manifest in Bl ac k Poetry; 110 should recognize the key issues be ing raised ;)y a.nd deb a ted amon g Black artists, scholars and activists--and have some feel for the historical c ircums tances out wb-:.ch thes e i_ssues and debates grew; he ought to unders l:o.n 1l Ba roka' s :reference to some Black po ets as "inte::,;ra.tionis ts" e.na irar·t.y poets"; he will have to know wh a t inan:r of t1 c :'.'Tew Bl~.ck Poets mean when they say they rejec t Hes tern "forms rr s.nd refuse to b e j ud 6 ed by wl:i_.!_~_ standards (Baralrn, for P-Xan;.ple, talks about post-American forms); be wi l l also want t o reco r.: nize Black in-honse humour a nd i nt:r·A i::.ommtmal dispara12:: ement in words and phrases like 11 n i 0 ger , '' 11 ne r;ro, 11 "Uncle Tom," 11 ore o, 11 11 co 1 ored, " "the r1a.n , 11 rra i ct;:;,.· , " ''bad mouth , " ''b ust a nut," "brother,'' ''c rurnb c rushers, '' "main squee ze, 11 and "Hr. Charley" (for further indica ti on of this dictiona.l richness and the b readth of T'.la.c k La:-: -:na r·:e se-e The Dictionarv ' . --··- - -·- --- ~- of American Slang, l~j or 's ~icti onary of Afro-A~erican Slang , the "Glossory of Selected Terms'' in The __Psycholop;y of Black Languag e (Haskins and Butts) and Abraha•.11 's Dee p _Down in the 15 �~Tungle. Additionally tlle teacher will wa:·, t tc1 knoH t:1e motivation of some o.f the po e ts. All poe ts , for exa:'!ple, do not rate being called "poet s'' in tbe traditional wl1 itc (or Bl ack) sense. Redding, in a recent :Mu1?arr:rr:ad Spea.10_ interview, 8.ccused some of the new Black writers of lacking ' more l and esthetic' integrity' and called them '1 i terar s· hns t l~ rs '. Observ ing that Baraka recently si gned a 10-year ccnLr act with Random House, Redding said such an act is inconsiRtent with --fu('._~ ~~ts nationalistic assertions and position. In a recent Black World article, novelist and poet Ish mael Reed spoke disparagingly of some of the new Black cri tics ("13lac-kopa.ths," be called them) and poets ( ''nationtime poet s," was the reference). Poet-essayist Lee bas chided poet Nikki Giovanni for being an "individual II who lacks technical abilities; anc1 in a recent issue of Jet ma gazine a reader irately aske d if Miss Giovanni deserved respect after accepting a Woman-of-the-Year award from a national white wo men's or p;an i za t ion. :·t ss Giovanni and Reed were nominated for Pulitzer Prizes in 1973. Hayden, a member of the older group of poet s , who was only 17 years old when the Harlem Renaissance bur ne d out, Lee ( praised by Gwendolyn Brooks, Hoy t Fuller of Black 1.'!orld, Randall and Baraka) has potential as a poet bu t lacks discipline and seems unable to separate po eti c technique from ideological ranting . On the other hand Stephen Henderson, author-editor of Understa_nd The IJew Elack_ Po~_~_!':' and a for mer English department chair~nn, praises Lee relen tlessly and 16 �says his populari t y is ''tan tan;onn t to ::; tar c'h ·::.''. Render s on, who holds a Ph. D., is ~ur i' ently chail"11 a r c f th e new Hur;ia ni ties divi s ion at Howard Univ er si t y- wh ere l iee is R u r i t er-in-residence. Miss Brooks g ives Lee credi. L (in her i n t ro<3ucti on t. o Th~_Pe:etry of Black America) for spawni nr: much of t h e c on l, e ,np orar:r Black consc i ousnesG writing . Older poets and c Y.· ·i t 5. c s, y o une: er poets and critics, old e r and youn Ger reade r s --a re a ll assuminG positions for whatever and h ow many rea son s. Th e teacher, uhile dealin g with the de velo pment of Black ~o e t r y a s a ~ od y of wri t i ng , must be aware of t hese i nte nse f ,~ o l i n r~s and po sitions. di·ver g ent Be rnust also or p:anize ord erly d i s c uss i oos -ar o un d t he views; in this way the clas s roo m s .:iss io nu <:, o not 1)ecoli e me lees 1 and students r e t a c omplete pic t ur e of t he richness a nd vastness of Bleck Poetry and the poli t i c al, so cial a nd historical tensions /1 out of which t h e poe tr:- is ;•;enerat ed . rt! Hr i t; i n 1•:. on the f\tew Black 11 [.. __ - - Poetry in an ar ti cl e 8 nt i tl ec1 "A:ner i c an Poetry Touay 1 (The United State s -:n Literatu r e , : :il lcr, 1fa7der; and 0 1 neal), Hayden says: The e ~erge~ce of a s o-cal l ed school of Bl ack Poe t r y l n i':. :-i1erica has 1, 00 n on~ .: :,f +:l1e s i;,.nif i.c ant literary develop me nt s of t h e modern peri ; d . Al t hough the Harle m Renai ss a nc e o:' t ~rn ic:·2') ' s 1·) rO'l.1 n:ht c ert a-tn Afro-Ame rican poets i nt o pr omi nenc e , i t va s n o t until the intensificat io n ot th e c5.v t1. r i c hts s t.r u r:r:le during the 19E-0 1 s t hat n separ a te 12;ro up of hlac k poets he t1;an to take shape. A·,·0we-c1l:,r r; a.t i onalistic (that is, racially pr oud) and scor ~'l.7-'ul of western aesthetics, th e se poe t s continued the nrotest tradition , historically a ss ocia t ed wi t h Ne gr o writers. But they were more rad ical i n outl ook t han their predecessor s. Unli ke t he Ha .r•l cm r:r o ,1;:; , Lhey re j ec tea entry into t h e mains tr e am of Av er i c a n literature as a deo!rahle goal. The y i nsi sted th a t th~i r poetry could not be judi ed by whit e s ta nda~as, ur r tn ~ its inportance a. .s a n ex pres s i on of h lack co:-;s e1.0us ness. 17 - - - -- ------ - �LeBoi. Jones--the most 1_:·,f1.~1.e, nti.B.l o: tl:e ~roung activist poet3--Don L. Lee, ITi. kk i Cio ~Rnni, Sonia Sanchez, Tla.ri E v ans, Ether id ,r; c 1:ni. :'.h' , and :)avi <1 Henderson attune t 11eir lyres t o t he l ~lack esthetic.' Not yet satisfactorily def~_ned, tb:!.s ter•:·,1, ori r~ inatinp; in the six ties, may be inter pr ~tec1. as a sense of the spiritua l and artistic 7 aJ. u0 s of blackness. It is, T?erhaps, a log ical ( so me 1:10 u.ld s a:· 'chauvi- nistic') reaction to nep~ti ~e Ar1erican r acial attitudes. Perhaps the concept is oes t sun:.r-:a1°ized b:,~ tbe slor; an 'Black is beautiful. 1 Those wh o accept this point of view re r:ard Ne 1-:;ro su1)_ject 1-1a tt er as their exclusive domain, feeling t h2.t only thos e W'"} O bav e shared ' black expe r ience' can arti.culat c 7_t. Older poets whose work sbows so:ne ali p,nment w:. th the }~ew Black Poetry include Ifar r-:aret v!al k er and G-wandoly n Brooks, winner of th e Pulitz er in 1 9 50. l:Thether poetry should b e v al ue d primarily for the unique inner experi (' nce i_t, Ga .i provi d e or for its effectiveness as political or s ocial statement is a question that often recurs in discussions of true function of ar t t oday . Hayden's opening comments, then, corrobora1,e the opening sentence to this introduction--that Black Poetry, re ~ardless of one's position on it, is one of the n os t i mportant movements on the l _iterary scene todA.y. Yet-, whlle it is exciting to study this "poetry in process" ( if y ou plca.se), the teacher must be on guard not to skip the tradition (the folk precedents) in favor of plunc in~ into a Black poe m that heaps wrath on Watergate conspirators, or urban police,nen who shoot rioters and looters. Swirling around and through the whole range of Black Poetry, then, is the complex and multi-leveled nature of the Black Experienc e . Many of the "literary hur:,tlers" which Redding refers to have capitalized on the topical and e pisod~c issues--with little or no training in the Black tradition. Hence, the teacher cannot assume that ~ust because a statement is lS �"relevant," it is poetry! The Black or wr1ite t,e acher will "di g ••• deeper to the g old ''--in the words of ,Tac:i es David Corruthers--and ''establish" a sound trad:i tion a r-; ainst which to measure the Black Poetry of t,oday. If the Black poet in question fails, he fails because he collapses from the wei ~ht of the past--ins tea.d of beinp; ~, :1oyed up 11y it. 1n estab- lishing this sound tracHtion, the teacbe1· ,)'J ust realize, first, that the Black Experienc" is not .-i1onoli tr.it; --al though recurring trends and b1~oad implieations do exis r. in the areas of language, relie;ion, humor, dance, mu.sic and p:eneral life Oddly enough, hoi:,:ever, there is often .1Q1''e consistency &. · · ~~14 i!J 1ut~'L/!, in what Blacks know about popular "Ar1e·ric an '' cn1 ture,f There style. are several reasons for such a paradoxical i mb ala nc e. Ellison observed in the 19Lt0's that if Black leaders ever unraveled the puzzle of the zoot suit and the dark ~lasses (~eaninf Black urban ''stylinr;" 1-ia'o i ts), they co u ld, perhaps, take the political and psycholo p; ical rei r-~ ns of the Black r~_asses fro m whites. Ellison's ob servation was accurat'3. Jar ,es Baldwin has written that, in Europe, he loo~rnd at the g reat. Renaissance masterpieces and felt ashamed that his race had not produced d such work. Balwin was not aware that the ~reat Italian t,.. p~inter, Pablo Picasso, had borrowed heavily fro m Afrlcan motil; nor that the architect, Corbous ier, was " greatly influenced by thatched-roof huts used in Africa by Baldwin's ancestors. The implications of this par t of my discussion are many and far-reaching because central to the idea of teaching and of being taught is what the teacher - - - -- -- - - 19 - - - - - - �expects from the s tudent and vic e v~r sa. Baldwin's observations are i mpor t a rit. Elli so n's and Th e y su r~est to us that many, if not most, of the st ud e nt s wh o are in Black Poetry (Black Studies) class e s do not have a workin 6 knowledge of the tradition out of which t he poetry ~rew. It has become popular, in some quar t ers, t o i s nore the fact that Ellison so painfull~~ and poi r; na ntl y exp r essed. The teacher who assumes that a class of Blac k ( or· white) students is knowled geable about the Black lite r ar y tr aditio n is in for real trouble and many disapp o i n t ment s . Tbe fore r-; oinc point cannot b e s t resse d too often o:r too e n:pi--,.aticall y . It is also safe to say t ha t MdnV 3lacks d o no t come into a classroom with a readi ns prepara t ion on par with whites. The reaso ns for s uch a d:!..s pari L:- our h t; to be obvious; and the teacher w~o wa nts t 0 d o ~ore than preach will neither assume laziness nor conde sc e nd and pa t r o~ !ze t~ e political -r~~ d « f:tci ,e;,fJ~ ,. 'ffl If' ........... ' · whims,._of students. Hence, keepins in r:-1ind the ob .;ce tives LI ... ,.,.,.. . ... ,d "V,'r he has set for himself and the st ude nts, th ,J t:ea.cher will may find that he has to b e se veral t each ers in o~e. Such a r equirement exist because of the vario us r- 0adj_ ng and perception level s , a nd political perspecti ves, repres c ~t ed among the students. In additio n , L~e re a re t he num~erless reasons why Black and white st ude nts t a.1-:,~ a c ourse in Black Poetry (or the Blac k Ex per ience). 2() The t ee cher will discover �that students who would ne ver ~rack or Ar,nold want to study Black Poetry. told 8. a boo\-:. 'uy Shakespeare A white stuc.ent recently visiti.n:-r, poet that rhe harl n ot liked. poetry at all until she began to read Black poets. On anotter occasion, a Black student said she could not "relate" to Shakespeare or Pound or Ginzhere . Both coli!ments could ~) e sli e;htl:r loaded , but the point is well taken: neaders ar·e i)~int~ draw1.1 t;o the r.1agnetic "''it.ho Loft " l. power e.nd t-.acl eptness of Black "Poet:,:,:-. Jt mi <l'"'t help to list some reasons wh:~ students enroll ~n a Black Poetry course. Following are sorne reason s r; i v~n 1' 7{ ",lack students: 1. 2. 3- Desire to know more about themse1ves . As an option in the Gene~el S Ludies requirements. Read or heard or met a Black poet ancl want to know more. 4- Working toward a major in Eng lish. Hork:tng toward a rw.jor in Black or Etl::nic Studies. 6. A desire to write poe t r y . 5. 7. 9. 10. 11. A desire to convert teach er or s t udents towara his/her wa7 of tbinkin g . Interests in i:,he "!Tew Plavk Poetry'' r.1 0\/ement. A Black or whi t. e couns elor r cco,,;n ended it. Wants to learn how to present Black Poetry orally. Turned off b7 traditional white poetry and literature courses. White students give the followin r reasons for enrolling in the courses: 1. Lovers of poetry . 2. Want to understand a Black 1·,oyfri.end or c; irlfriend 3. Desire to broaden oneself culturally. An interest in writin~ poetry and desire to learn Blacl{ forms. Specializing in Black Experience or Black Poetry. (at one university there are at least four white students completinB masters de gree requirements in Black Literature or Black Poetry) Working toward a major in En~lish. Intend to g o into the Blac k or wh ite communities and teach (out of a sort of ~ issio~ary fervor). Grew up around Black pe ople. 4. S. 6. 7. 8. better. 21 L �9. 10. Have been collecting Black mus~ c a ~d hooks and now want more f orrr1D 1 s tud~, . Turned off by tradit:i.onal- "acarJ e-·1ic'' l}OetrJ . The numbers do not sucgest order of preferer:.ce on the parts of students. Yet one can see that while there are similarities in the lists, there are also differences. ~:ore i ~portantly, though, is the fact that tho maj ori t:~ of the students are not preoccupied with the craft of poetry--1-:i t'.1 t "1e hows and whys of poetry. Rather the students, Bl acl: and write, seem to be more lntore3tod i::1 the sociolo[r, -Lcal (sorri e teachers say ,,pathological") aspects of the poetr;:,r . The sit ua L5.o D varies, of course, from campus to campus, from at mosphere to atmosphere, and from Black to whlte to interraclRl classroom settings. Here a ~ain the teacher ha s to dr aw the line and keep the course "tight" in terms of the discinl1.1e /-,e -'~ff Mrtnd !; af·f1 ,,., Another problem t}Je teacher confronts is ~1ow to control a run-away se 2:rn ent when a n appreciatior. of t:1e nater:1.al is wha.t is sought. Tl:e "apprectation" appro a c1" c oulcl. be the result of the teacher's i nitial concep t io~ of the course or dictated by the preparedness of the s tudents. An all freshman class, for exar.1ple, woulrl not stud:r t }1e same poems with the same intensity as woul d a se n i or or ~raduate-level group of Ent~lish majors. !Je-v-c1•theless, th e teacher must bear in mind that he is teachin c D\ack Poetr7 and not some literary i mitation of traditional Wester n poetry--even thoush the two conver;;e r.i me and ti. 1e ari:aj n. 1-Iere, too, the point cannot b e over-en phasized b ecause inn class wbcre i ',fl f �there are racial 011 intellectual r 5.x t. ur cs, t,i,~ "'~ cltinr~ pot is a.11 too ofteD likely to :, 011 o,;e r. 1:•n~ite s t.c1c~ents, well crounded in their own li terar:· t.rad i'L i. on anc1 11a ·,c 5.n.r · a skeletal knowled 0 e of Black Culture, will want to sur r·e al1Aad. ::rot (ft'l4,''i recognizing that ,.,_Black ( anc1 :wme whi tc) students Jo not know the meanin~ s of simple poetical de~ices @:le~ as meLaphors, similes, alliteration and onomatopoei~; the insensitive teacl1er and "ar:;1:ressi ve" students cculd press on to the point of destroyinc class pa~ticipation earl7 in the semester. Such a situation occur& over and take for ~ranted that every student hn s been drilled in the u::;e of .f i p ,ra bi ·-: e la nr;u a ; .e. ically, many of the ::;tudents he.·Je 'been "dr:! l le c~" -i Tr on- r: the students, in the whir of words in t h e clR.8sroo ,n , w-tll not ..rt.A•le ,.;,:• :if they happen to be .. Blae"i.c,;n~r ,t ,, nxpects them to oe experts on the Blac~ ~xperioncc. On Lhe other hand, tbe intellect ual st: 01) 1, ery tlw. t o:' t e!1 a.ccon panies the development of student ''clj_cks '' m11.st nei~. ~)e allowed to prev2.il in a course ~. ::i Plack Poe tr•:·. and student, the c ur:es and crests Luc ;,_:: ly, f o r teacher /lnu r 08.ks 1 n the stud:; of Black Poetry keep brine; in t; all as~ecLs of full circle. >n nr; nature Experience shows that in a n inter r acial classroom, a frustratin r.:; '.rnt exci tin:·,; o:-1 e-11ps n ansh-!.p pattern prevails. 23 �7rom uhe1·e th o auth or sits, illustrate s01;~e i l'."'i. o i ."1 Lrocl 1-1c t j on brn l1een of the obsorn~tions and warn-t n c s nliiear3y voiced; the sect 4.o~s will also deal wit~ the full historical ranr;e and scope of Black Poctr:,-, -Lnclt,Ciri , · t.:-1e tilechanics readinr; ; t ( sile ntl:- a nd aloud). T11e relationship of for n and ('.ont e nt, dra :·:·i atizat.ion of the poetry, issues and questions for r e search a~J fis~ussions, ideal course titles and outlines, the tle~elopDe n t of sections or units--all uill ;.:ie e:xar::.in e 6. as t11e a ·n.:dla1··,le n!atc1: ·'..als nro 0 cy•oss-ref ere need and co~1n ented upon. 24 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Eugene B. Redmond Digital Collection Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context EBRWritings_07_53 Title A name given to the resource Copy of Drumvoices: The Mission of Afro-American Poetry: A Critical History, Introduction Relation A related resource Eugene B. Redmond Digital Collection Language A language of the resource English Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource For digital rights and permissions, see <a href="https://www.siue.edu/lovejoy-library/about/policies.shtml">https://www.siue.edu/lovejoy-library/about/policies.shtml</a> or contact <a href="mailto:library@siue.edu">library@siue.edu</a> for direct inquiries. In copyright. <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Redmond, Eugene B. https://digitallis.isg.siue.edu/files/original/165cec22e0561fed86c6c0510d019be9.pdf b9bcab0f29607c2577c131a5e0a1b620 PDF Text Text \ DRUMVOICINGS: THE MISSION OF BLACK POETRY (overview-outline) bY,_,, ~ugene · a. · ~edmond This book is designed as a general and handy reference to augment courses in Black Poetry/Literature and to complement related areas or ' study including American Literature, Black $tudies, African Literature, Third World Literature, American Poetry, English Poetry, .Humanities, Engl i sh Poe t ry, Music, History, etc. Additionally, it is prepared with con:rrnuni ty-oriented p ersons in mind: Those desiring to devel op writing or literature clubs, Black History study groups, poetry societies, theatrical companies, forensic and sp eech workshops, s pecial symposia and seminaDs for community gatherings or to commemorate an import Bnt event or person. Outline I. Introduction(including problems, range, Black identity, n ee ds, etc.') II. cri tica.l introduction to Black Poet (including an ou tline o e c rono ogical developmen; ad scussion of tren ds , st r uc ture , major subject matter and meaning; a running account of t h e l ite rary/ social background of major periods; ann brief cri ti cal r ea c tion s to major po ets of each period.) III. The Dynamics of Black Poetry: Reeding and Riting A. Detailed discussion of meani n g an0 f orm, with emphas is on r ea di ng the poetry silently and aloudJi.e.,staging or dramatizing ) · .,,. B. Commentary/explication using a. representative selection of poems(i.e., songs, sayings, oral epics, etc) to reinfo rce theories and statements already advanced. c. Suggested exercises for school, home, church, cultural fe s ti vals (including a list of recording artists and orators who s A works can be looked a.tin conjunction with the literary poe t r y ) IV. Appendix(including questions, topics, themes, approaches an d o rh er suge;estions) V. Selected Bi bliography(includi ng a note on spec:i. fi c prob] er1!:' '1 cu1 by persons Jooking into Black Poetry and the F ,.., c k .c.xpe r i ence . �NOTE: This h andbook is intended to establish some critical framework and methodology for looking a~?flood of Black Poetry that resulted from the new renaissance of the sixties and seventies. But the over-ricting thesis is that the new poetry cannot be understood unless it is seen against the long tradition of Black writing Rnd culture in general. Of all the cultural components, poetry is the most popular and the one most often used to convey the diverse messages and emotions. And a handy guide to Black Poetry-in vi ew of the countless anthologies and single collections, and high interest in the subject--is top priority among teachers, stud- . ents, drama people and casual readers/lovers of poetry. �DRUMVOICINGS: THB MISSION OF BLACK PO E'rRY Tabl e of ~ontents 1. I ntroduction 2. , Folk PoetQ: a. Fo lk ~eculars(including chronological development) b. ~pirituals(inoluding develo pment of religious music) ., Li te rary Poetra 1 a.. Early Back Poetry and the Plantation 'l radi tion b. The Dunb a r Era c . New Trends and Defiance d . Bl a ck Po ets of the Harlem Henaissance e . Black Poets of the Post-rlenaissanoe Periodtthrough WWI I & Korea) f. Cont emporary Black Poe t s nnd the Black Arts Movement(and beyond) ~xploring Bla ck Po e try: Fo~ and Meaning a . The dynamics of r eRalng/reci ting Bla ck Poetry b. Us e of Black Poe try in rlitual Drama Appendix a. Que s t i 0ns h. To pics c. Themes d. Appro a ches e. Suggestions 6. Sel ected Bi blio e;raphy , a. Bibl iography b. Not e s on ·s p ecific problems faced by thos e loo kin g i n t o Black Poetry or the Black .l!;xpe ri ence I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I . � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Eugene B. Redmond Digital Collection Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context EBRWritings_07_15 Title A name given to the resource Copy of Drumvoices: The Mission of Afro-American Poetry: A Critical History, overview-outline Relation A related resource Eugene B. Redmond Digital Collection Language A language of the resource English Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource For digital rights and permissions, see <a href="https://www.siue.edu/lovejoy-library/about/policies.shtml">https://www.siue.edu/lovejoy-library/about/policies.shtml</a> or contact <a href="mailto:library@siue.edu">library@siue.edu</a> for direct inquiries. In copyright. <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Redmond, Eugene B. https://digitallis.isg.siue.edu/files/original/42e26c6ed429c83320d838f32dffab7f.pdf 2520f51e64436d2ab9e72b7b75170451 PDF Text Text . • ,' mental ~,and phys lcal destruction of Black bumani ty. \ ~ \, fof ..dfecuss~n ' If a slavery is unpleasant, then, a consideration of . lyndh1ng ls horrifying. \ However, skilled teachers and students will maneuver judiciously through the rough waters of su~h sessions--keeping emotional delu ges to a minimum by ad mitting facts and cl ear interpretations. During such occasions, everyone must be on guard less the classroom becomes a courtroom. At the same time, a convener who cannot preside over vi g orous and thorough discussions of these painful events and details may find himself, at later junctures, trying to bridge even wider gu lfs of doubt, frustration, mistrust and alienation. Again, the teaching and studying of Black poetry (or any aspect of the Black Experience) assumes the complexities of tlle Black Experience itself. Neverth eless, t h e study of Black poetry is infinitely rewarding because it is a vehicle which distills t he particular insights and perspectives of Black Americans into concise and authentic forms: merJing the rich rural-Biblical-urban idioms with colorfully luscious imagery and (in many cases) peerless technical proficiency in the use of literary English and Hes tern poetic forms. \·J11en students are confronted with the various poems on lynchings, for example, study can be underscored by an examination of language , form, posture, poetic toolery and overall achievement or effe{p.veness of the poems. In Richard Wricht 1 s ~------ "Between t he Wor.ld and He" the Gcl;";iypoet becomes the persona; ...... the oak tree narrates t he l y nching in Dunbar's "The Haunted Oak." 14 �Cullen speaks as "I 11 in "Scottsboro, Too, Is 1·J orth Its Song 11 which admonishes wbite American poets for remaininc; silent over unjust treatment of Black men while they sing: sharp and pretty Tunes for Sacco and Vanzetti, I said: Here too 1 s a cause devinely spun For those whose eyes are on the sun, Here in epitome Is all dis grace And epic wrong, Like wine to brace The minstrel heart, and blare it into song. In McKo.y's 11 The Lynching" the killing of the Black man is made analaeous to the crucifixion; a sonnet, and awesome throu gh out, the poem descends to its rhyming couplet with a final ghostly irony: And little lads, lynchers that were to be, Danced round the dredful thing in fiendish glee. Certainly in these poems--and the dozens of others that employ the lynching theme--there is much fuel for papers, classroom discussion and teacher preparation. In the four poems mentioned, the poets span such diverse forms as the sonnet, the ballad (Dunbar) and free verse (Wright). Helpful in this area will be the additional inquiry, by teacher and student, into t he development of white hate groups such as the Ku Klux Klan • 15 �and the history of race riots in America. Riots in at least a dozen American communities in 1919, for example, helped spur McKay to write "If 1rJ'e J\'1us t Die 11 , a poignant sonnet with its even more poignant and popular ending couplet-Like men we'll face the murderous, cowardly pack, Pressed to the wall, dying, but figbting back! --a poem which Winston Churchill read before the House of Commons, during World War II, to spark his countrymen in the dim hours; during the 1972 prison rebellion in Attica, N.Y., journalists found the poem scribbled on the wall of a cell and the national press attributed it to a prisoner! Of great assistance, too is a knowledge o:f tte history or slave revel ts ( many Black poets write about them) and the patterns or violence in America. Attuned teachers and students will want to consult sources such as 100 Years of Lynching (Ginzberg), back issues of Black and liberal white news journals and papers and especially past issues of The Crisis, the official news and opinion a.rm of the National Association For The Advancement of Colored People. The scholar, W.E.B. DuBois, one of tt.ie first Black men to receive a Ph.D., edited The Crisis for over 20. years :from its beginning in 1910. For further readings, the teacher can refer to my extensive bibliography plus appropriate sections of any of the numerous anthologies, textbooks and bibliographical sources available. VI Hhile I admit that in:formation and opinions contained in 16 �tbis handbook reflect my own biases as a teacber, critic, activist, and poet, the prescribed patterns for teaching and studying Black poetry are ones generally adhered to across the country. Tbe organization of any course is certain to mirror at least a minimum amount of the teacher's own political and critical biases. Consequently, when lecturing on or pre- paring curricula for Black poetry, I normally allow for a flexible outline, including options in both textbook use and period emphasis. The same holds true for concentration or saturation of study with regards to individual poets. Teachers, naturally, will have personal preferences; in fact, like the students, teacl1er s may oven have developed attaclw1ents to specific poets, attitudes about t he poets or prejudices toward poets who do n ot reflect what they feel is a correct posture for Black poetry. Just as there is great and healthy diversity in the poetry and the poets, there will be divergent attitudes and critical points of vie'w amonc teachers and students. Some of the differentiations will be due to age differences (the "generation gag"?), as is the case with the poets, and some will occur regardless of age. The Black or wbite teacher should ar m himself to the best of bis ability with t he tools of criticis m and a knowledge of Black culture. He must have some idea of what part "duality" plays in t110 lives of Blacks and hm-1 sucb "twoness II is manifest in Black poetry; he should recognize the key issues be ing raised by and de bated runonc Black artists, sch olars and 17 �activists--and have some feel for the historical circun1stances out which t h ese issues and debates grew; he oucht to understand Baraka I s rc.ference to s01ne Black poets as and 11 11 inte grationists 11 a.rty poe ts 11 ; lie uill have to know Hhat man:r of the ITew 11 Black po et s 1:-,ean Hlie n t h ey say t 11 ey 1'eject Hes tern and I'l.Jft ~se to t e: judge<.:' 1·)y for1~1s 11 ul1 i te st au<J. n.rcls (Baruka, for e x m:p le, talks about post-American forms); he will also want to recognize Black in-house humor and intracomrnunal disparaGement in wo1.,ds and phras es like 11 nigger, "oreo, 11 "colored, 11 "the man , a nut, 11 11 11 11 11rother, "Mr. Charley. 11 11 11 11 11 negro, 11 11 "Uncle Tom, 11 bad mouth, 11 "bust "main squeeze, 11 and dicty, crumbcrushers, 11 11 (For further i ndication of this dictional and ph onoloc;ical rich ness and the breadtb of Black Lan Guac;e, see T110 Dictio nary of .l\. mericnn Slane; , I' fo.jor's Dictionary of Afro-American Slun G, the "Glossory of Selected Terms" in The P::iycholoc;y of Black Laneuar,:e (Haskins and Butts), Abraham's Deep Down in the Junisle, Andrews' and Owens' Black Languac;e, Claerbout 1 s Black Jnr c on in White America, Twi ges' Pan-African Lanc;uaee in the Uestern IIemispher~, Welmers I African Lanr:t~~~ Structures, Kochman's Rappin 1 and Stylin' Out, and Dillard's Blac k English. Additionally the teacher or student will want to know the motivations of some of the poets. All poets, for example , do not rate being called "poets" in the traditional (white or Black) senso. Reddin g , in a recent Muhammad Speaks interview, accu::ied ::iome of tl10 new Black writers of lac kin~ 'moral and 1. G �esthetic t integrity I E',nd called them 'literary bustlersM Observing tl1at Baralrn recently s ic;ned a 10-year contract wi tb Random House, Redding said such an act is inconsistent with the poet's nationalistic assertions and positions. In a recent plack Worl~ article, novelist and poet Ishmael Reed spoke dispara~ingly of some of the new Black critics ("Blackopaths11) and poets ( 11 nationtime poets, 11 was the reference). Poet-essayist Lee has chided poet Nikki Giovanni for beinc.; an 11 individual 11 who lacks technical abilities; and in a recent issue of Jet magazine a reader irately asked if Miss Giovanni deserved respect after accepting a Homan-of-the-Year award from a national white woreen•s organization. Miss Giovanni and Reed were nominated for Pulitzer Prizes in 1973. a member of the older c;roup of poets, who was only Hayden, 17 years old when the Harlem Renaissance burned out, feels that Lee (praised by Gwendolyn Brooks, Hoyt Fuller of Black World, Randall and Baraka) has potential as a poet but lacks discipline and seems unable to separate poetic technique from ideological rantinc.;. On the other hand, Stephen Henderson, author-editor of Understand The New Black Poetry praises Lee relentlessly and says his popularity is "tantamount to stardoJo/.\ Henderson, who holds a Ph.D., is currently chairman of the new Humanities division at Howard University where Lee is a writer-in-residence. Miss Brooks gives Lee credit (in her introduction to The Poetry of Black America) for spawning much of tl10 contemporary Black consciousness literature . • 19 �~ Any seriouS~dealing with the development of Black poetry as a body of wri tine0 must be aware of these intense feelings and positions. One must also orc;anize orderly discussions or readings around the divergent views; in this way the classroom or rap sessions do not become melees and participants 1 get a complete picture of the richness and vastness of Black poetry and the political, social and historical tensions out of which the poetry is generated. \Jritinc; on the New Black Poetry, (The United States in Literature, Hiller, Hayden and 0 1 Neal), Hayden says: The emerc ence of a so-called school of Black Poetry in America has been one of the significant literary developments of the modern period. Althou 6h tlle Harlem Renaissance of the 1920 1 s brouc;ht certain Afro-American poets into prominence, it was not until the intensification of the civil rights struggle during the 1960 1 s that a separate group of black poets began to take shape. Avowedly nationalistic (that is~ racially proud) and scornf'ul of western aesthetics, these poets continued the protest tradition, historically associated with Negro writers. But they were more radical in outlook than their predecessors. Unlike the Harlem group, they rejected entry into the mainstream of American literature as a desirable c;oal. They insisted that their poetry • 20 �could not be judged by white standards, urging its importance as an expression of black consciousness. LeRoi Jones--the most influential of the young activist poets--Don L. Lee, Nikki Giovanni, Sonia Sa nchez, Nari Evans, Etherid ge Knight, and David Henderson attune their lyres to the 'black esthetic.' Not ye t satisfactorily defined, this term, orig inating in the sixties, Llay be interpreted as a sense of t h e spiritual nnd artistic values of bla ckness. It is, perh aps, n lo Gical (some would sny 'chauvinistic') reaction to nec;ative Ameri can racial attitudes. Perhaps the concept :l. :J best summarized by t11e slogan 'Black j :J beautiful.' Those who accept this point of view regard Hegre subject matter as their exclusive domain, feelin o; that only those who have shared 'black experience' can articulate it. Older poets wb6se work shows souie alignment with the Hew Black Poetry inc lud o Hargaret Walker and Gwendolyn Brooks, winner of the Pulitzer in 1950. 1.vhctber poetry should be valued primarily for the unique inner experience it can provide or for its effectiveness as polit ical or social statement 13 a question 21 �t h at often recurs in discussions of true function of art today. Hayden's openin3 comments, then, corrob orate the opening sentence to tl)is introduction--that Black poetry , re gardless of one's position on it, is one of the most important movements on t he liter a ry scene today. Yet, while it is excitin g to study this "poetry in process" (if you please), the enthusiast must be on guard not to skip the tradition (the folk precedents) in favor of plunging into a Black poem that heaps wi-•ath on Water gate conspirators, or urban policemen who shoot rioters and looters. Swirling around and through the whole range of Black poetry, then, is the complex and multi-leveled nature of Black life. VII Hany of the "literary hustlers" to whom Redding refers have capit a lized on the topical and episodic issues--with little or no training in the Black tradition or writing. Henc e , the student mu st assume that just because a statement is "relevo.nt, 11 it is poetry! Th e Black or white research er will "dig ••• deeper to the gold 11 --in the words of James David Carruthers-- and "es tablish " a sound tradition ac;ainst which to measure the Blac k poetry of today. If the Black poet in question fails, he fails because he collapses from t h e wei c;h t of the past--instead of being buoyed up by it. In estab lishing this sound tradition, the teachers and students must realize, first, that the Black Experience is not monolithic--although 22 �recurring trends and broad i mp lications do exist in the areas of langua ge , reli g ion, humor, dance, music and general life style. Oddly enough, however, there is often more consistency in what Blacks lmou about popular "American II culture. 4 There are several reasons for such a paradoxical i mb alance and lack of focus-- many or tbe:11 locked in the enigmatic see-saw of Black history. Ellison observed in the 19401s that if Black leaders ever unraveled the puzzle of the zoot suit and the dark glas ses (meaninr; the secret of Black urban 11 stylin rs " habits), they could, perhaps, take the political and psychologi cal reigns of Black masses from whites. observation was accurate. Ellison 1 s James Baldwin has written that, in Europe, he looked at the groat Renaissance masterpieces and felt as hame d t ha t his race had not produced such work. S/1t;.;IJ"" Baldwin was not aware that the great~TtallB.11 painter, Pablo '-I Picasso, hnd borrowed he avily fro m African motifs, nor that the architect, Le Corbousier, was greatly influenced by thatched-roof huts used in Africa by Balwinfs ancestors. The implications of this po.rt of my discussion a.re many and far reaching because central to the idea of teachine and learning is what teachers and students expect from each other. 4. Ellison's, For an exciting recitation and indictme nt via a "cultural quiz", listen to poet-critic Stanley Croucb 1 s Ain't Ho Ambulances for no 1Ti13c:ahs Tonicllt (Fly ine Dutchman). 23 �Crouch ' s and Baldwin's ob ser vations are ti mely and i mportant. They sug~es t to us t hnt many, if not most, of t he students who arc in Dlack poe try (Black Studies) classes do not h ave a working know l edc e of tbe tradition out of which t h e poetry grei-1. It has b e co me popular, in sol!le quarters, to i gn ore this fact which Ellison and otbers have so painfully and poignantly expressed. The teacher ~ 10 assumes that a class of Black (or white) students is knowledg eable about tbe Black literary tradition is in for real trouble and many disappointments. The fore going point cannot be stressed too often or too emph atically. I nteresti ngly enough , the majority of the persons wh o want to know something about Black poetry are not preoccupied with t he craft of poetry--,-1i th the hows and wh~rs of poetry. K.Rather =t;:;e students and casual readers, Black and wh ite, seem to be more interested in the sociolo g ical (some teach ers say "path olo gical 11 ) aspects of the poetry. Tbe s i tua.tion varies, of course, fro m campus to campus, from atmosph ere to at mosphere, und frot il Black to white to int.erracial settinc;s. Here again the enthusiast has to draw t h e line and keep the persuit of the poetry by 11 ti Ght 11 in terms of the discipline de ma nded the poetry itself, Another proble m~ investi gators confront is how to organize se Gments when an appreciation of the material is what is souc;ht. Tlie "appreciation" approach could be t h e result of one's initial conception of the poetry or dictated �by level of interest and preparation. A casual reader, for example, ·would not study the same poems with the same intensity as would a senior or graduate-level English major. ~ evertheless, ~ teach er, students and poetry lovers must bear in mind that th ey are investigating Black poetry and not mere ly some literary imitation of traditional Western poetry--even thou gh the two conver ge time and time a gain. Here, too, t he point cannot be over-emphasized because in the context of racial and intellectual mixtures, the melting pot ls all too often likely to boil over. Example: white students, well gr ounded in their own literary tradition and having a skeletal knowledge of Black Culture will want to surge abead. Hot recognizing that many Black ( and some w1) i te) students do not know the meanings of simple poetic devices (such as metapbor s , similes, alliteration and onomatopoeia), the inse nsiti ve t each er and "aggressive" students could press on to the point of premature destruction of group participation. Such situations occur over and over. Even t h e best teachers of literature often tak~ for granted that every student has been drilled in the use of fi gurative language. Ironically, many of t he students have been "drilled" in the figures; but, the holes opened by the drilling allowed the information to g o in one ear and out the other! :Many students, in the whir of words in the classroom and e;roup discussions will not say they do not know the names of poetic devices-especially if they h appen to be Black students and t h ink t h e j �instructor expects them to be 11 experts 11 on the Black Experience. On the other' h and, the intellectual snobbery that often accompanies t be development of student 11 clicks 11 sbould not be allowed to pre vai l in a course in Black poetry. Luckily, for teacher, student and general reader, t h e curve s and crests and peaks in t he study of Black poetry keep br ingi ng all aspects of human nat ure full circle. 26 �CHAPTER II THE BLACK AND UNKNOWN BARDS 0 black and unknown bards of long ago, How came your lips to touch the sacred fire? -- James Weldon Johnson I Origj_ns of Black Expression : In this chapter, as in subsequent ones, I will attempt to place the Black creative mind within the spirit and letter of an African-American cultural tradition. Unfortunately, many early scholars either played down or ignored African influences on Black American poetry. these early scholars. This was certainly not true of all For while some gloated over tbe "findings" of "Southern whites 11 --purpott ing to prove that the S piri tua:\-s were derived solely from English (Hymns and Psalms) sources-Johnson (Book of American Negro Spirituals, 1925), Professor Hork (Folk Song of the American Ne gro, 1915), and others, displayed faultless proof of Africanisms ~xisting in practically all Black American folk materials. The approach to this chapter will be via the philosophical concerns, updating some of the thinking on traditional African views and mannerisms in Black America • . Then brief consideration will be given the major trunks of the folk poetry: and the Seculars (or religious folk poetry and everyday workand-play folk poetry). I have included a fair representation of the original folk poetry. Tnis is appropriate, of course, 27 J The Spirituals �since most antholo gies of Black literature and poetry omit these items; and because without a knowled ge of them one will be hard-pressed to understand the Black poet 1 s use of folk materials ( se e Dunbar, Johnson, Brown, Hugh es, Hayden, Walker and othe rs). Howe ver, before discussing the ori gins of Black expression, we sh ould g ive mention to the role of t h e i;riot-or story teller--in pr e -industrial African (and other) societies. The Black poet, as creator and ch ronicler, stems from the group • of artisans known as griots--human records of fa mily and national lore. Ori ginally trained to recite--without flaw--the g ene- alogies, eulog i e s, v ictories and calamities of t h e folk, t h e griot (like t h e lead sing er of Spirituals) had to spice his ?' • reportag e with dramatic excitement. Hardly a Black youngster grew up (even in recent times) without input from a sort of 7 griot (uncl e , gra ndmoth er, bi g brother or sister, moth er o~ ::;:--- father, prea che r, e tc). The job of the gri(¢ like that of ) the ma~ er-cer emonial drummer, wa s so important that in many anci e nt societies a mistake could cost him his life. The griot began at a very early a ge his mastery of tec h nique and ini'ormation. Like the drummer, he u nderstudied an elder states man of the trade . His training demanded a certain psycholo gic a l adjustment to the si gnificance of h is job-which was to co ntain (and give advice on) t b e of the community. 11 heirloo ms 11 As years and centuries passed, t h is 11 factual" information was conv ert ed into a lore, m:r t h ology, cos molo c,-y and le gend; it became a part of the vast we b of racial co nscious- • 28 �ness and memory. It became the leg acy with which every new born child entered the world. Clearly, then, the myth-and lege nd- bu ilding Black poet has a past into which to dip and a future to predict, project and protect. And any violation of the past, present or future constitutes a serious cri me against one's ancestors--against one's parents, a Gainst one's blood, against one's god. So it follows that the poet--griot-- is not some haphaz/ardly arrived hipster or slick-talker simply mouthing tired old phrases. )/ To the Black g riot-sing er- ;< poet the job of unraveling the complex network of his past and present-future worlds is a painful but rewarding labor of love. We can say, then, that the Black Experience in the United States continues via the African Continuum: a complex of mythical ( see Jahn), linguistic (see Twiggs), gestural (see Emery, Black Dance), psychological, sexual, musical, physical and religious forms. This complex is evidenced in the day-to-day attitudes and activities of Blacks: their sacred and secular (or ganized and random) expressions, their physical appearances, their dress patterns and their fa mi ly life. Not only in the United States, but in the Caribbean, in the West Indi e s, in Latin America, in all areas of the world where Blacks live in substantial numb ers--they exhibit characteristics peculiar to the nature and culture of indigenous Africans. Naturally, general Black expression evolves from the myriad components of Black culture; and the artistic (son g , poetry) expression--traditional Black (African) 29 �c01;11nuni ties did r..ot s e parate life fro m art--is a more sophtsticate d for m honed fro m the ge neral "storehouse. Ho one ff has y ot put t l1 eir h ands on exactly Hhat moment i n ti r,1e ancl Hher c t lie f i rs t Af ri c an sou:1c1 :=.i or- ,,: ov er e nts He r e i ncorpo1,ated into 11 Hb i t e 11 0 1, 1!e ste r n fra mes of references or vice ve rsa; but 11e d o lm ou t 11 a t it did b app e n. Unfortunately , lnept reportin g on t be Black Experience bas muddied t h e waters so much t11at one is r e pul s ed and horrified b:r observations and conclusions of son:e Black and 1.1h i te "researchers. 11 In an un.flinchingly brilliant analysis of Black African Oral Lit erature, presented at the First World Festival of Ne gro Arts (1966) in Dakar, Senegal, Basile-.Juleat Fouda, notin g that 11 phrase oral literature is as old as creation," coined the 11 Arch ival Literature of Gesture. important revelations, Fouda □ aid: 11 Concluding his "Thus in tbe Black Africa. of tradition, literary art is an anonymous art because it is a social art; lt is a social art because it is a functional art; and it is functional because it is humanist. research is not bounded by color. 11 Good Bl~ck sociologist E. Franklin Frazier (Black Bour r;eosis) held(wrongly) that there were no significant carryovers (cultural transplants) from Africa to the Unit ed States. (Slavery, Frazier said, African of his culture and 11 11 s tr•ipped II the destroyed 11 his personality.) Wbite anthropologist Melville Herskovits (Tbe :Myth of the Ne gro Past) proved witbout a doubt tbat tbere were African operating daily in Black Americans culture. survivalisms 11 (For more thou ght • 30 11 �on this see Jahn• s Nuntu, Work I s findings, memoirs of Katherine Dunham, wor ks of Lorenzo Dow Turner, Negro Folk Music of Africa and America (Folkways, Lp) and others. ) Rudimentary Black expression and the numerous folk for ms J it produced (field h ollers, vendors shouts, chants, wor~songs, Sp irituals, blues , Gospels , jazz, rhythm 1 n blues, soul musi c) form the linguistic and modal bases for most Black poetry. The early song and chant for ms were almost always accompanied by what 1.-10 have come to call "dramatic ideograms 11 --or dances. Dance became one of the three basic artistic modes encapsulated by folk expression. The other two are Song and Drum. Aside fro m being the first means of communicating over distances, the drum also played a major role in the social lives of traditional African peoples. The career drummer, like the Black American musician today, went through year s of grue ling practice and preparation--learning not only drrnrunin13 techniques but the lec;ends, t11e myths, the meanings and symbols of which the drum was derivative. Dance always accompanied song--Fouda refers to the "acoustical phonetic alpl1abet"--so that the complex web of oral nuances was illustrated vividly and graph ically. Obviously, when teaching or entertainin~, the artist/teacher had to present his material in interesting and exciting ways so as not to bore tbe audience. Thus repetition became a backbone of Black expression--a flexible, buoyant repetition that was designed to reinforce and increase group participation. The three essential modes --drum, song and dance~- h eigbtened 31 �the i mmediate experience, which was ecstatic, therapeutic, spiritual, visceral and revelatory. Added to these intricate and vary ing modal patterns were the colorful costumes, make-up, props and i mportant subject matter. Tbe achievement was not just t h e vicarious experience but one of the act and symbol being actualized tog ether. \ln1ile such a prospect boggles the mind, a serious study of these forms and the general tradition will prove eye -o pening for many a disbeliever. Early Black American oral and gestural art for ms inherit ed t he qualities described thus far. In language, in danc e , and, more i mportantly, in points of view (attitudes) tmrnrd time, life and death, the cosmology of Africa "continued 11 (with some modifications) in the Black culture of the Western Hemisphere. S pecifically, information was conveyed by way of aph oris ms, riddles, parables, tales, enigmatic dances and · sound s (tonal scales), jokes and poetry. 6b lique and cry ptic utterances, puzzles, The pattern rerna1.ns it\jact today. Jahn's l1untu d ocuments many examples of t h e African "carry overs" and 11 survi valis ms 11 operating in t h e Western He misph ere. 1. One can Ii1or a brilliant and COGent statement on t li is aspect of Black expression see Samuel Allen's "The African Heritage" in the Jan., 1971, issue of Black World. Allen--also known as Paul Vesey--is an acknowled ged authority on b oth African and Afro-American culture. 11 In the article, he finds African carry overs 11 in t h e Black American cburch (Baldwin), literature (Sterlin g Brown, Cleaver) and secular life. 32 �find the tradition in Black poets, in the sermons of Black ministers and in family and otber social gatherings. Tbe scintillatine Black poet Tolson operates in the old enigmatic (word-fencj_ ng ) frame when in "An Ex-Judge at tbe Bar• 11 he says: Bartender, make it straight and make it twoOne for the you in me and one for the me in you. Tolson (known to carry this Black nature into his teaching at Langston University where he reportedly gave a student an "F" to the 20th power) ends the poem with an equally eni gmatic mock: Bartender, make it straie;ht and make it threeOne for the Negro ••. one for you and me . In the Spirituals (to be discussed) one finds similar debts to the African tradition of Sonc;, Dance and Drum. So too in the shouts and hollers where actual African words and phrases were often used. 2 Hence we can say that the traditional African phonolo~y and ritual, modified on the anvil of slavery , were operatin0 and continue to be represented in different forms of Black American expression. The African slave, forced to acquire functional use of Enclish and to reject surface aspects of his religion, went "underground" so to speak and became bi-lingual and bi-physical. 2. Hence, while much of the The fine poet Raymond Patterson (26 Ways of Looking at a Black Man) is currently assembling a book listing several hundred African words that are used daily in the American 33 �th ematic material of the Black folk tradition is taken from the harsh difficulties the slave encountered in America, the for m, spirit and phonology were essentially African. Th e use of poly-rhythms 3 and the introduction of syncopation, the reliance on various rhythmic instruments (drum-related and sometime s invented), tbe adherence to a non-European tonal scale and the employment of the blue tone, the development of a distinct body of folklore and a rich langua Ge to convey the lore--all represent the African's resourcefulness. Cross-cultural inputs are also evident, however, in--for examp le--the Spirituals which, in many cases, were influenced by t he English Hymn and the Psalm. Other considerations in- clude the slave's use of European instruments (Baraka points out, in Blac k Mus ic, that the piano was the last instrument to be mastered by the Black musician. L~ The reason ought to be obvious.), th e Black adaptation of songs heard in the "big house, 11 the continual r e -styling of American fads and the vocabulary. See bib liography for more on('§)li ttle known area of scholarship. 3. Isaac Faggett, a young Black composer-band director in Sacrame nto, Calif., has said that the word "poly-rhythm" (Le., many rhyth ms overlapping each other) should perhaps b e replaced by or alternated with the words 4. 11 poly-me ter 11 or "poly- metrics. Eileen Southern, in Th e }~sic of Black Americans, sets fort h a t ho rough and accurate discussion of these points. 34 She 11 �employme nt of Biblical i ma gery and langua ge in songs and sermons. Langston IIugbes noted tbat the Blues usually dealt with the theme of the rejected lover and personal depression. Hughes' first volume of poe ms , in fact, was entitled The Weary Blues. However, th e Blues, like the Spirituals, do not simply preacb resignation or submissiveness. Rather, as J ~ and Howard Thurman (The Nec;r o Spiritual Speaks of Life and Dao.th) note, underneath the comp laint is a "plaint": or change! tbin gs mu st e; et better For as the slave said: Freedom, oh Freedom, how I love thee! Freedom, 011 Freedom, how I love thee! And before I'll be a slave I'll b e buried in my grave And go h ome to my Maker and be Freel II Black Folk Roots in America: rrGet it together or leave it alone" --Jackson Five Black poets have been writing in the English literary tradition since the middle of the ei gh teenth century. But notes with some detail bow the Africans (made slaves) had to learn to use t he instrwnents of the New World. Professor Southern also relates b ow Black music influenced whites in the ear ly days of America. 35 \ �it is the folk lit erature--those productions of the everyday people--which must be examined before a literary or poetic tradition can be viewed in its entirety. There are few persons in the United States who have not been touched or influenced ( in one way or• another) by the folk express ion of Black America. 1,n1i t e .Americans began collectine; Black folk lyrics and s to1.,i es in the early :,B ars of t he ni neteentl1 century (see bib lio Gr aphy). In the same century, this aspect of Black culture reached wide audiences via at least three major vehicles. '11he first was the abolitionist movement which featured Black pootn (Francis E.W. Harper, Jame s 1foi tf ield, Benjamin Clark, and others), orators and prose writers (David 1valker, Frederick Douglass, etc.), and journalists (John Rus swurm , etc). The second vehicle was the national and Euro pean tours (i n the 1 87o•s) of student choirs fro m Hampton Institute and F is k (~10 Jubilee Singers) University. The abolitionist n1ovement popularized anti-slavery and freedom songs and the college choirs gave wide exposur e to the Spiri tuals, consi dered by most scholars (of Black· culture) to be the first 7> ~ authentic poetry of Black America. Tlrn third major vehic le was the publication ( in t he late nineteenth century) of Br1 'er Ra1 )b i t tales by J oe l Chandler Harris. In studies and writincs, Harris reco cn iz ed tl'ic r.-1ytbi c 1101,th in Black folktales \ at i d , exposed ' readers to su cl1 cl1aractor c as Frcr ':L1errapin, Drer B0ar , nrcr ~ ~ ~ \ r 1.fo lf and ot}; crs . Fox, Erc n Hany of tlrnso tales and clrn. r·a cters have African co unterpar ts. 36 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Eugene B. Redmond Digital Collection Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document Text Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context EBRWritings_08_12 Title A name given to the resource Copy of Drumvoices: The Mission of Afro-American Poetry: A Critical History, p. 14-36, typed manuscript with handwritten edits Description An account of the resource Copy of Drumvoices: The Mission of Afro-American Poetry: A Critical History, p. 14-36, typed manuscript with handwritten edits. Draft includes part of section V, section VI, and the beginning of Chapter II. The Black and Unknown Bards. Relation A related resource Eugene B. Redmond Digital Collection Language A language of the resource English Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource For digital rights and permissions, see <a href="https://www.siue.edu/lovejoy-library/about/policies.shtml">https://www.siue.edu/lovejoy-library/about/policies.shtml</a> or contact <a href="mailto:library@siue.edu">library@siue.edu</a> for direct inquiries. In copyright. <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/</a> Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Redmond, Eugene B. https://digitallis.isg.siue.edu/files/original/528c7bc7b85889ce572996b01acb4a81.pdf 1584fa37696e95d8a584bf09f7449528 PDF Text Text were forGed--especially the work of Jupiter Hammon, Phillis Hheatley and Geor ge Hoses Horton. IV Polk Seculars: Don wid massa•s hollerin 1 ; Don wid massa•s hollerin 1 ; Don wid massa 1 s hollerin 1 Roll Jordan roll. We observed that there is a thin line between the Black religious and secular worlds. This is true for many reasons-- some of them stemming from the African tradition of interrelating all aspects of life. As John M1 Biti (African Reli gions and Pbilosophies), Gabriel Bannerman-Richter and others point out, the African takes his relicion (his beliefs) with him where ever he goes. Hany investigators (Jahn, l1'Biti and others) · also remind us that most African languages have no word for religion or art. The tuo are inseparable. Again the ways o:r African peoples (see Nphahlele • s 1-J11irlwind) are expressed in 11 integrated II terms. True, in Black America there is some tension between secular and religious communities--but so often ( and most Blacks understand this well though they don 1 t always a.dmit it) they o.re the same: on different occasions. wearing different hats Study, again, the case of a Rev. Jesse Jackson or a Rev. Ike or a Rev. Adam Clayton PowellJ We have also observed that many motifs and components of Black expression are interchangeable. That is 1 songs and • 43 �speeches desig ned for church or other religious activity are lr-/ ~> often re-cut (modified) for a secular-jsocial affair. are numerous exa~~ les of this practice. IU c;ht s e ra., 110 There During the Civil i ronld s inr; I Hoke up tl1is mornin 1 ui th my mind stayed on freedom though Ho wore fully a:ware that church folk were used to sineine; it t h i:::i Hay: I woke up this mormin 1 with my mind stayed on Jesus liany of Curti s IIayfield 1 s (o.nd the I mpressions songs rely 1 ) strongly on the material of songs sung in Black chur•ches. Even M.o.yfield 1 s more r e cent tunes (see "If There's A Hell Below") carry the Black churcb flavor--with their warnings., admonishments., threats of societal destruction, and pleas for love (see also Narvin Gay's pieces like "Save The Children"). Some works by the Temptations ( "Run Auay Child Running Wild 11 ) reflect the historical th erne of songs. 11 searcbing 11 found in Black religious This so.me group I s "Poppa Has A Rolling Stone" describes poppa "steo.ling in the name of the Lord." B.B. King's 11 Woke Up This Mernin" is a blues treatment -of the idea expressed above in the Spiritual: "I Woke Up 1rhis Mornin. 11 When heard the old Supremes singing "Stop in the :Name of Love" we were tempted to replace "love" with "God." Often the songs contain exchangeable and inter-changeable words such as "Mother 11 ; 'Bapy II and 1 "Captain II und 11 11 God 11 ; 11 Lord 11 and "Sweet thing II and "Sweet .Jesus 11 ; M.o.kor 11 ; and "God II and "Man 11 • Tbe reasons for such usages, as wo have stated, are deeply enmeshed in the 44 �mythos of Blacks. Richard Wright's "Bright and Horning Star 11 (in t he Bible, a me taphor for Jesus) becomes the son of old Aunt Sue in the s h ort story by that name. Th e hero of John A. Williams' novel, Th e Na n Hho Cried I Am, says "tbank y ou man" to God after a sex act. "Sli pp ing into Darkness 11 ( Hhen we hear a tune like War 1 s "when I heard my mother say ") we must understand t~ h istorical significance and function of social (therapeutic) art--just as we must understand the function of t he mo ther-like voice that admonishes Isaac Hayes to "s he t yo mouf II in 11 Shaft. 11 mien conservative Black Christians complained of Duke Ellington's use of reli Gious the mes in jazz, he replied "I 1 1r1 just a ecumenical cat 11 -- meanin13 he avoided fine distinctions in where or to whom he played. The church has been the training ground (academy, if you will; see Frazler's The Ne r·ro Church in Amer ica) for most of the big (vocal) names in Black popular music as well as for important orators, race leaders and co mmunity businessmen. A~ai nst the foregoing discussion we can view the Folk Seculars in their right perspecti ve as a vital part of the rich st orehouse of' Black folklore. (my own gra ndmothe r: Throuch songs, aphorisms "You don 1 t bel ieve fat meat•s c;reasy! 11 and "If you ain't g on 1 do nothin g Get off the pot!"), fables (see Aen op), jokes (see minstrelsy and the Black comedy tra~ dition), h lues and other enduring for ms /B lacks capture severe hardships and tribulations, folk wisdo m, joys and tra ~e dies, ~ nd t l1 e lo nc;i n[;S and li opes of Blacks duri nc; s lavery;1 afterwards . • �The Seculars, more so than the Spirituals, give important clues to the inner-workings of the common Black mind. And a closer look at the total folk tradition will reveal t he structure and principles of folk psycholo~y. It is, after all, back and forward to these folk materials that researchers will have to g o if they are serious about delineating the feelin gs , emotions and thou gh t putterns of Blacks. The Seculars are surer indic es to the workings of t h e folk mind be cause t h ey are not as limited as the Spirituals. Though most Blacks in the United States are aware of and have heard t h e Spirituals, an even lar ger number b ave bad sustained exposure (directly or indirectly) to t he s ecular vocalizations and g estures of Black culture . Contemp orary Black popular music and culture con- tinue to be informed by the street and home utterances. An exciting reciprocity allows entertainers to borrow freely from what t hey hear while t he folks "run and tell that" once itfs recorded. Some examp les of songs, titles and oth er epithe ts borrowed d irectly from the people are: New Ba~ , 11 "Licking Stick" (see "Truant 11 ) , 11 11 boney stick" in McKay's story Gi ve It Up or Turn It Loose, "It's Hell 11 ; Marvin Gaye's 11 James Brown's "Drand 11 "The Payback 11 and What•s Going On" and "Let 's Get it On"; Curtis Hayfield's "Superfly 11 ; the Jackson Five's "Get It Tog ether or Leave It Alone"; Flip Hilson 1 s "What You See is 1'n1at You Get 11 (and the Dramatics' tune by the same name); Aretha Franklin's "Respect" and "Run and Tell Tl1at Kni gh t' s 11 IIr . BiG Stuff"--to nar,1e just a f ew . 46 11 ; and Jean �As with the Sp irituals, whites (primarily abolitionists) were among the first to collect Seculars of wb atever type. William Wells Broun, t he first published Black novelist and playHri gh t, collected "anti-slavery 11 songs. Thomas Hentworth Higginson, writer and abolitionist who led a Black re g i ment in the Civil War, coll e cted song s he h eard among his me n around campfires and during marches. Though primarily con- cerned uith religious songs, he also descri bed some of the properties of ge neral Bl ack song delivery. One of the most important collections of these seculars was put to geth er by Thomas H. Talley ( of Fisk University, as was Professor Uork). Professor Talley di d pioneering work in t h e identification and classificatio n of Hegre> Folk Rhymes. Describing the phi lo- sophy , s tructure and, in soma cases, orig in of t h e songs, the Fisk scholar coll e c ted well over JOO examples. / cf:..,~er i mportant examp l es a nd discussions of the artistic products of .t'ol Jr X secular folk life can be found in the works of Huc;hes a nd Bont er;1 ps , Brewer, Sp al d ing, Dodson, Chapman, Brown ( Negr o Poetry ), Ahrahar:is (Deep Dm-m in The Jun gle) and Bell (The Folk Roots of Contemporary Afro-American Poetry). Bell 1 s work is recent (from t h e new Broadside Press) and is soCTewhat vague in perspective a s a result of an i mposed ("forei gn") construct. Also valuable to an examination of t he Seculars are regiona l works (such as Abrahams') including Drums and Sh adows (Georg ia and South Carolina), Goldstein's (ed.) Black Life 47 �and Cultur e i n t he United St a tes, Lorenzo Dow Tur ner's work in t he Gullah cul t ure, Dorson 1 s Ne gro Folktales in Mich i gan, and oth ers ( s e e b i bliography). By far the most faithful r e pr e s entati on of se cular or reli g ious folk materials in t h e writt en po etry is i n t b e work of Sterling Br01m ( see h is Southern Ro ad, e specially Johnson's introductio n , a nd b is critical comments in Degro Poetry ). Brown takes exception to Joh ns on's comment that dialect poetry h as only two stops-uhumor and path os u--a nd i mplies that Black poets up until his time h ad b een re miss (or lazy) in not de veloping hroader use s and deepe n inc; the meaning of Black life t h rou gh t ll e use of fol k materials. The traditio n of 11 tall 11 tale-telling is, of course, sub- mer ged in t he American my tbos. So the Black narrator found a fl ex i b l e a t mos ph er e into which he could introduce his own manne r of s t or y t e lling a nd his own tradition of song . As he h ad d one i n th e S pirituals, he gained a resourcefulness in the u s e of langua ge , acquired instruments to accompany th e song or story, and developed an ab il~ty to seize upon a good or ame nable context in which to tell or sing his story ; h e also made use of t he me s and ideas fro m the vast ethnic potpourri of America. the Spirituals. Th e Seculars grew up side- by -side witb The Spirituals emerged fro m t h e atte mpt of the slav e to web to geth er his disparate (y et 1nutual) wou nds. Spirituals represent t h e slave's perserverence and (in many instanc e s) 11 is ho pe and fo.i th in mankind. The Seculars, also ' �develo ping in t he shad ows of t h e "bi g h ouse, 11 reflect the social l if e of t h e Black American on the plantation and later. In songs a nd dittie s , the Black American couched his long ings and bittern e s s e s , but v oiced bis h opes and cy nicis ms t h rou gh the obliqu e , e liptic a l and encoded words and seemin gly unintelli g i b le pho ne tic symbols. These Afr ican forms (see Rappin 1 a nd St y li n 1 Out, Koc hman) have continu ed up to t h e present. Few Black youne sters are abl e to side - s t e p t h e ri gorous (and someti mes painful) verbal dJ&c e rity dema nde d by playmates during verb al sparring rnatcll es that ine vita.b l y ta ke place. Tbe for ms of sucb b eh a v ior were in,_Ja ct during slave ry--when a slave mi ght be discussing a master's "mama" or 11 old lady 11 during a ratb er h armless "rap 11 (rhapsond? r a pport?) with his fellow field workers. Frederick Dou glass r epor ts (Narrati ve) t h at slave over-seers t h ought . slave s sang b ecaus e th ey were h appy. We know t h at such was not t h e cas e ( s e DuBois, S ouls of Black Folks) a nd that such re.fr a i ns a s 11 s teal ing away" i mplied a lot r11 or 0 t h an wa nti ng to r• each t ho ar ms of J e sus on t b e cr o-ss. similar cod e o i n h i:J :Jtori en a nd po ems. Henry Du mas c11ronicles And Mel vlatkin::.i (l\.mistad 2) discuss ed a n updated ve rsion of at l ea st part of t h is ,ph;n;;--;'.V ,._,...___ ""·' "..--- in b is article on folk singer-hero Jame s Brown. discu ss ing a □ e cul a r to Dr. Th ur ma n 1 s: Though h e is ch aracter, Watki ns' revelations a re s i milar t h at i n the ab surd context of b einc; ow ned by so meo ne el s e, it i s not lif e or death t h at loom so i mportantly. One li ve s, Elliso n su 13 0 e s ts (Invisi b le Ma n ), the day -to-day �? v r5a-. ab s urdi ty i n a sort of comic-trag ic d Hatkins say s: James Brown's initial acceptance by a black audience is fixed in t h is crucial factor. Frorn the moment he slides onto the stage, Hhether unconsciously or intentionally, his gestures, his facial expronsions and even the sequential arranc e me nt of h is materials are external affirmations of a shared acceptance of t h e absurd or, more inc enously, of jiv ing. The t mpe{c}i.bly tailored suits, Hl1tcl1 h e V brandishes at the outset, become meaninc less accoutre me nts a s l1is act proc;resses and, sweatln c a nd straininc; , lle c;et:J down, literall:r down on t l1 e flo or, to wri nc; t h e last drop of e motio n fro 111 Uatkins i::i i ncorrect a1Jout the dress bccomin~ "meaninc less 11 to a Black audi enc e , but his c eneral thesis is on tar g et. E lseHho1°e Hatki n::i , fir mly understundin c; the i 1n rortance of verbal n.e;ility a mo nc Blo.cl::s, sa:rs "it is comnon to h ear h lack lrornen discussinc a 1,ian•s 'rap' or as they <.lJ. ~i ctw n l ii :., 1)a nl~ acconnt. 'pr ci c;ra1r, ' on t he same l e v el 11 Dlacks c;c :i orally wlthl-i old their jnd t;J,ent on ( or nc coptance) of a s p enl·cr or cnt crt n ine r u n til h .; cx11ibi t::.:, in l i[; tlr e.'..l rJ- ce:;t 11r o -rn p , that 11 0 11 nc1cr- - :::t u rJu :J t' u 11cll::.:prt n~ t h a t l :coc.ln c ud the "n, 1 0. c l: nnd trnlcncm u bar ds . 11 :-:~.tur•n:i. n:.; br i e f l y, to our b i s toric a l a s sess ment, ·w e cn n noH :Jt.,u 1101r t bo f olk s tratn in Bl a ck wr·i t tcn o.r t e·,o J. \: ed.. �Fror;i tbis 11 so ng 11 recorded in tbe 1 9~0 ' s by Dou glnss, Dey git u~ de liquor, And so.~ dat 1 s aood enou~h for the n i ccer . 11 to the f oar of cl e Cun jah Han II ca ptured i n "Gul la.h II h~r Camp be 11 in t he latter pa.rt of the 190 0 1 s, De Cunjari r,1an, de Cunjah man, 0 ch ill en r un, de Cu njab man! the decoptlv0ly 11 s:1. n ple 11 e111plo:rmcnt of folk expressions 11a ve prevailed as an i nrortant antidote for the social trm lo.dles 11 inherit ed by Blacks in t he Western Hemispliere. De Cu nj al1 I-la.n II is, of cours o , oqui valent to the "th in1:'.: s that c; o bur.1 pi nc in tho n i c;l1t" in Ir e land--o.nd t hus -li a~ ti es to genera l folk supor•sti tion3 a.nd uy tholo u;y. But tr1o re was also t}1e "riugc:ah- rno.n" (Dun1>o.r 1s "Little Brown Baby"), t he "rac; 1:mn", "pe c:-le g, 11 "raw-hen.d and h loocly b ones 11 and (iQ places like Trinid ad ) t he 11 obeah i:m n, back □ 11 Host of these supernatural characters are throw- to var ious African religious and ritual practices. Of the neH c;encrati o n of poets, Ish mae l Reed (Catechis m of a neoa.merl c an hoodoo ch urch) is the innovator in t he use of supernatural t h e mes and vocabulary. The t heme of tho 2 nd Annual John Henry Memor ial Autl1entic 13luoLJ o.ncl Gos pc 1 Jubilee (110 ld in Cliff Top, ·1:1 . Va . , i n Au c us t and September of 1974 ) was 11 Tryin 1 to Get nome. 11 1I ow st ead - fastly the folk trad itio n runs like a ve in t hr ou c;h Black ll istory . Intl~ Se culars (a nd t he Spirituals) we repeatedly hear something similar to t he last stanza of 51 11 Rainb01-J Roun Ma h Sh oulder 11 : �I ' r,1 gonna break ri2;l1t, break ri c;b t pas that s h ooter, I' m gain b ome , Lai,-Jd, I'm g oin home. Again the us e of' the 1-10~ "Lawd II in a "secular II song f'urther bears ou t the communal inte gration of the folk expression. My own sisters ofte n interject or exclaim "Lord" or "Lawd" in everyday discussions about life. It is next to impossible to list all (or each type) of the Seculars. Wo h ave mentioned Professor Talley's pioneering efforts at classifying the m. But many obstacles lay in the way of recorders of secular folk life. of cenGureship of language . One problem was t h at Such censuring marked all types of Black creativity , from the slave narratives to religious songs. Hence the more "protesting" aspects of tbe works were deleted as Hero 11 offensive words. 11 Anyone who bas be ard ''authentic II Black folk songs knows tbat tbey reflect tl10 conver gence of madnesn, absurdity and hope in tbe Black body. Subsequently what are known as "curse" or "obscene" words are sprinkled t h rou gl10ut mu ch of the "secular II lore. Brown dis- cusses the "realism" in the folk rhymes along with an attempt to{jia:JSify at lea. s t some of them ("fiddle-sings," "corn-songs, 11 jig-tunes, 11 "upntart crows 11 ); ( Ballads, Ballads; ~ Nec;ro Heroes, John Henry (folldfied in sone;), 1:lor•k SonGs, Tlle Blues, Irony and Protest. Irony and protest, of course, run t h rou 01 Black folk and literary poe try fro m t he earliest days (V~itfi e ld, Harper, anti-slavery 11 sonc; □) to the mo □ t 52 recent ti me s (Josh l~1ite, �Leon Thomas, Don L. Lee, John Ech ols, Johnny Scott). Some ob ser v ers h ave poi nted to the silliness of many researchers who, white as ever, appeared in perso n to a sk Black folk song writers arrl singers if tbey endorsed "protest, away satisfied witb a "no" answer. 11 tl1en went Given the nature and history of race relations one can understand t he reluctance on the parts of Blacks to tell wl1ites the truth a b out "anything " let alone a b out such a sensitive area as "protest. 11 Yet in the doc-eat-dog world of survival, the folk person knows that "If he di es , I'll eat h is co 1 n; 1\. n ' if b o 11 v es , I ' 11 ride ' 1 m on. 11 In summary we can say that unlike other etbnic i mmi grant groups ( the Afro-American was not a willinr; i mmi grant!), the Black American did not simply transplant l1is stories--keeping them in t he ir exact :::ia1110 form. He fou nd American or European lanc;uace counterparts for his the mes a nd vocabularies. But h;i.s pho nolo i;ry , style and spirit were informed by the African tradition. The student of Black folk poetry will wa nt to compar e and contrast the Seculars to ·other ethnic stori e s and so ngs. Boasti ng or "ly ing , of the "tall" tale. "Shine, 11 for example, is one inc;redient How does the Black song or story (i.e., "S i g nifyinG Henkey, etc.) fit t h is motif? 11 11 "Dolomite, 11 "Frankie and Johnnie, How does it conceal deeper me a n in g s on the i!Jsues of sla very, inb u man wor k concli tions, or contradictio rw i n Cb r:tstin. ni ty? 1·n1at are the si mil ari t:tes hetween the Se culars und th e Sp irituals? Between t h e Seculars and • 53 11 �the literary poetry? These and other questions (on Black heroes, cultural motifs, blues themes, langua ge and endurance) will lead one throu gh exciting corridors of Black folk creativity and thought. V SPIRITUALS GO DOWU, MOSES Go donw, Mos e s, Hay doim in Esry ptland Tell old Pharaoh To let my people go. lnrnn Israel was in Egyptland Let my people r,o Oppressed so hard they could not stand Let my people go. Go down, l1ose s , Hay down in Egyptland Tell old Pharaoh "Let my people go." "Thus saith the Lord," bold Moses said, "Let my people: If not I 1 11 smite your first-born dead Let my people r_;o. 11 �"No more shall they in bondage toil, Let my people go; Let them come out with Egypt's spoil, Let my people g o, 11 'l1l·ie Lord told Mos es what to do Lot my people go; To lead the children of Israel through, Let my people go. Go dm-m, Hosen, Huy dmm in Egy ptland, Tell old Pharaoh, "Let my people go!" SIAVERY CHAIN Slavery chuin done broke at last, broke at last, broke at last, Slavery chain done broke at last, Going to praise God till I die. Way down in-a dat valley, Praying on my knocs; Told God about my troubles, And to help me of-a He please. I did tell him how I suffer, In de dungeon and do chain, And de days I went with head bowed down;, And my broken flesh and pain. 55 �SPIRITUALS (cont'd) Slavery chain done broke at last, broke at last, broke at last, Slavery chain done broke at last, Going to praise God till I die. I did knoH 111y Jesus heard me, 'Cause de spirit spoke to me, And said, "Rise my child, your chillun, And you too shall be free. 11 I done 'p'int one mighty captain For to marshall all my hosts, And to bring my bleeding ones to me, And not one shall be lost." Slavery chain done broke at last, broke at last, broke at last, Slavery chain done broke at last, Going to praise God till I die. NO MORE AUCTION BLOCK No more auction block for me, No more, no more, No moro auction block for me, Many thousand gone. lTo rn or·e peck of corn for me, No more, no more, 56 �SPIRITUALS (cont'd) No more peck of corn for me, Nany thousand gone. No more pint of salt for me, No more, no more, No more pint of salt for me, Many thousand gone. No more driver' □ lash for me, No more, no more, No more driver's lash for me, Many tbousand gone . SHOUT ALONG, CHILLEN Shout along, chillen! Shout along, chillen! Hear tbe dying Lamb: Ob! take your nets and follow me For I died for you upon the tree! Shout along, chillen! Shout along, chillen! Hear the dyin8 Lamb! SWING LOW, SWEET CHARIOT Swing low, sweet chariot, Cominc; for to cu.rry me home, Swing low, □ wcct chariot, Coming for to carry me home. 57 �SPIRITUALS (cont 1 d) I looked over Jordan and what did I see Coming for to carry me home, A band of an c els, coming after me, Coming for to carry Lile home. If you get there before I do, Coming for to carry me home, Tell all my friends I' m coming too, Corning for to carry me home. Swing low, sweet chariot, Coming for to carry me home, Swing low, sweet chariot, Coming for to carry me home. STEAL AWAY Steal away, steal away, steal away to Jesus, Steal awo..y, steal awo.y home, I ain't e ot long to stay here. My Lord, He calls me, He calls me by the thunder, The trumpet sounds within-a my soul, I ain't got long to stay here. Steal away, steal away, steal away to Jesus, Steal a.way, steal away home, I ain't got long to stay here. 53 �SPIRITUALS (cont'd) Groen trees a-bonding, Po' sinner stands a-trembling The trumpet sounds within-a my soul, I ain 1 t c ot lo ng to stay here. DEEP RIVER Deep river, my home is over Jordan, Deep riv er, Lord; I want to cross over into camp ground. 0 children, O, don 't you want to c o to that cospel feast, 'l1hat promised land, tl1at land, ·wl1ere all is peace? Deep river, my home is over Jordan, Deep river, Lord; I want to cross over into camp Ground. I GOT A HOME: IN DAT ROCK I c; ot a home in dat rock, Don't you se e ? I got a h ome in dat rock, Don't you see? Botirnen de earth an 1 nlcy, Though t I l1earc.l tny Saviour cry, You got a ho me in dat rock, Don't y ou s ee? Poor n an Laz 1 ru3, poor as I, Don't y ou :ic e ? Poo~ma n Laz•rus, poor as I, 59 �SPI RI TUALS (c on t 1 d ) Don ' t ~, ou see? Po or man Laz 1 rus , poor a s I, Uhen he died he found a ho r,1e on h i gh , He h ad a ho me in dat r oc k , Don ' t y ou oee ? Tii ch man Dives , h e l ived so we ll, Don ' t yo u se c ? Rich 1.1cm Div e s , lie li ved so wel l, Don ' t :ro u se e? Tii c h rn an Dj_v co , h o li v e d so well , "\:Thon cllu c1 h e found a ho me i n He l l , 11 0 Ho had no houw in dat r o c k , Do n ' t y ou soc? God c o..vo lfo a l~ d e nainbow sic;n , Don 1 L yo u :.;cc? God .:;n ve No ali d e Ra1. nb01·1 s icn , Don ' t y ou :::iee? Gou Ho 1_, o. '10 LJOl'O 1,1 a t 1.;:c De tt o r de nai nboH :..d.,:n , lToi:d-1 c;o t 1,u t ll 11 0 1.ic fir·o ne xt tj_ we , in c1at roc k , Don ' t you ::.:cc ? 6n �S1'ITII TUALS (c ont 1 d) I BEEH .HEBUJillD AN]) I BEEN scommn I b 0en 1·cbukec1 and I heen s c orned , I been rebuked a~ I been scorned, Chlllun, I bco n r e bul: ecl and I been scor ned , I 1 sc 110.d a b arcl time, so's y ou born . Talk about me t:1u cl1 as you please, Tallc abou t t.,c r,mch as you please , Chillun, talk about me mu ch o.s you please, Gonno. talk a:)ou t yo u when I c;et on 1~1y knees. DE OL!~ SHEEP DEY KNOW DE TIOAD Oh, do ole sheep, doy know de road, De ole sheep, doy know de road, Do ole sbucp, c.1cy know de road, De younc; Lambs mu s t find de way. ify brother , better mind how you walk on de cross, De younc; lur,1bs must find de W(:l.Y, For your foot mi gh t slip, and yo f soul g it lost, De yo un g lo.mbs must find de Hay . Better mind dat snn , and see how she run, De youn g la1nbs must find de wo.y, And rai nd , don I t let he r catch yo u Hid yo ' work u ndone , De yo un c lambs must find de way. 61 �SPITIITUALS (cont 1 d) Oh., de ole sheep , dey know de road, De ole sheep, dcy know de road, De ole sheep, dey know de road, YounG lamb s must find de ·way. DE IIAMHER IillEPS RINGING Oh, de hammer k e eps rin g ing On so mebody's coffin, 011, de hammer keeps ringing On somebody's coffin, Oh, de bammer keeps rin r; ing On somebody' □ coffin: Good Lord, I know my time ain't lon g . Ob , de wagon keeps rolling Somebody to de g raveyard, 011, de wa g on keeps rollin13 Somebody to de g raveyard, Oh, de wagon keeps rolling Somebody to de graveyard: Good Lord, I known~ time ain't long. Oh, de preucber keeps preaching Someb ody's funeyal, Ob, de preacher keeps preacbing ~) omb ody I s funeyal, 62 �SPITIITUALS (cont 1 d) De preacher keeps preaching Someb ody's funeyal: Good Lord, I know my time ain 1 t long. MOTHERLESS CHILD Sometimes I feel like a motherless cbild, Sometimes I feel like a motherless child, Sometimes I feel like a motherless child, A long ways from home, A long ways from home . Sometimes I feel like I I 111 almost gone , Sometimes I feel like I 1 m aln10st gone , Sometimes I feel like I' m almost gone, A long ways from home, A long ways from home. Sometimes I feel like a featber in the air, Sometimes I feel like a feather in the air, Sometimes I feel like n feather in the air, And I spread my wings and I fly, I spread my wings and I fly. NOBODY ID-TOWS DA TRUBBLE AII SEE Oh, nobody knows da trubble o.h see, lTob ody knows but Jesus. 63 �SPIRITUALS (cont'd) lfobody knows da trubble ah see, Glory, Hallelujah! Sometimes I' m up, sometimes I'm down, Oh, yes, Lord! Sometimes I' m almost to the groun', Oh, yes, Lord! Although you see me goin along, so, Oh, yes, Lord! I bave my trubbles here below, Oh, yes, Lord! Nobody knows da trubble ab see, Hobody knows my sorrow. Nobody knows da trubble ah see, Glory, Hallolujo.111 One day when I was walldn along, Oh, yes, Lord! The elements open and his love came down, Oh, yes, Lord! I never shall forget dat day, Oh, yes, Lord! rn1en Jesus wash my sins away, Oh, yes, Lord! 64 �SPIRITUAI.S (cont'd) Oh nobody knows da trubble ah see, nobody knows my s orrou. Nob ody knows da trubble ah see, Glory, Hallelujah! DE BLIND MAN STOOD ON DE ROAD O, de blind man stood on de road and cried O, de blind man stood on de road and cried Crying "O, ry Lord, save-a me; 11 De blind man stood on de road and cried. Crying dat be migbt receive bis sight Crying da t be 111i2:ht receive his s ic;h t Crying 11 0, my Lord, save-a me;" De blind man stood on de road and cried. HE imvrm SAID A MlJI.IBALING WORD Oh, de wlrnpped him up de hill, up de hill, up de 1iill, Oh, de wbupped bim up de hill, and he never said a mumbaling word, Oh, dey wlrnpped h im up de hill, and he never said a mumbo.ling 1.-rnrd, He jes' bung down bis head, and be cried. Oh , dey crowned him wid a thorny crown, thorny crown, thorny crown, 01, dey crowned him wid a tborny crown, and he 65 �SPITIITUALS (cont 1 d) never said a mumbalinr; word, Ob, doy croimed h im wid a thorny crown, and be never siad a mumbalin g word, Ho j es ' hung down his head, and he cried. \Je ll, dey nailed h i m to de cross, to de cross, to de cross, Well, de~ nailed him to de cross, and be never suid u 1 u mb uling word , Well, dey nailed him to de cross, and he never naid a mumbaling word, He jeD I hun c; down his head, and he cried. Well, dey pierced h i1i1 in de side, in de side, in de Dide, Well, dey pierced h i m in de side, and de blood co me u-twink:lin13 down , Hell, dey pierced him in de side, and de blood cor.1e o.-twinkling down, Den be hun g doHn 11is bend, and he died. JOSHUA P IT DE BATTLE OP .JERICHO Joshua fit de battle of Jericho, Jericho, Jericho, Joshua fit do hut tle of Jericho, And de uall::: cowe tumblin g down. 66 �SPIRITUALS (cont'd) You may talk about yo 1 king of Gideon Talk about yo 1 man of Saul, Dere's none like g ood old Joshua At de battle of Jericho. Up to de walls of Jericho, He marched Hith spear in hand; "Go blow dem ram horns, 11 Joshua cried, "Kase de battle am in my hand. 11 Den de la mb ram sheep horns begin to blow, Trumpets b c c in to sound, Joshua commanded de chillen to shout, And de Halls come tumbling down. Dat morninG, Joshua fit de battle of Jericho, Jericho, Jericho, Joshua fit de battle of Jericho, And de Halls come tumbling down. OH, HARY, DON r T YOU \·JEEP Oh I1o.ry, don't you weep, don't you moan, Oh Hary , don 1 t you ·ueep , don 1 t you moan, Pharaoh I s army got drownded, 011 Hary, don't you weep. �SPIRITUALS (cont'd) One of dese 111ornings, b:cight and fair, Take my win gs and cleave de air, Pharaoh's army eot drownded, Oh }~ry , don't you weep. One of deso mornings, five o 1 clock, Dis ole world gonna reel and rock, Pharaoh's army got drownded, Oh Nary, don I t you weep. Don I t know uho.t my motl1er wants to stay lier fuh, Dis ole world ain't been no friend to bub, Pharaoh I s army got drownded, Oh Mary, don't you weep. Oh Hary , don't you weep, don't ·you moan, Oh Mary, don't you weep, don't you 111oan, Pharaoh I a army got drownded, Oh :Mary, don't you weep. VT. FOLK SECULAn3 HE IS NY HORSE One day as I wus a-ridin' by, Said dey: "Ole t; an, yo' boss will die. " "If he dies, Ancl if 110 }1 e is my loss; lives, lie is my hoss. 60 11 �FOLK SECULARS (cont 1 d) Nex' day w 1 en I come a 1 ridin 1 by, Dey said: "Ole man, yo' boss may die. "If he dies, I 1 11 tan 1 is 11 skin; 1\.n 1 if be lives, I'll ride lim a g 1 in. 11 Den aG'in w1 en I come a-ridin' by , Said de:r: "Ole man, yo' h oss mou c;·h t die. 11 "If he dies, I'll eat his co•n; An' if he lives, I'll ride 'im on. 11 DID YOU FEED HY COU? "Did y0r feed my cow? 11 "Yes, I1am!" ''Yes, Ha m! 11 "Will yer tell me h ow?" 11 01 l , u 1 at tlid yor g ive 1 cr?" "cawn an hay. II 11 011 , , er?" "Cawn an hay. II ll I D..t clid ycr• g i ve "Did yer milk 1 er g ood?" "Yes, Mam! "Did yer do l ak yer sbould?" 11 0h, how did ycr milk 'or? 11 Swish! "Yes, Ham! 11 S:wisb ! 11 Swish! 11 "Did dat cow r; it sick?" "Yes , !!am! 11 Hus she kivcred Hid tick?" 11 11 11 "Yes, Ham !" 0b, h ow wus she sick?" "All b loated up. II "Oh , how HUS she sick?" "All b loated up. II 69 �FOLK SECULARS (cont 1 d) SONG (From Frederick Douglass, Hy Bondac e and I1~r Preedo: n, 11353) Ue r aise de 1-1l1eat , Dey gib us de corn: He hake de hreo.d , Dey c;ib de crust; U!3 'He s if de mea l, Dey c; i b de huss; UE.: He peel de meat, Dey g i h us de skin ; And dat• s de way Doy tak e no in; Ho skim do pot , Dey ~ib us de liquor, J\.nd say dat 18 c;o od e nou ch for n i c2;er . SONG (Pro:11 Viu.1~ tin R . Delany, "Bl ake ; or, The Huts of At~1e ric a ," in The Anclo-Afrlcan lio.c;az l ne, June H 159) Cone all my ln•e t brcn , let us ta'trn a re st, Olu. u astci:· died a t.L1 J.r_;ft us u ll at last , And l h:J con0 nt the bar' to appear ! 01<.1 , :o.s t cr· 13 J\.nc.l our b l ood cleac1 an<l l :ri.n.3 in 1i i s gra vc; 1-1i 11 now c ease to flou; Ee uill no t.tore tramp on the ne; ck of t110 nla•;e , f.'01• he I c; [;One \-Jri cre slave-holders 7n £.:;O ! �FOLK SECULAri.S ( cont I d) Earnl up t he sbove 1 and the hoe-0 -0- 0 ! I don 1 t care whether I work or no! Old tr,nstor ' s .:;one to t11e slave-holders rest-He':::; 0 one w110re the:r all ou~ht to SELLI H t TII!E Goodbye, Goodhyo, Ii' I n0val1 , ncvah see you any tao. Goodbye, Good ~ye , I will meot you on t he utha oho. Pray fo r Ille , Pray for tr1e , If I ncvah , ncvah see you any Pl O. fray .for r11e , Pray .for !1l C, I will meat you on the utha sho. Do stronG, Bo str on g , If I nevah, nevah see you any mo . Be strong, Be s trong, I will meet you on the utha sho. Fare tbce well, Fare thee we ll, If I nevah , nevah see you an:r mo . Po.re th:..;c Hell, 71 L,;O ! �FOLK SECULARS (cont 1 d) Fare thee well, I will mee t you on the utha sho. l½.ANY A THOUSAlID DIE no r.:ore driver call for me, Ho more dri ver call; No more driver call for• me, I1any a thousand die; No more peck of corn for me, No more pock of corn; No more peck of corn for me, Many a t h ousand die! No more 'h undred lash for r1e, no more bundred lasl1; No more hundred lanh for me, I1any a tl1ous and die! Fm;EDOTI Ahe Lincoln freed the nigger, Wid da gun o.nd wid da tri gger, An I ain't g inna c; it whipped no mo. Ab c;ot mah ticket Out of dis heab thicket, An I' m headin for da golden sho. 0 freedo m, 0 freedo m, 72 �FOIJ~ SECULA.i'1S ( cont Id) 0 freedom after a while, And before I 1 d be a slave, I 1 d be buried in my erave, And go home to my Lord and be free. The1 e 'll be no more moaning , no more moaning, 1 No more woaning after a while, And before I 1 d be a slave, I'd be buried in my grave, And go home to my Lord and be free. No more weeping, no more crying, No more weopinc; after a while, And before I'd be a slave, I 1 d be buried in my grave , An<l go home to my Lord and be free. There'll be no more kneeling, no more bowing, No more kneeling after a while, And before I'd be a slave, I 1 d be buried in my grave, And c; o borne to my Lord and be free. There'll be shouting, there'll be shouting, There'll be shouting after a while, And before I'd be a slave, I 1 d be buried inn~ grave, And go home to my Lord and be free. WE 'LL SOON BE FREE We'll soon be free, He 1 11 soon be free, 73 �FOIJ( SECULARS (cont I d) We'll soon be free, 1vhen de Lord wi 11 call us home. Hy br•udder, how long My brudder, how long, Hy brudder, 110-w long, 'Fore we done sufferin' here? It won't be long (Thrice.) ' Fore de Lord will call us borne. We'll walk de miry road (Thrice. ) Wbere pleasure never dies. Hy brudder, how lone; (Thrice.) 1 Fore we done sufferin' here. We ' ll soon be free (T11rice.) ) When Jesus sets sets me free. We 1 11 fic;ht for liberty ('rl1rice.) When de Lord will call us home. DOH WID DRIBER 'S DRIBIN' Don wid driber 1 s dribin 1 Don wid dribor 1 s dribin' Don wid dribcr's dribin' Roll, Jordo.n, roll. Don Hid massa's hollerin 1 Don wid mo.::isa 1 s hollerin 1 Don Hid tr1 cw [l a ' ::i lJollerin 1 Roll, Jordan, roll. 74 �FOLK SE CULARS ( cont I d) R.ADTBOW ROUN HAH SHOULDER Evahwhuh I, ::,huh I look dis mawnin, Looks lak rain, looks lak rain. I gotta rainb ow, tied 1111 roun mah sl1oulder, Ain gonna rain, ain g onna rain. I don walk till, walk till mah feets 8 one to rollin, Jes lak a whee l, jes lak a sheel. Evah m11ilday, I gets a letter, "Hy son come home, my son come home." Dat ol letter read about dyin, Mah tears run down, mah tears run down. I 1 m gonna break rie;ht, break ri c;h t pas dat shooter, I 1m goin r1orno, LuHd, I 1 1:i g oin h ome. RAILROAD SECTION LEADER'S SONG Ef ab could, al1 sholy Hould, Stan on da rack Hhuh Moses stood. Viary, Martha, Luke and Joh n, All dem sciples dead an g on. Ah g otta Ho man in Jennielee Square, Ef yon wanna die easy, lemme ketch you there. �FOLK SECULARS (cont 1 d) Lil Evaline, settin in da shade, Figurin on da money I ain't made. Jack de rabbit, Jack de bear, Cancha move it jus a hair? All ab hate b out linin track, Dase ol bar3 b out to break mah back. You keep tal k in bout da joint ahead, Ir ever nay nuwtbin bout mah ho g an l)read. Uay down yond er in da b olla of da fiel, Angel::; wuklcin on da chayet wheel. nc ason I stay ·w id my cap' n so lone; , He giv me bi s cuita to rear b ack on. Jc rJ le111rno tell ya whut da cap' n jes done, Looked at his watch and looked at du sun. Ho, Boys, it ain time. Ho, Boys, you cuin't qu:i.t. Ho, Boys, it ain time. Sun ain gone down yit. GO DOUH, OL' IIAlnTAH Go down 01 1 Hannah., u on you riDC no mo? �FOLK SECUL.l\.TIS ( cont 1 d) Go down ol' Hannah, Won you rise no mo? Laud, if y ou rise, BrinG Jud c;t:1ent on Lawd, if y ou rise, Bring Judi:;ment on. Oh, did you hear Hhat tbe cap 1 n said? Oh, did you hear What t he cap 1 n said? That if you work He 1 ll tr ea t you well, And if you don He 1 11 give you hell. Oh, g o doun 01 1 Hannah, Won you rise no mo? Won you go down, 01 1 Hannah, Won you rise no mo? Ob , lon g-ti me man, Hold up ye haid. We ll, you may ge t a pardon And you may drop daid. 77 �FOLK SECULARS (cont'd) Lawdy, nobody feels sorry For de life-time man . Nobody feels sorry For de life-time man . J{,)IIN I-illNRY I-IAMH8R SONG Dis is de hammer Killt John Henry, Twon 1 t kill rne , baby, Twon 't ki ll me . Take dis hammer, Carry it to de captain Tell 11im I' m g one, baby, Tell him I 1 m gone. Ef he axe you, Has I running Tell him how fust , baby, Tell him hoH fast. Ef he axe you Any mo ' q u es t i o ns , Tell him you don 1 t know, baby, You don't know . Every lila i 1 duy, Gits a letter, �FOLK SECULARS ( cont I d) "Son, come home , baby, Son come home. 11 Been al 1 nic;ht long Backing up timber , Ha nt to co home, baby, Want to go home. Jes 1 wait till I make Dese few days I started I 1m going home, baby , Is going home. Everywhere I Look dis morning Look lak rain , baby, Look la k ruin. I got a rainbow Tied 'round my shoulder, Ain 1 t e onna rain, baby, Ain't g onna rain. Dis ole hammer n ing lak silver, Shine lak go ld. Take dis hammer 79 �FOLIC SECULARS ( cont I d) Throw it in de river, It'll rin g ri cht on, baby, Ring ri c;ht on. Captain, did you hear All yo' men g onna leave you, Next pay day, baby, Next pa~,r day? SHINE AND THE TITANIC It was 1912 uh en the awful news g ot around That the great Titanic was sinking down. Shine came running up on deck, told the Captain, "Please, The water in the boiler room is up to my knees . 11 Captain said, "Take your black self on back down there' I got a hundred-fifty pumps to keep tl1e boiler room clear. 11 Shine went back in the hole, started shovellin g coal, Sinr;ing , "Lord, have mercy, Lord, on my soul! 11 Just then half the ocean jumped across the boiler room deck. Shine yelled to the Captain, "The water's round my neck!" Captain said, "Go back! Neither fear nor doubt! I got a hundred more pumps to keep the water out." '~our words sound happy and your words sound true, But th is is one ti m.e, Cap, your words won't do. 80 �FOLK SECULATIS (cont 1 d) I don't like chicken and I don 1 t like hamAndi don't be lieve your pumps is worth a damn!" The old Titanic was beginning to sink. Shine pulled off his clothes and jumped in the b~ink. He said, "Little fish, big fish, and shark fishes, too, Get out of my 1.-rn:r because Ir m comi.nc; through. 11 Captain on bridge hollered, "Shine, Shine, save poor me , And I 1 11 make you as rich as any man can be. 11 Sb ine said, "There's more gold on la nd than there is on sea. And he sivirnmed on. Jay Gould's millionaire daughter came running up on deck With her suitcase in her band and her dress •round her neck. She cried, "Shine, Shine, save poor me! I 1 11 g ive you everything your eyes can see. Sbine said, 11 11 There 1 s more on land than tbere is on sea. And he swimmed on. Bi g fat banker begging, 11 Shine, Shine, save poor ne! I 1 11 give you a tbousand shares of T and T. 11 Shine said, "r-Tore stocks on land than there is on sea." And he swi mmed on. 1-nien all tlw m white folks went to heaven, Shine was in Sucar Ray's Bar drinking Sea grams Seven . Sl 11 11 �FOLK SECULARS ( cont' d ) TI-IB SI GNIFYING 1-lONiillY Tbe monkey and Lion Go t to t alkinc one day . Honkey looked down and said, · Lion , I hear you 1 s l in~ i n every way . Bu t I know sot1ie b ody 1Jho do not think that is true Be to l d me he c ould whip The living daylich t s ou t of you . Lion sa id , Hl10? Monkey said, Lion , He talked a b out y our• mamma And talke d about your grandma , t oo , And I 1 m too po lite to toll you Hhat he said about you . Lion said, '\'n10 said wlrnt? 1D10? ~-IonL:0y in t he tree , Lion on the cr•ou nd . !Io nlrny kep t on siGnif~,ing But he d idn ' t co: :e d oun . ~.i:onlrny sai cl , J-T:Ls n a,,ie is Eleplrn.ntTTe stone s ur e in not your friend . Lion :Ja id , He don ' t need to ;)e Because toda~ wi ll b e his end . Lion took off throu gh th e juncle 32 �POLK SE GUIA11f3 ( cont I d) Lickity -s plit, Me aning to c rab Clepb ant And t ear h i ~ b it to b it. Period! He c oi,:e ac r oss E lephant copping a ri e;h teous nod Und e r a fi ne c o ol shady tree. Lion said, You b i g old n o- g ood so-and-so, It 1 s eithe r you or me. Lion let out a solid roar And bopped Elephant with his paw. Elephant ju □ t took his trunk And busted old Lion's jaw. Lion let out a nother roar, Reared up six fe e t tall. Elephant ju c t kicked hi m in the belly And lau ghed to see hi m drop and fall. Lion rolled ov er, Copped Eleph ant b y tbe throat. Elephant just shook bim loose And butted him like a goat, Then he tromped him and he stomped 11im Till the Lion yelled, ffil, no! And it was near•-nigh sunset When Elephant let Lion go. Tbe si g nifyinc Honkey Was still settin g in bis tree 33 �FOLI~ SECULARS ( cont I d) 't·JJ:i en be looked down and saw tbe Lion, Sa i d , l-n1y, Lion, uho can tbat t h ere be? Lion s aid, it' s me. Mon key rapped, Wh y, Lion, You loo k more dead than alive! Lion said, r!o nkey , I don't wo. nt To hear you r j ive - end-jive. Monkey j us t kept on si c nifying , Lion, you fo r sur e caught hellMist er El e~1 0. nt 1 s done wh ipp ed y ou To a far e -tlw o-wcll! ~fuy, Lio n , y ou look like to me You be en i n t h e pr e cinct station And had t he t h ird-de gre, Else you look li ke you been h i gh on ga ge And do ne c;et caught In a mon k ey cage! You ain 1 t no king to me. Facts, I don't think that you Can even a s much as roarAnd if you try I 1 m liable To come down out of tbis tree and 1,n1i p your t a il some more. Th e Honkey st o.rted laughing And jumpine up a nd dow n . �FOLK SECULARS (cont'd) But he jumped so hard tbe limb broke And he landed--bam!-on the ground. When he Hent to run, bis foot slipped And be fell flat down. Grr-rrr-rr-r! The Lion Has on him With his front feet and his hind. Monkey hollered, Ow! Lion said, You little flee-bag you! l'fl1y, I 1 11 eat you up alive. I wouldn't a- b een in this fix a-tall Vasn 1 t for your signifying jive. Please, said Monkey, Mister Lion, If you 1 11 just let me go, I got something to tell you, please, I think you ought to know, Lion let the Monkey loose To sec wbat his tale could beAnd Monkey jumped rigbt back ori up Into his tree. ·what I was gonna tell you, said Honkey, Is you square old so-and-so, If you fool with me 1 1 11 get Elephant to whip your bead some more. Monkey, said the Lion, Beat to his unbooted knees, �FOLK SE CULATIS (cont 1 d) You and all your signifying children Better stay up in them trees. Whicb is why today Monley does his signifying A-way-up out of the way. FRANIITE AHD JOHNNY Frankie and Johnny were lovers, Lordy, how they could love, Swore to be true to each other, True as the stars up above, He was h er man, but he done her wron G. Prankie went down to the corner, To buy ber a bucket of beer, Frankie says 11 Mister Bartender, Has my lovin 1 Johnnie been here? IIe is my man, but he ts doin g me ·wronc;. 11 11 I don't want to cause you no trouble Don't want to tell you no lie, I saw your Johnnie half-an-hour a go Making love to Nelly Bly. He your man, but he 's doing you wrong. Frankie went doun to the botel Looked ov er the transom so h i gh , 86 11 �FOLK SECUL/\.RS (co nt rd) There she sau he r lo vin ' Jobnnie Haki ng love to Nelly Bly Ile was her nill n; he was doing her wron g . Frankie threw ba ck her ki~ono, Pulled out her big forty-four; Tooty-toot-toot: three ti mes she shot Tiight t h rough that hotel door, Sl1e s l10t ber man, who was doing her wron g . rrRoll me over c;ently , Roll me over slow, Roll me ov er on my right side, Cause th ese b ullets hurt me so, I was y our rrian, but I done you wroni:; ." Bring all your rubber-tired hearses Bring all your rubber-tired h acks, Th ey're carrying poor Joh nny to ·the burying gr ou nd And they ain't gonna bri ne him b ack, He was he r man, but be done h er wrong. Fr ankie says t o t he sheriff, "What are they goin o; to do? 11 The sher iff he said to Frankie, 11 It 1 s t he 1 lectric ch o.ir for you. He was your man, and he done y ou Wl'onc." • �FOLK SECULAES (cont'd) 11 Put r.1e i n t hat dun.c;eo n, Put lile in t h at cell, Put me where the north east wind Blows fro m the southeast cor ne r of h ell, I sho t my 1,mn, 'cause he done t11e wrong . S T. JAHES INFIR1-1ARY BLUES I went down to St. James Infirmary, Hy b aby t11er e she lay, Out on a cold , cold table. Well, I looked an I turned away. Hl1 at 1 s my baby 's chances, I asked old Dr. Tharp. '~y six o 1 clock this eve nin She 'll be playln a g olden harp. 11 Let h er go, let h er s o, God b l es s h er, W11 erever she may be. She can hunt this wod e world over, But she 1 11 never fi nd anoth er man like me. JUST BLUES I got a sweet black gal Liven down b y t h e railroad track, A swe e t blac k gal 88 11 �FOLK SECULARS (cont 'd) Down by the railroad track, And everytime she cri es The tears run down her ba ck. Cryin 1 , baby , have me rcy, Baby , have mer cy on me! Baby, baby , baby , Have mer cy, mercy on me! If this is your mercy, Hha.t can your pity be ? BLACK W0r-1AN We ll, I said come here, Black Woman, Ah-hmmm, do n you hear me cryin, Lawd, Laud! I say run heah , Black Woman, Si t on yo ur Black Daddy's k nee , Lawd! Hmrnmm, I kn oH yo h ouse f e el lones ome, Ah, don you heah me whoopin, L~wd, Lawd, Do n yo h ouse feel lo nesome , Hben yo biscuit roller gon, Lawd, he lp my cryin time Don yo house f ee l loneso111e , Hmmm , l~en yo biscui t roller gon. �FOLK SECULARS (cont 1 d) I say rny house feel lonesome I know you heah me crying , ob Baby, Ah-hmmm, ah, when I loolrnd in r,1y ki tcl"Jen , I-1ama , An I wen all t h oo my dinin room An-mmam1, when I woke up this mornin I faun my b iscuit roller done gone. Goin to Tex as, Mama, Justo heah t he wild ox moanLaHd help mah cry in time -Goin to Texas, Mama, Jus to beah the wild ox moan, An if they moan to suit me, I'm c;oin to bring a wild ox home. Ah -brnmm, I sa:r I I m got to go to Texas, Black MamaI know you heah me cryin, Lawd, Lawd- Ah-hmmm, I'm got to f!,O to Texas, Black Ma ma, Ah m-jus to heah the white cow, I say, moan! Ah-h mmrn, ah, if they moan to suit me , Lawd, Lawd, I bleeve I'll bring a white cow ba ck home. Say , I f ee l superstitious, Mama, 'Bout my hoggin bread, Lawd he lp my h ungr y time, I feel superstitious, Baby , ' b out my h ogg in bread! Ah-hrnmm, Baby, I feel superstltious, 90 �FOLK SECULARS (cont'd) I s ay'stitious, Black 1fo111an! Ah-bmrinn, ah y ou b eab me cryin Bout I do n c; ot h ungry, LaHd, Lawd Oh , Mama, I fee l superstitious Bout my b og , Lawd Gawd, it's mah bread. I want y ou to tell me, Ma ma, Ah-b 11mm, I he ah me cry in, oh Ma ma! Ah - hmmm , I wa nt y ou to tell me, Black Woman, 0 wh e ah did y ou stay las ni gh t? I love y ou, Blac k woman, I tell the wh ole Herl I do. Ah -h ~nm, I lo ve y ou, Black Woman, I know you h eah me wh oopin, Black Baby ! Ah -h tnm.m, I lo ve y ou Blac k Woma n An I'll t e ll y o Daddy , I do, Lawd. YOU}W BOY BLUES I 1 m a real young boy, jus sixteen years ol, I 1 m a r eal y oung boy, jus sixteen years ol, I need a fu nky black woman to satisfy my soul. ·1y fath er was no jockey but he sure taugh t me h ow to rid e . I s ay my fat her· was no jockey bu t h e sur e tau gb t me h ow to ride. 91 �FOLK SECULARS ( cont I d) He said first in the middle, Then you suay from side to side. BACiillOOR BLUES I left my baby standin in the back door cry in 1 Yes, I left my b aby sta ndin in the back door cryin' Sh e said, baby , y ou g otta h ome jus as long as I Bot mine. A BIG FAT HAHA I 1 m a b i g fat ma ma, [sOt the meat s h akin on ma1) b ones, I 1 m a b i r; fat ma ma, got t h e meat shaki n on mall bones, And ev er y ti me I shakes, s oti1e skinny g irl loses lrnh 11otrte. HOU LONG BLUES How lo nr; , how l onG, has t h at eveninc; tr a in b i n c one? Hou l one; , hou lo ne; , b aby, h ow lon13 ? Had a c al li ved up on tbe hill If she 1 c t her e , uhe loves me still Baby, how lonG, hoH long , boH lon g ? Sta nd in at the station, watch my b a by c;o Feel dis c ustcd, b lue, ~e an a n low II oH lone , h ow lo ne , b a by , 11 011 92 lone ? �CHAPTETI III AFRICAN VOICE IN ECLIPSE: IMITATION & AGITATION 1746 - 1865 Slaves, thou gh we be enroll 1 d Minds are never to be sold --from David Ruggles• Appeals, 1835 I Overview As we embark on a survey of the chronolo g ical development of Black written poetry, it is important to remember that any study of such li t er•a ture concerns that which is "available. 11 11 wri tten II and The fact that one writer has made more works accessible to the public than another writer does not make · him/her the "greatest" or even "greater. 11 In every era, quiet and important writers have been passed over in favor of literature that is more "timely, 11 'flamboyant" and "relevant "--to use ;,.., ..f.p/1.,..,'~ an overworked contemporary term. Here and fellewiM~ chapters, I am including brief representations of the poetry. And while this book certainly is not an ~nthology, /"samples" are g iven to reinforce comments on styles, themes, subjects, language and other aspects of the poetry. The poems included, it is hoped, will allow student, gene ral reader and teac ber immediate acces s to comparisons, contrasts and tentative analyses. also is no over-riding effort to explain the Horks in a 93 There �poem- by- p oem b r e a kdmm. h istori ca l Howe v er, Cha pter VII will offer an "running " analysis of several poe ms with e wpb asis on how t h e p o ems can be r e ad s ilently and aloud. Also to b e examined ar e s ome of t h e cons istencies (a nd si milariti e s) i n th emes that can be found i n many of the poems. II Lit e r a ry and Social Landscape Blacks h ave bee n in the Western He mis phere almost as lon g a s whites . Aft e r 1501, most of the Spanish ex pe ditions to the New World included Black explorers. By the ti me the 2 0 sla ves- to-be were b rou ght on a Dutch vessel to Jamestown in 1619, the pre se nc e of Blacks had been felt for at l e ast 100 years (see Be nne tt, Fr a n klin). Cruci a l to a n und e r s tanding of early Black poetry are t h e circums ta nc e s surrounding slavery and the political and reli c iou s mood s of both E ng land and Colonial-Revolutionary Amer1.c a . Briti s h Ame ric a did not follow t h e Greco-Roma n tra- dition of t h e we ll i nformed slave . It was quit e unlikely , thep, that a "r e volutionary" Black poet would e mer g e from a social and lit e rary landsca pe so char ge d with self-ri ght e ousness and Neoclass icis m (or from the Ro manticis m of t h e Lucy Terry' s "Bars Fi gh t 11 1noo r3 ). (written in 1746 and pub li s hed in ll39.5) could h a rdly be called "protest"; neither could th e work of Phillis Wheatl ey , co tJ sidered the finest Black talent of the coloni a l era, cau ght b etween contrivances of the Ag e of Enli ghtenment and the approaching g rip of the ro mantics. • 94 The neoclassical �tradition that reached its height in the poetry of England's Alexander Pope, had already be g un to die out with the death of Pope himself in 1744. All over Colonial America, however, white poets were i mitating the stiff-collared conventionality of that period. The moral issues considered by most of the poets (Black and white)--universal brotherhood of man, quest for reason and order, the Jeffersonian ideals of freedom, liberty and representative government--were removed from the everyday brutality of slavery. Some of the most liberal men of the day (Jefferson, Washington, Hume) implicitly justified slavery by suggesting that Blacks were in some ways inferior. Despite Jefferson's pontifications on humanitarianism, he was unable to reconcile the disparity between his public stands and bis failure to manumit bis own slaves. Althoush Jefferson carried on a written correspondence with Black astronomer and mathematician, Benjamin Banneker, he considered Phillis Wheutley 1 s work "beneath criticism. 11 On the g eneral American scene, the Revolution behind, a national literature bad begun to emerge. Fascinated with American employment of new technology (Franklin's li ghtning experiments, printing presses, etc.) and the prospects of unexplored regions of the New World, writers started recording travels and observing the mixture of races and religions. Although religious fervor was still hi gh (Calvinism, Weslyanism - - and deism had run their courses), political problems dominated. Between 1790 and 1832 the new American government was being consolidated and the writings of men like Willian Bradford, 95 �John Winthrop, Cotton Mather, Thomas Shephard, Roger Hilliams, Edward Taylor> and Jonathan Edwards were succeeded by t11e embryonic nationalistic works of Franklin, Jefferson, William Byrd, William Cullen Bryant, Charles Brockden Brown, Washington Irving, William Gilmore Simms an:l James Fenimore Cooper. Irving, Cooper and Bryant were to become the early writers most taugh t to American school children. "New England Renaissance, 11 Often called the the early decades of tl1e 19th Century saw increasing tens ion behrnen New England puritan ism and Southern aristocracy over the question of slavery. over s lavery Debates continued up to the beginning of the Civil War. The early part of t he century also saw tbe birth of many of -Ht .tut IQ eA-- 1 white America's greatest writers , along with 1 romanticism and rug ged individualis m. Mystified by the noble sa va ge (Indians and sometimes Blacks) and cballenged by the "new frontier, 11 Americ ans be gan to romanticize their situation and especially that of explorers Hho became the first ori g inal folk her oes. "W'hi te writers who dominated the period fro m 1826-1 865 included Edgar Allan Poe (poet and short story writer, credited with creating the first detective in American fiction), Nathaniel Hawthorne (consid ered the first i;reat American novelist--The Scarle t Letter), John Greenleaf Whittier, Henry Hadsworth Longfellow, Jarnes Russel LoHell, Oliver Hendell Holmes, Harri e t Beecher Stowe ( one of the first wl1i te American novelist s to feature a Black pro ta g onist in fiction--Uncle Tom's Cabin), Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, �Herwan 11e l vi ll e (c onsidered to have Hritten one of th e l7andf u l of "grea t" American nove ls-- Moh:r Dick), Halt 'h7hit man. (t eru;ed th e "gre atest II American poe t--Lea ves of Grass). Otl1e r writers, pr• i ri1ar ily po litic al act ivists or ahol iti on i s t s , included John G. Calhoun, Hi l l iuu Lloyd Garris on, and Abrnhar,1 Lincoln. Us i. ng th e ir mm and Black ma terial, n nm,11)er of 1-1bi te comp osers i mmor t a liz cc.1 t h0 ern in songs -- 1.1an:r of t ber,1 nationrtli.sti. c. It Wf.t. , dnr i nc; t )1i. c p c: r-'Lod tl'ia t Francis Scott Kc:r wrot e "T1 e St ar {:ip t,ngl(jcl Banner . 11 S teplrn n Pos t er l7as since 1eo 11 a ccu sed of r.1ere ly puttinc; to music the s on c;s that we1°e sun e; by slaves. Tl10re rn:1.s no ._:;cnoral encourageme nt, bow8ver , for Blacks to l earn to read; but many slave owner•s i ndu l ge d their cha ttel in uritine; ex e rci nes as personal pastti mes nnd bobbies. So many of the earl y Black poets , t hen , g rew u p in relati ve sec urity. To be totally free , Dav id Walker observed in h is Appeal (1 029) was to bo e conomically insecure, socially ostracized and psycholo gically oppressed . Co nsequ en tly, those sla ves priv iled c;ed to r ead and write i nvar iably took European literary models . Poet s , of course , were not the only ones writin g . In a dd ition to aholitionists-essayists, like Wa lker and Frederick Dou g lass, tbts perioc.1 of Black literary acttvity was h i gh li e;hted by exciting slave n a rratives: or freed slaves. autobiographical accounts of es caped The most popular of these, and one of the first recorded, was T~ Interestin e Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African {17 09 ). Bontemps includes it in his Gre a t Slave Narrativ es 97 Arna (1969). �Vassa, wh o also i p~J ~d oo. penned so me notab le verses, co n structed a s tor y patt e r n t hat was to b ecome fa miliar to read e rs of early America: th a t of t h e escaped, freed or run away sla v e wh o reported his or her hardships and struggles. Vassa descri b es his life in Africa u p until the ti me of his kidnapping . With vivid memory and d e tail, he e stab lishes the ori g inal b ases for what we hav e come to call t h e "African Continuum" in America. It is not just mere coincidence t h at t b is state ment fro m 1789 almost fits parts of Black America of today. We are almost a nation of dancers, 111usicians, and poets. Thu s e very great event ••• is celebrated in pub lic dances which are accompanied with song s and music suited to the occasions. Vassa 1 s debut into this literary g enre was followed by hundreds of other narratives, many of the m fakes. Early Negro Hritin g : Dorothy Porter, in 1760-1837 (1971), has dj_scussed tbe problem of det e r mining authe nticity of tbe narratives. Mrs. Porter is librari a n of the Hoorland Foundation at Howard University--which houses an outstanding collection on t h e Black past. book she included: constitutions and laws of b eneficial societies; speeches before nrutual aid and educational societies; t he report of the earliest annual convention for the improve ment of free people of color; ar g uments for and a g ainst colonization; printed letters, sermons, petitions, orations, lectures, essays, reli g ious and In h er �moral treatises, and such creative manifestations as poems, prose narratives, and :::ihort essays. Mrs. Porter thus sums up the intellectual and literary output of the ear•ly Africans. The word "African, by most writers and speakers of the era. 11 was used generously Hhen "African" was not employed it was ir.1plied throu gh the use of "Coloured, "Black, 11 "an Ethiopian Princess" and other terms. 11 Placed against the sometimes sophomoric and h eretical accusations of some of today's Black critics, these early displays of pride in the African heritage makes one want to send many a loudmouth back to school! In addition to the plethora of pamphlets, hroadsides, books r and news organ! tbat emerged from Black individuals and institutions durin g the period up to the end of the Civil War, there was also much political-social consciousness - raising throu gh oratio n . In the ear ly years great reli g ious and political lead ers s uch as Ri ch ard Allen, Peter Williams, Ab salom Jones, Prince Hall (founde r of Black Masonry), Paul Cuffee and Daniel Coker, took up projects of "mutual aid" for Africa ns . Their work se t the stage for missionary, abolitionist and self-help programs undertaken later by people like Jarena Lee, Frederick Douglass, n. Martin Delaney, Sojourner Trutl1, and Alexander Crumme ll, to name only a handfull. The intellectual, reli g ious and moral work of Blacks in the North was paralleled by t he development of folk materials 99 �(the songs and stories) of Blacks on Southern plantations. In general few states, Nort11 or South, allowed educational or vocational opportunities for Blacks. Thus the energies of early Black writers and intellectuals, Mrs . Porter and Hilliam Robison point out, 110r0 aimed at setting up of various "African" societies and free schools , and the promotion of literacy and self-betterwent amonc; neHly freed slaves. Many educated Blacks of the North also acted as conduits for the Underground Railroo.d . The R0v . Allen, popular relic;ious crusader and founder r of tm Bet11el African He t hodist Episcopa,n} Church, seems to ,J have been referrinc; to the same Black "sensibility" described by Vass a when he said ( in 1793) that 11e was conf ident that there was no religious sect or denomination that would suit the capo.city of the colored people as well as the Methodist; .•• Sure I am that reading sermons will never prove so benefi cial to the colored people as spiritual . or extempore preachi nc; ...• Huch evidence oxists, then, of Blacks bandinc; toc;ether for "mutual II concerns in the enrly days of America. The horrors of slavery , the psychological pressures of Northern "fr eedom , 11 white reprisals ln wake of slave revolts (such as those led hy Gabriel Prosser in 1800, Denmark Vesey in 1 822 and Nat Turner in 1831), ma.de for a most unsettling atmosphere (s ee Halker 1 s 100 �Appeal). Reporting on wbite America's "need" to vent its fears and hatreds on Blacks, Winthrop Jordan (tn, ite Over Black, 1968 ) noted that wbites initially feared tbree thin 13s: loss of identity, lack of self-control and sexual license. In an effort to e.scape the "animal within himself t11e white man debased the Uegro, surely, but at the sar,1 e time he debased himself. 11 And a youn[s Frenchman, Alexis de Tocqueville, visitin g America in 1831, said racial prejudice was "stronger in tbe states t h at bave abolisbed slavery than in those where it still exists. 11 {.,.; ( - 'Needless to say, creative literature of the "arty" sort (thou ch much of it Has being done at the ti me) was not the number one priority for Blacks facing hell from all sides. Nevertheless a literary tradition did develop and flourish in Black America. Th e exa mple of the narratives (including those by }Tarrant, Doue;lass and Truth) led to publications by the first Black noveli s t and playwright, Will1am Wells Brown. novel was Clotel: Brown 1 s or The President's Daue;bter (1 853) and his play was called Escape: Or A Leap to Freedom (1 857). The second novel by a Black American Has The Garies and their Friends (1857) by Frank J. Webb. Delaney published the third novel, Black, or the Huts of America, in 1059. Webb Here both published in England. The works by Brown and Brown also worked on in the cause of abolition and other social reform pro grams. His Anti-Slavery Harp (1 848) contained songs and poe ms whose the mes are implied in the book's title. The pattern of the Black educator, intellectual or artisan carrying on tbe dual role of creator and activist, characterizes the history of Black • 101 ,.f:, �creativity in Atnerica. ) Yet many critics, Black and whit e , unaHur e of.' the stresses and demands on Black artists) do not approach their sub jects with the understanding required. r also, ~ Political journalism (see Dann's The Black Press, 1827-1 890), was a strong vein in the development of Black American writing . Beginninc; with John Russwurm (the second Black colle ge graduate and first Black newspaper editor, Freedom's Journal, 1827-29), and e volvine.; througb Ru ggles' Mirror for Liberty (first Black ma gazine, 1838), Douglass' Monthly (1 844) and North Star (1847), to Hamilton's Anglo-African Macazine (1 859), the tradition of Black journalism and research on the African experience was firmly established. Huch of the journalistic writing (like the poetry) took pros or cons on the question of imigration, colonization or the elevation of the Black manls pli ght in America. During tbe early and middle years of the 19th Century, white travelers throu~1 the Soutb collected and compiled slave songs-Seculars and Spirituals. These songs would later form the nucleus for much of the Black and white writing the mes. On the eve of tbe Civil Har, the Dred Scott decision (a hlow to slaves and abolitionists) help step up the demands for the abolishment of slavery. Brown's The Black Han ( 1863) was a capsule of one era which closed on the b lasts of cannon and another that opened on tlle sound of jubilant shouts. 102 �III THE VOICES ON TIIE TOTEM "mean mean mean to be free 11 --Tiobert Hayden Ae;ainst tbc forec_;oing background, tl1e poets of ColonialRevolutionary -Slavery America appear curious, tearful, exciting, paradoxical, fri~1tening and puzzlinc. Biblical i mac ery, classical allusions and themes, llatred of slavery and ai.~bi 13uous praise for s lav c - n1nsters, recollcctionn of Africa, appeals and condemnations, all become enmeshed in the intricate ling uistic and psycholoc;ical 11el1binc; of' this early poetry. In 1770, at 17 y ears of a ge , the privileGed slave cirl Phillis 1,n1eatlcy became the first Black "exception to tbe rule 11 j in Enc lish and American poetry. And for decades students of' American pootr:r had Gone about their recitations and research Ile ,,>,/ as thoui:sh nothinc; or no one of i 1poptat1ce l iapper:ed~ I1iss Hbea tley and Dunbur. It wa:J not until 1 8 C)J tl1at Lucy Terr•:r 1 n 11 Bar 1 s Figbt 11 - - t:;bo account of a 17L1.6 Indian taas:::acre in Deerfield, Ha:::isaclrn:rntts--cnr..c to public li c> t. c1.notl1or• 27 ~r0t:Lr·s to Jupttor IIat,1111011 1 c 11 11 A:x1 readers 1·1ad :rot a :i. t bcf ore O:-~cnr Hcce l i n i. n 101:; discovered .r1l. n Ti'v T'JJ, ou u·1,·t:; ~ . et,iL~,:-· • ~ - , Salvation h:· C1~ri:::it, Hith Penit en tial Cri.::: :-~11 (1761) in tbo 1T011 York Historical Society, tlrns establishinc Hmnmon as the first publ lsbed African roe t in Amer'lca. 103 �H e :,e n tio ne: d c arili or• th at :.:a n:" a n t }1 olo i3 ies 0::1. i t Fi c;li t. n 11 Bnr I s Th is i s lll1ck rstanda1' l e si n c e Hi s s Terr7 (1730-1 ° 31) never u ro t e; , or a t lea s t presented, anymore l i terar:r works. Americ a I s "first Ne g ro poet, be inc; ju s t tha t--f irs t. 11 then, is L;1porta nt prilimril:r for Like ITiss 1'n1ea tle:r, Vas sa and ot11er New EnGland sla v es, s he was kidnapped as a child and br6u gh t to UcH England (Rhode Island). She witnessed t h e Indian raid reported in h e r 2 8 -line do g cerel and h ns a flair for storytelling . Hence clc:::ipi tc tbe poe m I s 11 ol"lViously Heak literary :rieri t, 11 t h is Black Hri ter perfo1~n: ccl one of the earliest services of the poet--that of a sing er of history-- in recordinc actual names and places in her narrative. Since she was 16-:rears-old and a ser v ant c;irl, writing i1us surely not h er pri r.1arily responsibility. Yet "Bar's Fi ght," achieves some success when seen against the oral tradition in poetry: Listen my children and you shall hear Of tlie n idnight ride of Paul Tievere. or HoH, cbildren, I 1 m g oing :to tell you t110 story about raw-head and bloody-bones! and There uas an old woman wl10 lived in a sboe .She had so many children she didn I t know what to do. Compare the fore g oing lines to Au c ust 'twas, the twenty-fifth, Seventeen h undred forty six, 104 �Tb e India ns did in ambus h lay , Some ve r y valient me n to slay , The no.me s of wb om I'll not leave ou t: Samuel Allen like a hero fout, and the ele mental connections will readily be seen. One h as only to re ad t h is poem aloud to get b oth t h e effects a nd Miss Terry's appar en t i nt e ntions . Uhen s h e wrote "Bar's Fi gbt" Miss Terry worked for an Ebenezer Wells of Deerfi e ld, }fussac b usetts, but was c;iven h er freedo m ten years later wh en she married a free Blac k man, Abijah Prince, by whom she had six childr en . Prince later became the owner of considerab le land and was one of t h e founders of Sunderland, Ver mont. 1-Jilliam Robinson (Early Black American Poets) lists Miss Terry with t h e "orator" poets and ri gh tly so. Oth er details about Niss Terry and t he Princes can b e obtained from George Sheldon's A History of Deerfield, I-1 assachusetts, 1 895. Slave poet a nd intellectual, Jupiter Ha mmon (172 0 ?-1 000?), provides yet another look into the capab ilities, mind-sets and limitations of Africans in Colonial America. Ha mmo n is c;enerally not r e gard ed as an "i mportant" Black writor-- but is dis t inc;uish ed for bei nc; t h e first African i n America to publis h his verses. This b e di d in 1761 ( "An Eveni ne; Thou gb t, 11 composed i n De cemb er or 1760); 177G ("An Address to Miss Phillis W110atley"); 17 B2 ("A Poctn. for Ch ildren"); and in the mid-17 80 1 s ("An Eve ning 's Improvement"). I n h is 11 Address to the Ne c;roes of t ll e State of New York 11 (written in 1 786 and pub lished in 1 30 6) Hatmnon . linked in with a tradition t h at i ncluded pamph leteers, like 105 ;- �Quinn, Ualker, Ruggles and others of the period. Hammon's "Address II sought freedom for younger Blacks, claimin[-s tba.t "for my own part I do not wish to be free. 11 This statement appears, on the surface, to be the ultimate in self-debasement and self-denial; but one has to view it in the context of statements by de Tocqueville, \Jalker, and others, aloni with the circumstances of t b e aging and relic;ious Hammon. That Hammon himself was deeply reli ~ious is reflected in his poetry--as with many Black poets, e.g., Hayden today-and he obviously labored under the influence of Methodism and the Wesleyan Revival (see Early Ne gro Hriting ). In the poem to Miss Wheatley, he notes that it was throu gh that rI 11 God 1 s tender mercy" that she was kidnapped from Africa and bro.ught to America as a slave. ~ / re:flect tinent: ~ And Hammon seemed, generally, to prevailing white attitude toward the "dark" con- one engulfed in ignorance, barb aris m and evil. Obviously not as well read as Miss 1.{hea tley, Hammon was unable to take his themes to universal and intellectually arresting levels. fJ He was born a slave and belo~ged to -t-l-l-e influential family of Lloyd's Neck on Long Island and was encouraged by bis masters to write and publish poetry. T11ere is not a great deal of information available on the life of Hammon; but it is difficult to understand why an intelli g ent Black man, Hho li ved such a lone; life, mirrored al most complete ignorance of the horrors of slavery--despite the almost daily local newspaper and verbal accounts and discussions of the 106 �"peculiar institution. 11 Har,m1on I s li terar:r mode ls Here primarily the co nven tional mate1"ial of hymns of the period. So his re- ligious fer vor --at the time of reli e ious re v i va ls in Europe and Colonial America--coupled with his stylistic borrowi ngs fro m hymns con i:iti tute his major poetic effort. "An Eveni n13 Thougl1t," "L·Il1ich Hrs. Porter tells us was probably "chanted during tl1e deli very of a sermon, 11 beGins: S al vat ion come s by Christ alo ne The only Son of God; Redemption now to every one, That lo ve h is only word. Dear Jesus we would fly to thee, And leave off every Sin, Thy tender ~cr cy well a gre e; Salvation fro1 ,1 our king; Like Hiss Ter•ry, Hamr,1on iras not primarily a poet. And hence, unlilrn n.pproachint; Phillis vn:ieatley, one should not spend too mucb ti me or be too barsh in criticizin.s (or complainin g about) him. The basic structure of the Enc;l~sh bymn--wbich merr;ed witb the Spiritual--as Hammon interprets it, is an alternation of iamhic tetrame ter and iamb ic tri meter combined with a ratber clumsy ab ah rhyme scheme. Compared to other hymns , it is no worse and is better than many. .D~i te the ti mes , pressures and censures, hoHever, one is bardprbssed to accept Hanu;10n I s assuranc e to the s lave that: In Christian faith thou hast a share, TTorth all the g old of Spain. 1 07 �Ha.mmon 1 s works can be found critically introduced in Robinson's anthology, in Stanley Ransom's America's First Ne gro Poet, the Complete Works of Jupiter Hammon of Long Island (1970) (and in Barksdale 1 s and Kinnamon 1 s Black Writers of America, 1972); critical-biog raphical attention is in Vernon Lo cgins 1 The Negro Author (1931) and J. Saunders Redding 1 s To Make A Poet Black (1939). Yet anotber slave , Pbillis 1:Jheatley (1753?-l 78Ld, has to be examined. There has been substantial critical-biographical treatment of Hiss Wheatley, so no atte mpt will b e made here to give her full consideration. By far the most gifted and com- plex poet until Dunbar , Phillis Hheatley was also priviledged as a young child and allowed access to the Boston library of 1 John 1fueatl0.~ ,_,., --to whom she ·w as sold after being brou g1Jt from Senec al when she Has six or seven years old--where she read voraciously. By the time of her teens she had learned to speak and write Eng lish, and acquired a New Eng land education which put great emphasis on the Bible and the classics. Her poetry, like Hammon 1 s ) reflect~ deep interest _in and knowled g e of religion; but it is also steeped in classical allusions and conventions of the neoclassical writing school. Critical attention to Miss Wheatley (who, like Dunbar, lived a short life) has been both ravine and unkind. Benjamin Brawley (The Negro Genius) reports that Jefferson vieued her as beneath the dignity of criticism. Yet, other great personalities of the day generously praised and received her work. lO G Geor e e �Washington, so moved by her poetic tribute ("To His Excellency General Washine;ton"), invited the young poet to visit him at his camp at Cambridge, Hassachusetts--an invitation which she later accepted arrl was treated as royalty. Miss v.Jheatley I s earliest verses were penned during~ ~l!P~ 0.'.h her adolescence. Wbi tefield: 1770, 11 much of her poetry. "On the Death of the Rev. George reflects the elegaic the me yhi cl;i e"to ~ Manumitted and sent with other membe rs of the v.Jheatley family to London in 1772, because of frailness and poor health, Miss Wheatley was received like a visiting dignitary in London's literary circles o.nd bailed as t11e The next year ( 1773), while in London, she "Sable Muse . " I became (at 20 ... years-old) the first African, arrl tbe second woman from America, to publish a book of poems: Poems on Various Subje cts, Religious and Moral, by Pbillis Wheatley, Negro Servant to I'-Ir . ltlheatley of Boston. The volume, the only one she ever published, became an i t;1medtate success in both England and Amer ica and won her an everlasting place in the history of English poetry in America. Upon her return to America, Miss Wheatley 1 s misfortunes seemed to come in such liGhtning succession that one wonders how she withstood adversity as long as she did. First, there was the death of Mrs. Wheatley and then, during the 1770 1 s; the deaths of t he relllaining Uhea tleys. The poet then 1;1arried a Job Peters, 1.vbo "proved to be both a r:ibitious and irresponsible, 11 for whom she bore tl1r oe children--all of uhom died in infancy. 1 C9 �Add iti onally , the Pe t ers fara ily li ve d in s qua l or a nd pove r ty , li ke s o ma ny New Enal a nd Bl a c ks . Co~nen t inc on the cir c um- s t an c es surround i nc he r dea t h , Bar ks d a l e a nd Kannamon (Bln c k Wr i ters of Ameri c a ) obse r ve with s t oma ch - c urd li nG a cc ura cy that : Hor oa1°l y d e a t b prov i des a c or,unen t ary on tl1e desp era t e war· t.: inal i t y of life a1,10n g Bo ston ' s free Bl acl:s at t h a t t i me . To Pl1i l lis l ll:o atley , at one t :hie a prLr i l e :;ed se r\·a r1t ul, o e n jo:re<.l an cxt:i •~t .. c l :r benign ma:::; t 8r-::;or~. n nt re l at i on - sh i p , freedo m's uncertainities and insecur- ities were overwhelming . Certainly, h ad she been initially free in Boston, she would probably ne ver have had the time, the opportunity, or the peace of mind to write poetry. For the state of freedom for the Black man in the 1780 1 s--even in godly, liberty-loving Boston--was indeed precarious. The preceding explanation, coupled a gain with the observations of Walker, de Tocqueville and others, make Hanimon 1 s statement about preferring not "to be free" somewhat more tolerable if not plausable. We noted that Phillis Wheatley bas been praised as well as condemned. Some critics denounce her for not being inventive and orig inal enough, claiming that she simply followed the conventions and themes associated with neoclassicism: Salvation, Mercy and Goodness. 110 Truth, Some resent her so-called "pious �sentimentality" and accuse her of calling on Christ when she should be calling for the abolishment of slavery. Still others, during the current period, have accused her of not being "Black enough. 11 Considered on the landscape of the times, however, Miss Wheatley comes off as a genius--witb hardly an equal among !{~ck or white contemporaries. James " Weldon Johnson, during a comparison of Miss Wheatley's "Imagination II to Anne Bradstreet I s "Contemplation, 11 said 1 ~e do not think the black woman suffers by comparison with the white 11 ( Ne gro American Poetry). Durini:; ber lif e ti rne Miss Wheatley published some 50 poems, almost half of them elegies, five or six political and patriot pieces ("General Washington" and "Liberty and Peace"), and the remainder consumed by religious and moral subjects--as she states in her title. Though she never den~s with the question of slavery--and makes only tentative reference to her own predicament--her work sustains a high level of emotional, linguistic, religious and general poetic force. Since her greatest models were Pope, Dryden, Mil~on and the earlier classical writers, one must examine these sources to uncover some keys to her techniques arrl allusions. But one only has to read (aloud) the following passage from "Rev. George Whitefield 11 to feel impact: "Take him, ye ur e tched, for y our only good, "Take h i m, y e starv ing sinners, for your food. "Ye tbrifty , come to this life- gi v in~ stream, 111 �'1Ye preach ers, take hi m for your joyful t h etne; "Take l1i m, my dear Americans, he so.id, "Be y our complaints on l1is kind bosoi:1 laid; "Take him, ye Africans, he longs for y ou, "Impartial Savior is his title due; '~ashed in the fountain of redee ming blood, "You shall be sons and kings, and pries ts to God. 11 More will be s aid of this poem in Chapter VII; but we should state that some of t he previously harsh criticism of Hiss Wheatley lia s been t empered in li c;ht of increasing fe minis m and, especially , efforts by Black women writers, scholars and intellectuals to reevaluate her. Huch of h er work is done in the heroic couplet which dominated the period of poetry-writing . Th e se pentameter couplets (which would be popularized in the 20th Century as "unrhymed iambic pentameter 11 by Robert Frost) call for end-line rhymes to appear in twos, with 10 syllables per line. Roger Whitlow (Black American Literature) complains that Hiss Wheatley Pope called the 1 11 falls short in what correctnessf of diction and meter, that near-perfect choice of word and measurement and weighing of syllable. 11 One could agree., if Miss v-!heatley 1 s sole aim were simply to imitate. But there is a great evidence that she--like Black poets always seem to be doing--was trying to achieve a readable poem without losing the essence of the couplet. After all, as Stephen Henderson (Understandines the New Black Poetry) bas suggested, many Black poets have their ears and thought rhythms attuned to the spiritual and phonological 112 �demands of the audlence that loves "extempore" delivery, even when the written lines are strict and tight. Also, in placing "Their colour is a diabolic dye" in quotations ("On Being Brought from Africn to America"), Miss Wheatley suggests that others deem her color ne gative but that she may not. This remains a possibility despite her closing couplet: Remember, Christians, Ne groes, black as Cain, May be refined, and join the angelic train. Yet there is firm evidence that Hiss Wheatley was not insentJ sitive, at least to her on predicament as a. slave without a fundamental and genealogical identity. Honourable William, Earl of Dartmough, In "To The Ri ght 11 she says Should you, my lord, while you peruse my song, Wonder from whence my love of Freedom sprung, Whence flow these wishes for the common good, By feelin g hearts alone best understood, I, young in life, by seeming cruel fate Was snatch'd from Afric 1 s fancy'd happy seat: What pangs excruciating must molest, What sorrows labour in my parent's breast? Steel 1 d was that soul and by no misery mov'd That from a father seiz 1 d his babe belov 1 d: Such, such my case. And can I then but pray Others may never feel tyrannic sway? The capital "F" in "Freedom, 11 the phrase "cruel fate, 11 the sorrow felt for her parents and the reinforcement of the a gony 113 �via repetition ("such, such"; see Margaret Walker's lines "How Long ! 11 ) , place her alongside other Black voices that searched for answers to the pall of racial insanity that - -- enwebbe ~ Hi ss Wheatley also experiments with the them. hymn for m. In 11 A Farewell To America" and 11 An Hymn To Humanity'' one bounces along her alternating lines and r hythms. We stated earlier that Miss Wheatley's critical i ma ge h as somewhat shifted. Perhaps the capstone of t h is shift was the Jackson State College Poetry Festival, held in November of 1973 to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the publication of Hiss Wheatley•s Poems. Eb ony ma gazine (March , 1974) did a five-pa ge picture essay on the festival, organized and hosted by Mar garet Walker poet-novelist and Director of Jackson State's Institute for the Study of History, T,ife and Culture of Black People. According to F.bony "ei ghteen Black > women poets converged" on the Black colle ge campus to salute Miss Wh eatley, read their own poems and discuss poetry and life. Writer Luci Horton noted that recently there has been more respect for the "slave girl who, under unspeakable circumstances, was able to write poetry or any literature at all. 11 In addition to Dr. Alexander, the list of poets included -k- Naomi Long Madgett, Margaret r,. Burroughs, Marion Alexander, Margaret Esse Danner, Linda Brown Bragg, Mari Evans, Carole Gre gory Clemmons, Lucille Clifton, Sarah Webster Fabio, Nikki Giovanni, Audre Lorde, June Jordan, Gloria C. Oden, So nia Sanchez, Alice Walker, Malaika Ayo Wangara (Joy ce 1rJ'bitsitt Lawrence) and Carolyn M. Rodgers. 114 Gwendolyn Brooks• absence �was conspicuous. The festival was also the subject of a six-pag~ picture essay by Carole Parks in Black World {Webruary, 1974). One of the most revealing comments was made by Paule Giddings, a young editor at Howard University Press: There is something wrong with a critical tradition that makes Phillis Wheatley an historical footnote ..•• Phillis Wheatley was black and this is the difference (between her and other poets of her day) and also the contradiction: the contradiction between her blackness which she reco gniz ed and never was free to for ~e t by a thousa nd humiliations and white mercan- tile Enc;lnnd, a world that was never to be hers, but whose values she seemed to accept. She was in a slave world, but not truly of it .••. It does no good to reproach a child for yielding to attractive influences when within herself there is no strong residue of any other influence or tradition. It is easy to say she had no racial consciousness. It would be fair to look at the choices she had and ascertatn whether or not she wan capable of end urin~ even more intepse isolation. Ms . Giddin~s has us □ e rted what appears to he a hn lanc ed answer to t he protestations of Redd inc; , Br01,m, Brawley ( "no racial 115 �valu e 11 ) and ot hers . It retains to he seen as to whetber curr e nt and futur e ~e nerations of Black and wbite students Hill keep Hiss Wh e atley a "sta tute in tbe park" or br in g her to the tabl e and "exat,d. ne her blood and ljeart." Critical tr eatme nt of t h is first Bl a ck woman of lett ers already has be e n cx tvn s i v0: Julian Ha s on I s Th e Poems of Ph illi s 'l,fheu tley ( 1966); Dm,.ks clo.lo I s and Kinn amo n I s critical l ntr oclu ction; Rober t C. Ku nc io I s 11 S ot,,e Unpnhl is hed Po etns of PJ·, l lli s 1lhea tle:,r " (Neu Entlnrn1 Qt1 0..Fter l:' , XLIII, June, 1 C:'7t"'\ , 2 °7 -2" 7 ) : J o~· ..· it1:J Th e lT0 ,··1 •0 .'\.11tho1 1 1 (1931); Brawley's The N0c;ro Genius; Redding's To Hake: A Po0t Black; Shirley Graham's The Story of Phillis Wh eatl ey (1949); and Jerry Ward's and Charles Howell's article in the Summ er , 1() 74, issue of Fr·eedomways. 1fo have alr e ady mentioned Gustavus Vassa (1745-1001), one of the mos t interesting of the early writers, in another cont ext. Born the seventh and youngest son of a chieftan (in Es sake.,, now Eastern Nigeria), Vass a (African name: Olaudah Equiano) was first sold to a Virginia plantation owner. His journeys later took him on several A~lantic voyages and then to th e Mediterranean where he served in the Seven Years War. Vassa held technical jobs on ships as a result of his adeptness at th e English language and his mastery of basic mathematics. He became a tireless worker for the abolition of slavery and worked, briefly, in behalf of efforts to colonize poor blacks of England in Sierre Leone. Vassa is chiefly known for his Narrative (1709) which was a best-seller among abo- 116 �litionists in England and America. Slave narratives, we have observed, were a part of a branch of Black writing which gave rise to the more sophisticated autobiographies (that stretch from Douglass through Baldwin and Cleaver) which in turn laid some of the foundation for American fiction. Vassa was not the first writer of a slave narrative, as is popularly thought. Briton Hammon (no relation to Jupiter) published in London A Narrative of the Uncommon Sufferings and Sur•prising Deliverance of Briton Hammon, A Negr•o Man ( 1760) and John Marrant published (also in London) A Narrative of the Lordls Wonderful Dealings with J. Marrant, A Black (1785). I / Vassa, wbO"l/e turn to briefly for his efforts in poetry, included "Miscellaneous Verses" in his Narrative. His verse is interesting because it helps to establish the portrait of a complex and many-sided man; it also provides further insight into the workings of the African mind making contact with white culture and especially Christianity. While in his prose and speech-making Vassa was firm in his attacks on slavery, he proves in the end to be a believer in some ultimate force of "deliverance. 11 In the last line of the last stanza of bis "Verses" he reminds us that "Salvation is by Christ alone! 11 vfuicb is, of course, reminiscent of Hammon 1 s opening line: Salvation come by Christ alon~ Nevertheless Vassa 1 s language is less saturated in Biblical terms than Hammon 1 s. And the former, as verse writer, bas a better control @the language. 117 In the "Verses II be applies a �driving iambic tetrameter meter with an a ab b rhyme scheme: Those who beheld my downcast mien Could not guess at my woes unseen: They by appearance could not know The troubles I have waded through. Lust, anger, blasphemy, and pride, With legions of such ills beside, Troubled my thoughts while doubts and fears Clouded and darken'd most my years. In the first stanze quoted Vassa presages the duality and mental pressures that more skilled writers would describe in years to come. Implying that the job of the oppressed Black is to keep his head even and up, Vassa says even those who see him in his sorriest stat e cannot envision the sufferings he has e~dured. Dunbar would say the same thing in a different way in 11 We Wear the Mask" more than a century later. And Countee Cullen would state it more than 130 years later in yet a different way. This apparent ability of Blacks . to "keep cool" and adapt (see Johnson's The Autobiography of An Ex-Coloured Man) under the most trying circumstances has been promoted, nurtured and praised by leaders of the race. Vassa, then, is important as an early writer, not only because of bis skill, but for the insight and understanding he brings to the social and religious pressures, demands and choices around him. There is a r e leasing therapy in Vassa 1 s work which acts as only one of numerous 118 �conduits for Black anguish and outrage when the options were slavery or death. Vassa 1 s Narrative is most accessible in Bontemps' Great Slave Narratives (1969)., In 1967 Paul Edwards published an edition of the Narrative including a comprehensive introduction., Edwards also did a two-volume facsimile reprint of the first edition (1969)~ See also Africa Remembered: Narratives by West Africans from the Era of the Slave Trade, edited by Phillip D. Curtin (1967). Loggins assesses the Narrative and Robinson provides a handy biographical-critical introduction. Hore on Vassa can be found in Marion L., Starkey's Striving to Make It Hy Home: Tbe Story of American fro,n Africa ( 1964) and in Whitlow I s Black American Literature. In the summer of 1974, Darwin Turner conducted a graduate and postgraduate seminar on Slave Narratives at Iowa State University \iliere he directs the Center for Afro-American Culture. The early and middle years of the 19th century witnessed the maturation of Black autobiography, political journalism and abolitionist activities. George Moses Horton was 34 years old when William Lloyd Garrison found~d The Liberator (1831), the most influential and famous of the abolitionist newspaper.s. And by 1830 there ·i-rere more than in America. 50 Black antislavery societie s 7 Blacks in the United States had been stirfed bN___ slave rebellions both here and in places like Haiti, the Carribean and Trinidad. Especially inspiring during this period was the 1839 revolt of slaves aboard the Spanish schooner L 1Amistad. Led by Joseph Cinque, a Mendi-speaking 119 �,,! prince, the fifty slaves~ killed the captain, set the crew adrift and demanded that ship owners steer the ship to Africa. Apprehended, the Africans were escorted by a United States brig to New Haven where the would-be slaves faced murder and other charges. Ex-President John Quincy Adams defended the Africans' right to return to their homeland and in 1842· they sailed to Sierre Leone. Ironically, neither the international press nor most Blacks knew of the connection between Cinque of the Symbionese Liberation Front, apparently headquartered in northern California during 1973-74, and the Cinque of the L 1Amistad revolt. In light of the growing consciousness among Blacks, it was to be expected that (5 George Moses Horton (1797-1883) would appear to inveigh against tyranny and slavery. Born a slave near Chapel Hill, North Carolina; Horton is considered to be the first Black to employ protest themes in a volume of verse. His Hope of Liberty (1829) ranged over the whole area of general and personal protest. The poet was first owned by a planter named Horton who later rented him in the service of a janitor to the University of North Carolina. Horton exploited the academic environment by reading the English classics and composing poems. Often called the first professional Black writer·, Horton hired bis poetic skill out to students who paid him rather handsomely for composing "personal" poems. His second book of poems, Poetical Works of Geor ge M. Horton, the Colored Bard of North Carolina, was published in 1845. 120 �Horton's hopes that he would gain enough money from the sale of his books to secure his freedom were never realized; and he was not freed until Union soldiers arrived in 1865 when his last volume, Naked Genius., was published. Horton's themes are not devoted exclusively to protest and he has been criticized., along with Phillis 'Wheatley., Hammon and Vassa, for writing such lines as those that appear in "On Hearing of the Intention of a Gentleman to Pur•chase the Poet rs Freedom 11 : When on life's ocean first I spread my sail., I then implored a mild auspicious gale; And from the slippery strand I took my flight, And sought the peaceful heaven of' delight. Hard was the race to reach the distant goal, The needle oft was shaken from the pole; In such distress who could forbear to weep? Toss'd by the headlong billows of the deepJ Horton goes on to say that "Eternal Providence" saved him when he was on the "dusky verge of deep despair" and when "the last beam of hope was almost gone." Yet Horton writes bit:terly of slavery as well as lightly of love and humorously of life in general. Inf'luences on his poetry are Byron, Wesleyan Hymnal stanzas., and other sources from books that he had read. In the poem from which the stanzas above were taken he pursues a rather monotonous iambic tetra.meter.. llletsl?. But in a poem like "Slavery" (published in The Liberator, March 29, 1834), he can vary the hymn pattern in the way that Phillis Wheatley does in • 121 �her hyi.:m-inspired works .. The effect is almost ballad-like: Uhen first my bosom glowed 1vith hope, I gazed as from a mo untain top On some d el ightful plain; But ohJ how transient Has the scene-It fled as though it had not been And all my hopes were vain .. I s it because my skin is black, That t hou should 1 st be so dull and slack, And scorn to set me free? Then lot me hast en to t h0 grave, ~le only refuge for t he slave , Ul10 t.10urns for libe1~t::_r. Also 0ffe ctive and sustaining i n pouer is "The Slave's Complaint" wh en featu1'es seven thre e -line stanzas with a final indented one Hord r·cfr•ain: "Forove1~" which is followed by either question mark, colon or exc lau!ation mark . Horton handles well so,,ie of his love poems and in "The Lover's Farewell" is able to touch base ·with that broad and painful understanding of Hhat it means to say goodbye: I leave n:y parents here behind, And all ~~ friends--to love resignad-1Tis grief to go, but death to stay: Farewell--I 1 m gone with love away! In this and oth er pieces Horton makes good u se of dashes--which allow him to dev e l op suspense and render his statements more 122 �dramatic. Because of its various uses, the dash has arrived as an important ingredient of modern and contemporary Black poetry. Contrary to many of his learned contemporaries and predecessors, Horton apparently consciously thought of, and worked toward, his freedom. This fact is reflected both in bis life's work and bis poetry. His own position, coupled with his sanguine delivery of folk wit and emphasis, can be seen in the fallowing stanza from "The Slave": Because the brood-sows left side pigs were black., vfuo sable tincture was by nature struck., Were you by justice bound to pull them back And leave the sandy-colored pigs to suck? For appraisals and selections of Horton•s works see Robinson's anthology, Collier Cobb I s An American Nan of Letters--George Moses Horton (1886), comments by Barksdale and Kinnamon, vfui tlow' s study, Brawley's Negro Genius, Loggins' work, Redding's study, Richard Walser 1 s The Black Poet (1967)., Brown's assessment and Jean Wagner's Black Poets of the United States ( 1973). Horton., of course, trails and precedes a long line of orators and poets, many of whom we know very little about today. In fact, comparatively speaking, there is a wide disparity between the readily available insignificant information on white writers of the period and the lack of vital data on Blacks. We do know that the early decades of the 19th century witnessed a developing Christian and political consciousness among Blacks 123 �and that most northern Black writers, intellectuals and educators turned their attention to th(educational, physical and e ~ n a ~ ne eds of free and enslaved Blacks_ Of these and other matters, Mrs. Porter provides ample proof and discus sion in Early Negro Writing., Occasional verse was also J_ somewhat of a tradition among many learned Blacks as was the ~ One such recorded item is "Spiritual Song" by Rev. Richard practic e of writing hymns, psalms and other spiritual songs. Allen, probably sermon~" 11 r sung during the delivery of a Re v. All e n employs internal rhyme by repeating similar sounds in the middle and at the end of lines. Varying his meter and using an irregular end-line rhyme scheme, he expresses the reli g ious fervor that consumed many Blacks of the period: Our time is a-flying , our moments a-dying ., He are led to i mprove them and qu ickly app ear, For the b less•d hour wh en Jesus in power, In glory shall come is now drawing near, Me t h inks there will be shouting , and I' m not doubting , But crying and screaming for mercy in vai n : 124 �Therefore my dear Brother., let 1 s now pray together., That your precious soul may be fill 1 d with fla me. Another such example is a 11 Hew Year I s AntbemII v-Tri tten by Michael Portune a nd "sung in the African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas II on January 1, 1808. Fortune rs anthem is tra- ditional in its use of materials from Ne thodist hymns. tells the congregation to 11 He Lift up your souls to God on high 11 Wh o., with a tender f'ather• 1 s eye Looked down on Afric's helpless raceJ 11 Robery Y. Sidney composed two anthems For the National Jubilee of the Abolition of the Slave Trade, January 1st, 1809. 11 "Anthem. I" be g ins: DRY your tears., ye sons of Afric, God has shown his gr•ac ious power; He has stopt the horrid traffic, That your country's bosom tore. See thr•ough clouds he smiles benignant, See your nation's g lory rise; Though your foes may from indignant, All their wrath you may despise. This stanza is followed by a "Chorus, 11 "Sole" and "Recitative. In ."Anthem II II an abbreviate form is employed and Sidney drops the solo and recitative--keeping only the chorus: Chorus. Rejoice that you were born to see, 125 11 �•, This glorious day, your jubilee. Sidney also wrote a hymn which Mrs. Porter includes along with hymns by religious leaders Peter 'H illiams Jr., and 1-Jilliams Hamilton. Both men, using the English for ms, celebrate freedom, call for mutual aid among Blacks and preach the virtues of the Christian God. Williams praises the "eloquence/Of' Wilb.e rforce" after whom a predominantly Black university was named in Ohio .. For de tailed information on sources for these and similar 1:1ritings see Mrs. Porter's Early Negro Writing: 1760-1873. The collection includes two very touching examples of writings "On Slavery 11 and "On Freedom II by 12-yea.r- old boys from the . . New York African Free School established in 1786. In reading into the life and works of Daniel A. Payne (1811-1893), one is immediately struck by his dedication to the task of upgrading Blacks. Educator, university president, missionary and poet, Payne was born in Charleston, South Carolina of free parents. He was orphaned at 10-years-old, apprenticed to a carpenter and then to a tailor. Later trained in classical education at the local Minor's Moralist Society's school, he taught free Black students for a fee and slaves free of charge at night. Payne's travels took him to various places (New Orleans, Baltimore, Canada and twice to England) where be helped expand the programs of the African Methodist Church. Trained in the Lutheran Seminary in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, he was ordained in 1839, Arter preaching for several years, be was made an M.M.E. Bishop in 1852. In the political and educational spheres he helped ~rge Lincoln 126 �(on April 14, 1862) to sign the bill to emancipate slaves in the District of Columb ia., and spearheaded the purchase of Wilberforce University--serving as its president for 16 years. Payne devoted most of his life to the cause of free and enslaved Blacks and to writing poetry and religious history. \J\¼ Pleasures and Other Hiscellaneous Poems Has publish~d in )Baltimore in 1850~ He also wrote books on the history and mission of the A.M.E. Church. Especially valued for its social and intellectual insight into 19th century Blacks is Paynets Recollect ions of Seventy Years published in Nashville in 1888. As a poet Payne is erudite and imitative. Robinson correctly observes that a major problem with the poetry is 11 the repe- tition of end stopped lines, and his diction, a hybrid of classical and Biblical vocabularies, can prove distracting to many readers. 11 Much of this we can forgive, ho1vever, when we understand Henry Dumas ' remark that 11 a Black poet is a preacher. Certainly a preacher--in fact or as poet--knows very well the meaning of and need for repetition. convince us of h is seriousness . Yet Payne never fails to So hurt was he in wake of the 1834 South Carolina law that, effective in 1035, made Black literacy illegal, Payne wrote "The llot.u-.nf ul Lute of t h e Preceptor 1 s Fo.rewell. 11 He find hi oncern for students in these lines: Ye lad s , uhom I have tau gh t Hi th sacred zeal, For yoin-. hard fate I pangs of sorroH feel; Ob, Hho shall now your rising talents guide, Hhere virtues reign and sacred truths preside? 127 11 �Pay n e i s a h a ndler of t he language , ob s e r v i ng t b at "tu o revolv i ng mo o ns s rw.1 1 l i gb t t he shor e s la1-1 11 s1i ut t he do ors 11 II af te r t he dr e ad on e ducatt on f or S outh Caro lina Blac ks . E ngu lf 0d i n tbo r- c l i c; i ous and r:1oral f er vor of 111a ny Bla ck mi ni s t e1°s of tbe p er i od , t he poe t o. nd or at or refl e cts a g e-old conc e r ns a bout de c e it a nd mistru s t i n sucb pi e c e s as rrTba Plcasu:i. e s. 0 n He c omp lains tha.t I-IE::: n talk of Love! But f e11 do e v er f e el Th e s p ee chle s s r a p tures u h ich it s j oys r e ve al. I1en "u i s tak o l ove, 11 Payne no t e s, F or grove lling lust, that vile, t h at fi l t h y d a me, Hh ose bo som n e ' e r eve r f e lt the sacr e d flame / ;--+ 1 For i ns i ch t into Pay n e rs lif e a nd works one could g o to any one of' bis @consid erable numbe;@ of' writing s. Among others, they include The Ser.ii- Cen t enary and th e Retros pe ction of the Africa n Methodist Ep iscopal Church (Baltimore, 1866) a nd Th e Histor y 6f the A. M. E . Church (Nashvi~le, 1866). Josephus R. Coam•s 1935 (Philidelphia) biography: S ee als o Daniel Alexand e r Paynej Christian Educator, Robinson 1 s comment s and Brawl ey' s Ne gro Genius. Unfortunately too little is known of romantic poet John Boyd; esp e cially since his work reflects genuine g ifts and talents. Boyd's poetic imag es ar e brilliant, sustained, searing and generally accurate even if they are not always 128 �connected in a way that makes them readily acessible .. The only record of Boyd is made available by C.R .. Nesbitt, Esq .. , Deputy Secretary and Registrar of the Government of the Bahamas. Nesbitt must have recognized the talent and the promise and he aided Boyd 1 s poetry through publication in London in 1834,. Boyd, it seems, was self-taught on New Profidence Island where he remained all his life. His poem "Vanity of Life" was published in the February 16, 1833, issue of the Boston-based Liberator .. His 1834 volume is entitled The Vision/ and other/ Poems,/ in Blank Verse/ by John Boyd/ a man of Colour/. Practically unedited, the manuscript is what Robinson calls a "publishing scramble." Like most of the poets of the period Boyd's work owes debt to Milton, the Bible and classical influences. "The Vision/ a Poem in Blank Verse" is immediately reminiscent of Milton's Paradise Lost .. Boyd skirts a rhyme scheme but employs a. fairly regular iambic pentameter meter. All things considered, his work partially cancels the criticism by Sterling Brown that Black poets lag in their stylistic awareness. opens brilliantly with: Me thought the Hoon, pale regent of the sky, Crested, arrl filled with lucid radiance., Flung her bright gleams across my lowly couch; 129 "Vision" �And all of heaven's fair starry fir ,1 ament Delightful shone in lmes of glittering light, Reflecting ) like to fleecy gold, th e dewy air. In his "Vision" Boyd encounters characters of both the heavens and the hells. Uh e n the narrator, "dreamer" joined the train Fervent hosannas struck the astonish'd ear., As wben in the midhour of calmest night, Stillness pervadeth the awakened wave., Roused by the secret power that moves the deep, It heaves its loud surge on the sounding shore; The "vision" is also peopled by 11 grin:i death and ghastly Sin" who "lay coiled, like snakes in one huge sco.ly fold, consider their "inexpiable doom--. 11 11 and Boyd's tones are sacred and surreal and he assembles harmlessly complex subordinate clauses that help build an exciting linguistic crecendo as in "Ocean 11 : \fuen the fiat of the most High., Thy fountains burst., a copiously 130 �Thy secret springs, with ample store, Pourtd forth thair waves from shore to shore Wide as the ·waters roll, oh, wave. co MM e,JI/S<IV',4 f e,_,,, Boyd's work has yet to be appraised in t e r m s ~ with its importance. Robinson makes brief but significant comments on his poetry. Ann Plato, another romantic poet, is also one for whom r- ) there exists 11 ttle g,:;f' th~ important factual data. This second Black American female to publish a book almost skirts the racial theme completely .. Her Essays:/ Including/ Biographies and Miscellaneous Pieces,/in/ Prose and Poetry was published in Hartford in 1£341. What little is known of her comes by 'l;,Tfl.Y of an introduction to her book 'Wllieb --rn.s HFii5ten by Rev .. J. W. C. Pennington.., pastor of the Colored Congregational Cburch in Hartford, of which she was a member. First of August, 11 Except for her "To the 1-1ritten in celebration of the 1833 abolition of slavery in the British Hest Indies, there are only allusions to slavery. Her book also contains ~ssays on religion, mod- eration, conduct and other conventional themes. These same themes are pretty much paralleled by the 20 poentV in her boo which deal with home life, deaths of acquaintances and moral issues. "Tieflections, Written on Visiting the Grave of a Venerated Friend" begins: Deep in this grave her bones remain, She's sleeping on, bereft of pain; 131 / �The language and the subject matter are stock but Not, 11 11 For•get Me each stanza of which ends with the title, is well handled and has flashes of the preachment of self-control that Vassa alluded to in his verses: lfuen bird does wait thy absence long, Nor tend unto its morning song; lfuile thou art searching stoic page, Or listening to an ancient sage, i·! hose spirit curbs a mournful rage, Forget lfo Not. Her interest in oral literature and the storytelling tradition is a.ppar·ent in 11 11 The Natives of America II where she asks: Tell me a story, father, please., 11 And then I so.t upon his knees. Again, as in her contemporaries, we find the inf]uences of English writers of a preceding generation or so, the debt to Biblical learning and much imitation. For brief critical notes on Niss Plato see Robinson's Early Black American Poets. LJ,'fS Another abolitionist-minister an<;l orator-poe;,1Elymas Payson Rogers (1814?-1861) who, after teaching public schools in Rochester, New York, took up pastoring in Newark, New Jersey. One of Rogers' students &8 e teae~or was Jerimiah w. Loguen ·who later become an important social-religious leader and a Bishop of the A.M.E. Church. Fugitive slave Loguen's bio- graphy (see Negro Caravan) appeared in 1859, in Syracuse, under the title, The Reverend J.W. Loguen, As a Slave and as 132 �a Freeman.. Known, as were many of the orator-poets, for reciting his poems orally, Rogers' themes are unashamedly abolition, Black betterment arrl political hypocrisy. Working politically on behalf of Blacks, Rogers apparently designed The Fugitive Slave Law (Newark, 1855) and Repeal of Missouri t Compromise Considered (Newark, 1856) to be read aloud from platforn~. Like., James H. ·whi tfield, who came later, Rogers gave up hope in America's ever giving Blacks a fair deal and / sailed for Africa where he died after contacting a. fever a few days after he arrived there,. His incisive no-hoi{s-barred approach to the political climate and conditions of the time is seen in 11 0n the Fugitive Slave Law": LawJ What is Law? The wise and sage, Of every clime and every age, In this most cordially unite, That 'tis a rule for doing right. And the ringing cry of the elocutionist can be heard later in the poem when, in discussing the fugitive bill, he asks and answers: That Bill a law? the South says so, But Northern freeman answer, NoJ Anticipating the fiery and torrential 1,J bitfield (and 20th century "angry voices 11 ) Tiogers continues: That bill is law, doughfaces say; But black men everywhere cry 11 Na:,r: We'll never yield to its control While life shall animate one soul 133 �At times bi ting and o v e ~ n g l y harsb as a poet, Rogers resounds in "The Repeal of the Missouri Compromise Considered 11 with these words: > "I want the land, 11 was F~edom 's cry; And Slavery answered, "So Do I J By all that's sacred, I declare I 1 11 have my just and lawful share. The Northern cheek should glow with shame To think to rob me of my claim." With built-in drama and careful cuts, Rogers assessed the state of the nation during his time. In a line like "LawJ What Law? 11 he purposely begs the question in order to wring the emotional and rhetorical pouer from the words and to evoke responses from audiences. References to Rogers can also be found in Robinson's Early Black American Poets. Iw.tbematicia.n., poet, educator and Black community worker, Charles L. Reason (1818-1898) uas born in New York City of Haitian parents. He attended the New York African Free School Hhere he later returned as a member of the all-Black faculty. Seeking the ministry, Reason was, for racial reaso ns , forbidden full time attendance at the ~1eological Seminary of the Protestant Episcopal Church. Eventually, however, he became eligible for a professorship in ?~thematics and Belle Lettres (1849) at the Ne1v York Central College in NcGrauville, Courtlandt County. William G. Allen and George B. Vashon Here also on the faculty ther e . Ile held various educational jobs including a princi- palship of tho Institute for Colored Youth in Philadelphia 134 �and graurnar sb co ol Ho. 80 in Hew York City Hhile H. Cordelia. nay uas a teacher• thero. neason uas a.n intellectual and a sch ol ar but was not blind to the practical needs of Afro/\.t11or ica ns . Irv oppos0d plans to colonize Bl acks, c lailili ng inst ead that th ey nee~ded to pursue vocational careers here in Amer• ica. Again, not primarily a poet, Reason is competent as a poe t in "The Sp irit Voice II which opens with: Come ! r ouse ye brothers, rouse! a poal nou breaks Prom lowe s t island to our gallant lakes: 1 Tis summoning you, who in bonds have lain, To stand up ma nful on the battle plain, and ur ces Blacks to fight for freedom and opportunity. The poem (whos e comple te title is "The Spirit Voice or, Liberty Call to th e Disfranchised") is indebted to the rhyming couplet so famous dm.. ing the era and which had been used with great skill by Phillis \·n1eatley. It appears in William Simmons Men of Nark (Cleveland, 18B?). r Like that of other orator-poets, Reason's work is designed to be read aloud in order to stir and move poeple to action. Therefore he exhorts, reinforces, demands, warns, admonishes and issues veiled threats. 11 His s piri t voice" (see the idea of African Spirit Force) longs for the time when freedom's mellm• light 135 �Shall bre a k, and usher in t he e ndless day , Th a t f r om Orleans to Pass 1 maquoddy Bay, Despots no more may earth ly homa ge claim, No slaves exist, to soil Columbia's name. The poem was ·w ritt e n in 1841 and shows Re as on I s poetic abilities etched out und er the strain of racis m and the countless chores demanded of an educated Black of the period., Elsewhere ("Freedom") he gave this familiar cry: 0 Freedom: Freedom! Oh, how oft Thy loving children call on TheeJ ~ 7 In wailings loud a~d breathings sf oft, Beseeching God, th ~y face to see. I How r eminisc e nt of and 11 not unlike" the Spirituals this burst isJ Certainly the student of this peirod of Black poetry will want t o ke ep his rhy thmic lyres attuned to the Biblical and innovative cadences of those "Black and unknown bards." For assessments of Reason see Robinson, Brawley and Kerlin. :More of Reason's work appears in A Eulogy on the Life and Character of Thomas Clarkson (1847) and in Auto graphs for Freedom (1854). Anticipating the .Ure-American poignancy and humor in this line by Langston Hughes, America never was America to me 136 �and this one by Lance Jeffers to make me more American than America James M. vJhitf'ield (1823-1878) voiced some of the most powerful and angry protest yet heard in Black American poetry when / he publish ed America and Other Poems in Buffalo in 1853. V Barber, worker for Black colonization, poet and pioneer journalist, Whitfield had earlier authored various types of writings: Poems in 181~6; "Hm-;r Long? 11 ( publisbed in Julia Griffith rs Autographs for Freedom in Rochester, 1853); "Self-Reliance, Delusive Hope, and Ode for the Fourth of July" (in The Liberator, November 18., 1853); 11 Lines--Addressed to Mr. and Mrs. J.T. Holly, on the Death of Their Two Infant Daughters 11 (In Frederick Douglass' Paper, February 29, 1856); and Emancipation Oration (San Francisco, 1867). lrJhitfield is known chiefly for America which was received so favorably that he was able to leave bis barber shop and devote full time to making speeches for the abolitionist cause, working for colonization programs and general Black develop- > ment. He had personal contact with b~th DoL,lass and novelist :Martin Delaney who called the 1854 National Emigration Convention of Colored Men which Whitfield attended. respected and admired Hhitfield., Douglass apparently But the two men differed on the question of colonization and participated in a lively debate. Pursuing his own position with vigor, Whitfield established the African-American Respository, in 1858, as a pro-colonization propaganda organ. Though born in Exeter, New Hampshire Whitfield ) 137 �spent most of bis life in Buffalo uhere be barbered and conducted most of his colonization efforts. He apparently died on bis way to look into the possibilities of colonizing Black Americans in Central America. Delaney had changed bis mind and the emigration scheme was never realized. Like most of the orator-poets, Hbitfield is 1.;riting to be heard, listened to and read aloud. Consequently much of his poetry (though not lacking in religious fervor) reinforces his ideology and negative vieus of America. America, the Street land of liberty becomes for Uhi tfield, "America 11 Thou boasted land of liberty,-and To thee I sing becomes It is to thee I raise my song, Thou land of blood, and crime, and wrong. Like Rogers, \·Jhi tfield did not believe America was capable of redemption; and, ac;ain like his pred_e cessor, he died on a > journ~, to find something better. The idea of 11 giving 11 • up on America would uppear thematically in the poetry of later writers like Fenton Johnson, Lee, Baraka and sor,1e of the Muslim poets. It would also be implicit in the expatriation of wri te1°s and artists such as Paul Robeson, Wright, Baldwin, Chester Himes and Katherine Dunham. In a driving iambic pentameter "'18:b::P' (in couplets), whiah has o.11 the openings for spontaneous interjections and expletives, ·whitfield in 138 11 Amer\ca, 11 accuses �the United States of killing the Black sons uho fought for her and of general hypocrisy. Here one can see Whitfield CV anticipating; current slogan, which Hayden makes use of in "Words in tho Hourning Time 11 : Killing people to save, to free them? Though more general, \Jhitfield continues a similar assault (stating life is hell) in "The Misantbropisi~,'' but tones down 11 to a reverent salute 'I, I All bailJ To Cinque 11 : thoui;h truly noble chief, ·who scorned to live a cowering slave; Tby name shall stand on history rs leaf, Amid the mighty ani the brave: Whitfield praises the revolutionary Cinque who "in freedom's lJ1ight II Shall beard the robber in his den; and ••• fire anew each freeman's heart_ Since Whitfield's primary goal is to get o. political "message" over, bis poetry, as art, leaves some_ things to be desired. Robinson points out that Hhitfield "is genuinely angry" (despite the inf'luence of Byron) and that the bitterness and force in his work is not to be mistaken for romantic or linguistic cosmetics_ Lastly, we must note that Uhitfield expressed concern for global oppression; quite modern in this, he s~rved, more or less, as a chronicler of world turbulence and a harbinger of the direct and emphatic assaults that today's Black poets heap upon tyranny. He viewed the 139 11 Russian Bear" (reflecting �on European despotism of the mid 1800 's) in bis poem "Holl Long? 11 : I see the "Rugged Russian Bear" Lead forth his slavish hordes, to war Upon the right of every State Its own affairs t-o regulate; To help each despot behind the chain Upon the people I s rights again., And crush beneath his ponderous paw All constitutions, rights am law., Selections of vfuitfield's poetry can be found in the Robinson anthology., in Negro Caravan ( 1941), and in the Barksdale and Kinnamon text. Hhitlow discusses Whitfield's poetry and im- pact as does Loggins, Brown, Brawley, Wagner., and Ruthe Hiller (Black American Literature., 1971). The most popular Black 19th century poet before Dunbar was Frances E.W., Harper (1825-1911), the first Black American to publish a short story ( "The Two Offers, 11 1859). Born free in Baltimore as Frances Ellen Watkins, she was educated in Pennsylvania and Ohio, and spent most of her adult life in the · cause of antislavery and other types of social reform. She worked in turn for the abolition movement, the Underground Railroad, the A.M .. E. Church and the Women's Christian Temperance league. According to Dunn (The Black Press) she contributed to ne,;-rn and propaganda publications. Her• reform work was slackened by her marriage to Fenton Harper in Cincinnati in 1860., But after his early death in 1864 she resumed her efforts, lecturing in all but two southern states and promoting Black �• self-help p1"ograms. Her fame rested primarily on her Poems on Hiscellaneous Subjects published in 1854 in Philadelphia. A very popular volume, it wcrnt through twenty editions by 1874 (William Still 1s Undergr·ound Railroad, H372). Her literary activity was stepped up after the Civil War and included Hoses, A Story of the Hile which went through three editions by 1870; a volume entitled Poems came out in 1870 followed by a second edition in 1900; and attempts at prose fiction including Southern Sketches (1872, enlarged in 1896) and a novel, Iola LeRoy, published in 1892. has not been located. Her first work, Forest Leave~, Critics generally agree that Hrs. Harper's poetry is not original or brilliant. But she is exciting and co'.Iles through wi tb powerful flashes of imagery and statement. Her models are lh"s. Hemans, Hhittier and Longfellow, and so ue find an overuhelming influence from the ballad. In reading her poetry in public, Hrs. Harper ·was · able to appeal to what ) Johnson (God's Trotnbones) called a 11 higbly developed sense of sound" in Afro-Americans (see, again, sta t e1r1ents by Rev. Allen and Vass a). She apparently kneH her l .i mi to.tions, for Robins on tells us that her popularity ••• was not due to the conventional notion of poetic excellence, 11rs. Harper wo.s fully 0.1·1are of her limitations in that kind of poetry, it 1ms du e more to the sentimental, e:,1otion- freishted populari t~r uhat sbe had given the lines Hith her clisarmingly dramatic voj_ce and gestures und si~1 s and tears. �Up until t he Ci v i l 1far•, Hrs. I-Iarper 1 s favorite t hemes Here slavery, it s harshness , and the hyp ocris es of Amarica. She is car efu l to place graphic details tfuere they will 3et the great est result, especio.lly wb0n t he poe,;w are read aloud. An oxauple of' tb i s is found in "Tl1e S lave Eo tl1er ": Ho is not hers, f o~ cruel ~a~tls The onl~r 1-n-eu.t h of hon o el:old love ~1at binds he r bre a k i n~ heart. A. sir.lilar play on tho emo tio ns is seen in poe u s like in a T1re8 Land, 11 "~-io ncs for the P0ople, 11 (Hi th its sth rine;s of fe minis 1;1 ) and 1 11 1 11 • Bury He ''Doubl e S ta nd ard" Tbe Slave Auction. rr A woman is not solely responsible for her in 11 11 fall, rr s he suggests Doub le Standard II a dding that And uhat is ur onc in a woman I s life In man •s cannot be ric;ht. Hi gh ly r·eadable and less academic in her us e of p oe t:lc techniqu es and vocabular ies, Nrs. Harper is neve1 tl1e less quite 1 indebted t o th0 Bible :for much of her i magery a nd moral me ssag e. And she is able to merge and modify the folk a nd religious forms in a poem like 11 Truth II where s he ope ns with u debt to the Spiri tua.ls: A rock, for ages, ste1. . n and hi e;b, S tood fro1-m ing 1 gainst t he e arth a nd sky, And never bowed bis haur;hty crest When angry s tor1-:1s around h i m prest. Horn , spring inc fro m the arms of ni;)1t, �Had often bathed his brou with light, And kissed tbe shadous f1°om his face Uith tender• love and gentlsi grace. Several religious songs are suggested here; but she also loves to return to the theme of women as she does in and "The Slave Hoth er. 11 11 A Double Standard 11 In the ballad "Vashti II she tells of the heroine v1ho dared to disobey her dictator-husband. The strength and dete1 mination of womanhood is expressed in the 1 last two stanzas: She heard again the King's command., And left her high estate; Strong in ber earnest i;-10manhood, She calmly met her fate, And left the palace of the King Proud of her spotless name-A woman who could bend to grief But 1-1ould not bow to shame. Certainly a comprehensive biographical-critical study of }I.rs. Harper is long over.Jue. Selections of her work can be found in Kerlin•s critical anthology, in Negro Caravan, in Robinson's book., in Miller's anthology, in the Barksdale and Kinnamon anthology and in numerous other recent anthologies. Mrs. Harper's works are critically examined by Loggins, Wagner, ·whi tlow, Bro.i-rley, Broun and Sherman (Invisible Poets: Black Americans of the 19th Century, ' 1974). Like other writers, educators and activists of his day, �George B. Vashon (1822-1878) contributed to the influential Anglo-African l1aga.zine which was published intermittently between 1859 unti 1 the end of t11e Ci vi 1 'I.Jal".. Vashon had a good solid educa.tion--in classics and history--at Oberlin College where he received his A.B., in 1844 and I-LA., in 1849 .. ' Vashon, known chiefly for his "Vincent Oge," which Sterling Brown tells us, "is the first narrative poem of any length by a Negro poet,. 11 Vashon distinguished himself as a teacher, la-wyer, lectu1°er and uriter. He practiced laH in Syracuse, taught school in Pittsburg, served on the faculties of College Faustin in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, New York Central College (Hherc he was a colleague of Reason and Allen) and Houard Unive1"'sity in D .. C. uhere he was a law professor. lfuch of Vashon•s poetry reflects debts to his strong education and the influence of Scott and Byron. All are seen in "Vincent Og~," inspired by the courageous (but foolish) . f efforts of Vincent Oge, a Haitian mulatto who was "entrusted with the message of enfranchisement to the people of mixed blood on the is land. 11 The order bad _come down from the Con- vention in France, of i.-J hich Hai ti wa.s a colony.. Internal disruption in France (due to tho Revolution, 1789-1799) had I echoed to its colonies in the Caribbean t~ere Oge led a short-lived armed uprising that cost hir,1 his life when he wa.s refused asylum in Spanish Santo Doraingo and remanded to the French autho1"'i ties in Hai ti. As punishment and a. warning to ' other•s., tbc P1°ench had Oge tortured on the uhee l and severed his body into four parts eae1".l o:f' c-rhich w e Jre-,W.Q,,it" hung . up in the four �leading cities of the island. I Oge's followers were either put to death or i mpr isoned and t he ir pr•operties confiscated. ' example as Has "'\·.J bitfield by Vashon 1-1as as L1.oved by Ogets In the lengthy poem, Cinque's~ II f Vincent Oge, rr Vasbon i1m11or- r talizes Oge in an admixture of classical and Biblical language, using a pleasant iamb ic tetra.111 eter meter and an over.J.ose of dissonance in his rhyme scheme which featu1,es an alternating a b a b/ a a hb. The style is som01-1bat reminiscent of Whitfield who breaks his rhyme scheme (see "America 11 ) after each group of eight or nine lines. "Vincent Ogt II and · "A Life-Day II were both printed in Auto graph s for Freedom for 1853. For Vashon, the strugele is very much alive, I And Oge stands mid this array Of matchless beauty, but his brow Is brightened not by pleasure 1 s play; He stands unmoved--nay., saddened not., As doth the lorn and mateless bird ' and Oge, dedicated to struggle, presses on. Vashon carefully weaves the graphic details of his protagonist's execution into the narrative and anticipates the more fire-tipped pens of later Black (lynch.:.theme) poets such as Johnson, HcKay, Hughes, Brown and Dodsen: Frowning t he y stand, and in their cold, Silent solemnity 7 unf'old r.r11e strong one Is triumph o'er the weak-The at:ful gr oan--the anguished shriek-The unconscious mutterings of despair-- 145 �11he strained eyeball's idiot stare-The hope less clencb--the quivering frame-The martyr's death--the despot's shame4 The ra.c k--the tyrant--victim,--all Are gathei-•ed in that Judgment Hall. Draw ue a veil, for •tis a sight But fiends cnn gaze on wi tb deligh t. Freighted ·with emotion and terro1~ like much of the work of Mrs. Harper, and setting the stage for such awesome poei@ as Wri ght's "Bet·ween the World and He, " McKay• s "The Lynch inc; , 11 Dunbar Is "The . Haunted Oak" and Dodson's "Lament," Va.shon•s relentless narrative signals a new and sustaining power in t h e work of Black poets. Compare, for example, the last two lines of the stanza above to HcKay 1 s couplet in his sonnet "The Lynching ": And little lads, lynchers that were to be, Da nced round the dredful thing in fiendish gle e ., Unlike HcI(ay , however , Vashon cheers up at the end: Thy coming fame, Ogel is sure; Thy name with that of L · •Overture, And all t he noble souls that stood 1vi th both of you, in times of blood, Will live to be the tyrant's fear-Compare this ending, if you will, to the ending salute to 11 General Hash ington" by Hiss Hheatley. 11 A Life-Day" is a shorter poem, in three parts, a nd, like "Vincent Og~, is founded �on a factual event: the love-ai'fair and eventual marriage of a young white man and a light-skinned Black. For selections of Vashon' s works see Autographs for Freedom and Robinson's anthology. For critical discussions see the works of Brown and Brawley. As we prepare to move to the next phase in the development of Black poetr•y, it is important that we tarry long enough to pay brief attention to some of the Creole poets. He select Pierre Dalcour., Armand Lanusse (1812-1867), Victor Sejour (1817- 1874), Nelson Debrosses and Nicol Riquet. Somewhat of an anomaly in Afro-American literature and poetry, these Creole poets are nevertheless important if the complete p:ortrait of this many-sided and complex tradition is to be understood. There is nothing typically American in their poetry--not even in terms of American imitators of English forms--a.nd they rarel:r display any racial consciousness and general injustice. 01, concern for slavery Nost were fluent in speaking and writing French and from that influence their work derives a spicy melody and an unhibited treatment of romantic love and revelry. Huch of the work is also intimate and sophisticated in its use of conventions and materials gained from French educations. The Creole poets' Horks appeared as "tbe first published anthology of ·Negro verse in America II in a volume called Les Cenelles (New Orleans, 1845). In addition to French, the Creole poets also 1-1rote in Spanish, La.tin and Greek and uere Generall~r from the wealthy land-owner class J-4 7 �and 01-1nod slaves. About Dalcour little is 1-::noHn e::rnept t11at he 11as born of wealthy par•ents uho sent bim to Pr anc e in t he ea.rly 1800 • s t o re c 0i vo a gooc.1 education. Roturninc to l'Tew 01°leans after his schooling, he uas unab le to acc ept tl~e racial tempe1~ and again took up rE: sidency in Fra nce. 1-Jhile i n Hew Orleans, houe ver , ho uroto a number of poems, one of u h ic11 was ~h i tt 0n in th.3 .Alh u~.1 of I:a.dar,10 iselle. 0 11 r e li ves the vaulted sk i es II 11 11 Vor•se Tl.1e poe D toucbinc ly and "gentle flashes rr 11l1 icl1, to the poet , ar e " loss l ovo ly 11 wb.cn seen U.'.:;ainst the la¢ly's eyes Beneath their brown lashes. Lanusse, Le r.enelles editor, contributed to New Orleans nreole newspapers, L'Union and ~a Tribune, served ns a conscript ed Co nfederate sold i e r in the Civil Har , spent some time ns principal of t bo Catholic :J ch o ol for Inc1iscnt Orphans of Color. He also encou rage d lit erary and other artistic exp1·ess ion a1.10nc fcllo-tJ artists and ::rn lici ted uork for Les Cenclles. He culoc;iz0d h is br·othcr , lTuma , in the poem 1 '1.Tn Pr!re/Au Tombeau de Son Pr!re," re calling t h at "u r @!. n:; death has cut you down." VS 0 Elsewhere Lanuss e refers to death as " some other b a nd shutting your e:re lids. 11 S omcH!rn. t no.ught ier a nd more poignant in "Ep igram," La nusse g i ves the account of . a 11 . ·wor:1an of ev il" who wants to "r enounce the devil n but, ask fl . Before pure gr ac e takes me in hand , Shou l dn I t I shoH my daugh t er how to ge t a man?" "'-./ �sJjour• lived ~110st of his life i n France a nd only returned to Hew Orl0ans for br ief visits to h is lilOther . Son of a ·wealthy family, he 111,ote s ever al plays, 21 of wh ich were stage d in Fr•ance a nd three in Hew Orleans in the 1850 1 s. sJjour 's literary a b ilities were praised by Napoleo n III and he rubbed shoulders lJi th major Fre nch literary personalities of bis day. Eis scope is uider t h an some of the other Creole poets. "Le Re tour de FapolJon 11 ( His "The Return of Napoleon 11 ) is an e le g7 f a.nd a celebration all j_n one. While eulogizing Napoleon, Sejour prai ses both his and France's triump~s and g lories. poem of flouing, g-r aphic exaltation. 11 a "sea II that It is a Opening on t h e scene of gr oans under the burning sun, 11 he narrates the gr outh and collapse of France as a. world power: And on a nd on she swe pt, an unleashed tempe st wild, and France mov ed on ahead. No more. All is over • ••• Yet, hail, 0, captainJ Hail my consul of proud bearing. Admonishing France to country that 11 11 1:leep, France, ll$ep., 11 , Se jour reminds the death has lightning struck the people rs g iant. 11 Little is known about the perso nal life of Debrosses which, according to Robinson., "seems in keeping with bis Haitian gained experience in Voodoo, aspects of which he practised in Hew Orleans. 11 In Debrosses' "Le Retour .au Village aux Perles 11 ( "neturn to the Villag e of Pearls 11 ) , he seems to a nti cipate what Waring Cuney sees through the "dishwater" in h is poem 149 �_j_ "Images." The Creole poet returns to the village to find that Her spirit dances here and there in these enchanting places and to locate --that flower-bosomed grove again., the witness of our secret passion, and too, the cherished brook to which my soul would on this day confide its ho.ppy memory. A cigo.r-mal{er by trade., Riquet lived all of bis life in New Orleans where be pursued a vigrous avocation of ·writing light verses. His "Rondeau Redouble/ Aux Franc Amis 11 ( "Double Rondeau/To Candid Friends 11 ) leaves no doubt that Riquet saw himself as at least serious in bis avocation. A rondeau is a French-originated lyrical poem of 13, or sometimes, 10 lines., There are two rhymes throughout the poem and the opening phrase is repeated twice as a refrain. The form is remotely reminiscent of the blues an:1 Spiritual forms of Afro-American poetry., Riquet says that since his "candid friends aJ:'.e calling for a rondeaul he and his ":Muse • • • must worlr a 1vonder. 11 11 Other Creole poets included Niebel Saint-Pierre (18? - 1866)., Camille Threrry (1814-1875), Joanni Questi (18? - 1869 compiled an Alma nach of Laughter) and T.A. Desdunes Nb om Jahn says "is reminiscent of the Senegalese poet Birago Diop. 11 The duty of the poet is to "rhyme in an uncommon uay 11 or he will "earn the name of poetaster--from our candid friends." 150 �The Creole poets are examined and represented by selections in E. Nn ceo Coleman 's Creole Voices (Hasbington, D.C., 1945) See also Charles Rousseve 1 s The and in Robinson•s anthology, Negro and Louisiana (Xavier University Press, 1937), and the critical selection by Jahn. in Hughe s r and Bontemps Lanusse and Lecour also appear The Poetry of tbe Hegro (1949~ 1970). I There were other poets Hriting and publish ing during this same period. I1any of them published their works in single editions, and copies of some are no longer extant., refers too. poet knoun as 11 Caesar 11 who allegedly 1vrote but 1,1bosc poetry is not available. are: Brawley Other poems and their collections Ilaria and Harriet Falconar, Poems on Slavery (London, 1783); Jo.mes Hontgomery, Jamas Graham, E. Benger, Poems on the A1) oli tion of the Slave Trade (London, 1809); Anonymous, Tbe Uest Indies and 0th Gr Poems ( 1 8 11); John Bull, The Slave and Other Poems 1824); Rev. Noah c. Cannon, Tbe nock of l!isdom .,. (London, To Hhich Ar•c Added Several Interesting Hymns (New York,? 1833); Anonyu1ou s, "The Comlilemorative Hreath: In Celebration of the Extinction of Negro Slavery in the Bri tisb Dominions (London, 1835); Anonymous, Anti-Slave ry l-Ielodies (Hingb a 1;1, Hasso.chusetts, 1834); George 1'n1itfield Clark, compiler, The Liberty I-Ii nstrel (Neu York, 1844); Hilliam Hells B1 own, Anti-Slavery Harp (Boston, 1 1849); 11 A West Indian, 11 Charleston, Soutll Carolina: a satiric poem shouinc; that slavery still exists in tbe conntr~r which boasts, above all otbcrs, of being the seat of liber·ty. 1851); Sar.1-----------------Darlmcss BronGb t to li ch t 151 (London, (Derry , �lTeH Hampshire,? 1855); George H. Cletrk, The Har•p of Preedom (:New York, 1856); and Abel Charles Thomas, The Gospel of Slavery ( Heir York, 1864). In 1860 Blacks represented l.4.1~; of' the United States population and were 4,1~41, 830 str•ong. The sour tastes lei't by the 1vorst internal social inflagration until the 1960 1 s and 70 • s, the problems of car int; for and protecting the soon-to-be-released slaves, the need to develop and staff educational facilities i'or Blacks, all engulfed Afro-Americans in a deluge of horror and hope. Although it is clear that the works of many poets leap the arbitrarily-imposed chronological boundaries, the temperments, themes, dictional preferences and limitations discussed generally hold for most of the poetry of the period. Despite the surprising successes, and the flashes of brilliance intertwined with mediocrity and comedy, the Black poet would labor long to remove "the image of a face 11 that, in the uords of Corrothers, on the wild s1veet flowers. 11 Lieth, like shado1v 11 The following poems are included as examples to enhance and possibly clarify the foregoing discussion on the and Agitation II of "African Voices In Ee lips e. 152 11 11 Imitation ... � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Eugene B. Redmond Digital Collection Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document Text Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context EBRWritings_08_11 Title A name given to the resource Copy of Drumvoices: The Mission of Afro-American Poetry: A Critical History, p. 43-152, typed manuscript Description An account of the resource Copy of Drumvoices: The Mission of Afro-American Poetry: A Critical History, p. 43-152, typed manuscript. Draft includes IV. Folk Seculars, V. Spirituals, Section, VI. Folk Seculars, Chapter III. African Voice in Eclipse: Imitation & Agitation, and III. The Voices on the Totem. Relation A related resource Eugene B. Redmond Digital Collection Language A language of the resource English Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource For digital rights and permissions, see <a href="https://www.siue.edu/lovejoy-library/about/policies.shtml">https://www.siue.edu/lovejoy-library/about/policies.shtml</a> or contact <a href="mailto:library@siue.edu">library@siue.edu</a> for direct inquiries. In copyright. <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/</a> Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Redmond, Eugene B. https://digitallis.isg.siue.edu/files/original/51408857591f7f0c3640bec0fdb42527.pdf de36b85b59b755b511d30942e4342850 PDF Text Text 1 .. ' ' At t h is perilous juncture in Bl a ck hi s tory ., on the e ve of America's Bi-Cent enni a l a n d amidst a n ew wa ve of 'rh ird World Humanism., Drumvoicea co me s a s a partial rebuttal to those who say poetry's impact on mank ind I s cons ciousness has been insi gnificant. •rhe thesis is simple: that God's Bl a ck trombone s have historically blared through or soothed the h ars h a nd stark realities of the Afro-American ~xperience; and that the sources (records) of these blarings and soothsayings, locked i:P.•, • ,, . 1~ ·'= ''-II, '· of the folk, t-emain accessible to anyone desiring "'to ~~ap them. source,,-$pi ri ts ("roots" )r, are what the author has tried ·to coh ,, ' · up in Drurnvoices, · • ·---z•• which owes great debtlto a lengtheni ,. of marvelous visionaries., "known and unknown." ~ ·, ' , ~-~ As a reference work, this text makes a modest attempt .. t t. ~-- ;.in the tradition of Vernon Logg ins I The Negro Author ,• ~.t. ':, ,1?·~Ame:ri.c 11 ~-. jamin Brawley•s Early Negro American Writers and The N'egro Geni ~•.. ·,..,. Sterling A. Erown I s Negro Poetry and Drama ~and J. Saunders Reddin To Make A Poet Black. We have~...als& cprofitted ' :tmmenael7of110111: ~ate.~hl . ,, . '!, l .works by George Washington Williams., Benjamin E.· _Maytt, W.E.B. DuBoi s , ~~ ' John Hope Franklin, Franz Fanon, Loften Mitchell and b'ofothy Port er: . / I,. • Of the li t er~ry historians a nd c ritics, only Brown is c~nc e rned ·ei - . . ~:. .• ' . ~ elude a checklist of Bl a c k, po e ts. Lo ggins I study v i ews .._ Black . autho\ up until 1 900; and Re d ding , Bro wn an d Brawley examine them through the mid 1930s. Drumvo ices combines all previous vEm'tures in the area of the p oetry-- g i ving new int erpretations and updating en exciting history which b e g an with Lucy •r e rry wh o wro te a poem 229 years ago. :c 1 "·•'!/! elusively with poets--th ough Mrs. Po rt e r's man y offerings also in' ~ ' ·cultural safe-deposit boxes , of drums and the intricate acoustics ~ •• · 1 ' 1 �Initially conceived a s a monologue and later enlarged to its present siz,e, Drumvoic es is aimed a t s tudents and te a chers of Black poetry, literature, history a nd cu ] tu r e. However , the author hopes that all who read from t he se pages will benefit . The very general thesis stated above is consi stentJ.y implied in the book I s approach. ~ And unlike some recent works, this one does not present a consciously . •, 1 ;.{.labored construct or aestheti cal matrix, i.e., Black Nationalism, · - or . ~,,-· r,an-A.fricanism, the Black Aesthetic/\ Aliena tion, though none of -,..~\ alternatives has been overlooked whenever and wherever poets or ., i?J,. ,, . ., · · t· ha.ve dealt significantly with them. Occasionally chronology is viola elnce any time barrier is, by definition, arbitrary. R •{!It ? f n i ff fliW I . ' was impossible to find birth or death dates for some of ~ early poets} Also arbitrary is the author 1 s selection of poets t. emphasis on various styles, techniques, themes or periods. Yet ': ~the organization of the text is somewhat original since, at the' tim has ~ pt this writing, no single workadiscussed Black poetry from its be~ 1 • I' , ,/{ ginnings into the 19 60s and 1970s. As a history, Drumvoices '1 ': .. _" i 1x chapters: I; Introduction--Black Poetry: Views, Visions, Conflic!is; \ •~~ J \/II, ~-ft • ~• ' I.• ' The Black and Unknown Bards: Folk Roots; III, -· Af"-rican Voice in ! l •;.. ~c;t.ipSe: Imitation and Agita~io n(l746 -1 865); IV, Jubilee.s , Ju'jus _and ~/~ {::.I "· ·;~ ,Justices(l865-191 0 ); V, A Long Ways From Home _( l 910-1960); VI, Festivals . ~ Funerals: Black Poetry of th e L9 60s and 1970s. Finally there is Ii J a Bibliographical• Index. The historical as p ect of t hi s two-pron ged study(critical and t I •.}lominates: the rationale being t h '.=tt I ~~ text which chronicles the develo :,f·, ot the poetry is a prerequi s ite to sound critical assessment. AlsoiJ the ~· .. author ~ I was not unmindful of the f a ct tha t most anthologies or studies (~: of recen t Black p o e try are gen F:: ra.lly nlo a ded" and t o p-hea'vy with house.: hold name s; but none of t hem has ex t ende d their vision to include a �~ representative("complete" is out of th i> que~tion) look at the numerous important centers where this p o etry is b eing cr N1. ted . It seemed a worbhwhile task, then, simply t o su ggest the d emogranhic range of the rt\t4dnew poetry. Such is the attempt~in Chapt e r VI wnere the author has 4 pu11tosely decentralized a star-dominated pattern in the new poe try I I in fa.-or of a more truthful and historical pi cture of its development. pick up a journal or book in practically any l ibrary a:nd read praise of the . new poetry; hence the author has simply referred to these comments instead of re-hashing them here. ,.. U~fortun~,t ely, · significant studies of lbth and 19th century po'etry were not 'av~ilable to the author while chapters on these ',{. I 1 ·, \ · ' ' ,, areas.· w re being written. But Jean Sherman,s _____ Invisible __:.. __ __ __;.. ______ ..;__ , the 19th Sentury: and M.A. Richmond's Bid the Vassal Soar: Interpretive ,7 -, · on ·the Life and Poetry of Phillis Wheatley and George Moses Horton, provided additional insight and caused some . :li' \~l a. . re ~· slight , • .,.1 h~ffling ?f this text. Of great service, howe v er, was Ea rly Black American Poets, William Robinson's impo rtant a nthology(with notes); at ~J, writing, it remains the bestAsource for the period. The author is , · lso indebted to a number of important works on 20th century Black l'Oetry: Jean Wagner I s Black Poets of the United. States.:., .E:cgm Pau}. Laur.§U~ Dunb~r "' Wr1 tere, J9QQ-J 960 1 and Louis Rubin's BJJ,d, Donald Gibson Is ~~.la.c.k...J:.Q,eot •.s' Blyden Jackson Is ' ~a,Q~ PRJi:ttY in Am~rjca, the Aslxenturs gf_:West,ern Cu] tu.re Geo r ge P. Kent's Bl8 ckness and .Joy Flasch 's H~. J..x,t11,.P. A book does not just happen Hnd t he fueJ for this one hns been pouring in over a number of ye ar s ond from a r;riw t many sources • ._ Germinating ideas came from various qua rters : s tud en ts, fri en ds, teachers, and mor1t importantly, from co1leDr,uc~s :it ;jouthc'r•n 11linois University's .l:!;xpo rimont in Hi t;twr .e:duc ntlon in bas t St . l,nui s. The . �•r ".literally hundre ds of po e ts, writ e rs and thinke r s(in Watt·s, New Yo rk, Ch icago, . New Orleans, Athmta, Det ro it, Clevel and, ete. ~with whom • #tt «111ftoh J. t.t.S · '\ met a n d t a l ke d t hro u gh ni gh ts and days, now stand faceless and namele s s, but they are a s much a p a rt of this book as the author hims elf. Of sp eci a l si gnificance we r e the critical readings of sections { fr-1end and tli 2 I of this text by Te d t-l.ornba c k , ·, Aformc r te a cherj C1yde Taylor who ~ 0 -1_P11:ucil rt'-1h1ntir-g u,t~t-W~~"ljand 'U critic Charles Rowell who should have been commissioned to write the chapter or folklore~ • Likewise, for their patience, assistance and great stores ; tion, deb+ts.o.fAled to librari ans at California St;te University , (Sacramento), the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture (New York Public Library), the Moorland-Spingarn Hesearch Center at Howard University, Oberlin College, and Southern University in Baton Rouge. While a book does not just hap pen in the min!i, neither doec, miraculously appear on the page. Hours of meticulous and re.lentless work was invested by my gradua te assistant Julie Blattle with bibliographical and textual problems • .· Younger • ' \ ., '. • j .,_ ·assistants in these matters included Keith Jeffer~on' ap.d I Ronald \ • Tibbs. However, a lion's sharJ of producing this book was as.awned ~- by Marie Collins, supervisor of Sacramento's Oak Park School or Afro-Ame rican Thought, who typed, criticized a nd otherwiae committe4 herself to the project. Beiterley Williams, CSUS English secretary, also shared a portion oft he typing load. Fjnally, my gracious I I editor, Marie Brown, des e rves a huge salute· for her encouragement, concern, and continued support of th e writing-research through to the end. Onward, t ha E0 ~1' S I Fugene B. r<eafnona. March S, 1975 Sacramon to , Cali f o rni f1 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Eugene B. Redmond Digital Collection Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document Text Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context EBRWritings_08_10 Title A name given to the resource Copy of Drumvoices: The Mission of Afro-American Poetry: A Critical History, Preface, p. I-IV, typed with handwritten edits Relation A related resource Eugene B. Redmond Digital Collection Language A language of the resource English Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource For digital rights and permissions, see <a href="https://www.siue.edu/lovejoy-library/about/policies.shtml">https://www.siue.edu/lovejoy-library/about/policies.shtml</a> or contact <a href="mailto:library@siue.edu">library@siue.edu</a> for direct inquiries. In copyright. <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/</a> Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Redmond, Eugene B. https://digitallis.isg.siue.edu/files/original/cb2e35d7b15c39f0f46a976d860bc966.pdf fe4dd022507740f7ba61f7d9fb7eca27 PDF Text Text rent voice, was bugg ing t h e rim of the "dream." And we were not yet "Bey ond the Blues." III THE POETS AND THEIR TOTEM Good mornin', blues, blues, how do you do? -- Leadbelly A. The Coming Cadence: Pr e - :1.eiw.issanc e Voic es As th e 20t~ ce ntu r y c ontinu ed to open its bewi l der ed ( some say "sh ocked ") eyes , al 1 s or ts of che. n13es we r e occuri ng-not t h e l ea s t a monc th ere in Black poetry and the arts. With the inc reas e i n t~ e nu~1e r of publ i cat io ns tak inG their work (due to t he pionoer i nr, efforts of Du n½ar , Car r oth ers, Campbell, Cott er, Sr ., and ot~ers ), Blac k poe t 3 c ou l d at l e as t a ntic i pate hav i ng t heir work read 11y wh it e ed i. tors . l'Ia ~1y of t h e poets i-rr i ting i n the f irst and se c ond de cades of the century would never be heard f r om a ga i n; h u t a few would he coffie "mi nor" li ghts of t h e Har l.2; m Ren a i s s ance . Th e poets i:rnrked l n a sur- prls ing d i ve r sity of styles , lineui stic-b e nts , t he mes, temperame nt s a nd a c e cate g orie s, and came from prac t ically every cor ner of t he United States , t h e West I nd ie s and South Amer ica. Among th e early p o ets were Kelly Mil ler (1 863- 1939 ), Les li e Pi nc k ney Hi l l (1830- 1960 ), Charle s Bertram Johnson (1800- ), Be nja~i n Brawl ey (1882- 1939 ), Raymond Garfield • 2 81 �) , James Da ndrid co (1 882 -193 0 ), Otto Lee Bohanon ( :Sduard I:1cCall (1n 8C- ), Anc015-na Held Grin:1'::e (13 D0 -l950:), J33sie Redmond Fauset (1 132-1<)61), Wal ter Everette Hawkins ) , i'Trs . Sarah Lee (Brown) Flem:t n:3 , Leon n. Harris ( 1033(1 80 6- ) , Effie Lee N01-rnome (l l305- ) , 1-!alter Adolpl1e nob ert8 (1 88 6-1965), Eva Alherta Jessye (1 8 97- ), Georcia Douglas Johnson (1 2f 6-1 966 ), Theodore Eenry Shackelford (lCSIJ-J.923), I\oscoe C. J amlso n (1 8/"3 6-l C)l'."' ), Cl:arles 1Hlson (1885- ) , 1:r s . Ifae Smi tl~ Jobnson (l 190- !razafker•iofo (1 295- ) , Andrea ), Be nja min E~e~azer Burrell (1292- '.!illiam Edgar Baj_ly ( ), ), Josep 1, Se a mon Cotter, Jr. (1 195-1919), Clarissa Scott Dela □ ey (19 01-1927), and scores !Jore. Eajor poeti.c contr1-h1.1tions Here t,m de b:r Tames Weldon ,fo), nson, Fenton ,Tol·rnson, Cotter, Jr. ( cut down to early to deve lop his promise) and a few ot~ers; yet it is i mportant lhat we at least note so:,10 of t110 l er; ser lichts of this period. '."' terlin c; Bro-i-m and ,T. Snunders Reddi nc feel not11:i.ng of L1i)ortance, heyo nd. tl, o Jo1- ns ons, occured i r. the first two decades. Dut, for purpose.::: of ou r stndy and co n tinuit:r, He must note that this was not a period of inactivity amonc poets. nically, there was s ome expe ri ment ation. Tech- However, most of the poets eith er ~elpcd ~ 1ase out t he dialect v og ue or wrote h armless piece s o n ~ature, l ov e, cardens, death and human .:iorro1v. Others wrote ·hars11l:r and hi tterl:r of tbe war. Miller, mat11e maticj_an and sociolog ist, was a leadinG 2 82 �Black spokes man of t h o d ay and onl:r occa :J iona 7.l~r wro te poet r :r. His prose-poem "I Sec and Am Sati s fi ed " pro v ided fuel for further discussion of conte mporary racial issues. Consistine of 25 stanzas, it i. s r c nr.i. n is c e n t of F e11 ton Job ns on ( "Tired 11 ) and Margaret Walker ( "F or II:r People"). Hi 11 produced 1:1an::,r good students while he was principal at Ch e:rney Tra:lnin 6 School for Teachers (later Ch eyn e~ ntato Coll e g e). Ile attended Harvard and taught at Tuske c;ee and bis literary i nfluences are Lon gfellow, ifordswortb , Mil ton and Bnrn :.1 . !-Ti s pn~) lis b ed works are The Wines of Oppression (1922) and Toussaint L'Ov erturc--A Dramatic History (192 ~). Roy L. Fi l l, p oet a nd edu cator, is a prote g e of the se nior Hill 111, 0 fe e ls t 1, e Afro-A me rican r' con strained O '"'pression ~ l 1_ 1.•_r1 •1 ~I,.rf nr:q. -~ to G,....ive. 11 Hi.s po e tr:r l1as a strenc; th laced Hith Washington-t:r po f e ol :i n 0 s a,...,0 1 1t rac e re latio n::;. us that he will "monrn t r e trav ail of ..::r rac e . 11 T-Ie tells TJ:ost g rippinc;ly memorab le, b ovre7er, i c 7i s nso Qu1.0tl:r," a p oe tlc distil~ati.on (a par:i pb l e t, 1 9 00 ) , T> o l ian tl o of Dti n 1·· ar a nd Otb or P,o e ms (a pam" "'d C" c,.1-~· of _--.,.r -o: o,L p~e ( 7'J 1 ci) ~ J.. ... c?. L.! r.) U..:, ed u cator a :-10. pre a c 1~c r b iri1, 11 l if o 11 if' a 11 _,.,!_ · t :1 II:i. sf'c11r :i. a nd 1;'" ~.:-:c c~ s on ,:::: ." ..... ,, 10 . ... ~, • 5. s p oetr:- :i. s J oth li crit An oc c-a s i onal p oe t , P,rm-rle~r �( .. ,-. - 0'i .,_ .I - · · '- ' I\ ,1, l. t'l-i e d evelo pme nt of 'llla c 1- Amo r 5. can po c t r :r. !!o wrote stories a r~d poer:s t1• a t ' ,o.d :,ot ½con c ol:_s ct ed at the t l.110 of h is de at'I; . Dandri dc;o ' :.:. po c tr~r 5. s r l cl~ a nd ~o .. :o t i me:J ra d .al. l n co n- and contemporary violence against Blacks, he asks: Or can it be you fear the grave Enough to live and die a slave? "Zalka Peetruza 11 recalls McKay's "Harlem Dancer 11 in that pa.rt of the woman is dancing "--save her face. 11 A native of Cincinatti, Dandridge suffered a stroke when he was 30 years old which le.ft his legs and right arm paralized. Thereafter writing most of his poetr:r from his bed, he published The Poet and Other Poems (1920) and Zalka Peetruza and Other Poems (192 Dandridge also wrote competent poetry in dialect and, in this form, was a disciple of Dunbar. poetry to various magazines. Bohanon and McCall contribute A teacher from Washington, D.C., t Bohanon did not publish a volume. Neither did McCall who became • ;1,t~ ;!l an editor of the Independent after being made blind by typhoid., l An13e lina Grimk6 published a three-act play (Rachel) her poetry remains uncollected. 284 Born in Boston, she was �educated in various schools, of several states, and later taught English for many yea.rs at Dunbar Hic;h School in Washington, D.C. More than slightly resembling Gwendolyn Brooks, Miss Grimk~ 's poetry contains some of the most distilled language in modern American literature. Brilliant, precise and poignant, she writes of' love, seasons, darkness and high spirits during her maturing years--typified in the phrase "the New Nee;ro. rr Although she had been publishing poetry in periodicals her first big break came when she was included in Cullen's anthology, Caroling Dusk (1927). Not until the sixties would suqh lines as the following take on tbeir full political/cultural significance: 'Why, beautiful still finger, are you black? And why are you pointing upwards? In 11 The Want of You" even the moon and clouds join in "the crying want of you." work. Long overdue is a detailed study of Miss GrimkJ's But she is included in the best anthologies of Afro- American poetry and literature. Critical comments on her work can be found in the work of Kerlin, Kinnamon and Bttrksdale, and Brown ( 11 irony and quiet despair 11 ) . A brilliant student in college and for several years literary editor of the famous Crisis magazine, Jesse Fauset also served as an interpreter for the DuBois-inspired Second Pan-Af'rican Coneress in London. A native of New Jersey, she attended Cornell (Phi Beta Kappa) and the University of Pennsylvania, and published four novels: There is Confusion (1924), Plum Bun (1929), The Chinaberry Tree (1931) and Comedy, American �St~rle (1933). Her poetry appeared in numerous periodicals during the twenties and thirties. "Oriflamme, 11 Her skill is evident in her most famous poem. Inspired by a quotation from Sojourner Truth, the poem views the Black mother "seared with slavery's mortal scars" but vows that ber sons are Still visioning the stars! Black poets apparently spent time reflecting during the period between the beginning of the century and the Renaissance. So much of the poetry takes us into their private lives--sometimes into racial tones and sometimes not. Some of J essie Fauset's verse, for example, mirrors her knowled ge of French (she taught the language and translated into English several West Indian French-speaking poets). This is seen in the titles of some of poems and in other places where she interpolates French words into the texts. Generally her tone is quiet, neat and well written. Hawkins (a native of North Carolina) graduated from Kitrell College in 1901 and worked for many y ea.rs in the railway mail service. In "Credo II he announced t h at I am an Iconoclast. With obvious irony, Hawkins goe s on to claim he is "an Anarchist," (see Brown) and "an Agnostic." Additional irony and cynicism is seen in such poems as "A Spo.de is Just A Spade" and "The Death of Justice. 11 In h is rush of language and boldness of subject matter, Hawkins anticipates Tolson. .. His Chords and and Discords was published in 1909 and h is work appears in 2 36 �The Poetry of Black America (ado.ff, 1973) and Kerlin's anthology which includes critical notes. on Hawkins (a 11 Brown also comments .foreshadow" of new nNe gro Poetry "). Harris, Mrs. Flemi nc; , Hrs. Newsome, Rob erts, Hiss Jessye, Shackelford, Jamison, Wilson, Mrs. Johnson, Raza.i'ieriofo, Burrell and Bailey were among oth er poets contributing to various periodicals of t h e day. Harris brougbt out The Steel Makers and Otber War Poe ms in pamphlet form in 1918. · He served as editor of the Richmond (Indiana) Blade and published shortstories in The Century. "The Steel Makers II is emotionally and technically akin to some of the work of Whitman (Walt) and Sandburg. It praises t he steel workers--amone whom Harris himself numbered at one time. In another place, Harris asks the white man to accept him since, despite color and feature dii'ferences, The NeGro's the same as the rest. Harris' work can be found in Kerlin's book. Mrs. Fleming published Clouds and Sunshine (1920) in Boston at the inception of the Renaissance. Mrs. Newsome, wb o writes primarily for children, did not publish a volume of poems until 1940 (Gladiola Garden). Among the "earliest Necroes to employ free-verse with artistic ei'fectiveness" were Razaf'keriei'o and Will Sexton. Sexton contributed to various periodicals as did Razafkeriefo whose work appeared in Th e Crusader and The Ne gro World. through the t h eme of t h e day, Sexton announced I am the New Negro. 287 Carryinc:; �Taken i'rom "The New Negro", this line will be seen a.gain in various places and temperaments including in Tolson•s "Dark Symphony. 11 In "The Bomb Thrower" Sexton plays the role of "America's e'1il e;enius II and sardonically proposes a reversal of the ideals of Democrac:t. Razai'keriefo, born in Washington, D.C. to A.fro-American and Hadagascaran pa.rents, only had an elementary education. He asks, in "The Negro Church, 11 for "manly, thinking preachers 11 And not shouting money-makers, after declaring (in the manner of a Stokely Carmichael, Malcolm X or Rapp Brown) t h at t he church has great "power." Preachers, he warns, should work to "fit the Negro" For this world as well as heaven. In addition to anger and impatience, this poet also expresses race pride and praises 11 Tbe Negro Woman." to him to pick a woman for 11 If it were left up queen of the ball of fame," be would "select the wonderful Negro woman. 11 Burrell, who con- tributed poetry to magazines, echoes Razafkeriefo in Nee;ro Mother. 11 11 To A In four eight-lined stanzas (using iambic octa- meter) Burrell celebrates the "grace and fortitude" of the Black mother. Recalling that greatness of Black history, he asks earth mother to Create anew the captains of the past; Build in your soul the Eth iopian power, ... The preceding two poems call to mind Hue;hes' "The Negro Mother," Watkins' '1Ebon Maid and Girl of Mine," Hrs. Johnson's "To 28 3 My �Grandmother, 11 11 Owen Dodson's Black :1vi: oth er Pra.y inc; ," and other moving tributes to t h e Afro-Americ an woman. 11 Wilson's body's Child" is not good poetry but its subject is. Some- He worked a s a pr :1.nt cr and tbeatr i cal performer a nd s e r v ed time in t 1.1 e llioso ur i St a t e: Peniter~ti nr:r d'...1r i n::; w1·, :T. ch ti me 11e put togeth er a small b oo k of l 1i s ver ses. of Co.nada who s·::, c~.Y-~ ::-,t 11 Ph ilad e lph ia. Art ?lus e um . Shac kelford was n native i_:x1-_,st,:-- ia ~- tra.i ni nc; s ch ool and t be '1'' His b oo k , ~,tr _Qoun t r :r and Ot11 er Poems, was pub lish ed i n Pb ilaclelpl1 ia. in 1 91 ,'.J . Jamison publish ed Nccro So l diers n.nd Oth er Poe ms in S outh St. Joseph , Hi ssouri, in 1918. Jamison wri te s ab out :rca.stles i n t r e Air, nHopeless ness II a nd 11 Th e :tfoc;ro Soldiers." 11 love, Th e latter poem has someth ing of t h e flav or of Dunba·r 's "Colored S ol diers n and salutes the bra.very and courac e of Black troops whose "souls grandly rise. 11 Th ese troops, Jamiso n points out, fou ght for America instead of se eking 11 venc e nce for t h eir wrongs. 11 A native of Hissouri, Bailey's only volume of poems (The lt,irstlin 0 ) was released in 1914. "The Slump II makes a baseball (via Christian s y mb olis m) game an a lo r; ous to t h e hardships of Black life: Well, we'r e all at t h e b at-and warns that t h e "ball may be hurled" as a plea. "Hr. Self 11 is at the bat b ut There's the Be ggar and Gate-and a wh isperinc voice from above calls "Strike t h ree." Miss Jessy e wrote movine:; poetry but is much b etter known 289 �for her work in developing and leading professional choruses. Born in Kansas, she received musical training at Western University in Kansas and Langston University in Oklahoma. Moving to New York City in the twenties, she continued working with figures like Will Harion Cook, J. Rosamond Johnson, Hall Johnson and others. In her famous concerts around the world she has used work from Porvj and Bess, John Work 1 s compositions and that of the men listed above. Her published collections include My Spirituals (1927), The Life of Christ in Negro Spirituals (1931), Paradise Lost and Re gained (Milton 1 s work adapted to Black songs, 1934), and The Chronicle of Job (a folk drama, 1936). I mportant for t~e same reaso ns noted in our discussion of Alex Rogers, Hiss Jessye successfully combined the poetic and the musical lan 0uage (though they are so similar to start with!). Her poem, 11 Tbe Sinc;er" recalls the work of Corrothers, Dunbar, Johnson (James), and numerous other poets who h..a ve bridged the gap between t b e two art forms. One is reminded of Johnson 1 s 11 0 Black and Unknown Bards" in Miss Jessye 1 s statement t b at the singer's "speech was blunt and manner plain. 11 Like the "unknown bards, song was "but the essence of the heart." 11 his unlettered Her poems, published in newspapers during t h e twenties, s h ow a li gh theartedness but a sincerity and sense of conviction. "spring" and the 11 She writes about Rosebud 11 and while she is not singularly distinguished as a poet, her life 1 s work is an indispensable float in the grand parade of the AEro-American creativity in 290 �the arts. In choral work, Hiss Jessye is especially noted for her direction of the Original Dixie Jubilee Singers, later named the Eva Jessye Choir. For a thoroue;h ·discussion of Miss Jessye 's life and works ( alone; with that of her contemporaries) see Eileen Southern' s The Music of Black Americans. For poetry selectio ns , see Kerlin. Durine the period of the Renaissance, poets such as Georgia Johnson, Jessie Fauset, Anne Spencer, Alice DunbarNelson, I-Iill, 1'-foKay, James Weldon Johnson, Dandridge and Cotter (sho had achieved recognition before 1923), continued their output either through ma 6 azines or book-publication. i Much of this work is recCrded in Johnson's The Book of American t l r Negro Poetry (1922, 1931); Kerlin's ~egro Poets and Their Poems (1923, 1935) and Contemporary Poetry of the_ Negro (1921), and in other sue~ coLlpilutions and periodicals. Anne Spencer was born in West Virginia and studied at the Virginia Seminary in Lynchburg where sbe has spent most of her life. She recently relocated in California; but was for a long time librarian at Dunbar Hi c~h School in Lynchburg. This poet's work hardly ever reflects racial or political concerns but she is one of the most technically-sure of all Blnck poets. Sb e writes about wor.1en, love, carnivals and the workings of the mind. In its brevity and conciseness, her poetry anti- cipates the work of' Gwendolyn B1.,ooks and is loosely akin to Angelina Gri mk~ 's ( thou gh the latter 1 s work is racially-flavored). Her poetry also bears some kinship to t he 291 11 Imagist II school of �poets writing in the early years of t be century. Elements of this particular technique and style can be seen in Hayden: ( "The Diver," "Nigbt-Bloomine Cereus, 11 and oth ers). "At The Carnival II we smell sausage and c;arlic t :1at Sent unh oly incense skyward and are told ( in an echo of the ro .nantics) that Whatever is good is God. "Dunbar" laments 11 b ow poets sine; and die! 11 and places -the eulogized Black poet in t b e same class with Ch atterton, Shelley and Keats. Niss Spencer's most mov ing poem, it seems, is "Translation" wh erein two lovers nover speak But each knew all t h e other said. Calling her the "most ori ginal of all Ne gro women poets," ,, Sterline Brown adv ised, in 1937, t h nt ~rnr "sensitive, and keenlJ .~:;. , observant" work sh ould be "collected for a wider audience." But as of sumrr.er, 1974, no one h ad undertaken Brown's Considering her span of years, Mrs •. Spe ncer (somewhat has not been prolific. Her work can b e found in se,v eral antho-. logies and periodicals of t he twenties. Critical assessments are given by Kerlin, Brown and Joh nson. James Weldon Joh nson, we noted earlier, published Fifty Years and Other Poems in 1917. Tl1e Hork included dialect as well as conventional standard English commemorative pieces. Not high ly original, t b e work was one more step in the long and fruitful development of perh aps t h e most i mportant figure in the history of Black poetry. 292 It seems Johnson was involved �in as many thinc;s as could have been hu~nanly possible. After his work on Broadway (with ligh t operas), h e worked for the re-election of Theodore Roosevelt, served as United States Consul (a reward for bis political work ) in Nicaragua and Venezuela, published (anonymously ) The Autobiography of An Ex-Colored Man in 1912, wrote editorials (for more than 10 years) for the New York Ac;,e and b ecame t h e NAACP's first s ecretary genera l- - worl:j_nc i n tb at post fo r 14 :rear s . · A deep ly psych oloc i cal wor k , Au tobi ograph~ de alt wi t h s uch a n explosive contemporary topic--th e t h eme of passing--th at Johnson would not affix h is own name to it until it was reissued during the Renaissance (1 927) with an introduction by Carl Van Vechten. The conventional poetry of Fiftv Years shows Johnson to be politically at the t hresbh old of t h e "a.wakening ." Sterling Brown stated, incorrectly, t h at Joh nson's "Broth ers II was the most "vigorous poe:'1 of protest fro r,i a ny Ne gro poet up to h is time." We know t h at Whitfield, Wbitman, DuBois, Hawkins and others were just as strong and forceful. Fifty Years was highly praised by Braithwaite ("intellectual substance"), Brander Mathews ( sbould be grouped with t be noblest American commemorative poems), and other influential critics. This first book shows a strength, "v irility " a.nd robustness t hat would mark Johnson's future wri tings--especially God's Trombones (1927). The poems are patriotic ("Fifty Yea.rs" wh j_cb commemorates the fiftieth anniversary of t he Emancipation Proclamation}, nostalgic ( 11 0 Southland!"), descriptively amorous ( "The Glory of the Day was in Her Face"), strong and verile ("Th e Young Warier"), 293 �race-proud (angry) and didactic ("Brothersn) and fundamental and reli gious ( no Blac k and Unknown Bard 11 ) . The last poem, more important for what it records t h an b ow it is assembled, is an artistic tribute of t h e makers of t h e Spirituals. Using actual words and names from Spirituals, Johnson weaves in the strength and artistry ch aracteristic of t h ese songs he loved-and to wh ich he devoted s o much research and listening time. Great are, he says, is produc ed b y These simple ch ildren of t h e sun and soil. Joh nson knew, too, t h at t ~es e makers would not be O black slave s incers , gone , for got, unfamed, if work of t h e sort be wa s doins continued in t he h ands of those to -wh om h e pass ed the torch . Alth ough Fifty Yea.rs is strong , solid wor k , it is lat e r that Jo~nson ' s c ome s into h is own as ex per imonta15.s t a nd ra ce-s e t ter. Go or 3 ia J obncon a lso wrote ra c e -c on~i cious l~rrics. J o11nson's t hemes are sn c;r_i;cs t ed 5. n h e r titles: The He art of A Woman (191 8 ), Bro nze (1922) and An Aut umn Lo ~e Cy cle. .. '· f and fluent, 11 Hrs. "Skillful h er poe try deals primaril~r witb lo neliness, sorrow, seasons , u nrequit ed lov e and is intellectual ly- b ased. The first Dlack woman after Frances Harp er to acl1 ieve reco gnition as a poet, she is explicitly r acial in Bronze alth ough allusions to Blackness s ometime appear in h er other work. Yet Mrs. Johnson seems to know something ab out the heart of all women (and men) when she says t h e singer's s ongs Are tones t h at repeat 294 • �The cry of the heart Till it ceases to beat. "The Octaroon" deals with a woman who is tainted because she is the victim of One drop of midnight in the dawn of life's pulsating stream but who finds hospitality in the Black community. 11 humble fold"--presumably the Tbis poem recalls Cotter's "The Mulatto to His Critics" which depicts t h e multi-racial predicament of one (probably Cotter himself) made up Of Red Han, Black Ma.n, Briton, Celt, and Scot, but who loves the dark-skinned, curly haired race that "puts sweet music in my soul." tension in "To Hy Son. 11 I'1rs. Johnson develops a similar She tosses and turns between advising her son that the "dusky pall or she.dews screen the highway of sky" and encouraging him to "storm the sullen fortress" founded on racism. In addition to writing such powerful and lasting poetry, Mrs. Joh nson was of service to young writers f'or several decades. A f'emale counter-part to Langston Huehes, she hosted regular and spontaneous writers meetings in her h ome in Washington, D.C., where she moved after receivine academic and musical training at Atlanta University and Oberlin College. A native of Georgia, she was employed in government service most of her adult life. For critically introduced selections of her work, see Barksdale and Kinnamon, Johnson and Kerlin. 1' 295 Brown also supplies a good �assessment. We should note, in passin~ and by way of introduction to Fenton Johnson, H. Binga Dismond (1891-1956) who did not publish a. volume of poetry until 1943 (We ·who Would Die). Dismond, like Johnson and Frank Ears~ all Davis was one of the man:r writers of t'!rn period who ·was not pbysically present in ITarlem durinc t~c Renaissance. Di smond was born in Virginia and, a track star ( as was Frank Horne), studied pb:rsical t h erapy a.t Rush He dical Collcc;e after attendinc Howard Universit:r Academy and tbe Unive rsi t:r of Ch icac;o . (The Hic1west's parti- cipation in the ~onaissance has been dramatically underplayed.) Dismond, Hbo Hrote some crisp and poi~~1ant poetr:r of love and protest, is more importa nt to us durins this period for his journalistic wor1:. :Ti t11 .To1: ns on, ~-ic edited Tlle Champion Ma r;azine 1 (startine; in 1916) for several ·,:re ars. Tl'"cey also co-edited The Favorite Na2;azino ( nThe World's Greatest 11ont1:'1 ly") where they both published poems and articles. Johnson bac: several of l1 j_s pla:rs performed 'l.n Chicago's Pekin Theatre wben 1rn ~ras ni.neteen a nd is generally seen as tbe most creati ve J_ink 1-)eh.reen t 1,e poets of Dunhar's era and the Harlem Renaissance. Born in Chicaco of economically stable parents, b e attend ed tbe city's na me sake university and taugh t school for n. :reo.r in the South. Ee privately pub- lished three volumes of poetry, o ne (A Little Dreaming, 1917) in Chicag o, anc, tuo (V:tsions of the Dusk, 1915; and Songs of the Soil, 1916) in new York uhero be liv0d for a sbort time. Harriet I·'i:onroc and ( "The Hew Poetryn group) bad established 296 �Poetry ( 1912) i n ' : is 1 '0iilO tow n o. nd .Jol,ns on 1;1ade c ont ac t wit": I n 1 92 0 , ,Jo1 , 1::i on r' 1 '-,lls 17 cd Tal e s of Dar ke s t Amer ica, b er . A part i c i pa nt in t 11e " poet r y re v ival" in sb or t storie s . Amer ica, ,Jo11 nso n '·, nd ~1is -:rnr k accepted for P oetr:r, and t:rn "'t1,._h ol o,.,. -: e,....., 0.1.L, 1,cr,., ( i l., G .-L "' J • .., 0 ~ ·- ·- , 6 ' ' n.,.L 7 , ,!.. j An Ant bolocy of An10ri c an P oetr:r: 1 0 9 n J.. , C. ·• ) , T1, e l'~ eu Poet r :r and L:rric America, 163 0 -1 9) 0 . I n sayi ns Jo 0, ns on wo.s u lt i 1:1 2t c l :r t h e p oet of "desp air 11 a nd t bat he wa s t 1rn 0 111:, po e t Hritins i n snch ~.· ein (ns Brown, Reddin c; , .Jolrnson, "'. :n ..::;ner , a :1c. oti-,e rs •, a·:c do n e ), cr iti. cs pre sent ed par t of t l·.c ,·, ia n . new i n El ac k po c t r :r r,' 1:1 · j _l 0 1;1:r :.!e did 1,orrow f ro ;:i Iin. st ers, Li nds ay e pr o-,· :i.d 5- '1,:::- a n a ':e nue for exp e r i mcn - tation t o en t er i nt o t1"Je works of }J is Bla c k c ont emp orar i es. But in poems s u ch a s "Tired, "Th e Ban j o Play er, tt 11 "The Scarlet Woman" and "Rulers II b e displays much more t ll a n "d espair." Reflecting , as Brown n ot ed , t h e "tw o ext remes of Ne gr o poetry after 1914,tr Job nson can d eal with eith er t h e b rawling urban b lues or t h e down- h ome, "we s h a l l ove rcome " motifs. Because his work doe s not contain n co nsist e nt spirit of h ope, James Weldon Joh nson s aid h i s mes s a ge mirror ed idea.s 11 forei t:; n to any ph ilosoph y of l i fe t he Ne c;r o in Ame r l ca. h a d ever preach ed or practiced. the 11 11 Joh nso n t h ou r;h t t h is wns 11 startling 11 despite birth 11 , about the same time as F enton Jol·, nson' s work, of t h e blues era--and t b e wor k of W.C. Handy (l -S 73-1958 ) wh o is sometimes called i t s 11 fat h er. 11 F ent on Jobnso n is •"Tired" of a ci v ilization wh i ch b as gi v en h i m "t oo many tr ch ildren and 297 �no ch ance for t h em to sh are i n t h e American dr e am. He proposes to his wife t h at t h ey Throw t b e cb j_ldren into t h e ri v er: and observes t h at ••• It i s be ttor to di e t h an it is to grow up and f i nd out t h at you are colored. Joh nson writes ab out roustab outs, prost i tutes, vagrarits, laborers and strong will and is, as Jay Wri gb t said of Henry Dumas, "the poet of t h e dispos s ess ed." He is also t h e poet of t h e blues; and Sam Greenlee b as noted t hat "th e bl ues are a freedo m song ." In breaking away fro m trad itional Blac k poetic diction and form, Johnson not only received influence fro m t h e wh ite experimenters of free verse; be borrowed h eav ily from t h e b lues and, at t h is level, must s h nro some of t h e accolades usually reserved almost solely for Langston Hugh es. It is now wid el y accepted t hat t h e b lues d o not simply preach resi g nation. To the contrary , t he b lues, t~lling about heart-ache and perso nal failures, carry h ope in the singing and the going on. Har garet Wal ker i s only one of t h e many poets whose work seems to reflect t h e influence of Joh nson. Do we really believe t h at Joh nson meant for t he ch ildren to be t hrown in the river? Anymore t h an we take the bl~es singer literally wh en be promises to "lay my h ead down on some railroad track"? Johnson ts "note of despa i r rr is one more brilliant and artistic distillation of t be strange phy sical web wh ich produced tbe sorrow songs, t h e Spirituals, t h e ditties, jokes, rhymes and 29 8 �blues. At the time Johnson wrote his poetry Handy was com- posing some of his most famous blues songs ("St. Louis Blues," "The Memphis Blues, 11 'Yellow Dog Blues") and arranging traditional blues pieces like "Train's A-Comin.," "Let Us C:beer t h e Weary Traveller," "Come on., Epb, 11 and 11 Juba. 11 And in this list alone is locked partial answers to much of t h e work of several Afro-American writers: Hughes, Walker, Tolson, 1-vrieht, Brown, Jayne Cortez, Gil Scott-Heron and numberless others. -It is quite possible t hnt critics loo ki ng at Johnson were not pre~ pared for his irony and poetic assimilation of t h emes and feelings wbich had been glossed over by Chr istianity and other anesthetics. In 11 Rulers II Johns on discusses a "monarch II on "Lombard Street in Philadelphia.," who "was seated on o. throne of flour bags. 11 Near the 11 r.1onarcb 11 two young boys with guitars played "ragtime tunes of the day. Black 11 11 Clearly this "monarch" ( a laborer 11 in reality) is being serennded and saluted just as any oth er 11 ruler 11 would be. of the blues ( 11 ragtime 11 )! He presides as a prince Johnson's work is in mos.t anthologies of Afro-American poetry and critical assessments of him have already been noted. For more thorou g11 discussions of the poetry-blues concept see Stephen Henderson's Understanding the New Black Poetry., 111:r bibJ. iocrap1':y and Chapter VII. At t he dawn of the Harlem Renaissan c e t h ere appeared a. slim-vol ume of poetry Seamo n Cotter, Jr. (1 395-1919 ), the precocious son of t'~e Cotter alroad:r cUscussed. YounG Cotter died an early dcat'1 Hbicl: cnt short tlie work of one of the 299 �most promising figures in Afro-American poetry. Born in Kentucky and frail fro m childhood like Dunbar, Cotter had to end his college career at Fisk University when he developed tuberculis. An innovator, as was h is father, Cotter s h ows a sharp awareness (in The Bend of Gideon, 1910) of the plight of Blacks and an even sharper ability to express that plight along with other sentiments and feelings. Black poetry's concerns in 11 He echoes much of And What Sball I Say 11 ; "Rain Misictt anticipates amny of Hughes's pieces--thin gs in The Weary Blues, "Jazzonia, 11 and so on--whe n be recalls tbe "dusty earth-drum" which hammers fallin g rain Now a wh ispered murmur, Now u louder strain. Bearing the import of mucb of the "exotic" Black literature of the renaissance, Cotter never t h eless sees in the beat of· the Slender, silvery drumsticks a rejuvenation of life as ordered b~r God, "the Great Musician." Cotter began writing poems wh ile a teenac;er. His technique, as is .Johnson's, comb ines t he best of traditional Western poetry with the ncu wave of free verse. His poe ms . are a.bout love, "Ne gro Soldiers," reliGion, Blackness, justice and his own illness. 11 Is It Because I Am Black 11 seems to have been looking forward to a 1<)60 1 s "soul" sonc of a similar title wherein t1~e sincer says Sometbinc is holding me ha ck! Lawd, is :i.t ~:ie cul'!se I'm D~.a ck ? In tbe poem Cott or o.sks 1-111:r ·whi tcs are so o.1;1azed t b a.t he can 300 �"stand II in t~ v) i r i n port ant 1,1e 0tl nc;s, Joo),: t110n1 str a i ch t ln t 11e f c.c c , a nd 11 spe a !r ti.101r Cot ters 1rnrk appe ars L1 The 'R ool~ of Ame rican lJe.::.;ro Poe try , 1Jec;ro Car n.van., ICe rli n ' s study ( 11 T11e stamp of the African mind is upo n " Cotter ), and The Poetry of Blac k Amer lc a . Al t bour;b I:c r lin su'0mi t s brief critical comments, a study of t h :i. s y oune poe t's wor k is sorely needed. He left, also seve ral plays and unpub lish ed sonnets. B. POETS AS PTI OPBJ~TS : The Har l em Renaissance A Ha ve of lonc:;i nc t h rough my bod:sr suept . -- Claud e IfoKa.y The Harlem Renai s sance (see section I of t h is c h apter) is normally see n as a decade-lengt h (1920-193 0 ) out-pouring of cultural and artistic activity in wh at Jame s Weldon Joh nson called t h e Ne gro cultural capitol. Tllere is h armless dis- agreement as to wbe n t b e renaissance act ually b e ga,n and how long it lasted. 1935. S ome say it started in 1925 and ran until Others gi ve t'.1e first ti me sp a~1 me nt i oned ab ove. Still ' others (includinc Wa gner, Black Poets of t h e United States) des i c;na te tllc period ' ,ct•·rc·cn tl'e tu o Hor1.d wars (1913-1 939). T11e poets of tbe renaissance--whi cb included dance., painting., sculpture, music., t h eater, literature, science and scholarsh ip--knew a nd read each oth er's works. Ironically , however, only one of t h e lea.din,~ f' i gures is said to have been b orn in New Yor k City : Countee Cullen (1903-1946) a.nd 301 �I I I. he w~s raised in the "conservative atmosphere of a Methodist parsonage," the adopted son of a minister. Langston Hughes (1902-1967) spent much of t h e decade of the twenties traveling: so did Claude Ifo Kay ( 1890-194 8 ) who wandered over "Europe and North Africa. 11 --in many instances, 11 a lone; way from home. 11 Jean Toomer (1 894-1967), disturbed and haunted by his complex ethnic background, was a my sterious fi gure who died the same year as Hu ghes in the anonymity of a Q.u aker . commune in Philadelphia (obscure after having years before). given up writing several Often called "minor" writers of the Renaissance, neither sterling Brown (1 901was born in New York. ) nor Arna Bontemps (1902-1973) And neither pub lish ed books during the twenties but they did have poems accepted by such magazines as The Crisis and Opportunity. McKay , lah e led the r e na i ssance ' s poe t of ancer and: rebellion, is chiefly for his famom:; sonnet ( 11 If We Must Die 11 ) which winds down (up?) to the followin g couplet: Like men we 'll face the murderous, cowardly pack, Pressed to t h e wall, dying , but fi ghting back! Found scribbled on the walls after the Attica uprising of 1972, the national American press attributed the poem to some promising inmate! McKay wrote it in 1919 sh ortly after a series of riots that took hundreds of Black lives. Many critics use the date as the beginning of the Harlem Renaissance. 302 But McKay had made �his entry into the Harlem world of letters two years earlier (1917) with the publication of two poems ("Harlem Dancer" and "Invocationn) in Seven Arts Magazine. He came to America. in 1912 from his native Jamaica, where he read much European literature and philosophy, to study agriculture. Enrolling first at Tuskegee and lat0r at Kansas state College, he finally went on to Harlem where he worked as a porter, waiter and restaurant propietor. Before leaving Jamaica, McKay had established bis reputation as a poet of dialect poetry with his Songs of .Tamaica (1912) and Cons tab Ballads (1912), the latter work reflecting his one-time e mp loyment as a policeman on the island. In New York, he gained quick entrance into literary and political circles, establishing a life-long friendship with Max Eastman (who wrote a biograpbical note for Selected Poems (1953). McKay counted amon g his friends some of the most in- fluential literary and political fi gures of tbe day: John Reed, Floyd Dell (The Masses), Waldo Frank, Frank Harris (Pearson's Magazine), ::a1'ct1 s Garvc:r (l'~sc;ro Ho:rld ) 1 and others. Fiery and forceful, McKay was the subject of much attention and discussion. Although he never joined the Communist Party, he defended its stand in most of the publications he wrote for. 11 If We Must Die" was read into the Congressional Record as an example of Black unrest and resentment. In the furry, McKay left the United States in 1919, returned for a brief period the following year, and left a gain to travel all over Europe and Northe Africa for 15 l ears. 303 He returned to America in 1934 �where ho wou ld ro r,:at n unt i l b i s d e atl.:-1 in l()L~ 2 . Hc Kay ' s o t bc r vo lLrne D of p o e tr:' i nc l ude Spr i ng i n New • e n amps l1ir , ... __ ; TT f ., " ' " ", • 1-l w 1. \ ,. 1 a pr 01r, ac e 1., y ~1~ •no f a rn ous c 1•i t i c I.A. ,.., :-;,· ;'._' of J a ma tcn wa s re i s s u e d in 1969 -~, ,_,, - -·... --- -----~ ·-- - C:l a ude rfoKay (1 97 2). and a new v olun e of prose a nd p o e try ( '.l' li e Passio n of Claude McKay) was pub lis b0d i n pu b lish ed writ in Gs , 1973 . 1<)12-194 ° . It co n t a ins p l~!, li s 11ed and unr-Ic Ka:r d ied ohs c u re and poor in Chicag o wh ere he h a d g one to t e ach in Ca t h olic Sch ools. Hi s life, like t h at of so many Blac k artis ts (D unb ar, Ch arlie 1 'Yardb ird II Par k e r , S a r.1 Co oke , Le roy (;ar r , Bli.ncl Lemon Jefferson) wa s li ved wi th cons Uli1a te spee d, f e ar a nd tr a g e dy . Th ough b e las h ed ou t at wh ites , h is c l o ses t fri ends were wb ite; wb ile he wrote def 5.ant , a ngr y a nc7 mil i t an t ver se , was i nsp ir e d b:r t h e t .ri eat mcnt of Blac k s. tradictio ns and eni::;mas in b i s lH'o. to unr av el t h e m bo re . Kc:r:J t o mu c h of 1:10 d enied t h at it Th ere are oth er con- Bu t we mako n o atte mpt Nc Ka y ' s complexit y , h owever, can he g ained by re a d i nB h is aut oh io s r aph y (A Long Home t o Uarle m (1928), Ban j o (1 929) and Ba n ana Bottom (1933), and h is many articles and s h ort storie s , Gi n g ert ow ~ entitled Harle m: (1 932). Negro Eet rop o l i s He also wr ote a study (1 9L~0 ). 'I' 1"0 ', e st source for Mc Ka y 's po e t ry is h i s Se lec ted Poems . J c Lio.n:· ways it i s iro n ic t hnt Mc Kay i s called t h e poet of ang er. lfatb an I-I n gc i n s "b lack Prm;1etheu:s , n (!Iarl em Re n a is sance) calls h i m t h e s i n e e most of h i s poe ms deal with quiet �topics such as moth er, nature, nostal gi a, loneliness, mental - -- - refle-etion, r-eli 13:i.on, world- tra vel, and descriptions - of -city - -life. Of literally do ze ns of poems he pub l ished, only 8b out ten can be called I angr:r. 11 Of c ourse t bo r e is often seeth ing unrest, And I am sh arp as steel wit h dis co nt e nt ••• , in much of t h e poetry tbat is not overt l y violent. true of everyday Black life. Such is And in this sense most Black Americans could be l a beled rrmilitant" or "viole nt "--h arb oring, as it were, polarizing tensions ("Ba ptism ") t b at make one defy all: I will come bac k to y our world of tears, A str onger soul within a finer fra me . Th ou gh one of t he create:::it influen c es on Blac k t h ou c;b t and art of h is day, Nc!Cay perb aps d id not know tllat h is writings inspired various srokesmen for African nationalism: Sedar Scngh or, Ou sman0 S oc e and Ai me Cesaire . Leopold And he is today seen as t he major lj_ nk between t b e re naissance and, t he mili ta.nt writings of th e 19 60 's. J us t a~ his clirtlect poems (such as "Two-an '-Six 11 ) h ad charned and enterta:1.ne d bi s fellow Jamaica cs, the discipline d ant:;e r of hi s popular American poems incited and inspired Blacks , and tit illated and fas cinated wh ites. For durin g t b is period , wh ites around t ho world were indicating a new interest s i n Blacks; and Blacks, inspired b:r t b e crowing nationalist f ee l lncs in sorae Euro pean countrie s , found ready fuel and propa ga nd a in their brot hers of co l or returnins h ome 3c,5 �from t he war. Yet .for all !;he anc;0r , i:'fo I(a ~r nover swervecl from .1is use of conventional Enr:;U.sh verse . Witl-. Cullen--tl10ucb not so 'l'l1c folk mater i als r o li g iously--bo a v oid8d. cxrori r;ientat5.o n . of llmerican Blac k~~ , e.xrnp le n of' Penton Jo11nson and oth ers, t ~·10 b is Englisl1 i.s cJ.c si.,s;;.-ioc1 to cac c f u r:r o.~d passion :i.n trac;ed:i..cs II a s Jame::, Weld on Johnson called t b e m. is a poet of po. ss ion, d:i.:::,trnst, an 1.:;cr end 1:rn tr cd . 11 sonnet- Ah ove all he We b a ve seen some ll atred before in Dla c 1.: poetr:· (DuBois, Gwendol:rn Bennett) bu t not q uite 1 i ke ive says 11 lt 8 00 :i..s par ex c ellence tho po,st of After ' '' 11 0 1V\·Torlr I. . - ·r.ri •re ...., ._, ' to , ur-, _..L ng, ' is not alw ays t 110 ' ~n.t c 1'.'. ~~ c 11 . . , nr~ u. i. n IIc ifo.;,r w1"1 0,n Wac;ncr l-1at0 . 11 11 Su c h feclin ,s is T>o ,.L ar~,..• t ~r ~ ~· • n Bu t i'IcKA.y e xe.n i ncs l·,nte ir tl: e 1--i ands of whitos--or as a prod~ct of ~estern sicknes s a nl decadenc e , v0 nted a 1hoit on t : e ::Jlac!'.".s . of the ear t h rr e nta'J. i s t Tl1 0 n oh :Llit~- of trrn Blac 1{ soul ( anc. t1 - 3 c ountr:n:lide) , d hd J. lu s l on':".1ent ( s Ge Du ~m.s) , 1, c c1 ic} mal~e 1:or etof or e unnoticed mod if i cations in �for i!e ol, 8or7c<.1 t}1at Luc:i.an B . Uatkins opened his rncc :,rido. ~-To,\.,r 1·'T.u<... ·~r o 11 ·. -1 i•· J. i t·t·, .I, But in no ot~cr quart e r, ~cfore or since ~ cKay, does a Black p ost perd.s t-- i nfus i n 6 blues and tra :.:;ic irony-•-wi tb t1-ie sonnet. Gwendolyn Drooler~ w-U. J. later inve nt l1c r ner:1ora ble 11 s onnet-ballad. 11 And Cn~.len's sonnets cortainl:r must 'Jo taken into account. :i:IcKay, however, endures with an ironic j_nconclusiveness that verges on the 11 dc:J;:)air ll critics see::n to se0 in Fenton Johnson. Por ~lcEa~r tlrn s onnc t is a for~ of t he rapy--allowing him to loose contro lled anccr. __,;:,,., is t~e anser of a nati v e Jamaican Ir; ( "home; 110:,.n) cau,:).: t up in t11e strait-jacket of wl~tte literary amenities. Ee Ha nts to be freed. poe try--principully t h e sonnet. seen in "The Nec;ro 's Trac;ed:;,r, and nThe Lynch in 0 • of Western poetry , 11 11 And freedo m comes t b rou 0 h This open-endedness can be 11 The I:Jcc;ro's Friend, 11 "In Bondage, As a correct a nd carefully nurtured darling tl10 sonnet l1ad been in the annals of English Contain:i.ng literature for centuries when i·IcKn:r ti.sed it. 14 lines (in various atanzaic patt erns), it is desi 5 ned to pose a probler~1 , squirm in it fo:-: n wl.1 ile, and close in a neat answer which begins with lino nine, or the sextet. Pres to! a olvins a problem in mathemati cs or calculus. :irace pro Jler1 , n b owevcr, cannot 11 is not qni te so easy. solve 11 a lynchi 11g . Just like "Solving II tho Hence HcKay But ho places it in the most awesome, 307 11 �gruesome contexts by equating t h e lynch ing to the crucifixion of Christ (see Cullen's The Black Christ and "Colors"), and failing to resolve the white-man's moral and religious cris i s. The blue-eyed women come to view tbe body, but show no sorrow And little lads, lynchers that were to be, Danced round the dreadful t h ing in fiendish glee. Clearly this is not how Petrarch, Sh akespeare., Spener, Milton., Wordsworth, Arnold or Santyana would have wanted the problem "solved." There was no answer--except for Blacks "fi ghting back" here and there--so McKay modified the concept of the sonnet in order to deal with a real "prob lem. 11 Most of the critics of Black literature and culture have discussed McKayfs work. His Selected Poems is available and he· is now being 11 represented even in white prestige" anthologies (Norto'n·; -Brooks- Lewis-Warren, The United States in Literature and others)~ most a mbitious s tudy of l'icKay to da t e is Poets). by The J"ean Wa gner _(Black Another recent study (which includes prose wr~ tings) I I i' is Arthur P. Davis's From the Dark Tower: 1900 to i 960 (1974). Afro-American Writers, Also see appendixes to most anthologies, biblio graphy section of this work., and especially the listings in Black Writers of America (Barksdale and Kinnamon). Unlike that of t h e 11 pure blooded" HcKay , .Jean Toomer's body r,ioused seven racial strains and he looked white. · Evidence , ·_ to support the fact that Toomer rejected his Black blood and "passed" cannot be found in bis major work--Cane (~923). I _; 300 �Neither is it i n "Th e Blue Meridian," written in 1936 and sadly overlooked, in which he tries to unite the disparate elements of the American personality into one person. Apparently unbe.ppy in childhood, Toomer never knew his father who abandoned the boy's mother shortly after he was born in Washington, D. C. Toomer's possible claim to name and money had been thwarted earlier when his mother, the daugh ter of P.B.S. Pinchback, an importa~t Louisiana Reconstruction politician, had to reduce her social status and re-locate in the upper-class Black area of Washington. robustness: gaiety." It was here that Toomer found spirit and "more emotion, more rhythm, more color, more After attending local public schools (including Dunbar High) he enrolled in one colle ge after another, never becoming a serious degree candidate. From this latter type of life, he went tbrou gb a series of jobs, finally gettine; into serious writing and putting poems and stories in several avant-garde little ma gazines. Toome r also formed close asso- ciations with Net·r York intellectuals: Hart Crane, Waldo Frank ( to whom he dedicated a section of Cane), Gor1rnm P. Muns.on, Alfred Stier;litz, Paul Rosenfeld, Kennetb Burke and others. Later, while working as superintendent (for four months) of a small Black school in 8parta, Geor gia, h e gained much of the material for the first and t h ird sections of Cane. After pub- lication of Cane, Toomer' s life returned to "psychological disarray" and he turned to other sources in search of a selfunifying methodology . Wi t b other intellectuals-associates, he 309 �delved into the philosoph ies of F. Mattl1ias Alexander, P.D. Ouspensky, and, most importantly, GoorGe J. Gurdjieff--whose disciple he later became. Gurdjieff, a Russian, assimilated aspects of Yoga, reli8ious mysticism and Freud, to produce what he called Unitism. won over converts. Toomer later expoused the theory and For a short while be also lived in a heterosexual experimental commune. married two white women. In quick succession Toomer After his second marriage in the thirties, he quipped: "I do not know wh ether colored blood flows through my veins. 11 Earlier, however, he bad noted in a biographical sketch accompanying work he submitted to The Liberator, t hat I have lived equall:y among the two race 3roups. Now white, now colored. From my own point of view I am naturally an American. I have strived for a spiritual fusion analagous to the fact of racial intermingling . Without denying a single element in me, with no desire to subdue one to the other, I have sought to let them live in harmony. Within the last two or three years, however, my growing need for artistic expression has pulled me deeper and deeper into the Negro group. And as powers of receptivity increased, I found myself loving it in a way that I could never love the other. Although James Weldon Johnson complained that Toomer refused 310 �(allegedly out of contempt for racial cate gorizing ) to be included in the second edition of The Book of American Negro Poetry, it was later brought out (conversation between Sterling Brown arrl Jean 1-'Jagner) t h at ill-feelings existed between the two men. At any rate, Toomer's poetry and prose appear in practically every subsequent anthology of Afro-American literature. In terms of influence, Toomer exerted more than any other renaissance fi gure on t h e Black intellectuals of the era. No other writer experimented wi tl1 literature or depicted Blacks quite the way he did. Mutual influence seems to have occured between h im and Hart Crane. And Robert Bone ( Negro Novel in America) places Cane on par with t h e writings of some of the best American contemporaries: Hemingway, Stein, Pound, Eliot. This is all surprising since Ca~~ sold less than 500 copies. As a work of art, however, it reflects Toomer's efforts to achieve unity of both self and purpose. Called variously a novel, a collection of s h ort stories/v i gnettes, a ' poetic drama, Cane defies labels. In my classrooms I often refer to it as a Blues-Epic--conceptually, similar to the great nationalistic sagas of the world: Beauwulf, Siegfried, The Song of Roland, . Chaka, a.nd others, only welded by Black spirituality and the rhythms of Afro-American ritual. Cane h as three basic movements-- Toomer had been interested in b oth music composition and painting--which involve (1) Geor gia and the .South, (2) Chicago, Washington., D.C. and the North, and (3) Georgia again where 311 �Toomer waxes autobiography. In the first part of Cane there are numerous pictures of women, many of them who, like will be ripened "too soon. 11 In the second section, Toomer views northern urban decadence and corruption and their influence on Blacks. In the third movement, a naive northern Black educator goes South (Georgia) to find his African roots. He rather clumsily passes t hrough a series of rites during which Toomer uses brilliant symbolism to heighten the man's fear and complex nature. Many of the stories are introduced by and interspersed with poetic sketches. The third, and final section, "Kabnis", is similar to a play. Karintha's skin "is like dusk on the ea.stern" horizon and immediately, at the opening of Can~, we find significant symbols in the words Hduskn and "ea.stern." Through out the book, Toomer essays the plight and joys of Blacks through tigth and sometimes enigmatic poetr:r. Word meanings are given double, triple, n.nd even more levels, as in the "Reapers" sharpening their scythes for far m chores but s.lso, perhaps, for a massacre. Black b eauty is someti mes surprising in the context of white barrenness and brutality: Flower.n TIITovember Cotton "Face" is an old, tired Black woman in Georgia. "Cotton Song" celebrates the worksonc, unity among field workers, and encodes revolutionary messaces: 11 v-le a.int a v -1ine t wait untll th Jud G;ment Day!" The "Beehive 11 is a rao tap!1or for t h e 2:bc tto, conpressed, cardoned off, i mpoveris 1 ' c d. The narrator wish es ' , e could rest 312 �"forever" in a flow er on 80!'1C farm (ac;ain rural v s cit:r life). I n t1:,o post r :r Too,·:c ::' 11r•i t::__r· about sun a nd eveninr, "songs," 11 Conversion 11 and "Portrait :tn Geor g ia," t he electricit~r of a woman's lips, needles. 11 Har vcs t Song," and t he cane scents and pine From tbe pen of t:10 poe t spill the liv es-- b roken, mended, some never 1x.l 0 ~n--of tbe severely damaged men and Homen who, "witb vesti c;es of pomp," carry t be ir Race memories of king and caravan, and go sing ing t h rough t b e "G0or g ia. Dust. n Ori esinal, awesome and sustained in craftsmanship , Cane as poetry is a classic of Afro-American literature. the book, "Son of the Son, n In t be most i mp ortant poem ln Toomer encases b oth 11 is superior techniques and the concept for Cane. T1'le son sin i:;s: Pour O pour t h at parting s oul in sonc; , because be knows the tradition is in tact. Just "pour II the song, be asks, And let t h e valley carry it a.lone; . And let the valley carry it along . The songs of "slav ery 11 will be transformed into brilliant dirges compositions and epics (like Cane). And Toomer's was a fitting observation in tbe years preceding t he b irth of big Black jazz bands (Basie, Ellincton) and followin g t h e b lues (Handy and others). The plaintive soul will soon be g one, but it will leave An everlastinc son, a sing inG tree •••• Likened by some to a series of artistic sketches, by others 313 ,. �to a symphonic composition, still by oth ers to t h e syncopation and vocal blendings of Afro-American folk mus i c, Cane--according to one critic--was at least two decades ah ead of the era in wh ich it was written. Less impressive as Black material, but brilliant as a general work of art, is 11 Th e Blue Meridian . 11 Heav ily influenced by the modernist school of poetry ( P ound, Crane, Eliot, etc.), "Heridian II was o verlooked for years and is finally anth ologized in Black Writers of America (Barksdale and ICi nnamon). Upwards of 700 lines, t h e poe m ma kes use of various r hyme schemes, 3tress formulas, linguistic and stylistic marriages. a lot to Walt vn.1itma.n in its swee p a.nd intent. 11 muted sh ades of Sand b ur g . Meridian, n It owes And there are s e ems to be Toomer's •'I! '\ ~;,Jt 'J!i' near-final effort to pur s uade t h e different elements of himseU' ;,r·. to nlive in harmony . tt T.S. Eliot b ad k nelled t h e doom. of Western civilization in 1922 (The Wasteland) and other poets had echoed him. Fenton Joh nson, of course, had preceded Elio with this proclamation. Toomer had intimated t h e •same thing in Cane (c.F. !!Nove mber r.otton Flower"). But it is in "Mer1d1 t11at he warns of t h e impending downfall of t lle West--noting tha\ ).'.· <.~ such fate might not be undeserved. Th e world is full of "cryinJJ ,1 men and hard women II and We're all ni ggers now-- get me? Black ni ggers, white ni ggers,--take y our choice. These omens of doom come in the first section of the poem. 314 �But the second section heralds t he co ming of t be new man (for Toomer, perhaps, an admixture of races and colors) wbo is spiritually and psychically elevated above race and other immaterial problems . Tb e new man is a "b lue" man, possibly a cross between a Black and a wh ite man, and even sexual crosses are suggested. For we k now all t b ese t h ings troubled Toomer. He was concerned as a teenaGer a ~out h is "nascent sexuality." And he declared t hat he was above b oth sex and race if they set up obstacles and defeat. It is a ch allenr e to t h e more curious student, however, to unravel the life and 1-rnrks of one of the most complex geniuses in American letters. i,.n1atever the outcome, Toomer' s is an achievement to be reckoned with . His work can be found in most antholoc ies of Afro-A merican literature. He also pub- lished Essentials-- 11defini tions and aph orisms n--in 1931. Toomer wrote more things but most are uncollected and remain at Fisk University. An unpublis h ed se gment of h is autob io graphy, Earth-Being , appeared in tbe January , 1971, is.sue of The Black Scb olar. tvl1ile Hae ner' s tr0at ment of ,'.f'..9.9mer does not equal his discussion of oth er poets of t h e renaissance, it is good. Brown, Redding , and numerous other critics discuss Toomer's work in various places. 11 Jean Toomer: Of special aid is John M. Reilly's An Annotated nl1ec klist of Criticis m, for American Literary Study, Vol. IV, No. I (1974). 11 Resources See also Toomer listinGs in ICinna.mon and Barksdale and my h iblior;rapl1y. Countee Cullen, anotb or brilliant-trag ic fi gure in Black 315 �poetry, spent most of his life tryinc to bridce the gap between a "Christian upbrinc;i n3; 11 and a npa c;an ur c;e. 11 How can the educated Afro-American, Cullen seems to ask, re main true to bis native instincts and fe elings wl1ile he WBars the mantle of European "Respectahilit::r"? This particular aspect of Cullen's life and work is often taken too li ::h tly by critics wbo view his highly stylized poetry as intellectual ( and he nce not .real) journeys into the aweso me world of death , reli c ion and color. Yet Cullen knew, as h e said it in 11 'J.1l~e Shroud of Color, being Black in wbi te America requires have. 11 11 11 that courage more than angels History, of course, sbows t b at so far Cullen's name has withstood heat fro m the furnace of others before and after. 11 Baptism" just like many And such fi gures as Gwendolyn Brooks, Carl Van Vech ten and Eleanor Roosevelt, lauded bis passionately searchinG and skillful effort to aroid being devoured by the dragon of racism he tried to slay . However, Cullen did not consciously seek after t he unity so desperately thirsted after by Toomer. On the one hand, Toomer felt free to explore all facets of the religious and mystical world; on the other be was committed to an intellectual and spiritual search of his African origins. Cullen embraced Christianity and developed the first major Black tragedy fi gure by reincarnating Christ into a Black ma.n. The "pure" and nobel Black becomes the new "only bee;otten son" on a several-hundred march up Calvary. Here, of course, Cullen was close to McKay; but in sustaioing such efforts, in rr..aking them alle gorical, he surpassed McKay. Cullen's already complicated personal situation was • 316 �aggravated b y b is reluctance to deal truthfully with t h e details of his early life. It is still unclear as to wh ether h e was born in Baltimore, Naryland or Louis v ille, Kentucky, though he makes references to b oth ( !!Incident" and !!Th e Ballad of A Brown Girl!!); or i f h e was raised by h is moth er or h is grandmother (up until t h e ti me of b is adoption by t h e Rev. Frederick Asbury Cullen). Joh nson (T:Je Book of American Ne gro Poetry ) says Cullen was born in New York City (as do t h e editors of The Negro Ca.ravan)--probab l y b ecau s e t h is is wh at Cullen wanted readers to t h ink . Pos s ib l y , Wa gner not es, h e was an "illegiti- mate II ch ild a.nd, out of fear of e mb arrass ment, purposely confused the .faces. Th is myst ery , coupled with Cullen 1 s "different" sexual inclinations , h is desire to nssume t h e perso na of an English romantic poet, h aunt t b is precocious poet t hrough out his lifeti me. Cullen's i nitiation into poetics came, as with Dunbar and Ilue;h es, in h i gh sch ool where h e won poetr:r contests and published pieces inn student publ i cation wb icb h e h elped edit. By the time h e h ad finis h ed New York University (Ph i Beta Kappa.) he had won several awards ( includ ing t h e Witter B~rnner award for excellence) for his poetry and recei v ed a contract from Harper's and Broth ers for public a tio n of b is first book (Color, 1925). This mar ked t b e first ti me, since Dunb ar's deatb , that a major publish er h ad brou ght out t h e work of a Black poet. It also marked t b e first time in al most 20 years that such a. book b ad b een publ ish ed for a liv e Black poet. 317 The most skillful �Black user of English verse for ms , Cullen ac hieved almost instant success. Color sold ove r 2,000 copies during the first two years of pub lication. A.nd he recei ved bi s Tl.A. from He generally sided with McKay Howard durinc; tbe same period. in not breaking away from traditional Englisl1 poetry. expecially admired t he poetry of Keats and Shelley. He Johnson, noting that "he mic;ht b e called a :rounger brotb er of Housman," said some critics arc;ued t b at Cullen was not a.n Negro poet. 11 11 autb entic And Cullen, re minis cent of Toomer's position, straddled the fence on the questio n of inspiration and t hemes for Black poets. On one occasion he acknowledged his debt to the Black tradition; but on another, compla ined that the Black poet ouc;ht to be abl e to :rchant II poetry spiritual or blues appears. 11 11 i n whi ch no IIi s esthet ics were stated more concisely in 1927, h owever, in the form of a forward to Caroline Dus k ( 1!;27 ), an anth oloc-1 of A.fr o-A mer ican poetry wl1i ch be compiled. His conm1ent was startlinc, especially at t h e bei .::;h t of the Harlem Renaissance and com.inc, as it were, fro m a. New Negro: As heretical as it may sound, t here is t h e probability t b at Hecr o poets, dependent as t b ey Rre on the Engli s h lancuace, rnay b a.·. , e rr.ore to e;a in from t h e ricb backcround of Enclish and American poetry than from any nebulous atavistic y earninc s towards a.n African inheritance. Cons equently, Cull en caJ_letl Carolins Dusk e.n a nt11 olog:7 of 31 3 11 verse �by Negro poets rather tban an antboJ.osy of lrec;ro verse. 11 But Cullen could not ahra:rs subscribe to t hi s particular est11etic; 11 for much of h is own poetry can h e labeled towards a.n African inheritance. 11 ata,: istic yearnings Examination w:i.11 s h ow t11at such poetry is fo und i ~ t is enrly volu~ e (Color) in his later works: Girl; as well as Cop per Sun (1927), Il1c Ballad of the Brown a :.1 OJ.d Ballad ;'."{9to ld ( 1927), 1I1~ 1e :Gln ck C1, rist and Other Poems (1929), Tb0 1-Iedea and S or11e Po~ns (1935) a nd J-1is selected poems, On Thes e I Stand (1947). C<'- ~_c :·1 a.lso wrote b ooks for children (Th e Lost Zo o, 194 0; nnd Hy Lives and How I Lost Them, He translated Gree k literature (The Hedea), wrote 1942). numerous lyrics for mus ic and -i-r orked on a draraatic adaptation ( 11 S aint Louis Woman 11 ) of an Arna Bontemps novel: Sunday. God Sends In 1932, s ee kinG to re new h is siminish ing creative powers, h e published his only novel, One Way to Heaven. Most of Cullen's poetry represents the vnst influence of Christianity. He wrestles with tbe Lord or nsks God wby this event or that event occurs. Especially is this seen in his poetry of racial conflict wbere t he contradictions of white 11 Christianity are expo sed over and over. For a Lady I Know 11 11 depicts a white woman in h eaven who t h inks servants) will do her "celestial chores. Is w~rth Its Song" chides 11 1 ¼merican poets, black cherubs 11 ( or 11 Scottsboro, too, 11 outraged by the plights of Sacco and Vanzetti, for not defending Black boys kangaroo'd for 11 ra.pe 11 in an Alabama Court. says, is also "dev inely spun." 319 In 11 Theri cause, Cullen Colors 11 t h e 11 swart 11 (Le., �Black) man is lJ anged on a "newer Cal v a.r::r. n Cullen's loncest po0m and treat ment of t h is tl: e me is The Black Christ (puhlished in France). It deals alle c orically with a lynch ing . A Black man, Jim, attacks and kills a wb ite man wh o insults a. wb ite woman. Jim is lynch ed, as southern law requires. His state- ments leading up to t b e lynch ing , a nd t b e action of the poem, suggest the crucifixion. mysticism of a bad dream. Redding called the poem "The ch ildish 11 Indeed, despite t h e poem'.s evasive- ness and "mysticism,1: l y nch ing is much worse t b an a. "bad dream." Finally (thouc;h t h e t h e me continues in countless other poems), there is the famous ''Yet Do I Harvel. 11 Here Cullen applies the sonnet to the riddle of the Afro-American poet, concluding, after high praise of God, that: Yet do I marvel at t h is curious t h ine -To make a poet b lack and b id h im sing . Curious, indeed, was t h e Blac k poet--curious b oth for Cullen and the whites who lavish ed praise and Gifts upon t b ese Kew and Unusual Ne groes. was also "curious.'' And Cullen's fa me (recallinc. Dunb ar's) Here was a poet makin c; wa ves witb old, outdated forms of English verse. 11 fresh beauty. 11 Joh nson said h e gave them Tb is is true hut Cullen's wb ite audience seems to have gotten special pleasure out of b is a b ility to handle Black anc;er, Black e;rief and Black path os in such amusingly antiquated poetic cloth inc . Prevalent t h emes in Cullen's poetry, then, are race pride, endurance, lynch ings, cynicism and pessimism ("can death be worse?"), 320 �a primitive or romantic v iew of A:frica ("Heritage" and many others), religious and psycbolo gical conflict, love and death, spiritual freedom, personal or racial inferiority, doubt and fear, the tensions created by bein 0 Black among whites, and Christ as a symbol of conflict and contradiction. Cullen saw the plight of the Afro-Americans a.s true tra gedy in a Christian land. This comes t ll rouc;11 in many of bi s poems, but poignantly in "Heri tae;e 11 : Fatber, Son, and Holy-Ghost, So I make a.n idle hoo.st; Jesus of the twice-turned ch eek, Lamb of God, al t h ou gh I speak Wi t b my moutb t hus, in my he art Do I play a. double part. For the Black American, trapped in Christian attire but longing deep inside for wb at Zack Gilbert calls '1t 11nt all-Black Saturday night," it is inde ed a tragedy . Cullen tried a.11 of his life to reconcile a "Chri8tian 11 education with a. Toomer wanted to to find a 11 11 unite" h is several parts. 11 pago.n ur ge." And HcKay tried bome II in tbe desolate and some times contemptuous place Elijah Huh a rimad calls "the wD.derness of Horth America." McKay went all t he way to Europe and Horth Africa. made annual treks to France for several years. Cullen Black literature abounds with t h e tragedies incurred wh en Black intellectuals relinquish their 11 dance II for a "b ook. 11 Earlier in Heri tage 11 11 Cullen admits this deep need, felt b::- Blacks cau rrh t in white · 321 �worlds everywhere, to "Strip!" and 'Doff this new exhiberance. Come and do the Lover's dance! McKay's "lynchinc ' rer.m.ins unsolved 1-.,y t he sonnet and is unable to make bis "heart and head" know that Tbey and I a!'e civil ized despite the meters. 11 unre mi ttant be at II of b is impressive iambic tetr A classic state nent on the inner-workings of the o:f a Black genius wbo must ntwist and squirmn in an a.lien ' ~ 11 Heri tac;e II h as yet to b e seen on the many psycbolocical · ·~,., world. l' dimensions that it operates. This and related t h e mes also per vade other poems by "From t h e Dark Tower a is inspired by b is column of a similar name in Opportunit:r. 1 AlthouGl1 Black artists and thinkers "wer~ -~ not made eternall:r to weep," t h ey must eitl1er face destruction of their potential or wear the mask and "tend our agonizing seeds . " Cullen also writes about timid lo ve rs and Black pro- stitutes, about man:r, many ub rown tr c;il.. ls ( anoth er ..favorite theme) and the acb e of t h e human h eart. He writes in tbe shadow of Keats and Sbelley and pens epitaphs to them. His employment of traditional Enelish verse forms is not as :startling" as McKay's. But he does bring a Black force and intellectual veracity to these devices and techniques which had long housed rrw11 i te II hopes and feelings. He took the bes of Keats and Edna. St. Vincent l'Iilla.y and made it work in a 11 marked technical skill. 11 Sterling Brown identifies his · 322 ; 1 �aD "fluency and brilliant i magery. 11 But h e is likened by many, critics to the standard En 6 lish work of Braithwaite and Dunbar. Cullen consciously developed misery --apparently in ·an effort to llsuffer II like t h e romantics, so h e could know what real inner-strife was all a b out. He b ad not seen the underside of Black life in t h e way t h at lfoKay (Banjo, Banana Bottom), Hughes (The Weary Blues), Fenton Joh nson, and oth ers had come to know and understand it. into a pristine verse. He subdued h is anger and violence Most critlcd allude to the woman-like or "prissy II nature of Cullen's work. 11 e viewed 11 lif e t h rou c;b the eyes of a woman wh o is at once shrinking and b old, sweet and b itter. or 11 Redding complained t hat 11 In Cullen's 11 atav1stio" primitive 11 pieces one feels t h at h e is not really there himself--much like one feels in reading white poet Va.c}1el Lindsay's poems on Af'rica and t b e 11 Cone;o. " · But Cullen remains one of the brilliant meteorites of Blac k poetry. His passion has yet to be surpassed, e ven among conte mporary Afro-American. poets. Thou gh h e does not conv ince t h e reader t h at he would actually !Tstrip! 11 and do tbe !!Lov er's dance! 11 b e does distill an intellectual fury wh ich ch ronicles t h e death -during-life v ortex (Davis calls it "alion-and-exile ll) that so many Africans in America struggle a gainst. Wagner's Black Poets contains t h e most up to date and incisive critical assess ment of Cullen. See., also, critic ism by Redding , Brown., Johnson, Huggins (Harlem Renaissance), Bontemps (including Harlem Renaissance Remembered), t h e listings in t h e Cullen section of Black Writer• . 323 �::any of C11.llen 's unpublis h ed of America and n ~.: m-r:1 >i 1, lio:.:;rap1°:r. works are deposited in t~e library at Atlanta Universit7 . James Weldon ,To11nso:1 , 1-11-:i. on we 1 , ave cause to menti on a c ain, ranks today as o ne of "chc n ost distin c uis 1-:i.e d men of Black American letters. ~fo h a ·Je alreac.:'" no ted 1, is work wi.tl1 li 0 l~t operas, bis service as u United States consul in Latin Ar,1erica, t be years he spent as secretar:r ceneral of tho HAACP , 1-,is first v olume of poetry ( Fift:r Years and Otber Poe:ns) and tbe 1912 publication of bis novel, '.I'he Auto'!., ioc;rapl:i:r of an Ex-Colored 1".an . Autcbiograpby was rc-isc.:ued in 1927, tl,e earli e:ir pseudonym dropped, and carried Johnson 'n na me. Durin: tho twenties Johnson continued to co :.;1::-i :t no ~, is l:co n social o> sor vat:ton s of Black America with h is poetic develop ment a n d output. Of 1(.)..r of Ay•c·•-,-i noo TT::.,-.ro Poe•l-r~~ ...... ..:..J .l. ·- en t.4 ··L1 .. d3 V ..· Tne L,..., 0 .... t he ldc;h poi nt:c; of t 1.1 e renaissance. just the poets inclt1ded, t~10 (1 \ ,,_ Cl22 ,,. , His editorship 1_ O".l]) .... .,.s 0118 of ..,, _.1 .. vva. Importa n t for more tban ant 1-: olo 0 :r represe n ted t'.1 0 first sustained effort on tbc p art of a 3lack critic to identify 11 Ifogro 11 olo:.;1ents L : roo tr:" wrl tten s inc c Dnn 1 'nr. It ·was also t1rn first antholo ;:_;:r of Af'ro-A:·1e rica n po etr:t to '-,e pu 1·1 5.sbed On e can safely sa:r t'rnt a ~:' serio us =::tt1.d~~ of Blo.ck critic ism h as to 1Je.si ~1 wit~~ ,Tanes Uoldo n J ohn so n . IIis sn>titlo (uith a nd Essay on t he JTocro rs Crcnt i vo Gen in::;) su c;_:::;este c1 t}:rn h n gh the vari ous L 1flu e ,.1 ccs ot1 t 10 c po0t s, :rnted cFs ·ci n ctions ', etween differe n t ki n{Ll or dialects, Qnd c a ~e a ss es s ~ e : ts of t he �\\That the colored poet in tl1c Uni tod States needs to do is sometl~i n:~ like what S ync.; c did for t b e I1.,lsl1; ·r: o ncods to fi nd a for r:1 t;11 a.t will express t:1e racial sp:I.ri t l)y s:nu1·) 0ls i'ro::n wi t1~in rather t!1an h:r s:,~·:'-,o:..s fro 1:1 1,-dtbout, s n c~ 1 as V -ie ';ere tautilatio n of I~n:-_;l is'-:. s p c )_li nr._; n. n d p:ro rw:1 ci- e.tion. Eo : -wed s ,'.". fo r --1 t 1.-i at is :::'r"cor a n d lar c er than d:laloc t, b n t H\ 5.c:.'J :c-J:i.~.l st i J. :. '-:i o Y.d t :.:: o racia 1 fla vor; a f o~.~1·:; ox press :t n :3 t1..,e i iiia. :::;0 r :', the idion s, t ~ e ,e culinr tur n s of t b ou~,t , a nd tll e distincti,: e bur,1 or and pa.tl10s, too, of t > e t h e deepest n nd 11i ~;}1est emotio ns and o.sp5.rations, and alloH t h e uidest range of s t~1, jects nnd the widest scop e of treat ment. It was a g igantlc cl1allonc c. it? Did an~, :Slack poet rise to meet Has any succeeded? With bis brother, J. Ilosamond, Jobnson also co-edited The Book of American 1Jecro Spirituals (1925) and The Second Book of A ri'10r> :T. c a :1. ~:'o ::_;ro <"'! :'.) 5.r 1.~; " a ~_ : ( :.. '; 26). cal arranGements b:r J. nosamnod. Botl"1 v olu mes carried musi- Jo _inson himself tried to meet • 325 �the challenge with God's Trom\:lones: Seven lJe r,-ro Sermons in Verse (1927), a rendering of t h e works of t he "old time" Black preachers. His pamph let, Native African Races and Culture, was published in 1927. A study of Harl8 m, Black i:1anhattan, ca.me out in 1930. His autohiobrap'!.-: y, Alo ne T)1is Ua:r , a ppeared 5. n 1933. And a social/political commentar::,r, Negro Americans, What Now?, was published the same year. His selected poems (St. Peter Relates an Incident of the 2esurrection Day) came out in 1930. Johnson established hinwclf o.s prol:ific and exe mpl ary 1-:-ian, a co(111, ination of formidab le talents, by t he time b e was killed in an automobile accident in 1938. Aside from their literary and social value, the sermons in God •s Trombones l1a.ve , in the years since their publication, brought delight and instruction to many from t h e various stages from which they have been s taged or oth erwise dramatically presented. In my own classes we assi r;n a sermon per-student and, allowing days for researcb and preparation, stage t h e works for a lar ger campus or community audience. Just h ow much of his own ch allenge ( see ab ove ) was ntte mpted in God's Trombones is indicated by Johns on's Preface in which h e briefly gives the history of Black preachers and explains why he chose the trombone as the central s ymb ol in t he work: He (the preac~er) strode t he pulpit up and down in what was actually a very r hyt hmic dance, and he brought into play t he full go.mut of hi s wonderful voice, n v oic e--wh a.t sba.11 I sa::,r?--not of an organ or a trumpe t, but rather of a 326 �trombone, t h e instrument possessing ab ov e all others the power to express t h o wide and varied range of emotions encompassed b~r t h e human voice-and with greater a mplitude. He intoned, h e moaned, he pleaded--h e blared, h e crash ed, h e t h undered. I sat fascinated; and more, I was, perhaps a gainst my will, deeply moved; t h e e motional effect upon me was irresistible. This scene occured at a ch urch Joh nson attended in Kansas City. While t h e preach er was struttin g and deli verin.c; , Jolmson recalled that h e n jotted II 11 down note s for The Creation. n God's Trombones contains so v e L s ermon s a:1d one pr ayer -- "Listen, Lord. 11 Th e sermons, ea.ch taken fro m a t ext in t he Bib le, include "Th e Creation., 11 rrThe Prodi gal Son.," 11 Go Down Dea.tb --A Funeral Sermon," "Noah Built the Ark," nTbe Crucifixio n," nLet Hy People Go" and nThe Judgment Day. 11 Coming as it did at t he h i gh point of t h e Renaissance-1927--God' s Tromb ones was rath er odd in t h at a les,s t h an ostensibly reli giou s v ers e was b eing written by oth er poets. There were reli r;ious t hemes in much of t h e poetry --but none of the poets dipped into t h e same reservoir in t h e same manner as Johnson. Joh nson was, bowever., a ble to fuse some of the jazz a.nd blues patterns of t h e day into h is work--th ough it is not t h at noticeab l e . Th e s ermons a.re not in Black dialect since Joh nson said t h at t he Afro-Anerican poet must transcend that for m. Tb e lo.n t;ua.ge is generally t h at of a ny wh ite 327 �American or F.nglis bman. Wh at Jo11nson does is instill racinl feeling and dram:i.tic (eth nic) touches by allowing for spontaneity, bui l dinc; i n repetition, and e mployine; free verse forms. Mar garet Wal ker, La.nzs ton Huc;h es, and Sterling Brown would place all t b cse ite ms i n a more secular context--although Brown will interpolate b latantly r eli ;:i:ious expletives and exclamations into some of b is work. Tb e double ne gativ e, wb ich Johnson makes use of, is not a n exclusivel y Blac k product. But we do find him inters per s ing Black s ay ings, usa ces and other idiomatic spices into t he t ext of t he s ermons. It was t h e first time t hat a Black poe t b ad undertaken suc h a ta sk sol ely for literary r e asons . So t h i s alone ma ke s t h e work i mportant-- not to me ntion its antbr opoli c;ical a nd sociol oc; ica.l value. The over-riding achi ever.1ent of t h e se r mons i s t h e i r graph ic, full-blown 1 images and t h eir i nf erential Toomer and oth ers). ~ lacke ni ng " of God (see Cullen, Tb e analogy is more obviou s i n "Th e Creation" where God Like a ma mmy b ending over h er b aby, Kne e led dow n in t h e dust Toiling over a lump of clay Till ~e sh aped it in h is own i ma Be. It seems only natural t h at Job nso n would pay t h is tribute to the Black mother-- most Blac k poets writing since, say , 1880, had done so. And b e b ad earlier complaine d of Joh n Wesley Holloway rs "Black Mam.mies" in dialect, say ing : for better poetry t h an t h is. u uThe b lack mammy is material From Joh nson's 328 1 'tnilk-wh i te horse," �through pbrases l ike "O-- Hary 's Baby--, long plunge, 11 11 11 sinners in t h eir bead- and "Bl ack er t han a hundred midni gb ts, of t he dramatic Black sermon can b e seen. 11 the power There are t hreats and warnings, adminishments and pl eas, fire and brimstones, force and even worse fury. 11 Th e Prodigal Son II is warned: Youn 6 man-Young man-Your arm's too short to b ox with God. The incremental lines, t h e spontaneity , t b e witty turns of phrases, t he colorful and sone ti mes b ombastic langua ge--a.11 give God's Trombones it auth enticity . Joh nson does use s ymb ols t h at express fro m "with i n " rath er t b an fro m 11 with out" t h e Black experience. For as h e noted in h is Preface "The Ne gro today is, perhaps, the mo s t priest- governed group in t h e country. 11 The old time preach er knew t b e "secretsn of ancestral oral and gestural power, Joh ns on says; t h ey knew t h e nsecret of oratory, that at b ottom of it is a pro gress ion of r hyt 11mic words more than it is any t h ing else. n The preach ers h ad inh erited an "innate grandiloquenc e of t h eir old African ton cues." the pulpit, the minist e r f used t h ese 11 Once in ton gues" and Biblical language because this "gratified a h i gb ly developed sense of sound and rhythm in hi mself and bis h earers." These were the concepts and ideas under wh ich Joh nson la.b ored in God's Trombones. Doubtlessly, the volume is one of t he most precious in the annals of Afro-American writine; . 11 There is h ardly a person wh o cannot feel 11 t h ese sermons--and yet their power and t h eir intuitive 329 ' ; •.-:~',\: . 1",,..,~ �embracing of a world of emotions and temperaments make them lasting as classical literature of whatever definition and hue. Jobnson' s Saint Peter, followine; a. tradition of Dunbar's "The Haunted Oak, Lynching, 11 11 Hu g~es' 11 S o ng for A Dark Girl, 11 i'foKa;_r' s "The and Cull e n's The Black Cl:1 rist and "Scottsboro, Too, is Worth Its Son o.; 11 , 11 atte mpts to lace t he desecrat5_on of Black humanity within its proper contradictory Christian context. In each of the poe L,s, tbe lyncll ing is connected up to a higher order--usnally t h e Ch ristian God. imagination, 11 Usine; a 11 visionar~r type of Jol"ns on a p!:)l:i.es satire to the se c re g ation of Black and white mothers of Gold S tar-Hinning soldiers. Sending the parents to visit P ' e ir so ns' g ra v es, tb e War Department put Black mothers on a foul, crm~ed boat (reniniscent of a slave ship) and wbite raotl1ors on a moder n liner. Job nson, in tJ1e poems, imag:i.nes t11at tbe Unknm-m Soldier arrives in heaven and is discovered to he Black. Various patriotic and terriorist organizations (t he G.A.n., t h e D.A.R., the Le g ion, the Klan, and others) want b i u buried a g ain. For more cri t icis li1 of Jobn son sec Dav is, Ua[;ner, Arna Bontemps (includi ng note in American Ne c;ro Poetry), Brown, Redding, Hugg ins and otlrnrs. Lan.c;ston Hughes Has at the oppos1-te end of the poetic spectrum from Cullen 1vhen ~~e wrote i n 11 Hother to Son": Well, son I'll tell you: Life for me ain't b een n o crystal stair. For while both men acbieved reco g nition oJ,out the same t:tme, 330 �Hughes was a fol k trol, 1Jador Hi th 17is f i nc;cr on tbe "pnlse of Eo was also free fro Ll ~he rostrnints of conventional Englis~ verse t~at do ~ i n atc~ practicall? all of Cullen's poetry. a dozen hoo~s of roet r~, se ve ral volumes of prose and plays, and soon bj_s oHn dra1:m s st o.. ge d all o·\ •cr the country, b:r trie time of ~18 d e at½. Of t',e q'..1c.rtct of f5.r0·c -li 11 c ~-T arlern Rennis- wbosc maternal .:.;r:incLno'chcr ' - '.J.d 1"co:~ _.:::.rr:i_ecl tc one of tl-,e Canary Io lands, t1, e ;,_zor c s a nC t1, e :fost Coast of Africa. 22nd bj_rtl1c. ay ttn r1 11G:1t Re- to rarls , a.::;ai n wor1dn ::_: odd johs, on 331 �to Italy and Genoa , and af tei-• a nu mb 0r of v aried experienc e s ( s ee The B5. 0 S e a : and I Wond e r as I Ha nd e r), ret n1" ned to. Amer i c a • . Ile then spent ti me in Washine ton, D.C., wh ere h is mother had moved, workinc i n t h e office of Dr. Ca rt er G. Woodso n , editor of the Journal of Ne gro History and later, as a b usboy (see "!?rass Spitt o o i12 " ) o.t t 1• ·:: rr~u·c1man Pa r ~: !' ot e l . At the latter place, h e had a c h anc e to s h ow some of l1is poe ms to Vachel Lindsay--thus launchi ng Hu 6b es "career II t b rou gh t h e newspapers. His v olurr.cs of p oe try include T11e 1 fo ar:r Blues (l ':12 6), l" :t ne Clot~cs Ne gro Moth er and Oth er Dramatic Re citations (1 931), Scottsboro Limited (1932), The Dream Keeper a nd Oth er P oems (1932), Shakeape in Harlem (1942), Freedom' s Plow (a long poe m, 1943), Jim Crowt ~ Last Stand (1943), Fields of Wo nder (191~7), One-Way Tic ket (1949) Hontag e of a Dream Def e rred ( 1 951), As k Your Homa: for Jazz (1961) and The Panth er and t h e La.s h : Times (1967). 12 Hoods Poe ms of Our Fu .;1.1es r,'2-so 1·r rot0 s;·_1ort sto 1 ies ancJ. n ov el s 1 ( in c ludin g collec t ed stories fro ~ t t e Jesse 3 . S i mpl e series Hl1ich h e ori gi nat e d ). Pro s e uorks a r e Not l H t1, out Laur-11t e r (1930) The Ways of Wh i te Folks (1934 ), S i mple S pe a k s His Mind (1950 ), Lau gh i ng to Keep fro m Cryi r1,z (:..952), S i mple Takes A Wife (1953), Si mple S ta kes a Clai n (1957 ), Ta mb ourine s to Gl ory (1 95 e ), S ometh i ng l n Common (1963) a nd S i mple 1 s Uncle Sam (1965). Play s by La n gs to n Eu c;;·: c:z. was pub 1 :ts~, cd in 1963. Fi ve Th e poet al s o e ith er wrot e ( or co lla~or ated with oth ers ; usu a l l y Bonte mps) many b ooks for you n 6 r eade rs a s well a s wor ks of g eneral and zpocific· inter es t o n Blac k c ult u re . 332 �In his early years, Hu~h es was i ~fluenced by Walt ~fuitman and Dunbar. In h :i. ~11 scbool, a teach er introduced 11im to the poetr:r of An1y Lm-rcll, Lindsa:r, :rasters and Se.ndbur c; . He was especially indebted to Sand1YL1rG, of wT, orn h e would speak, in The Big Sea, as 1:5_ ::; :rguldinc; star. 11 Fenton ,Johns o n bad been the only poet up until Hughes to sustaln suc h an ener g etic poetry of Blacl:: fol k life. Hu g11es i mprov ed on w11at Johnson b e g an, addinc; fros;1 portraits--t110u.::;:1 n ot the ridicule sometimes a ppearinc in Du:10ar--and actually using music to inspire bls wri ti nc; or accompan:r h is live re8.tli ncs. with Charlie ltlngus , a mon ~ other jezz Greats. He r,iade recordings And he is g iven credit for ori ginating t~e practice of readinG poetry to jazz. Interestin c;ly enou gh , t l1 is i n teri,reavin:: _; of mus:i. c and poetry (discussed in Chapter IV) be co me s a ve rtual b acW1one of Black architectonics. Baldwin, for example, speaks of listening repeatedly to t lle records of B0ssj_e Snitb to cain rhyt11m in bis prose. Certainl:.,. t~·i e sar;1e fusio n of st~rle a nd spirit can be found in Elliso n , 1frj_c;'1t, Tolson) B:iraka and Croucb . Novelist - poet Greenlee, quot ed earlier, noted in a h io c;raphical note to bis Blues for an Afri can Princess, F iat Ny chief literary influences are Ch arlie Parker, Lester Younc , Ililes Davis and Billie Il oliday . As a writer, I cons :i .dor m:rself a ja.zz musi cian whose instrument is a typewriter. Hichael S . Harper , a Black poet ·wh o ca '.i1o to mat nration in t 11e , sixties, also attri:)Utes ::1u cb of C: lS style and poetic philoso- . pby to jazz musicians w!·rn belped hi:.n u nderstand pain and make 333 �it "archetypal. rart of Hn :::;l1es 's L·,1pact on t1°is area of Black Tl poetry is documented~~ Ba nard Dell in The Folk Roots of Conter.1porar:r Afro-A merj_ can Poetr:r. Das ical 1:~ Hug1!es' s poetry falls into three stylistic cate g ories: dialect (pri marily of an urban sort), "t~:.nes and traditional-free verse. His use of dialect is seen in practica.11:: e•1er:r ' , ook 1rn 1wr1 lisl, ed. His blues and free-verso forms arc cspeciall~ evident in The Weary Blues. One of b is most fm1ons free-verse poe ms is T1T11e ITec;ro Speaks of Rivers, ir written ri c;h t after ;~e finis}1ed b igh scbool and publisbed in T1~e Criois j_n l<J21. T1,;_s for ;;1 , accordinc to J. Saunders Redd:~;1c, :Ls mu c'.J :·,wI'e eff e ctive a v e 1·dcle for !.:rug:1es than dialect or blues . :rn c:;'-ieri co me:J t 1, ro1..1..=1-, , in tbc "purer verse for ;-1s . 11 In 11 Reddlnc feels, Ri vers 11 :1:ncl,es reacb es into tbe deep deep well of Black ', istor:r and strt' cc;le , unitinc in spirit tbe global Africe.n: I' ve :rno1-1n ri vcrs : The use of worci.s :i::e ns on~. 11 ant: art 0 , crs ,i __ p', ic 1·• rnn li 1rn spines thronGb Black folkJ.orc anf J_itcrntnrc, n-:'..J.ows TT11:::;·~es to tonch · �In "vci ns, !I 11 r1CC '• ,._,., L"~ , :J TTfiQT -T • •• . ' T: !: Q" t.A.,.,,1,..,.r ,.__, Llt.. ,_, , IT ll,:, l) Cle ,_., t!I •,;.l ._ - l...i ,, .) (1 V. l. •l loging of actual p lace-names important to Blac1rn, strength and loncc v it:- :ls put :i.nto irPoe ;:.1s !I 11 t1.1e Catal 1e establishes T'··o He c ro, 11 and numerous otbors. Et1[):1 os 's dia:1..oct and ,Jlt1.es-orie n ted poe n s ·Here not "sweet" to tbe cars of some ;-!arlc;::;. Blacl: iDt0llectualc of the tuenties_. '•, Just as amny of ti-:0:1. ,-:i ad son.:;,1t to censure Ct~J.J.e ,1 for n ot writing more blatantl::r n'Jol,t nlac 1 : strti:_;c;lo (5.n Black :i.cHoms), the::r cri ticizod Hng!~es for deo.l:i_ n.; 1ri t 11 t},e "lower s tra tD. 11 or under- of Black life were hecinninc to co;ne to t1--ie fore in the works of Black::; (licKa:.· ) and 1-1'.~itc ( 1!ar, vec 1·ten) 1-- :rriters. And Hug1 1es joined tbis growt ns te:-!c.onc:r in spoa\::ln.s frankly a h out "Suicide, "Hard Dadd:r, 11 n~u'J::r Brm-rn, ir and more s~, c 1 1 experiences or svb j ects. Tho blues form ca11D for t},rcc-1.ined stanzas: the , seco i.'i d line repeats t11e first, and t}rn t' ird end-line r11:rmes 11itb the two 0 pro cedinc; ones. FuGt os 1-rorked t 1-iis mecHun for much of what it ua~ worth durinc h is life time. These vari ous forms also helped establish Hu~1es's tte mes ~nd subjects. traged~, vi ble nce or co ~passio n . Lin5uistic freedom I n many of h is poems, Hughes is able to develop a d5.o.:.o::; 1)etwecn t~.~o Black t1:1derdo c ancl tbe wbi te ruler. 11 Tbis occurc :ln 11 Brass 3pi ttoonc n ·wbere tbe busb o~r 335 �interlace:: a portro.:r_t of u. co :m~10n Blac:{ Horl:e r w:i. t 1 , dazzlj_n c: r1Jyt'h r;13 of c1·1 u rc 1: , H1 "' 5- te :;1c~ ' 3 orders, nlnc 1: part:r and n i ::;1.~t life and t h e s b i ri y sr,1.ttoons Blacks must keep polis h ed. see it tech nica11:r, t 1 1ot\~;,,., no t racj_nll~ 0 i. n , 11 He ..Tazzonia" i~ the call-a~1d-rc sr on n e pat t e r n conpl e6. ,75_t 1, car ef nll~r rearrang ed chordal structures: 011, s i l v er tre e ! rn1, s~ininc rivers of t ~e so u l! T11ree stanzas lat e r, t 1-1 e Ob ::1 1.·fn:tn ~ o a ;,10 i d ea "p pc ars i n tl·lis for m: r:i. vcrs of ti..,e s onl! And fi vc stanzas lat or, it a pp enrs tl, ns 1:,.: This b rilliant use of t 11 csa.:;1e L1trlcc.te p a tt e r n of dialo c· a.nd call-and-response co:1t:t nno s 5_n 11 ::nJ. a t t o. 11 T,.,., e 11 Bastard b o:"" ls rejected first b :- t1,e 1:b ite fat :1er n nd later ' J:r t ?-le w1.1 ite broth er, ')Otb rorrcsenti 11;_: ( t l:: ro uc;l-\ t11e inter jectipn of dtalo g ) different types a nd _::;enornt5.ons of ~-J})tte me n --o ne o}:, ject:tnc to t b e existei1ce of an 11 :i_2-l e~ it:i.mato 11 so:-1 .9. i1c1 t h e other (tbe farmer's off-spri nc;) r ef'n3i n:3 to ex t e nd a ~-1and of h rot 11erl:r concern. Hugh en tlrn mos, H~1:tc11 re ,;:a :i.n o<l wit½ 1-1hl t 1'1 rou~):: most of 11 is life are: ro.c ism, prote:n t, rac 5-a1 u n i t 2'", i-·nc c pr ide ( t l10u c1, 11e did not indul .::;c t b e pa e an Africa:1 fa :] tas-_- as muc1' as Cullen or EcKay), Black ·wo man (t11e :tr > ea.ut:r anc::. t 11eir stro nctl ~s), jazz a:1d b lues and reJ_j_ c :i.ons r.1t, s :l c, v :i_ol e nc e a c ninst T3 lacks and lnte c nation. 336 �Hughes, especially , Has t 110 spolrnsr,10.n of t11e e v cr~rday Black man. And b e oft e n relis 1 ~cd t h e coJ'.mo n profunc it:r of Blacks at dance, play, wors h ip or wor:{. J. Mord Allen f s 11 L 1 n}Te c;ro Da ncers,'! h e recalls '.:1~1e Sqnoa ':: of the Fi c:dle Tr a nu James Edwin Campb ell's TrHob i le :S u e k. 11 Allen b i n t s t b a t ·wb j_ tes cannot dance. And Campbell reproduces in poe tr:r the r 11:;th ms of contemporary dance knoun as t 1 e 11 1..,uc k . Hu [.f.1 es s b owi ng off Black i mprovi- n sation, claims t ~ at l,o a nd , . L~lS Two mo ' -:-ra:~s t o do d e C> o.r les to n ! --also a popular c ont omr,o r ar:r d ance. and 11 Eve n if w,, ites 11 lau c;11 11 prn:;:r 11 Blacks c2. n ta l:e r.: a tj_sf n c t :i.o n in tl,e k nowled c e t~1at the~r can top thei::: own re ser v oir of spo ntanei t:r a nd cren.ti v i ty when tho:~ Hant to siclc-st ep or a n n o:r t ·h e me c11a ,1 :1.cal wh ite 11 nigbt II and afrai d . 1:1:rn r e i s c:rn ic is m a nc. sai-·cas :i1 and tra ,::;edy in this poot iho o1Jsor v oc: 1-Jl s p e o pl e t :". ron 01· a deep ancl creative affectio n . Fuc: :os 1 s perso nal lif e , of cours e , wa.s }n st a.s fasci- ~r8.nts, l:i n-c was ofte n :L 1troc:u c e c?.. to c. 1.1c.:T.cnces as "tbe poet Laureate of IIarlc u . 11 I n )-, 5.s a u tob io :::;r o. p 115-es (Tl~ e Ri g Sea and ranld n3 1-rr itor s a.nr'l 5.n tc 1 l s. c t1'ul s of ' - ~s 11 __,_., '7 I a.o.~- ,.__n t r c mal n ecl :i.n �- ' C : .(:(; : t ,.. r-- -1- .:.. ' t.A L• _._, _,.... l• , "T, _C :::0:1.rce of ,, is i:.-rords. �anthologies: An African Treasury: Articles, Essays, Stories, Poems By Black Africans (1060) ; Poems from Black Africa (1963); New Negro Poets: U.S. A. (1964); and Voi ces: Poetry (Ne gro poets isstlo, winter, 1950). 339 (a) A Quarterly of �::rnems t o :)o a•J out a flDr0a:,1 Deferred. in t h at po.rtic uJ. a r ~'10C ti1 11 '::'rn dream, e.:a i n , l i ke ~-!'-ere i.., e asked , 1-.r ftho t~t nns·weri nc , th e ques tio n: 1'D.1 a t 1w.ppens to a dreRm def erred ? lrnr .f arnous pl a::,,r, 7-Iuc,~os also d ispJ_a~rs · ·is n as ter:· ov er tec11 - Or does it explode ? And l-:'. c liv ed t o s o c t 1.1 e a nd oth er places. exp1.os:i.on 5-n ~To.tts , 1';eH8.rk , De t roi t ::-ru cl ic s ' :~ Nri ti nc;s are anth oloc i er.: of Afro - Aw::ri c an l i t orat nr e . j_ n a 'J.1 2 0th c ent ur :r Detailed cri tical s tudics of l'lis wor\ : a ppe a r in Ha ener ' s Blac k P oe ts a nd Da vis's From t he Dar k TuHer . rrc :'.s aJ s o assessed in 1rnrks 1-:'y Br ow n, Kerlin, RodcUn~ , Jolmson a t:,d nm;1or ous o t 1.1 er s tudie s and com- was p"uh lis I-w d i n 11; 6 7 . Oth er i mportant source ite ms . on Hughes are Francois Dodat' s Langston Hugh es (Paris, 1964 ), Raymond Quinot's Langston Hugh es (Brussels, 196!+), Milton Meltzer's Langston Hughes: Hughes: A Bio graphy (1 968 ), Elizabe t h P. Meyers' Langston Poet of His Peopl e (1970 ) and Charle mae Rollins' Troubador: Langston Hugh es (1970). B~~£~ Of t be pleth ora of material steadily pourin g out of Hugh es, a most valuable book is Langston Hughes: Blac k Genius: Therman B. O'Dani el. A Cr itical Eva l uatio n (1 971), edited by O'Daniel includ e s a selected classified bibliography detailing Hughes's len gt hy career as writer in all genres, anthologist and critic. ,-: ,, t '', Hugh es inspired generations of ...,_, . Black Africans and Americans and also edited the followin g --;, - 0 ,j 5 I �C. Minor or Second Echelon Poets of the Renaissance Dozens -of poets helpe d to make up the varie gated atmosphere of the New Negro Eovement. And just as the New Black Poetry of the 1960•s cannot he characterized in terms of four or five individuals, so _the Renai s sance cannot b e understood unless the general poetry s cene is exami ned. Man:l of the so-cal led minor or second echelon po e t s writin g durin r; t h e peak of tr:ie Renaissance had already estab lished reputations b efore 1923. Principal amon g these were Arna Bontemp s (19 02-1973), Angelina Grimke, Gwendolyn Bennett (1902- ), Anne Spencer, Clarissa Scott Delaney (1901-1927), Frank Horne (1 899- ), Geor gia Dougla s Joh nson, Geor ge Leona.rd Allen (1905-1935), Donald Jeffrey Hay es (1904- ), Jdnathan Henderson Brooks (1904-1945), Helene Johnson (19 07- ), Waring Cuney (1906- ), Lewis Alexander (1900-1945), and Lucy Ariel Williams Holloway {1905- ). Other poets, to be mentioned at the end of this unit, can be dispersed rather widely alon g a spectrum of relative si gnificance. Many of tbem won prizes and places for t ,heir poems among the pages of Tbe Crisis and Opportunity and then disappeared from t he s c e ne . Others me t unt i mel~ dc aths --~fu il e yet others ch ose differen t c areers or le a ped i nto t :10 fre e d om fi gh t. Cullen's Caroling Dusk (1 92 7) co nta i ns t h e best re prese nt ation of AfroAmerican poetr~,. wri t t e n 1-:i etween 1910 a nd 1925 . Joh nson's The Book of American Negro Poetry (1922) pre sents poets between Dunbar and t h e time of its l as t edi t ion (1931). Ha_jor and minor poets are also to b e found i n Kerl in's Ne gro Poets and Their Poems (1923, 1935). �Hughes and Bontemps made many of thes e lyricists availabl e to u s in The Poetry of the 1-!egro ( 1949 , 19 70 ). At least hl3.lf a. dozen of the les ser know n poe ts are included in Alain Locke's The New Negro (1 925 ). Rand all (The Black Poets, 1971) displays work by Horne and Bont emps; b ut only Bont emps is included in Randall ' s Black Poetry (1969). He nd ers on does not list one of these transitional figures in Understanding the New Black Poetry (1973). And only Cuney and Bont e mps are included in Rosey Pool' s Beyond the Blues (19 62). TTere, we are simply randomly sampling t he anthologies for co ntent. detailed listin1::;s. See the hih liograph y for more The 1iest co nt emp orary anthology of 20th Century Black poetry is Ar no l d Adoff 's The Poetry of Black America , which list s mor e t han 14 0 poets and practically all of the minor one s of tbe renaissance, although the omission of Cuney and Edward Silvera hangs li ke a pall ove r the hook. Unfortunately, no Black a ntholo ey of the magnitude of the Norton series has appeared . The Necr o Cara ,ran (Sterli ng Brown, et al), a comprehensive anth olog~ puhl i shed i n 1941 and re~issucd (unrevised} in 1970, contains nearly a do zen of the mi nor v oices. In "Frank Horne and th e Second Eche lo n Poets of the Har leLl Rena is s ance" (The Harlem Re naissanc e ~emem1., ered, Bontemps, ed., 1972), Ronald Primeau launche s an i mpressi ve and i ~p ortant discussion of these lesser known f i gPrcs . W11i le 1fa 6 ne r (Black Poets of th,e United States , 1973) makes a partial effort to dis cu ss these poets, he seems generally to di s mi ss them a s clic k i s1J seekers after an African pas t. So at this wri ti ng , Sterling Brown 's "Contemporary ,. �Negro Poetr~ (:~14-1 936)," in h i s TTc;ro Poetry and Drama (1937), remain s tl-1e 11es.t critical ovcrvic,,r of t'l--icse poets . Bonto rrps 5~ OD~ of thr ee i mportant renaissance fi gures (alone; Hlth I-In c;h cs and Br own ) t o snrvtvc 1, od11:r and craativel:r up until the l !) h0 ' s . Hac~1er c all:: T? ontemp s 11 onc of t b e most brillia nt min or roots of th s TTar ~_c u Rl nc issa nc e II and Brown also ha s 11i g:1 praL::e of 'Jis poctr:- and fictio : -1 . Arthur P. Davis (From the Dark Tower) sees an "a.lien-and-exile" theme continuine; from the major trunk of renaissance poetry into the work of Bontemps. With the notable exception of Geor e ia Douglas Johnson, the important minor renaissanc e fi e urcs did not puhlish books of poetry until the 1960's. This fact alone tells us much about Bontemps' seeming poe tic obscurity hetw c on 1930 and 1960. But more important, for th e record, is the fact t h at Bontemps' efforts were direc.t ed toward fiction, drama, cl1ildren' s li ternture, history, chroniclinG the developmen t of other Black poets and ground-br e aking lihrary work. Born in Alexandria, Louisiana, Bontemps family move d to California when he was still a child. He attended Pacific Union Colle ge and the University of Chicago. His dive!'s e Hriting output, almost as prodi g ious as Hughes', includes numerous books, pamphlets and articles. His novels are God Sends Sunday (1931; dramatized as St. Louis Homan, 1946), Black Thunder (1936, about t h e Nat Turner-led revolt) and Drum·s at Dusk (1939). Bontemps also co-edited with Langston Hughes the very influential anthology The Poetry of tbe Negro (1949, 1970), and he brought out American Negro Poetry in 1963. 342 Other anthologies • I �are Golden Slippers: An Anth olo gy of Tiecro Poetry for Young ---=-------"'-- - - - ~ - - - - ~ Readers (1941), Th e I3 ook of Hec;ro Folklore (1 95f., with Hn gh es), Great Slave Narratives (1969 ), Eold Fa st to Dreams: Po~ms Old and New (1969) a nd Tbe Harlem Renaissance Rer.1em1; cred (19 72, a collection of artic les ). Additionally Bontemps publ i shed more than 20 odd works of h i bl io c raphy (usu a lly on Black heroes), juvenilia, cult ur e and his tor~. He sor¥ed as university li~rarian at Fis k for more t b a n 20 :rears and was a mem1) er of t h e faculties of t he Uni ve rsity of Illi nois a nd Yalc --whe re be was i ~ ch arg e of Afro-America n S t udios at t he ti me of h is death. 1924 and 1931 I3onto rup □ ' Between poems were r1~Jl is bed widely in v arious magazines and per i od ical s at1e1 ~e Cri s is a nd Oppo rtiini t :r . :10 Hon 1.-:ioe try pr:i.zes from b oth HLJ o nly pub lis ~1cd vol ume of poetry , Personals, did not co:,10 01:t until 1.')6~. (from t~1e Englis11 rnan Paul Bre1~1an). Perso n al s a s an idea-position suras up mu ch of Bontemps' poctr:r • . F or throuc;hout t1-:i o book th,:_,ro is the nse of A comf orta1, lencss also att ends P o ::i ten:p s' poet1,.,:·-- ·1cy':; a s nrn:~ co r,ifort , , u t a co:11.fort of 1 ye o.r n:i.nc; for L 1stant rcc o:_> l:i.t:i.o n or t 1, 0 frc:1z~.- tl-w. t .) •I!. nr •·1"' 11 ) C,J,, '-' U , t ' ·· c' Bethe s da 11 ) , t '-1 c . .; ' .L·" -.l ~. . C'"' "'l L 1 J.~ ;-<, ou t 1.., (._.J. ( 11 pr,c-• t I. l 1~1o ,.J (llrr,i.,,,., .J or . Count ee Culle n 1 s nncl Frank I'orne ' s . ',ro~•"'1 11 I 11 '-.~ ~c,'--iirt11! ,.. .,.i. l..,.:iJ. ~-,. V • -. C.A [ tl:;e anti- 111\Toc.J...U.,,.,rl"' ..._ l, .L" - V at 8 01-,tl-:: l")r~ ::ans io n 11 ) , a ~-,e d ef:ta n co a nd . 343 �s tr c ngt~7 tradition of B~.ack lahor and concludes that tho laborers' children "food on bitter fruit. 11 Billie Holiday would later witness a hanging in the S out11 and wrlte "Strange Fruit. 11 And we recall that since James Wb itfield, Black po e ts have pointed to the contradictions in American Christianity and tr,e harren versus bearing theme. Bontemps also followed the renaissance pattern of romanticizing a pagnn-likc Afro-American or African. With the taste · of slavery and the dialect tradition still bitter on their tongues, these poets leaped backwards over slaver:r to another place and another clime. 11 Bontemps does just this in The Return" ~ 1ich closely resembles Cullen's "Heritage" and some of the atavistic pieces of Langston Hughes and Claude I-IcKa.y. 11 of "remembered rain, "dance of rain, n II "the .friendly ch ost, 11 jungle sky, 11 Bontemps speaks "lost nights, "muffled drums, 11 Let us go back into the dusk again, 11 and then suggests: • 1 • • Dusk, ebony, jet, nir,bt, evenings, purple, blue, raven and other such synonyms for Blacks are frequentl:r employed to great eff'ect and power by Afro-American poets. Likewise, symbols or images of' invisibility and blindness are also prevalent in Black writing. Bontemps employs and implies such states in several poems where he achieves a surreal quality--a dream-like longing for another time and another place (a1::s ain, a pattern in the poetry of the period). If you "Close Your Eyes," Bontemps says, you can go 344 \ ,,, ., . I • \ ' ' �back to what you were, and maybe the sonc, as with Toomer, will 11 in time return to thee. 11 Closing the eyes will also allow one to "walk bravely enough. fl _A.way from the daily limelight and without the constant pressure (c.f., Cullen) to succeed and hold up the light of the race, Bontemps developed strong statements using convention poetic patterns with occasi6nal free-verse experimentation. Personal and powerful, Bontemps' poetry looks ahead to a similar stamina (this ti me in a new dialect) exclaimed by Sterlinc; Brown in Southepn Road. For even though Bontemps tells us in "Golgotha is A Mountain 11 , that One day I will crumble we know that the dust will fossilize and "make a mountain": I think it will be Golgotha. There has been very little critical assessment of Bontemps' poetry. But brief reactions to his work can be found in The·_ Harlem Renaissance Remembered ('which b e edited), Sterling Brown's study, Barksdale a.nd Ka.nnamon's anthology, Robert Kerlin's critical-anthology, Arthur P. Davis's From the Dark Tower, and The Ne gro Caravan. For a near complete listinc of Bontemps' published works see Black Horld, XX (September 1971), 78-79. Alon~ with Angelina Grim.lee, Lewis Alexander, Anne Spencer, Arna Bontemps, Geor gia Douglas Joh nso n, and Helene .Jobnson, GwendoJ:~,rn Bennett helped to .fill out t 11 e list of lesser known renaissance poets wh o appeared in _'!'_Ee New Ne gro (see 1968 edition with a preface b y Rob ert Hayden). Unfortunatel~r, bowever, Miss Bennett's best foot was not put forward in the "Song" which �Ala.in Locke accepted for pub lication i n t h e a.1.) ove nan,ed antholo gy. 11 S onr, 11 is not rcpresentati ve of :I-Iiss Bennett's generally hi gh craftmansh ip; it is flawed by imb alance e.nd an attempt to say many things in one poem. poetry of the period, 11 Characteristic of t~e Sonc " reaches back to 11 for gotten banjo songs II and Clinkine chains and minstrelsy but Miss Bennett's interpolation of dialect lines does not come of'f with the ease and power of Sterlin.c Brown's similar efforts. On the other hand, h er s h arp crisp ana precise i ma gery employed in poems which appeared in ma gazines and oth er a.nth olo c;ies show her as a poet witb many gifts and resources. Gwendolyn Be nnett was b orn in Giddine s, Texas, to professional parents. After graduation fro m t h e Girls' Hi gh School in Brooklyn, New York, s h e attended Teach ers Colle ge, ·columbia University, for two :rears and studied i n tlie Fine Arts Depa.rtment--tbereafter estab lish ing a dual career as poet and artist. She later attended Pratt Institute, tan gh t in the rine Arts Department at Howard Uni versity, and t h en recei ved t h e Thousand Dollar Foreign Sch olarsh ip of t h e Delta Sigma Th eta Sorority, which enabled ber to go to Europe w11ere she studied for a. year f , f in Paris at the Academi c Julian and t h e Ecole Panth eon. She returned to New York at t h e bei c;bt of t h e renaissance and for a while was a member of t h e editorial staff of Opportunity where several of her poems appeared . In reading her finest poems, one recalls depth of Black wot;mnlJ ood revealed in t h e poetry of . - l 346 ~ . ;· •· �Frances Harper, Geor gia Joh nson and Angelina Gri mke. "To A Dark Girl" is a meditation on the sisterh ood w11 ich retains aspects of "old for gotten queens. 11 We recall the word "for- gotten" from "Song "; but it ab ounds i n t h e poetr•y of this period. Miss Bennett's "brown girl" ( c. f., Cullen!) is "sorrow's maten but if she forgets her slave background she can still "laugh at Fate!" The yearning , t h e pleading , the thirsting for another time and anoth er place--for natural Africa--recurs t hrouchout these poems and poets. distills "dista nt laugh ter II and huming melodies." 11 Miss Bennett's S onnet--2 11 11 "Nocturne" recalls "Ne groes · Heritar;e 11 is almost ideri;.. tical, in t h eme and tone, to Countee Cullen's poem of t h e same name. Just as Cullen laments t h e d isparity b etween his "heart and head, 11 this poet sees t h e same dua.li ty in her "sad people's soul" Hidden by a minstrel-smile. Finally, "Hatred II is s h arp and stingine; Like a dart of singing steel and we are reminded of t h e poems of t h e same t h eme: DuBois' "The Riddle of t h e Sph inx," and McKay 's "To t h e White Fiends" and "The "White House. 11 For Clarissa Scott Delaney, "Joy n seems to contain the . emotional intensity t h at "Hatred II b olds for Gwendolyn Bennett. The dau ghter of Emmett J. Scott, t h e "distinguished secretary. to Booker T. Washington, 11 J\.a,s. Delaney lived a tragically short life and died at the peak of the Harlem Renaissance. 347 ,· . ~ .. ;:~;'- · "Joy" is �what she vows to "aba ndo n1t herself to j_n an effort to avoid the troubling 1tmazen of life. Her poetry is quietly power- ful and seems to compliment t h at of Arna Bontemps since it is deep and flows from tradit i on, stamina and endurance. Born in Tuske cee Institute, Alabama, s h e attended Bradford Academy in New England and t h en Wellesley Colle ge, af'ter which sl1e taught three years at t be famous Dunb ar High School in Washington, D.C. According to Robert Kerlin, Hrs. Delaney o.lso "Studied delinquency and ne c;lect a mong Ne gro chi ldren in New York City." Her poetry reflects a percepti ve and analyt ical mind. Initially, she appears detach ed and metallic--deceptively, like Gwendolyn Brooks, hut the poem usually winds down to a c;rippin g messa.e_;e on pretense, loneliness, joy or despair. is a 11 The ni gh t in "Interim" gracious cloak" used to conceal the defeat of t h e soul. "The Mask" imr.iediately brings to mind Dunbar's "We Wenr t h e Mask." Except for t b e differences in persona and drama.tic affects, the two poems are quite similar. Re -read ine "The Mask," one is ' reminded of Smoke:;r Bill Rob inson's recentl::,r popular "Tbe Tears of A ClOi·m"--wb ich carri es t b e t b eme of duality a nd scb izoph renia so often found in Black t h ougb t and wri tine; . Wh ile a.11 Black artists do not display t h is "twoness" with the intensity of a Countee Cullen or nalph Ellison, it is almost always present in t b e:i.r works. Especially is t b is true of the Black American irriter, forced to use t he · communication tools of the over-seers to speak ab out t h at wh ich is closest to him. 348 �This particular aspect of Black poetry gives rise to r.mch speculation since poems devoid of racial or eth nic flavor take on added si g nificance when we know their authors are Black. Such is t h e case with Gwendolyn Bennett's "Hatred" (where nyou" could b e whites) and W.E.B. DuBois' "The Riddle of the Sphinx" {wh ere 11 t b e m11 prob ably means wh ites). Frank Horne, who won a poetry contest in Th e Crisis in 1925 but did not publish a book (Haverstraw) until 1963, fits .into this context. Horne was born in New Yo1"k City where he attended public schools. As a. student at t 11e Colle g e of t h e City of New York, he won varsity letters in track and wrote poetry. He later graduated fro ,;1 trie Nortbern Illinois College of Ophthalmolo gy witb a. de gree of Doctor of Optometry. Horne worked in Chicac o, New York, tau r:;h t in Fort Valley Georgia and was for some time e mploy ed by t h e United State Housing ... Authority. Horne, "poss0sses the authentic gift of poetry," s.ccordi.ne to James Weld on Joh nson. "intellectual irony. n And Sterling Brown mcnttons Horne's Indeed Horne is cy nical, skeptical, re- served and almost b are i n h is s h ort lines and econon ic lan8uage. The corpus of h is early poetry re v olves around ·nLetters found near a suicide II for wh ich he won The Crisis award. !•lost of the poems are addressed to indi v i d~ally-named persons and recall some point of co ntact (co nt e ntion?) ~etwe en t he alle ged suicide victim and t be per son acldressed. 1\s not8d earlier, ma ny of . the poems b ave to he pJ.aced 5- n t h e context of "Blac k " poetry if ' 34 9 '·' j·~-, ,fi':.~\• • • I ' ;.. / If-), _: t•I, .i. �the shortness of lifG, co ntr adictio ns :i.n Ch ristinni t:r, 1"' ot r s.:. . al, endurance, love, h atred, surv 5.va:. of t1 e spir5.t over p11~rsical death, music, scientific inquir:r adapted to t b e poet's questioning , racial injustice, and victory as fact or idea. Horne's verse is sanguine but, for t h e most pa.rt, auoids t h e romantic treatment of Africa found in practically all poets of the renaissance. His "Nigger (A Chant for Children)n catalogs I3la.ck beroes: Hannibal, Othello, Crispus Attucks, Toussaint L 'Overture, and adds Jesus near tbe end. A ch oral lteration, anticipating Sterlin~ Brown and complimenting La nc;ston Hu c;hes, includes: 11 Ni c;c;er • • • ni c;c;er • • • ni c;zer II "To the Poets II recalls Cullen rs "Scottsboro, Too, Is Worth Its Song"; both poems chide other poets for sin ginc; sone s over wrong causes. Eorne "yelled h osannas" into t h e emptiness, but (Neither did yellin g move mountains yelling got h im nm.-1h ere. f'or Baldwin who, as a boy-preacb er, quickly saw the contradiction in singing ''You can have all dis world but gi v e me Jesus. 11 ) Horne's knowled ge of science is put to go6d use in' such poems as "To Henry II and 11 Q.E .D. 11 And bis skeptic ism continually surfaces as in "To You 11 wbere he examines t b e road to salvation, which is through ''Your 11 ( or Christ's) body. involved in a worldly experience wi t b 11 But later he is b er II and when he returns to the al tar to eat and drink of ''Your II splendors he can think "only of her. 11 Much of' Horne's poetry employs the symbolism and vocabu- . lary of athletic contests--principally football and track. 350 �He also uses language associated with playing music or singing. "To Caroline" and "To Cataline" merge melody, harmonies, pain and ecstasy. "Caroline" plays his "skin" as well as the piano. that the piano will give joy and hurt. "Catalina" is warned "To Chick" recalls the days of the "Terrible Two" on the football field. The "signal" in football is made analagous to the "signal" called in real life. In both instances the poet crossed the victory line, "fighting and squirming." "To one who called me 'nigger"' is a comment on the white man's ability to do everything but face America's race problems. Continuing his theme of skepticism, Horne presents a "Toast" to eyes, lips, heart and body, even though the person addressed has an "unborn" soul. His poetry is solely in free-verse and, though sparse, his language invariable operates on multiple levels. "To A Persistent Phantom" is an excellent example of Horne "complicating" the meaning of words through the use of repetition, elipses, and the strategic use of words like "tears," "tangled," "deeper," "charms" and "buried." If the language and action of athletic competition influenced Horne, it was melody that captured George Leonard Allen, a poet who lived only 30 years. Allen achieved wide recognition before his death, ho~ever, for his "To Melody" won first prize in a 1927 state-wide poetry contest sponsored by the North Carolina Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy. His poems also appeared in Opportunity, American Life, The Southern Christian Advocate, The Lyric West and Caroling Dusk. "Pilate in Modern America" employs what is, by Allen's time, a traditional theme in Black poetry: equating Black suffering to the crucifixion of Christ. The "Pilate" of America pleads with God for redemption, claiming that "one man's voice" 351 , ' �Oof dissent) could not be heard in the din of the lynch mob. But God's voice (the white man's conscience) t ·e lls "Pilate" that his guilt is as great as the crowd's. "To Melody" has no racial import. It simply praises song and is imitative, in language and theme, of early 19th century English poetry. As a sonnet, it only remotely suggests the work of McKay and Cullen. "Pilate" is well handled in iambic pentameter. Allen was born in Lumberton, North Carolina where he attended public schools--later completing his studies at Johnson C. smith University. His book-learning is evident in his poetry which is competent but conventional. A certain formalism also marks the work of Donald Jeffrey Hayes. Hayes was born in Raleigh, North Carolina; his education, which was quite extensive, was gained primarily through private study where he pursued his interests in singing, directing and writing. During the twenties and thirties, Hayes appeared in several Broadway productions as a member of a singing chorus. His poetry, much of which reflects his interest in music, was published in Harper's Bazaar, Good Housekeeping and This Week. "Appoggiatura 11 --a musical term--draws sustained comparisons between a woman's movements and bodies and sounds of water. and watering flow. It is a towering poem full of surreal images and mysticism Ultimately the woman seems to become a mermaid. He heard the "indistinguishable sound of water silence" and then the woman disappeared: "Sea-Woman--slim-fingered-water-thing II ,. This theme of having lost something or someone pervades Hayes' poetry. And while he never mentions Africa or the lost Black purity lamented by other renaissance poets, it is possible that he had similar concerns. 352 "Benediction" �is for the departed rather than a prayer to end a religious service. pursues Horne's theme of life's briefness. the poet's "kiss was sweet." for time before death. "Poet" A eulogy, the poem notes that "Prescience" depicts the poet trying to stall His concern is not for his own physical and emotional well-being, but for the "you" addressed in the poem. The speaker cannot bear the thought of his loved one being alone after his death. "Haven" death haunts all of Hayes' anthologized poetry. and conventional forms. Except for He writes in free-verse "Poet" and "Prescience" make the most of' careful meter and rhyming couplets. Another poet, Jonathan Henderson Brooks, writes with allegorical elequence. His work is deeply religious; but it is not a canned religiousness. He takes Christian symbolism and makes it work for the Black cause. Like Cullen and McKay, he equates Black suffering to the sufferings of Christ. And like Phillis Wheatley, he ensconces his deep and troubled feelings in religious fervor. "The Resurrection" is a poetic narrative--employing dialog where racial concerns can only be inferred. doubt as to its intent. But "My Angel" leaves little Freighted with both hope and doubt, with "Despair and my disgrace", the poem depicts "my angel" attempting to lift the burden from the shoulders of Black Americans. But the angel, who struggled "All night," is unable to lift The heaviest load since Lucifer .••• Carefully and startlingly, Brooks weaves in the relatively new Black poetic theme of indifference towards (and distrust of) Christianity. "Black necessity" is what the angel intervenes on behalf of; but after the all night struggle, he wearily flies off "To angels' resting place. 353 t ,, j ' \ V ' .,~:it~ �Thus leaving the narrator with his despair and disgrace. It is a chilling poem, one which blatantly carries a doubt more subdued in other Brooks pieces. Alternating between iambic tetrameter and iambic trimeter, and using six-lined stanzas, he presents an exciting technical achievement with an ab c b db rhyme scheme. Brooks was born in Mississippi, on a farm "twelve miles southwest of Lexington." After his parents separated, he stayed with his mother until he was 14 when he went to Jackson College for four months on money his mother had saved. At Jackson he won a prize for a short-story and later completed his high schooling at Lincoln University (Missouri). at Tougaloo, Mississippi. He then went to college Though religion is the outstanding influence on his poetry, he is nevertheless unconventional in his use of it and his poetry is always well-crafted. His over-riding achievement appears to be "She Said ••• " a poem dedicated to the memory of the first Black soldier from Alcorn County, Mississippi, to be "killed in action in the invasion of Normandy." Again using Christian symbolism and terms, he imagines the response of the soldier's mother who wonders if her son screamed when he was shot, if "unhurrying Death" was called, and if he died in sunshine, rain, or night. The mother finally equates herself to "Mary of Galilee" and notes that the two women must have felt the same emotion. This is an irresistible idea and theme in Black poetry. The searchingly skillful contemporary poet, Raymond Patterson, presented a similar situation in his elegy on the death of Mrs. Martin Luther King, Sr. ("All Things Abide," Black World, September, 1974). Patterson echoes Wheatley, DuBois, McKay, Hughes, Cullen and Dunbar when he asks who in our presence can say how Jesus' mother perished: --Jesus, crucified? 354 �The question mark aids in calling up all the gore and grief and passion and terror that engulf and interlace Black existence as it is infused by Christianity, Africanisms and the Amreican experience of slavery. there again. Was Jesus really crucified? Skepticism and cynicism are In his poem, Brooks achieves a haunting, yet immediate, requiem by tieing the soldier's death to the cosmos-anticipating Owen Dodson's "Lament"--and relating place-names of importance. He establishes other associations: the stars and stripes (of the flag) are connected to the "sun's shining," the sunlight and moonglow are associated with the "stars forever," bullet and death and days and hours and sunshine and night and rain and battleground--all set the stage for Mary and the "Garden" and the suggestion of a rising. Lastly the narration in this free-verse is set off in italics for those sections which occur in the mind. Brooks is certainly worth much more study. Helene Johnson's small output should be collected and published in bookform because she is an important poet. Born in Boston, where she attended local public schools and Boston University, Helene Johnson arrived in New York in 1926 to do additional study at the Extension Division of Columbia University and to become one of the important "younger" figures of the Harlem Renaissance. Her poems were published in Opportunity, Vanity Fair and several other periodicals and anthologies. and language. Her poetry is terse, emphatic and diverse in form, style She is at home with the sonnet, free-verse, conventional rhyme pieces, or with what James Weldon Johnson calls "colloquial style--a style which numberless poets of this new age (1910-1930) have assumed to be easy." (Johnson sounds as if he is talking to some of the poets of the current "new age" (1960-1974!). And Johnson is right about Helene Johnson when he says that she is aware that a poem written in dialect, colloquial or street language 355 �"demands as much work and workmanship as a well-wrought sonnet." Helene Johnson's dominant themes are cultural reclamation (the African heritage), the ludicrous (sometimes peacockish) dress and mannerisms of Black men, Black beauty and love. Almost always she expresses longing, either for personal love or a return to pre-slavery Africa. In "Summer Matures," "Fullfilment" and "Magalu" she invites lovers both literally and metaphorically. "Magalu", like "Sonnet to a Negro in Harlem," "The Road," "Poem," and "Bottled," suggests that the Black American is better than he thinks he is; .that examination of his African past and his innate rhythmic richness will allow him to maintain both his past glory and his present sanity. The hint that whites are crass, immobile and inhibited ( a theme recurring in Black thought and writing) also creeps through these poems. "Magalu" · is told to ignore the teachings of the man in a "white collar" who carries a Bible. Poetry, or ancestral and cultural worship, is better than Christianity, the poet says. Here, of course, she advances an answer to the riddle of Countee Cullen, who appears to have wanted to "dance" but could not throw off the cloak of Western education, sentimentality and respectability. Helene Johnson asks Magalu: Would you sell the colors of your sunset , and the fragrance Of your flowers, and the passionate wonder of your forest For a creed that will not let you dance? Continuing this theme in "Sonnet to A Negro in Harlem" (and recalling McKay's "Harlem Dancer" as well as dozens of poems in this category), she depicts the Harlem Negro as not being psychologically and religiously a part of the 356 '.' �• environment in which he or she lives. Somehow, the Black American has remained untainted by crass, Western ways and inflexible thought. All this is embodied symbolically in the Harlem Black who, in his devine barbarism, stylistic richness and refusal to imitate those "whom you despise," is "too splendid for this city street." Helene Johnson seems to direct her poetry at Cullen and others who are unable to extricate themselves from the clash of the "Christian" training and the "pagan urge." is the answer an easy one. Neither For despite all the renaissance .proposals calling for spiritual or physical return to the essences of the African self, the writers had no concrete suggestion to offer. Except for DuBois, Garvey and a few others, they simply explored romantic declarations and yearnings. This mood is evident also in Helene Johnson's "Poem" where the "Slim, dark, big-eyed" boy becomes a prince like the "monarch" laborer in Fenton Johnson's "Rulers." Yet there is important immediate social commentary in the same type of poem: 1920's. "Bottled," which ridicules a superfly-type character of the Her "Negro dressed fit to kill" refused to dance the Charleston or the Black Bottom since he is too "dignified." Instead of a cane, she says, he should be "carrying a spear with a sharp fine point." , The tip of the spear should be dipped in poison. And the rest, of course, is obvious. Finally, the poem laments the apparent internal turmoil of a Black man who is "all glass" ("plastic" in today's language). "Bottled" is typical of much of the thematic focus of Black writing in all genres of the period. It also anticipated the continuing satire that would be found in the writings of Frank Marshall Davis, George Schyler, Hughes, and others. A young con- temporary woman poet, Barbara McHone (Black World, August, 1974) assesses a character similar to Helene Johnson's in "A Sea of Brown Boys." 357 �Barbara McHone chides the boys for wearing high heel shoes, purses, and patterning their lives after Shaft, Superfly and Sweetback. After stating the urgent needs of the times and implying that Black masculinity is being undermin.ed, she asks: where did our love go? Helene Johnson seems to make her most cogent statement, however, in "The Road" where she links into a theme long-associated with Black struggle: on moving." fight. "Keep "The Road" encourages Blacks to see their beauty as well as their "Trodden beauty," is still "trodden pride." Reminiscent of Johnson's "Lift Every Voice and Sing" and Fenton Johnson's "Children of the Sun," she advises her people to Rise to one brimming golden, spilling cry! Perhaps not coincidentally, Helene Johnson's work is similar, in language and theme, to the poetry of Waring Cuney who (along with Hughes and Edward Silvera) belongs to the group sometimes called the Lincoln University poets. 1 Cuney was born one-half of twins in Washington, D.C. where he attended public schools and later studied music (after Howard and Lincoln Universities) at the Boston Conservatory of Music and in Rome. The twins had similar interests: singing and his brother's the piano. Waring's being After his poem "No Images" won an Opportunity prize, James Weldon Johnson stated that Cuney's work held "exceptional promise." However Cuney never became a prolific writer of literary poetry. Instead he divided his time between writing lyrics for songs and his other numerous chores. His protest lyrics were set to music and sung by Josh White on the album Southern Exposure. And his poetry was not published in book form until 1960 when the 1. See Four Lincoln University Poets (Hughes, 1931) and Lincoln University Poets (Cuney, . Hughes, and Bruce McM. Wright, 1954). Hughes called Lincoln University (Pennsylvania) "a place of beauty and the ideal coll ge for a poet." His ·assessment seems to have been correct. Raymond Patterson, Larry Neal and · . 358 . :-:1);·,;:~;).;;:;' ti ,:-. : i �bibliophile society in the Netherlands brought out Puzzles. free-verse and maintains "great economy of phrase." He usually writes in His poetry surveys the whole of the human experience but most of it carries either a racial or a folksy riote. There is also cynicism and skepticism of the sort found in Fenton Johnson, McKay, Cullen and Hrone. Heavily influenced , by Hughes, Cuney' s early work depicts fi.-ank pictures of Black 'and general life and often uses the plain, direct folk spee~h as a major vehicle. This trend is seen in poems like "Hard Times Blues," "Cruci.:.. fixion," "Troubled Jesus," and "Burial of the Young Love." Though his poems were published in several magazines and anthologies of the era, his "No Images"-...:which won 'the Opportunity prize--ties in with a general poetic theme of the renaissance: that Black beauty and creativity are too good to flourish in the decadence of Western civilization. The Black woman in Cuney's poem is similar to the Harlem Negro of Helene Johnson's poem, the dancer of McKay's "Harlem Dancer," the ravished and tormented narrator in Cullen's "Heritage," and the split personality in Toomer's "Kabnis" (Cane): they all seek to be whole in a world that denies and carica- tures their humanity. Cuney's woman figure -: • thinks her brown body Has no glory. But if she had an opportunity to dance as her natural self--"naked" perhaps--in her natural habitat--Africa--where her "image would be reflected by the river; · then she would "know" how beautiful she is. But civilization corrodes the idea of trees and naturalness and, consequently, deprives Blacks of their own beauty and their healthy self-image: And dishwater gives back no images. ·.•., / Dishwater is :a . kind ·of · death--a spiritual and moral death--for Cuney whose work ·.:,. Gil Scott-Heron are only three of the never poetic talents nurtured at .,,J ,, :: '. ' • Li~~.::.:·,\·:; : . . / ;•:>:✓:\> •·•r·, .~ , .: .. :.- .. · . . ~·~' ~ r .. ;, •.. ;" ,; ~ • '3 ·~~ I, I �shows him to be preoccupied with death. Several of his poems ("Threnody',-'' "The Death Bed," "Crucifixion," "Burial of the Young," "Finis" and "Dust") react to, anticipate or contemplate death. For Cuney, who seems to place a strong trust in the folkways, there is an irony in the fact that the God who protects the oppressors is also expected to protect the oppressed. This particular brand of Black cyni- cism makes it most dramatic debut with Dunbar and remains a dominant theme in Black poetry up until this very day. In "The Death Bed" the dying man sends all the praying "kin-folk" away from his bed. The praying ones, of course, think this is strange and continue praying against his will in a room accross the hall. Failing in an attempt to sing a final song, the dying man lapses back and, knowing death is iminent, wonders What it was they cound be saying. "Hard Times Blues" is a protest song-poem which talks about drought, hunger, depression and general bad times in the South. The refrain contains this paradoxical plea-assertion: Great-God-Amighty Folks feeling bad, Lost all they ever had. The indirect association of God with the misery coupled with an oblique prayer for help is different indeed--though its antecedents can clearly be seen in the coded Spirituals, blues, jokes, and oral epics of the folk. A similar paradox and irony is contained in "My Lord, What a Morning" where the speaker is ecstatic over "black" Jack Johnson's defeat of "white" Jim Jeffries. Admitting to the "Lord" that "Fighting is wrong," the speaker nevertheless exclaims: But what an uppercut. Making God a colloquial person--Black, that is--in several of his poems, Cuney 360 '' �recalls Johnson's feat in God's Trombones where God is likened to a ''mammy." Another important later achievement of Cuney's is "Charles Parker, 1925-1955." The legendary jazz musician is given credit for reshaping the blues idiom in music--and hence revitalizing the Black aesthetic. The poem is made up of lines of one-three words and includes phonetic renderings of saxophone sounds. And . throughout the piece, the reader is advised to "listen." Lewis Alexander apparently also wants us to "listen" to his "Enchantment" which embodies, again, the theme of the exotic and beautiful AfriGan. the "body smiling with black beauty" is wearing "African moonlight." divides his poem into two sections: the "Medicine Dance." This time Alexander "Part I" which is "Night" and "Part II," Part one gives the setting, moonlight in Africa, juice gushing from over-ripe fruit, palm trees, silence. In Part II the medicine dancer is placed in relief against the "grotesque hyena-faced monster" who (seeming to represent whites) is driven back into the "wilderness" by his own fear and the spell cast on him by the medicine dancer. The poem is in free-verse and features several exclamation marks and single-word lines. Typographically, the poem works well with its depiction of dancing, mystery, suspense, fright · and ,. anticipation. There is a quickening here, a stalking there, finally a resolution and the black body now dances with "delight" as Terror reigns like a new crowned queen. Alexander was born in Washington, D.C., educated in public schools, including the celebrated Dunbar High, and attended Howard University. His interests somewhat paralleled those of Cuney and Donald Jeffrey Hayes and he acted in the Ethiopian Art Theatre Company; for a while he was a member of the Playwriters' Circle and the Ira Aldridge Players. Many of the major themes and experimental techniques of the renaissance can be found in Alexander's poetry. 361 Examination of the Black �. anatomy to nature. Hughes says the faces, eyes and souls of "my people" are beautiful like the night, stars and sun. Alexander finds, on the other hand, that the heavy hanging sky, the curved scars of the moon, the twinkly of stars and the trembling earth, all parallel the Negro woman's burdensome hair, wrinkled brow, tears flowing from "an aging hurt," and eye-lids quivering and cupping tears. For Hughes nature is a partner to Black beauty; for Alexander it is a companion to agony, suffering and historical pain. possibilities of color and shade symbolism. when night falls black." Alexander also probes the "Dream Song" advises one to "dream In "Nocturne Varial" shadow (Blacks) becomes light (beautiful, aware) and the deeper the Blackness gets (spreads its influence) the more changes (the greater the impact) will occur among whites. In the deepest core of the night, "Each note is a star" but the light emitted from that darkness is not blinding. Then, after this searching contrast and overlay of what painters call chiaroscuro, we are told that: ·I came as a shadow, To dazzle your night. The idea of transfiguration and change weighs heavily upon Alexander's poetry. ' Significant changes occur in "Negro Woman," "Enchantment," "Nocturne Varial" . and "Transformation." After having arrived as a "shadow" in "Nocturne Varial" the poet (or the persona "I") decides to "return" a bitterness that has gone through the wash of tears. through the years." The bitterness becomes "loveliness" which has been "garnished Announcing that the bitterness has been worn from the taste of the past, Alexander implies here, as he does in other poems, that he is a forgiving person. Indeed he may be saying that Blacks will hold no hatred . (for whites) or desire for retribution. Alexander's poetry is concise and neat, mostly 362 ' ,, �in free-verse and conventional language. Neat also is the only anthologized poem by Lucy Ariel Williams Holloway. Found in Caroling Dusk (Cullen), The Poetry of The Negro (Hughes and Bontemps) and Johnson's The Book of American Negro Poetry, "Northboun'" garnered the coveted Opportunity poetry prize in 1926. We mention it because it shows great talent and feel in the employment of Black southern speech and it embodies not only period but historical concerns of Blacks. The world is neither flat nor round, the poet tells us: H'it's one long strip Hangin' up an' down-and there's only "Souf an' Norf." The foregoing is part of the chorus in this song-poem which comically predicts how people "all 'ud fall" if the world "wuz jes' a ball." For those who brag about the city seen by Saint John, Lucy Holloway challenges them to see Saginaw. Opportunities for Blacks are good in Saginaw (heaven) and pretty women are plentiful. The poem restates the belief (developed during slavery and abolition efforts) that the North is heaven compared to the South (hell). Lucy Holloway emotionally chronicles the feelings, anticipations and oral narratives connected with "moving north." \ Such a preoccupation can be seen throughout the literature of the period, in the stories, the poems, the plays, the novels, the articles and the songs. Finally, Miss Holloway tells us what Hughes, Ellison, Baldwin, Claude Brown and Sterling Plumpp would refute: Since Norf is up, An' Souf is down, An' Hebben is up, I'm upward boun'. 363 �Lucy Holloway's poem is interesting for another reason: coming, as it did, at the thrust of the renaissance, it represented a throwback to the dialect and minstrel traditions which most of the New Negro writers were trying to break. And although Johnson (James) and Hughes worked in dialect, their major efforts were decidedly different from those of the Dunbar school. Reading Miss Holloway's poem, however, one is immediately reminded of Dunbar, Campbell, Corrothers and Daniel Webster Davis. Yet, a final reason for using the example of Lucy Holloway is to lead into at least a partial listing of the poets who published in magazines, regional anthologies and newspapers during the Harlem Renaissance and afterwards. among the dozens of lesser and unknown poets we mention the following: From Gladys May Casely Hayford (born in West Africa), Allison Davis, Esther Popel Shaw, J. Mason Brewer (Negrito), Kenneth W. Porter, Harvey M. Williamson, Otto Leland Bohanon, Eleanor Graham Nichols, Corrinne E. Lewis, Mary Effie Lee, Edward Garnett Riley, Albert Rice (a member of Georgia Douglas Johnson's writing workshop), • Carrie W. Clifford (The Widening Light, 1922), Marcus B. Christian, Winston Allen, Mae V. Cowdery, Tilford Jones, Adeline Carter Watson, Will Sexton and Edward Silvera. Some of these occasional and newspaper poets made temporary "splashes" and moved on. Mae V. Cowdery won a Crisis poetry prize in 1927 and published a volume of her poetry in the thirties. and Silvera are the most important. Of this group of poets, however, Christian Christian (1900-) was born in Houma, Louisiana, and primarily self-educated. For a while he served as supervisor of the Dillard University Negro History Unit of the Federal Writers' Project. He later re ·c ceived a Julius Rosenwald Fellowship to complete an historical study begun on the project before going to work in the Dillard Library. His poems --1 ·.r.7•t. : . ' '- f )-, .:: !: .:: ':<' , ; 364 . 1.n~f':1!~i . �appeared in various anthologies and magazines. And his available work has both general and racial flavor and shows him to be a skilled word-handler. Craftsman" is about artistic excellence. The artist--presumably the poet--must work with "consummate care" and be "free of flaws." above everything else. ever. "The This is so because art is The poet knows that if he writes well, he "lives" for- Christian employs a form--the sonnet--that is consistent with his high calling. Another sonnet, "McDonogh Day in New Orleans," is a celebration of the beauty of Blackness. Detailing the difficulty a poor Black girl h~s in trying to get the kind of clothes she needs, Christian finally has her attired "Like some dark princess" wearing "blue larkspur" coupled with "yellow marigold." True, she looks good going to school But few would know--or even guess this fact: How dear comes beauty when a skin is black. Silvera (1906-1937) lived a productive, if tragically short, life. He was born in Jacksonville, Florida, attended local public schools and graduated from Orange High; he then went to Lincoln University in Pennsylvania where he participated in sports and wrote poetry, some of which was included in Four Lincoln Poets (1930). His poetry also appeared in magazines and anthologies. Much of Silvera's poetry is quiet and sparse--reminiscent of Cuney, his friend, Horne, and many of the introspective poets of the period. of renaissance poetry. But his work does carry the prevailing themes "Jungle Taste," for example, celebrates the Africa of old-- Africa before the appearance of the "civilization" Fenton Johnson doncemns. The "Coarseness" in the "songs of black men" does not sound "strange" to Silvera. Neither does the "beauty" in the "faces of black women" seem unusual. men alone can "see" this "dark hidden beauty." Yet Black In "Forgotten Dreams" only a "heap" of entangled thread now lies where once a beautiful dream had been spun. Here, . ii{ .· :,;,,."· ;_:,.> . ·. .',· ;·;.;( '.,: • 365 . . l . 1.-,...-,.,..-~; ·~\4·, .~- �Silvera seems to be lamenting the loss of something--maybe viewing his approaching death. Likewise, in another poem, "On the Death of A Child," he again uses the "spun" image. The child comes without a "voice" to announce its arrival. lark sings, but "shadows" have already "foretold" that death is near. had been "spun" and the end comes. Hughes and Bontemps anthologies. The The "shroud" Silvera's and Christian's works appear in the Silvera's poetry also appears in Kerlin's Negro Poets and Their Poems. The dominant themes in poetry of the Harlem Renaissance--cultural reclamation, stylistic experimentation, romantic engagement with Africa, a presentation of the rawness of Black life--can also be found in the fiction, drama, painting, music, criticism, and belles lettres of the period. is Locke's The New Negro. The best documentation of th~se items But we ought to mention some of the major names in prose (fiction and non-fiction), many of whom also wrote poetry: Jean Toomer, Eric Walrond, Jessie Redmond Fauset, Rudolph Fisher, Nella Larson, Zora Neal Hurston, McKay, Hughes, Cullen, Walter White, W.E.B. DuBois, Charles S. Johnson, Carter G. Woodson, Bruce Nugent, John Matheus, Cecil Blue, Montgomery Gregory, Arthur Huff Fauset, James Weldon Johnson, E. Franklin Frazier and Arthur A. Schomburg. D. Renaissance Fallout: Negritude Poets and Pan-African Writing Claude McKay's influence, as a novelist (Banjo), on leaders of African nationalism has already been noted. kind, nor the last. But McKay's impact was not the first of its During the 18th and 19th centuries, Africans in the Western Hemisphere had exchanged ideas and made pacts with each other and with their fellows of color in Africa. In Chapter III we noted this pervasive influence as seen in documents, the establishment of African societies and the African Methodist Episcopal 366 �Church, the founding of Liberia, and the daring and courageous example of the West African Cinque. We also noted the arrival in the United States of a number of West Indian, Caribbean and South American Blacks--a flow that has remained . I unabated up until this very day. We call immediately to mind such names as John · Russwurm, Marcus Garvey, McKay, and Stokely Carmichael. The poet John Boyd, dis- cussed in Chapter III, was a Bahamian. It was during the 1920's, however, that the Pan-African flavor was most dramatically and . thoroughly demonstrated. Garvey's Universal Negro Improvement .. r • Association which claimed thousands of followers and members, was in full swing by the time of the Harlem Renaissance. DuBois was the driving force behind four Pan-African Congresses which met successively between 1919 and 1927 (in Paris, London and New York). And the predominant themes in renaissance literature were reclamation of the African heritage and celebration of the beauties and talents of African peoples. Consistent with our study, however, is a consideration of one of the most important spin-outs from the Harlem Renaissance: the Negritude school of poets in- eluding Martinique, Capetown, Paris, Dakar and Algiers. As natives of French- controlled colonies, these young Black students and intellectuals were trained in French schools and shared dual citizenships. (This practice represents a throwback to the Creole poets, many of whom were educated in France.) the Negritude poets' activities here. But we only summarize Chief among them are Aim~ C~saire (1913-) I • I I of Martinique, Leon Damas (1912-) of French Guiana, and Leopold Sedar Senghor (1906-) of Senegal. More information, including examples of Negritude poetry, can be found in Jean-Paul Sarte's "Orphee Nair" ("Black Orpheus") which prefaced I I Leopold Sedar Senghor's anthology of African and West Indian poets: I I Anthologie de la nouvelle poesie negre et malgache de lingue francais (Paris, 1948). I . Although , • ;11 ~· .-. · .>:, ·;. :· . '. . ~;.. . u.,~"4i.11~J<r ., ." : ... · . ' • 367 ,l··:, . -....... ,.,;,:: ; . . , ,'· ; • , ;· .,. . +i, ;}(~/::·,)': :,;st•".~ �the important preface has appeared in various hard~to-get translations, it appeared in book form for the first time in C.W.E. Bigsby's The ·-Black American Writer, Volume II: Poetry and Drama (1971). For further study see the works ' ' of Franz Fanon, writings of Senghor (see also, Leopold Sedar Senghor and the.. Politics of Negritude, Irving L. Markovitz, 1969), and the numerous anthologies of African poetry by Langston Hughes, Keorapetse Kgositsile, Wilfred Cartey, Rainer Schulte and Quincy Troupe, and Mercer Cook and Stephen Henderson's The Militant Black Writer in Africa and the United States (1969). Negritude has been eloquently and illustratively defined by Satre, Senghor, Cook, Paul Vesey (Samuel Allen) and others. The term (roughly corresponding to • Black American Soul) refers to the mystique of Blackness which pervades the thought, actions, creativity and general life-style of some Africans. Senghor calls it a philosophy of humanism; Vesey finds elements of it in the Afro-American church and in the works of artists such as Baldwin and Ellison; Sartre notes that "From Haiti to Cayenne, there is a single idea: is evangelic, it announces good news: reveal the black soul~ Black poetry Blackness has been rediscovered." The . first creative work to emerge from this French-speaking sector of renaissance influence was L~on Damas' Pigments (1937). Like the other works , that followed~ Pigments extolled Black beauty and lamented Black suffering. The influence of . Langston Hughes is more evident in Damas than in other Negritude poets. Damas, freely admits in conversation that he (and his compatriots) owes much to Hughes who offered prizes to African writers and helped expose African literature to the world. Pigments heralded the arrival of Negritude. Its style, reminiscent of Hughes, is "sharp, slangy, tense and fast-moving" and was revolutionary to French poetry when it appeared. ' ' published Cahier d'un retour au pays natal Cesaire (Return to My Native Land) in 1938. Senghor has published Chants d'ombres (Song ;i:•--:-·, • 368 . ·:}\:;?.;,: {: ' ; :,f) ~-:;_ :r /;/ ':i. '' ' >,.\ -1~·.•· ~~'"·..-·,,it <,·; ,·. . 1,-~ : .:.,~j' \~-~:.:,~fr-~:•' .·. .,,. .J ;t,·t:•~ 1,lt.it~- ·, , ·£1~f;i; •C �of Shadows, 1949), Hosties Noires (Black Victims, 1948), Chants pour Naett (Songs ' Both Cesaire and for Naett, 1949), Ethiopiques (1959) and Nocturnes (1961). Senghor have been heavily influenced by jazz, blues and poetry of Harlem. Ex- posed to these forms in the salons of Madamoiselle Nardal between 1929 and 1934, they found Afro-American expression liberating and "fertilizing." Rene' Maran afforded them similar exposure after 1935.) (The salons of Also contributing to this convergence were the efforts of Mercer Cook who, as statesman and scholar, played an important part in bringing the works of Black Americans to their African and Caribbean contemporaries. Senghor's great poem about New York has immediate ties to both the renaissance and the impact of Harlem on him. As in many of his poems, For "New York" Senghor designates the instrument(s) to accompany the piece. he chooses "Jazz Orchestra: solo trumpet." New York's beauty at first "confused" Senghor, but after a couple of weeks in that city one grows accustomed to buying "artificial hearts." He is ecstatic about Harlem Harlem! I have seen Harlem Harlem! ••• Senghor writes of the African landscape, warriors, love and his admiration for Black women. As president of Senegal, he presided over the First World Festival of Negro ARts, held in Dakar in 1966. Damas deals with problems of color and ·class in his poetry and defines Negritude in a series of rolling, vigorous stanzas in free-verse. I t His other collections of poems include Poemes negres sur des airs africains (1948), Graffiti (1952), Black-Label (1956) and Nevralgies (1965?). Like other Negritude poets, Damas read the poetry of the Harlem Renaissance. Critics seem to agree, however, that the Africans and Caribbean poets surpassed their American brothers and sisters. in the following titles: "Almost White." "Enough," Damas' cynicism and irony can be detected "s.o.s.," "Position," "Good Breeding," and Damas satirizes the Black middle-class and the Black habit of 369 �straightening hair and using bleaching creams. Similar themes can be found in . ' . who also employs free-verse and makes great use of irony. the poetry of Cesaire Return to My Native Land catalogs all the scientific things that Blacks have not invented, but later gives them credit for being the backbone of human existence. ' Cesaire has served as mayor of Fort de France and a deputy to the French National Assembly, representing the independent revolutionary party of Martinique. He quit the French Communist Party in the 1950's and has since been active in African nationalism. His other collections of poetry are Les Armes miraculeuses (1946), I Soleil cou coupe (1948), Corps perdu (1950) and Ferrements (1960). I I Cesaire, Damas and Senghor have also written drama (mostly about Black historical figures) and essays on Negritude and Pan-African liberation. I Damas is currently living in Washington, D.C. where he teaches literature at Howard University and Federal City College. The Negritude Movement in poetry--best recorded in Satre's articles and in Norman S. Shapiro's Negritude: Black Poetry from Africa and The Caribbean (1970)--encompassed several other important Black areas and figures: Ernest Alima (Cameroon), Joseph Miezan Bognini and Bernard Dadi~ (Ivory Coast), Jean-Fernand I Brierre and Rene Depestre (Haiti), Siriman Cissoko (Mali), David Diop (Senegal, a ~ I ' great poet killed in an airplane crash in 1956), Jocelyne Etienne and Guy Tirolien (Guadeloupe), Camara Laye (Guinea) and Emile-Desire Ologoudou (Dahomey), to name just a few. The Harlem Renaissance and the subsequent concept of Negritude influenced these poets in various ways and to greater or lesser degrees. But the influence is there. Thematically, emotionally and politically the poets bear greater resemblance to Afro-Americans than in their styles and techniques. This interchange among writers and thinkers of the Black world has continued to its current rich and important tide (more on this in Chapter VI). 370 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Eugene B. Redmond Digital Collection Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document Text Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context EBRWritings_08_06 Title A name given to the resource Copy of Drumvoices: The Mission of Afro-American Poetry: A Critical History, Section III. The Poets and Their Totem, p. 281-370 Relation A related resource Eugene B. Redmond Digital Collection Language A language of the resource English Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource For digital rights and permissions, see <a href="https://www.siue.edu/lovejoy-library/about/policies.shtml">https://www.siue.edu/lovejoy-library/about/policies.shtml</a> or contact <a href="mailto:library@siue.edu">library@siue.edu</a> for direct inquiries. In copyright. <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/</a> Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Redmond, Eugene B. https://digitallis.isg.siue.edu/files/original/64318c543bb05055901e351569ef6239.pdf 95611c7541c5d2f15765801f175c3872 PDF Text Text I ' INTRODUCTION CHAPTER I .BLACK POETRY: II ... VIEWS, VISIONS, CONFLICTS the double obligation of being both Negro and American is not so unified as we are often led to believe." Countee Cullen .\ I During the last decade, Black American poetry emer~ from its assigned position as an illegitimate--sometimes embarrassing--child of American literature to an official .flower in the garden of world writing . Everywhere, on all ·... . ·, continents, Black poetry is vigorously read, listened to·· an~ s'ometimes imitated. "Often imitated but never duplicated~ ... J~-; . ',,. ., ' ' s. , .. ' ' qµip the disc jockeys on Black-oriented radio stations--as~~~ . ,, :u ,, ~1 -'. ., their listeners that the "soul" or rrheirloom" of their trad1t1"' 1s alive, well, and locked in ancestral safe-deposit boxes~. .·.\\ · .t\ . However, a silent reading of the DJ 1 s casually delivered qu.1~_._; t belies the charismatic power and verbal dexterousness in it is said. ./, "hdw " But, the "how" is always important in Black po~t ' and it will be one of the cornerstones in the discussion~ will follow. • To say that Black poetry is read and heard all over the .. •'· .. "" world is not to say that it is studied in equitable proport1cf .. , •,, to other kinds of poetry. Indeed the current rash of apthoi ; _•: ogies, individual ~ollections, and the re-issuing of published volumes, suggest that a literary vacuum of l �' proportions has existed. The ru ~11 :, ·.. ~ 1: ,: t ! t ·! , . aouplod Vl th the appearance of new Black puJ,1 1:Jii i:. r \.r' u""" • -:a~ I th l a vacuum glaringly, paradoxical l:r 01 ) ·1 poetry (or Black literature) coursl"!:-: ~!' 1) ot 81.a'ok • l' ':") ,o 11l •n.-ne 01~:; . '". ~~r. ,: !1n', d r r eats at predominantly white college s and pu :: 1 tc ocLoolo la lpo 1- , nously aided and abetted b y the cu l pa hl o nel1;enc at . . rt7 predominantly Black learning center s --wh l c'·. ofton r llrlo111ly place Walt Whitman over Paul Lawrence Dun t ar. ,,· . B. Yoa ta and T.S. Eliot over Jean Toomer and Melvin B. To l s on, Rohert Prost ' and Carl Sandburg over Owen Dodson and Robe 2· t !!a:,clon , Gnd Marianne Moore and Edith Sitwell over Gwenrl ol y n B:rooka and Margaret Walker. -: One could go on, of course, reciting the cultural and literary negli gence so officially a part academic and grants-in-aid scenes. or t he The purpose here, howe ver, is to explore, with teacher, student and lay man, the vast richness of Black poetical and mythical life. t II The study or teaching of Black poetry presents many frustrations, challenges and problems. Instructors preparing themselves to teach the subject must be aware of the many pitfalls, not least among them being the tendency of teacher and student alike to stray from the study of tbe poetry into political and rhetorical catharses. "Black" is a political work in the United States--and in most or the world--and to study or tea.ch anything "Black" is to become embroiled in 2 ' �controversy and burdened with sociopolitical stress. That thin line between the ideological implications of a poem and those "trials scenes" so many classrooms and groups find themselves victims of is a line walked by all teachers and students of the Black Experience. In approaching Black poetry, then, one must "set" the atmosphere by dealing, from the outset, with substantive background materials. By "substantive" I mean the deepest philosophical, religious, ethical, artistic and cosmological tenets of Black life and expression. Thus a further intent of this handbook is to examine the scope and range of Black poetry via folk origins, methods of delivery, language, phonology, religiosity, racial character, recurring themes, individual and group identity, and poetic devices as they are developed indigenously or borrowed from other poetic traditions. III Like all bodies of writing, Black literature stems from a folkloristic trunk, making the job of teacher or student twofold: one) to deal with the great and complex storehouse of folk materials and themes; and two) to explore the chronological development of Black poetr~--from about 1746 to the present. There a.re harmless differences among scholars over just where to start the study of Black written poetry. For example, in The Poetry of the Negro, Hughes and Bontemps begin with Lucy Terry's "Bars Fight," the account of an Indian massacre in Deerfield, Mass., in 1746. The Negro Caravan (an inclusive • 3 �anthology edited by Brown, Davis and Lee) omits the Terry poem. Caravan was first issued in 1941 while the poetry anthology was published in 1949. The former begins its poetry section with Phillis Wheatley who first published poetry in 1770. Also omitted from Caravan is the work of Jupiter Hammon whose poetry was published in broadside in 1760. In Calvacade (Negro American Writing from 1760 to the Present), published in 1970 and edited by Davis and Redding, neither Terry nor Hammon appear and the poetry section begins with Phillis Wheatley. Early Black American Poets (Robinson) acknowledges Terry but Johnson's The Book of American Negro Poetry opens with Dunbar. Kerlin's Negro Poets and their Poems (1923) makes no mention of either 11 Bar's Fight" or its author; but Dudley Randall's The Black Poets (1971) does include the poem. This is only a random survey from the dozens of general and specialized anthologies. However, it seems that many teachers of Black poetry begin with Phillis Wheatley despite the fact that at least two Black poets were writing before her. Each one of these earlier poets was a slave, privileged by masters and taught (or allowed to learn) to read and write. Generally, they were spared the sustained hardships experienced by the majority of their brothers a~d sisters of color. But more will be said of them in Chapter III. In preparing this outline, I have allowed that some enthusiasts will want to cover the full history and range of Black poetry while others may be interested in periods or 4 �regions. I have also assumed that many persons will want to move systematically through the poetry--establishing some sense of historical development and tradition in Black history, Black music, and the broad web Black culture in general. Hence, one of the main ingredients of this outline--as we move from chapter to chapter--will be the study of related and integral forms of expression such as folksongs, spirituals, blues, jazz, rhythm & blues and what is known today as soul music; As stated earlier, however, the Black Experience is complex and frustrating. 1 At each juncture in the study of the poetry, for example, one teaching it will meet difficulties which may at first seem insurmountable. Some of these difficulties will be presented in familiar questions: Is a poet considered Black if' he writes consistently--or tempora.rily--out of the "white" experience? 1. Can a Black poet really record Black experiences Most attempts to define the Black Experience have failed. And though I am dealing primarily with Black (North) American poetry, there will be references to other parts of the Black World. When one considers the cross-fertilization of folk and literary culture in this country, together with the existence of' hybrid cultures all over Latin America and other parts of' the world, the term "Black Experience" does indeed rebel against def'inition. It is hoped, however, that through continual return to the idea of the Black Experience (and discussion of Black lif'e), the complexity and range of the term can be appreciated · (also see bibliography). 5 �and feelings in English? Can a white poet write a Black poem (like the white musician who has developed a "feel" for Black music and has le arned to master t h e technical vocabulary of that music)? Can white people "understand" Black poetry? Should white critics of Black poetry be taken seriously? 2 Black poetry primarily emotion and lacking in intellect? there a Black Aesth etic? poetry? Is Is Can a wh ite professor teach Black How does Black Language differ fro m white ianguage or English? And does Black poetry ex press the universal human condition? Black and white students will ask t h ese questions (of themselves, each other, and teacher), indicating that they want more realistic and direct answers to some of the in-house issues which have consumed Black activists, artists, academicians, and white scholars of the Black Exper i ence. The Black and white teacher confronting a racially- mixed class, an all-Black class or an all white class, will sometimes confront a distressing panorama of anger, rejection, fear, condescension, accusation, anti-intellectualism, intellectual snobb ishness, racism, distrust--and any number of oth er combustions of t he contemporary student personality. The Black poets do not make burdens lighter since they, critically an« t h ematically, are dispersed along a boundless spectrum of opinions, attitudes, creative 2. For a balanced discussion of t h is and related subjects, see Mphahlele's Voices in the Whirlwind. 6 �approaches, ideologies, teclrniques and literary ph i losophies. The teacher or student preparin~ for either a semester or year-long course (or for a "Black" unit to be integrated into a Humanities course, an American literature course, or a Black interdisciplinary project) should be come steeped in the literature and lore of the Black past in order to g ive tentative answers and carry on adequate discussions when questions such as those above arise. After J.J aving 1::ieen exposed to ~lack poets of national statute--via television pro grar.;s su cb as Soul and Black Journal, at campus reatlincs and conferences, Black Arts f es ti vals and co!:it::un:L t y book parties- - ti1an:r students (es pe cially Black students) ma:r be informed, at t he popu lar level, about the opinions and reading styles of t1.10 poets. However, neither student nor teacher must--and t his point t as to be stressed again and again--succumb to tbe temptation to "skip all poetry up until 1965." IV True, there is e;re at and growlnc interest in the Black poetry produced out of wbat has been variousl:r called the Black Consciousness/Black Power/Black Hatio ~allst /Black Arts/Neo-PanAfrican Movement. Yet one who defies the Black (or any) tradition will find himself engulfed in a ma~~strom of conjecture and ideological hysteria; and tbe class, whose posture will be anti-historical, will be riddled with soap opera-type rhetoric about revolution and liberation and will s mack, again, o:f anti-intellectualism. Harold Cruse (The Crisis o:f the Negro 7 �Intellectual) points out that each generation of Black artists and activists suffers from a lack of historical/cultural tinuity. con- That is, they fail to study (or are unaware of) the mistakes and the pitfalls of past struggles and consequently find themselves in predicaments not dissimilar to those of their predecessors. Needless to say, such 11 cultura.l amnesia" is not the state from which one approaches the study of Black poetry. As observed earlier, the poets are not in agreement concerning what Black poetry is supposed to do, why it is written or whether whites can (or should) write or criticize it. 3 Reasons for the diverse beliefs and positions are numerous: the situation attending the birth and upbringing of the poet (note, for example, the distinctions between Claude McKay and Countee Cullen); his religious affiliation (Robert Hayden is of the f Baha'i faith; Askia Muhammad Toure is a Sunni Muslim; El-Muhajir 3. An important point at this juncture of Black poetry. For there is growing feeling among some poets and writers (many of who will not express themselves in public) that there are concerted attempts to muzzle, circumvent or circumscribe some authors because of their personal political view points or their brand of writing. For further allusion to this, see back issues of the Journal of Black Poetry, Black World, and other periodicals dealing with the contemporary Black Arts scene. 8 �(Marvin X) is a member of the Nation of Islam (common called Black Muslims); K. Curtis Lyle was raised in the Catholic church; Sonia Sanchez expouses an Islamic position); his political leaning {which, in the case of many writers, is also religious); his preparation for poetry (did he go to a well-known writers school, pick his talent up via individual study or apprentice under another writer); bis associations with o:l:iher poets (many Black poets, for example, hobnob (and this is historically true) with writers of other races; I met one Black poet in 1970 who bad two masters' de grees but had not heard o:f · Melvin Beaunorus Tolson!--a Black poet praised b y the white literary establishment as having b ested Eliot, Pound, Stevens and company in his technical virtuosity ); l1 is current personal situation (does he live in the inner city? teach? time? play a musical instrument? write full write in other z;enres? read primarily Black poets?), and h is feelings on the question: "Are you a poet first and then Black; or are .you Black first and then a poet?" Harmless as it may seem, that rhetorical utter has entrapped scores of Black writers in ideolog ical and political prisons-from which some would like to extricate t e em.selves by asking simply: "What difference does it make?" For the many poets, however, it matters a great deal and they have written profusely on the implications of this question and the several others listed earlier. Th e teacher or discussion leader must sample opinions of writers and students, sharing the diversity of opinions with the same vigor a.nd thoroughness that 9 �the diverse creative works are shared. Such parity allows for a continual balance in criticism, social undercurrents and the poems themselves. be illustrative. Perhaps some examples here would Novelist Ralph Ellison has suggested that he is a writer first and that bis racial identity is subordinate to that fact. Poet Robert Hayden has taken a similar stand (see introduction to Kaleidoscope, Poems by American Negro Poets, 1967). The same position had been taken several decades earlier by poet Countee Cullen. In his critical- biographical introduction to Cullen's poetry (The Book of American Negro Poetry, 1922), James Weldon Johnson observed that: Some critics have ventured to state that Cullen is not an authentic Ne gro poet. This statement, of necessity, involves a definition of "a Negro poet" and of "Negro Poetry." There might be several definitions framed, but the question raised is pure irrelevance. Also there is in it a faint flare-up of the old taboo which would object to the use of "white" material by the Negro artist, or at least regard it with indulgent condescension. Cu~len himself has declared that, in the sense of wishing for consideration or allowances on account of race or of recognizing for himself any limitation to '~acial" themes and forms, he has no desire 10 I , I �or intention of being a Ne gro poet. I n t h is he is not only within his ri gh t; h e is ri gh t. (italics mine) Johnson went on to note that b ecause Cullen "rev olts a gainst" racial enclosures, the race." 11 best of h is poetry is motivated by One could make a similar comment today about Ellison or Hayden. The works for wh ich both are internationally acclaimed delve into t he deepest re g ions of the Black man's psyche and feelin gs. Meanwhile some y ounger poets--those who gained exposure in the 1960's--and several poets and critics who straddle both generations lash out, sometimes not so diplomatically, at what tbey see as compe ns atory actions and unnecessary self-deprecation by the older poets. Pulitzer Prize winner Gwendolyn Brooks said in a preface to Poems From Prison that Eth erid ge Kni c;h t was not t b e 11 stifled artiste. 11 The comment represented an i mpli ed rebutt a l to Black and white "academic II poets. 11 Elsewh ere }Iiss Broo ks ref erred to the inelegance 11 of some Black poetry as be ing c onsistent with the bleak, drab landsca pe of h opelessness and despair felt by some inner-city dwel l ers. (Otb er cr i t i cs, h owever, support the position of poet-critic Larry Ne a l t bat t lrn Black Experience should not be defined i n terms of "nee;ati ves. ") During t h e late Sixties, Miss Brooks became a kind of matr iarch of the New Blac k Poetry TToveLlen t (at least in Chi cac o), ceased pub lishing with Earper and Ro-:-J , a nd ~) ee:an to r e l ease h er writings t l~,rongh Br oad 3ide Pre ss --a new De tr oit - bas ed Bl ac k publish ing I 11 , .: 1 �house under the supervision of Dudley Randall, a poet, librarian, critic and translator. Miss Brooks' new con- sciousness, she declares, came ab out as a result of having attended a Black writers conference in 1968 at Fisk University where she heard and mixed with poets Ima.mu Amiri B_a rake. (LeRoi Jones), Don L. Lee, Nikki Giovanni, novelist Joh n Oliver Killens, and a host of other writers, activists and artists. The violent social explosions in the cities, the Vietnam war that took so many Black lives and crippled so many others, the persistent emergence or Africa--all, Miss Brooks said, aided in the development of her new consciousness. She has wr1 tten that it "rrightens" her to t h ink that if she had died before she reached rirty, "I would have died a 'Negro' rraction." Hayden, disclaiming the Gwendolyn Brooks' position, assumes he has been 'Black' all along and continues to reject any singular, unarguable position on the Black Aesthetic, or the poet-first, Black-second/Black-first, poet-second controversy. Assessing Bar a ka, Hayde n admits t h at h e reco gnizes the younger poet's power but deplores "his Black nazism. 11 J. Saunders Redding, a dean or the Black critical establishment, feels there is no such thing n.s a. "Black Aesthetic"; Poet Paul Vesey (formerly Samuel Allen) calls it "a voyage or discovery--! think it will y ield return not as greatly as in music, perhaps, where t h e blac k aesth etic dominates an entire cultural area of the west. 12 11 Hany poets and critics, �on tbe other band, i gnore questions dealing wit h aesthetics, tbe level of Blackness in t heir work, to wh om t hey direct their poems, and out of what mood or spirit they write. At the same time there are trends, some re gional and some national, that teachers and students can identify . Needless to say, identifying and exploring these trends is i mmensely rewarding . Some prerequisites to an understanding of trends and attitudes that stem from tbe on- going creati ve process, including tbe poets' knowledge of t heir own as well as the general literary tradition are: a study of slavery, as it was instituted by Europe and refined in t h e United States; an examination of Black social h istory , a nd a scrutiny of West Ai'rican and Afro-American folklore. The t h orough teacher or student of Blac k poetry will want to steep himself in the history of Western Civilization; b e will also develop an appreciation for the complex weh of Blac k -wh ite interrelationsjips in America, and prepare to nav i gate t h e often tense-filled readings and discussions. V Slavery is not the most pleasant situation to explore; and investi gators of Black poetry qu ickly notice t h at practically every poet writes about l y nchings--especially poets writing after the Civil 1--J'ar. Th ose poets wl~ o do not deal with actual lynchings, as we have come to kn ow or interpret them, deal with half-lynchings, character or cultural defilement and the 13 �mental and physical destruction of Black humanity . If a. discussion of slavery is unpleasant, t hen, a consideration of lynching is horrifying. However, skilled teachers and students will maneuver judiciously through t h e rou gh waters of such sessions--keeping emotional deluges to a minimum by admitting facts and clear interpretations. Durinc such occasions, everyone must be on guard less the classroom becomes a courtroom. At the same time, a convener wh o cannot preside over vigorous and thorough discussions of tr::ese painful events and details may find himself, at later junctures, trying to bridge even wider gulfs of doubt, frustration, mistrust and alienation. Again, the teaching and studyi nc of Black poetry (or any aspect of the Black Experience) assumes t he complexities of the Black Experience itself. Ne verth eless, t h e study of Black poetry is infinitely rewarding b ecause it is a vehicle which distills the particular insight s and perspectives of Black Americans into concise and autb ent i c for ms: merging the rich rural-Biblical-ur½an idioms with colorfully luscious ir:1agery and ( in many cases) peerless teclmical proficiency in the use of literary English anc1 Uestern poetic forms. When students are confronted witb t h e various poems on lynchings, for example, study can be underscoria by an examination of language, form, posture, poetic toolery and overall achievement or effeci veness of the poems. In Richard ·wright's "Between the World and i'-Te rr the lynch ed poet becomes the persona; the oak tree narrates t he lynching in Dunbar's rrTbe Haunted Oak." 14 �Cullen speaks as "I" in "Scottsboro, Too, Is Horth Its Song" which admonishes white American poets for remaining silent over unjust treatment of Black men while tbey sing: sharp and prett:r Tunes for Sacco and Vanzetti, I said: Here too's a cause devinely spun For those whose eyes are on the sun, Here in epitome Is all disgrace And epic wrong, Like wine to brace The minstrel heart, and 'blare it into song. In McKay's "The Lynching" the killing of the Black man is made analagous to the crucifixion; a sonnet, and awesome throughout, the poem descends to its rhyming couplet with a final ghostly irony: And little lads, lynchers that were to be, Danced round the dredful thing in fiendish glee. Certainly in these poems--and tbe dozens of' otbers that employ tbe lynching therne--there is much fuel for papers, classroom discussion and teacher preparation: In the four poems mentioned, the poets span such diverse forms as tbe sonnet, the ballad (Dunbar) and free verse (Wright). Helpful in this area will be the additional inquiry, by teacher and student, into the development of white bate groups such as tbe Ku Klux Klan 1.5 �and the history of race riots in America. Riots in at least a dozen American communities in 1919, for example, helped spur McKay to write "If We Must Die", a poignant sonnet with its even more poignant and popular ending couplet-Like men we'll face the murderous, cowardly pack, Pressed to the wall, dying, but fighting backf --a poem which Winston Churchill read before the House o:f Commons, during World War II, to spark bis countrymen in the dim hours; during the 1972 prison rebellion in Attica., N".Y., journalists found the poem scribbled on the wa.11 of a cell and the national press attributed it to a prisoner! Of great assistance, too is a knowledge of tre history of' slave revolts (many Black poets write about them) and the patterns of violence in America. Attuned teachers and students will want to consult sources such as 100 Years of' Lynching ( Ginz berg ), back issues of Black and liberal white news journals and papers and especially past issues of' The Crisis, the official news and opinion arm of the National Association For The Advance ment of Colored People. The scholar, W.E.B. DuBois, one of tJ-1e first Black men to receive a Ph.D., edited The Crisis for over 20 years from its beginning in 1910. For further readings, the teacher can refer to my extensive bibliography plus appropriate sections of any of the numerous anthologies, textbooks and bibliographical sources available. VI 'While I admit that inf orma.tion and opinions contained in • 16 �this handbook reflect my own biases as a teacb er, critic, activist, and poet, the prescribed patterns for teaching and studying Black poetry are ones generally adhered to across the country. ~ne organization of any course is certain to mirror at least a minimum amount of tlJe tea.cber' s own politic al and critical biases. Consequently, when lecturing on or pre- paring curricula for Black poetry, I normally allow for a flexible outline, including options in both textbook .use and period emphasis. The same bolds true for concentration or saturation of study with regards to individual poets. Teachers, naturally, will have personal preferences; in fact, like the students, teachers may even h ave de veloped attach ~ents to specific poets, attitudes about the poets or prejudices toward poets who do not reflect what they feel is a correct posture for Black poetry. Just as there is creat and liea.lthy diversity in the poetr:r and the poets, there will be divergent attitudes and critical points of view amonG teach ers and students. Some of the differentiations will be due to a ge differences (the "generation gag"?), as is tbe case with the poets, and some will occur regardless of age. The Black or white teacher should arm J1 imself to the best of his ability with the tools of cr'l ticis m and a knowledge of Black culture. He must have some idea of what part nduality" plays in the lives of Blacks and how sucb "twoness" is manifest in Black poetry; he s h ould reco gni ze t h e key issues being raised by and debated among Black artists, sch olars and 17 �activists--and have some feel for t l1e hi s t orical circumstances out which t h ese issue s and de bates grew ; be ouc;~1 t to understand Baraka's reference to some Black noets as "inte arationists" • 0 and "art;r poets Tl; be ·will h ave to kn ow Hb at many of the Hew Black poets mean wh en t h ey say th ey r e j e c t Western "forr1s 11 and r efuse to 1.:- e j udged >y 't·J:.-~i te staiJc;_ a r d s (3 ara ka, for example, talks about post-American forms); h e will also want to recognize Black in-house humor and intraconmunal disparagement in words and phras es like "nigger,!! "ne gro," '~ncle Tom," "oreo," "colored, 11 "th e man," 11 dict y ," "bad mouth," "bust a nut," "brother," "crumbcrusbers," "mai n sque eze," and "Mr. Charley. 11 (For furth er i nd icati on of tb is dictional and pbonoloeical richness a nd t h e breadth of Blac k Lan~uage, see The Dictionary of American Slang, :Te.j or ' s D~ ctio nary of Afro-American Slo.n~, t he 11 Glossory of Selected Ter ms" in The Psychology of Black La.nguac;e (Ea.skins and Butts), Abraham's Deep Down in t'he Jungle, Andrews' a nd Owe ns' Black Language, Claerbout's Black Jar gon in Wn ite America, Twi ggs' Pan-African Language in the Uestern Hemisph ere, 1-!elmers' African Language Structures, Kochman's Rappin' and St ylin 1 Out, and Dillard's Black English. Additionally t b e teacher or s-e"udent will want to know the motivations of some of the poets. All poets, for example, do not rate being called "poets II in the tra.di ti•o nal (white or Black) sense. Redding, in a recent Muhammad Speaks interview, accused some of t h e new Black writers of lacking ' moral and �esthetic' integrity' and called t b er:i. 'li tera.ry hustlers'. Observing that Baraka recently signed a 1O-year contract witb Random House, Redding said such an act is inconsistent with the poet's nationalistic assertions and positions. In a recent Black World article, novelist and poet Ishmael Reed spoke disparagingly of some of the new Black critics ("Bla.ckopaths") and poets ( 11 nationtime poets," was the reference). Poet-essayist Lee has chided poet Nikki Giovanni for being an "individual" wbo lacks technical ab ilities; and in a recent issue of Jet magazine a reader irately asked if Miss Giovanni deserved respect after accepting a 'Homan-of-the-Year award .from a national white women's organization. Miss Giovanni and Reed were nominated for Pulitzer Prizes in 1973. Hayden, a. member o.f the older group o.f poets, wbo was only 17 years old when the Harlem Renaissance burned out, feels that Lee (praised by Gwendolyn Brooks, Hoyt Fuller of Black World, Randall and Baraka) has potential as a poet but lacks discipline and seems unable to separate poetic technique .from ideological rantin g . On the other h and, Stephen Henderson, author-editor of Understand Tbe l'Jew Black Poetry praises Lee relentlessly and sa.ys bis populari t::,r is "tantamount to stardom". Henderson, who holds a. Ph .D~, is currently chairman o.f the new Humanities division at Howard University where Lee is a writer-in-residence. Miss Brooks g ives Lee credit (in her introduction to The Poetry of Black America) for spawning much of the contemporary Black consciousness literature. 19 �., .... ' Any seriously dealing with t h e de velo pment of Black poetry as a body of writing , must be m·1a.re of t h ese i ntense feelin gs and positions. One must also organize orderly discussions or readings around the divergent v iews ; in t h is way the classroom or rap sessions do not become me lees and participants get a complete picture of the rich ness and vastness of Black poetry and the political, social and ~1 istorical tensions out of which the poetry is generated. Writing on the New Black Poetry , (Th e United States in Literature, Miller, Hayden and 0' Neal), Hayden says: The emergence of a so-cal led sch ool of Black Poetry in A_m erica h as been one of t h e si c;nificant literary developments of t h e modern per i od. Although the Harlem Renaissance of t h e 1 920 's brou c;h t certain Afro-American poets into prominence, it was not until t b e intensification of t b e c iv il ri [sh ts struggle during t h e 1 960ts t h at a separate group of black poets b egan t o take s b ape. Avowedly nationalistic (th at j_s, racially proud) and scornful of western aesth etics, t h ese poets continued t he protest traditio n , h istorically associated with Negro tn~iters: But tl:iey were more radical in outlook t h an t ~ e i r predecessors. Unlike the Harlem group, t h ey re j ec t ed entry into t h e mainstream of American literature as a desirable goal. Th ey insisted t h at t h eir poetry 20 �could not be judged by white standards, urging its importance as an expression of b lack consciousness. LeRoi .Jones--the most influential of the young activist poets--Don L. Lee, Nikki Giovanni, Sonia Sanchez, Mari Evans, Etheridge Knigl1t, and David Henderson attune their lyres to the 'black esthetic.' Not yet satisfactorily defined, thfs term, originating in the sixties, na y b e interpreted as a sense of the spiritual nnd artistic values of blackness. It is, perhaps, a lo gical (some would say 'ch auvinistic') reaction to negative American racial attitudes. Perhaps tbe conce pt is best summarized by the slogan 'Black i3 beautiful.' Th ose who accept t hi s point of view regard Negro subject matter as their exclusive donmin, feeling t h at only tbose wbo have shared 'black experience' can articulate it. Older poets wh ose work shows some ali gnment with t b e Hew Black Poetry include Margaret Walker and Gwendoly n Brooks, winner of the Pulitzer in 1910. Whether poetr:r sbould be valued primarily for the unique inner experience it can provide or for its effecti veness as political or social statement is a. question 21 �that often recurs i n discussio ns of true function of art today . Hayden•s openine; comments, t h en, corroborate t h e opening sentence to t h is introduction--th a t Black poetry , re gardless of one's position on it, is one of t h e most i mportant movements on the literary scene today . Yet, wh ile it is exciting to study this "poetry in process" (if y ou please), the enthusiast must be on guard not to skip t he tradition ('the folk precedents) in favor of plunging into a Black poem that heaps wrath on Watergate conspirators, or urban policemen who shoot rioters and looters. Swirling arou nd a nd t h rough the whole range of Black poetry, t hen, is the complex and multi-leveled nature of Black life. VII Many of the 11 literary hustlers" to wh om Redding refers have capitalized on the topical and episodic issues--with little or no training in t he Black tradition or writing . Hence, the student must assume that j ust because a statement is "relevant, 11 it is poetry ! Th e Black or wl1ite researcher will "dig ••• deeper to t he gold 11 --in t he words of James David Corruthers-- and nestablisb 11 a sound tradition ae;ainst which to measure the Black poetry of today . If t h e Black poet in question fails, be fails because be collapses from t h e weight of the past--instead of being buoy ed up by it. In establishing this sound tradition, t h e teachers and students must realize, first, that the Black Experience is not monolithic--e.lthough • 22 �recurring trends a.nd broad ir.1plica.tions do exist in the areas of language, religion, lrnmor, dance, mu sic and c eneral life style. Oddly enough, however., there is often more consistency in what Blacks know ab.out popular nAmerican n culture. L~ There are several reasons for such a paradoxical i nbala~ce a.nd lack of focus--many of tbem locked in the eni ematic see-saw of Black history. Ellison observed in the 1940's that if Black leaders ever unraveled the puzzle of t b e zoot suit and the dark glasses (meaning the secret of Black urban nstyling" habits), they could, perhaps, take the political and psychological reigns of Black masses fro m whites. observation was accurate. Ellison's James Baldwin has written that, in Europe, he looked at the great Renaissance masterpieces and felt ashamed that his race had not produced such work. Baldwin was not aware that the great Italian painter, Pablo Picasso, had borrowed heavily fron African motifs, nor that the architect, Lee-Corbousier, was greatl? influenced by thatched-roof huts used in Africa b y I3alwin's ancestors. The implications of this part of r;1y discussion are many and far reaching because central to the idea of teachinc and learning is what teachers and students expect fro m eacb oth er. 4. Ellisonts, For an exciting recitation and indictment via a "cultural quiz", listen to poet-critic Stanley Croucbfs Ain't No Ambulances for no Nie;r,ahs Toni e;h t (Flying Dutchman). 23 �Croucll 's and Baldwin's o~)sor,.,- ations a r e t5. mely and i mportant. They sugc;est to us that many, if not i;rnst, of t1"e students ·who are in Black poetry (Black Studies) classes do not have a working knowled Ge of the traditio n ou t of ·wb icb the poetry grew. It bas b eco me popular, in sou e quarters, to i gnore tbis fact which Ellison and others h ave so painfully and poignantly expressed. The teaclrnr wb o assu:-:,es t h at a class of: Black (or white) students is knowledg eable a b out .t he Black literary tradition is in for real trouble and many disappointments. The fore g oing point cannot b e stressed too often or too emphatically. Interestinsly enoucJ1 , tl1e majori t7 of t b e persons who want to know something u;)out Black poetry are not preoccupied with the craft of poetry--wi th t h e h 01:1s and whys of poetry. Rather the students and casual readers, Black and white, seem to be more interested in the sociolog ical (some teachers say "pathological 11 ) aspects of the poetry. Tb e situation varies, of course, fro m campus to campus, fro m atmospl1ere to atmosphere, and from Black to white to interracial settings. Here again the enthusiast h as to draw t l1 e l :i. ne and keep the per- . suit of the poetry 11 ti ghtlf in tern!s of tbe discipline demanded by the poetry itself. Another problem the investi r;ators confront is how to organize segments when an appreciation of tl1e material is what is sought. The "appreciation" approach could be the result of one's initial conception of t h e poetry or dictated 24 �by level of interest and preparatio n . A casual reader, for example, would not study t he same poems wi t }~ t h e same intensity as would a senior or graduate-le vel English major. Nevertheless, t he teach er, students a nd poetry lovers must bear in mind that t h ey are investiga t ing Black poetry and not merely some literary i mitation of traditional Western poetry--even though the two converge ti me a nd time a gain. Here, too, the point cannot be over-emph asized b ecause in the context of racial and intellectual mixtures, the melting pot is all too often likely to b o:11 over. Example: white students, well grounded in t h eir own literary tradition and having a skelet a l knowledge of Blac k Cultur e will want to surge abead. Not reco gniz i ng t 'i.-i at many Black ( and some white) students do not know t h e meaninc s of simple poetic devices (such as metaph ors, similes, alliterat i on and onomatopoeia), the insensitive teacher and "aggressi ve" students could press on to the point of premature destr uction of group participation. Such situations occur over a nd over. Even the best teach ers of literature often take for granted that every student has been drilled in the use of fi gurati ve language. Ironically, many of t h e students h av e be en "drilled" in the fi gures; but, t he holes opened b:r -€b e drilling allowed the information to go in one ear and out t h e oth er! Ifa.ny students, in the wh ir of words i n t b e classroom and c;roup d i scussions will not say t h ey do not know t b e names of poetic devices-especially if they happen to b e Black stude nts and think the �instructor expects t b em to b e "experts 11 on t h e Black Experience. On the other hand, the intellectual s no:Jb er:r t h at often accompanies the development of student 11 clicks 11 s b ould not be allowed to prevail in a course in Blac k poetr:r. Luckily , for teacher, student and general reader, t b e curves and crests and peaks in the study of Black poetry keep brins in 0 all aspects of human nature full circle. 26 �CHAPTER II THE BLACK AND UNKNOWN BARDS 0 black and unknown bards of long ago, How came your lips to touch the sacred fire? -- James Weldon Johnson I Origins of Black Expression: In this chapter, as in subsequent ones, I will attempt to place the Black creative mind witbin the spirit and letter of an African-American cultural tradi ti.on. Unfortunately, many early scholars either played down or ignored African influences on Black American poetry. these early scholars. This was certainly not true of all For while some gloated over the "findings" of "Southern whites"--purposting to prove that the Spirituals were derived solely from English (Hymns and Psalms) sources-Johnson (Book of American Negro Spirituals, 1925), Professor Work (Folk Song of the American Negro, 1915), and others, displayed faultless proof of Africanisms existing in practically all Black American folk materials. The approach to this ch apter will be via tlle philosophical concerns, updating so~e of the thin~ing on traditional African views and mannerisms in Black America.. Then brief consideration will be given the major trunks of the folk poetry: The Spirituals and the Seculars (or religious folk poetry and everyday workand-play folk poetry). I have included a fair representation of the original folk poetry. This is appropriate, of course, • 27 �since most .anthologies of Black literature and poetry omit these items; and because without a knowled ge of them one will be hard-pressed to understand the Black poet's use of folk materials (see Dunbar, Johnson, Brown, Hugh es, Hayden, Walker and others). However, before discussing the ori gins of Black expression, we should e ive mention to t h e role of the griot-or story teller--in pre-industrial African (and other) societies. The Black poet, as creator and chronicler, stems from the group of artisans known as griots--human records of family and national lore. Originally trained to recite--without flaw--the gene- ologies, eulogies, victories and calamities of the folk, the griot (like the lead singer of Spirituals) had to spice bis reportage with dramatic excitement. Hardly a Black youngster grew up (even in recent times) with out input from a sort of griot (uncle, grandmother, bi g brother or sister, mother or father, preacher, etc). The job of the gri to, like that of the mater-ceremonial drummer, ws.s so i n porta.nt that in many ancient societ:i.es a mistake could cost hi m his life. The griot began at a very early a ge h is mastery of technique and information. Like the drummer, he understud ied an elder statesman of the trade. His training demanded a certain psychological adjustment to the si gnificance of h is job-which was to contain ( and give advice on) t b e of the community. 11 heirlooms" As years and centuries passed, this "factual" information was converted into a lore, m~rth oloe;y, cosmology and legend; it became a part of the vast web of racial conscious- 28 �• ness and memory. It became the legacy with which every new born child entered the world. Clearly, then, the myth-and legend-building Black poet has a past into wbich to dip and a future to predict, project and protect. And any violation of the past, present or future const i tutes a serious crime against one's ancestors--against one's parents, against one's blood, against one's god. So it follows that the poet--griot-- is not some haphazzardly arrived hipster or slick-talker simply mouthing tired old phrases. To the Black griot-singer- poet the job of unraveling the complex network of bis past and present-future worlds is a painful but rewarding labor of love. We can say, then, that t b e Black Experience in the United States continues via the African Continuum: a complex of mythical {see Jahn), linguistic (see Twi ggs), gestural (see Emery, Black Dance), psychological, sexual, musical, physical and religious forms. This complex is evidenced in the day-to-day attitudes and activities of Blacks: their sacred and secular (organized and random) expressions, their physical appearances, their dress patterns and their family life. Not only in the Unite d States, hut in t h e Caribbean, in the West Indies, in Latin America, in all areas of the world where Blacks live in suhstantial nurr1b ers--they exhibit characteristics peculiar to the nature and culture of indigenous Africans. Naturally, general Black expression evolves from tbe myriad components of Black culture ; and t:.1e a.Ttistic (song, poetry) expression--traditional Black {African) 29 1 f I �communities did not separate l ife from art--is a more soph1.sticated for m honed from t he genera l 11 store11ouse. 11 No one has yet put t h eir h ands on exactl~ what moment l~ ti me and where t be first Afrj_can sot1 :~d ::: or ·,;o-._cen o,:ts "'. ·Tero incorporated into '\rhi te 11 or• 1·-: e stern frames of references or vice v ersa; but we do know that it di d bappen . Unfortunately , inept reportin g on t he Black Experienc e bas muddied the waters so much that one is repulsed and borr lfi ed conclusions of some Black and 11h i '· observations and 1-y~r tc ''researchers. 11 In an uni'linchine;l:r bril liant analysis of Black African Oral Literature, presented at t he First World Festival of Negro Arts (1966) in Dakar, Senegal, Ba sile-Juleat Fouda, noting tba.t "oral literature is as old as creation," coined t h e phrase '¼rchival Literature of Gesture." important revelations, Fouda naid: Concluding his "Tlrns in tbe Black Africa of tradition, literary art is an anonymous art be cause it is a social art; it is a social art be caus e it is a functional art; and it is functional because it is humanist." research is not b ounded by color. Good Bln ck socioloBist E. Franklin Frazier (Black Bourceos is) beld(wronc;ly) t hat tbere were no significant carryove rs (cultural tra nspla nts ) from Africa to the United States. (Slavery, Frazi€r said, "stripped" the African of bis culture and "destroyed" l1i s personality. ) White anthropologist :Melville Herskovi ts (Tb e Myth of the Negro Past) proved without a doub t that t h er e were African "survivalisms" operating daily in Black Americans culture. 30 (For more thought �on this see Jahn 1 s :Muntu, 1:lork' s findin gs, memo1-rs of Katherine Dunham, works of Lorenzo Do1.-1 Turner, 1Je 6 ro Fol k Music of Africa and America (Folkways, Lp) and oth ers.) Rudimentary Black expression and t h e numerous folk forms it produced (field h ollers, vendors sh outs, c~ants, worksongs, Spirituals, blues, Gospels, jazz, r hytllm 'n blues, soul music) form the linguistic and modal bases for most Black poetry. The early song and chant forms were almost always accompanied by what we have come to call "dramatic ideo grams"--or dances. Dance became one or the t hree basic artistic modes encapsulated by f'olk expression. Th e other two are Song and Drum. Aside f'rom being the f'ir•st means of communicating over distances, the drum also played a major role in the social lives of traditional African peoples. The career drummer, like the Black American musician today, went throug:-i years of grueling practice and preparation--learning not only drumming techniques but the legends, the r.:1.y tbs, the mean i ng s a nd s ymb ols of which the drum was derivative. Dance alway s accompanied song--Fouda refers to the "acoustical phonetic alphabet"--so that the complex web of oral nuances was illustrated vividly and graphically. Obviously, when teaching or entertaininc; , the artist/teacher had to present his material in int~esting and exciting ways so as not to bore the audience. Thus repeti t:i.on became a backbone of Black expression--a flexi ble, buoyant repetition that was designed to reinforce and increase group participation. The three essential modes--dr~, song and dance--h eightened 31 • • \ J ·;~:_()',, ·.·; ;'_i: \t: :/·:( �the immediate experience, wh ich was ecst a t i c, t h erapeutic, spiritual, visceral and revelatory . Added to t h ese intricate and varying modal patterns were t h e colorful costumes, make-up, props and important sub ject matter. The acb ie vement was not just the vicarious experience but one of t h e act and symbol being actualized together. W'hile sucl1 a prospect boggles the mind, a serious study of these forms and t b e general tradition will prove eye-opening for many a dis believer. Early Black American oral a nd gestural art forms inherited the qualities described t hu s far. In language, in dance, and, more i mportantly, in points of vi ew (attitudes) toward time, life and death , t b e cosmology of Africa "continued" (with some modifications) in the Blac k culture of the Western Hemisphere. Specifically , information was conveyed by way of aphorisms, riddles, parab les, tales, enigmatic dances and sounds (tonal scales). jokes and poetry . Ob lique and cry ptic utterances, puzzles, The pattern rema i ns in t act today • .Jahn's Muntu documents many examples of t h e Africa n "carry overs" and "survivalisms 11 operatine i n t h e Western Hemi sph ere. 1. One can For a brilliant and cogent statement on t h is aspect of Black expression see Samuel Allen's 11 the Jan., 1971, issue of Black World. Tbe African Heritage" in Allen--also known as Paul Vesey--is an acknowledged auth ority on 'b oth African and Afro-American culture. In the article, he finds African ncarryovers" in the Black American church (Baldwi n ), literature (Sterling Brown, Cleaver) and secular life. ' 32 ,' . •. ,; ·~· 1 ,.-: :,.~'.;,(' ; �find the tradition in Black poets, in t he serraons of Black ministers and in famil~r and otber social gatberings. Tbe scintillating Black poet Tolson operates in the old enigmatic (word-fencing) frame when in "An Ex-Judge at t 11e Bar" l1e says: Bartender, make it strai ght and ~ake it twoOne for the you in me and one for the me in you. Tolson (known to carry this Black nature into h is teaching at Langston University where he reportedly 6 ave a student an "Frt to the 20th power) ends the poem wi t C: an equall:r eni gmatic mock: Bartender, make it strai gh t and make it threeOne for the Nec;ro • ,. • one for :rou and me. In the Spirituals (to be discussed) one finds similar debts to the African tradition of Sons, Dance and Dru~. So too in the shouts and hollers where actual African words and phrases were often used. 2 Hence we can say tliat tbe traditional A.frican phonology and ritual, modified on tl1c anvil of slavery, were operatinc and continue to he represented in different forms of Black American expression. The African slave, forced to acquire functional use of English and to reject surface aspects of his religion, went :runder,sround" so to speak and became bi-line;ual and bi-physical. 2. ~ Hence, w}1ile much of the The flne poet Raymond Patterson (26 1-va:,rs of Looking at a Black Man) is currently assembling a book listing several hundred African words that are used daily ln t b e American 33 �thematic material of the Black fol k tradition is taken from the harsh difficulties the slave encountered in America, the form, spirit and pb onology were essentially African. The use of poly-rhythms 3 and th e introducti on of s y ncopation, the reliance on various r hy t hmic ins t run e nts ( drum-related and sometimes invented), the adherence to a no n- European tonal scale and the e mployment of the blue tone, t h e development of a distinct body of folklore and a rich language to convey the lore--all represent t h e Africa n 's resourc efulness. Cross-cultural inputs are also e v i dent, h owe ver, in--for example--the Spirituals which, in man::.r cas e s, were influenced by the English Hymn and t h e Psalm. Oth er considerations in- clude the slave's use of European instruments (Baraka points out, in Black Music, that the piano was t he last instrument to be mastered by t h e Black musician.h Th e reason ought to be obvious.), the Black adaptation of sone;s heard in the "big house," the continual re-sty ling of American fads and the vocabulary. See 11 i blior;raph y for more on t h e little known area of scholarsh ip. 3. Isaac Faggett, a young Black composer-b and director in Sacramento, Calif., b as said t11at t h e word "poly -rhythm11 (i.e., many rhy thms overlapping each otb er) sh ould perb aps be replaced by or alternated with t h e words ITpoly - meter" or "poly-metrics." · 4. Eileen Southern, in T:1e Music of' Blac k Americans, sets forth a thorough and accurate discussion of t b ese points. 34 She �employment of Biblical i ma gery and langua ge i n so ngs and sermons. Langston Hughes noted tba.t t h e Blues usually dealt with the theme of the rejected lover and personal depression. Hughes' .first volume . of poems, in fact, was entitled The Weary Blues. However, the Blues, like the Spirituals, do not simply preach resignation or submissiveness. Rather, as Janh and Howard Thurman (The Negro Spiritual Speaks of Life and Dea.tl1) hote, underneath the complaint is a "plaint": or change! t h ings must get better For as t he slave said: Freedom, oh Freedom, h ow I lo ve t h ee! Freedom, oh Freedom, how I love t h ee! And before I'll be a slave I'll b e buried in my grave And go home to my Maker and be Free! II Black Folk Roots in America: 11 Get it togeth er or leave it alonen --Jackson Fi ve Black poets have been writing in t h e Englis~ literary tradition since the middle of the ei 6h teenth century. But notes with some detail how t h e Africans (made slaves) had to l~arn to use the instruments of t h e New World. Professor Southern also relates bow Black music influenced whites in the early days of America. �. (' • t,· it is the folk literature--tbose productions of the everyday people--which must be examined before a literary or poetic tradition can be v1ewed in its entirety. Tbere are few persons in the United States who have not be en touched or influenced (in one way or anotber) hy the folk expression of Black America. White Americans began collectine Black folk lyrics and stories in the early ~ars of t h e ni neteenth century (see bibliography). In the same century, this aspect of Black culture reached wide audiences via at least three major vehicles. The first ·was the abolitionist movement which featured Black poets (Francis E.W. Harper, James Whitfield, Benjamin Clark, and others), orators and prose writers (David Walker, Frederick Douglass, etc.), and journalists (John Russwurm, etc). Tbe second vehi cl e was t he national and European tours (in the 1870 's) of student choirs from Hampton Institute and Fisk (Tbe J ubile e Singers) University. The abolitionist movement popularized anti-slavery and freedom songs and the colle g e choirs gave wide exposure to the Spirituals, considered by most scholars (of Black culture) to be the first authentic poetry of Black America. Tl-:: e t1 1ird major vehicle was the publication ( in the late ninetec n t 1• cent1.1.ry ) of Brer Rabbit tales by Joel Chandler Harris . In □ tuCios a nd writings, Harris recogn ized tl-Je r,1y thic Ho1,t:, in Blac k fol::tales a,1d exposed Fox, Brer ·.Iolf nnc~ ot 1--::e1•s . Har:::- of t:~esc t ales and characters have African coPnter,art s . 36 �III Spirituals: For many reasons , t 1Jc use of tbc wo r d tr sp irit u al" to describ e Bl ac k r e li c io s i t :,r i s a t,1:ts no~.i er . pretations, ontli ne d b:r n eH j_ ri..f' or :-no.ti on and c;-.,pi rical research into h istory a nd t b ouch t c onvinces world is "spiritual": Curr ent i nter- UG t ~at the entire Black i. e ., i nfor med by and re s ponsi b le to a "higher orde r"--tl, e or c18r of God or t 7"e rr c; od s. tr The ex- huberance, t h e spon tane ity , t he ec s t as~ , th e tr ances, t h e talking in to ncuo::; , tl1e r a cial f la vor and fl air in dress (at church and ni c;htclub ), all po:Ln t u p t '., G interd ependence and the inte gration of v ario u s mod es and poi n ts of v iew in t h e Black communi t::r . Profes s or Wor k d e sc r:l :)es i t a ::., "tl: is di.fference and t b is oneness." Tl1e cont e n1.poro.r~~ Black poet Hayden understands t h is inte c;rati on w'1en , in n poe m to Halcolm X, he exclaims tlrn "blazin c; onen ess II of Alla:: . Furtber proof' of this fusion is seen in t h e e motional a b a ndo nment of church folk during secular picnics, soci a ls a nd otb er e v ents of merriment. One h as only to listen to Areth a Fra nklin alter- nate between Gospel and b lues to see t1: is u n i t :r of expression r.: operating today . ::; And certainl:r i t is clear i n t h e works of 5. Let us ob serve that t h e most brilliant and influential Black poets have intimately und erstood t his as p ect of Black culture. Almost with out exception (and Kerlin, Brown and 37 �the Staples Singers, t l1 e Edwin H8.wkins Singers a nd in a more vulgarized manner in Flip Wilson (ll.ev . Leroy ). o:r one brother, 11 In the words the preacb er a nd t h e pimp sty le out b eavy." Still, it is i mportant t h at we offer t h e traditional portrait and break-down of Black folk expression--so as not to confuse or invade the "sacred" bastions of h istory . The Spirituals have been t h e source of continuing debate among scholars: Are they completely Afr i can i n ori g.in? Are they primarily English 0-Ietb odist, Wesleyan, etc.) in origin? Or do they represent t he co-joining of African/European themes and religiosity? Persons desiring to concentrate on t h is area of Black poetry should trace t I-1e history of t h ese arguments and debates and reach conclusions of t l:ieir own. Johnson (and his brother, J. Rosamond) put to geth er t h e best known collection of these songs in Th e Book of American Negro Spirituals (1925), and The Second Book of AmericaE,-_ He gro Spirituals (1926). The Spirituals usually deal witb physical or f igurative contact between t he singer (or con gr ega t i on ) a nd God. (Early Afro-Americans often used the word s God, Jesus, Savior, and Lord interchangeably. For a more t h orough dj_scussion of this see Benjamin nays' The Negro's God.) The songs also deal witb others warn young Black writers to follow example) Black poets since the Civil vfar have availed t h emselves of inte gral folk rudiments--even when t b ey did not use t h e m in poetry. It is still a fact that Black culture (desp i te t b e racist and tecbno- 38 • ~ * ~ ,, r,, •... ,: ~- ~ ' .~~~~-f �a. longing for rest and tbe overcomine; of for n ida.ble obstacles or adversaries. Professor Work's 1915 stucl:,r was seminal and remains a land mark in the study of African and Black American songs. His work provides many answers to questions and issues that had been (and continue to be) muddied by tlle waters of insensitivity and careless research. His efforts, "undertaken for the love of our fathers' songs, 11 ei ves clear connections between the African and Afro-American folk sons. His main concern is for the religious songs--although his comments on form and style are of general value: In America we hear it (the song) and see it acted in the barn dance, on the stnge, in t11e streets among the children; in fact, many an occasion is enlivened by this sp~cies of ~usic, t h e interest in whicb is intensified b y the r h:r t 1-:i mical patting of hands and f'eet. This rbythn: is mcst strikingly and accurately brougbt out in tbeir work songs. Citing the emotionalism and songified intensity of the Black American, Professor Work says "He worships not so much because he ought, as because he loves to worship. 11 Th is "worship," of course, is the kind we referred to earlier: the integration logical barrages of the West) still rer1ains more consciously 11 integrated 11 than other cultural unit in America. 39 �of sensuality and ecstasy into the sweeping ritual of live and immediate drame. Such musical acti v ity is "as natural to the American Negro as b is breatb 1t: Indeed, it is a portrayal of h is soul, and is as characteristic as are b is phys ical features. him sing in h is church , h ear hi □ Hear preach , n oan, and g ive 'gravery' in b is sermon, b ear t b e washerwoman singing over ber tub , h ear t h e lal)orer singing his accompaninent to h is toil, h ear the child babb ling an ex te:;:poraneons tune ...• Even t h ose 1Te 6 roes w·h o have l· een e du ca t ed and wh o have been inf'luenced by long study , f-i_nd it difficult to express their ::nusical s e l ves in any oth er way. Black song, as is readily ob serva½lc, possesses both pure song (the verse and chorus plan) and ch ant (use of i nterjections and expletives) qualities: Poor man Laz'rus, poor as I, Don't you see? Poor man Laz'rus, poor as I, Don't you see? v-men be died be found a h ome · on b i gh , He had a home in dat rock, Don't you see? Alluding to the deeper, more psychological, meaning of these songs, Professor Work say s "there are closer relations between • 40 ' < �the soul and musical expressions t h an h ave satisfactorily explained. These relations can be felt, but a ny accurate description seems beyond the grasp of man's mind. 11 Never- 'theless this i mportant study goes on to classify and number these songs of': Joy, Sorrow, Sorrow witb Note of Joy, Faith, Hope, Love, Determination, Adoration, Patience, Courage and Humility. Like most scholars of the Spirituals, this one points out that there is no h ate, resentment or vindictiveness in them. However, Dr. Th urman, t h eolo gian and philosopher, has excavated underpinnings of tur bulence. In The Negro Spiritual, Dr. Tburman tells us death was i c mediate and ever-present for the slave. In such an atmosp~ere of anxiety and fear, the slave developed a rath er stoic attitude in which he saw death as inescapable and as, possibly, the only remaining vehicle for mediation witl1 t h e plantation lords. The slave could take his own life, if h e wanted to--a.s he did many times in preference to slavery or separation fro~ family and/or loved ones. Dr. Thurman's brillia nt analysis must be read by any serious student of Black t h ought and culture. Johnson (who also classified the song s) 6 said a hierarchy of poets for the Spirituals included t h e song - maker (writer) and the song-,leader. 6. The leader h ad to reme mber leading lines, Jobnson, Brown, Kerlin and Dr. Th urman also give con- sideration to the "poetic" content of the Spirituals. Johnson and Professor Work discuss the preservation and promotion of 41 �pitch tunes true and possess a powe rful v oice. Joh nson, wh o (like Professor Work) b elie ves t h e earliest Black American songs were built on the common African for m, says the Spirituals were written by individual s and se t to t he moods of groups. Like the blues, t h eir secular and str uctural cousins, the Spirituals incorporated antiph ony or call-and-response wh ich allowed for audience (congre gation) participation (either by alternating, or intermingling , with t h e le ad er): Leader: Oh , de Ribb er of Jorda n i s deep and wide, Congre gation: One mo' r ibb er t o cr oss. Leader: I d on' t k nov-T 110w to ge t on de otber side, Congregatio n : One mo' ri bb er to cross. Heavily influenced by Christian imac;ery and my t h ology, the creators of the Spirituals often ch ose t h e most militant of biblical personalities as t heir h eroes. Th is aspect of these "poems" opens up an e ntire area of questio ns a nd research for the student seeking to compare/contras t b i b lical t h emes and charactors to t he Spirituals. Certainly t h ere is need to ex- amine the English Hymns and Psalms in t he framework of such a study. The S pirituals s h ould als o be compared/contrasted to the Black literary verse of t h e period dur i ng wh ich they these songs t hrough arch i val h oldinr.;s, ch oi r concert tours and the atte ntion paid to them by composers. �were forged--especially t he work of Jupiter Hammon, Phillis Wheatley and George :Moses Horton. IV Folk Seculars: Don wid massa's h ollerin'; Don wid massa•s h olleri n '; Don wid massa•s h ollerin' Roll Jordan roll. We observed that there is a thin line between the Black religious and secular worlds. This is true for many reasons-- some of them stemming fro m t h e African tradition of interrelating all aspects of life. As Joh n TT ' Biti (African Religions and Philosophies), Gabriel Bannerman-Richter and others point out, the African takes his reli gion (h is beliefs) with him where ever he goes. Hany investi gators (Jahn , I1'Biti and others) also remind us that most African languages have no word for religion or art. The two are inseparable. Again the ways of African peoples (see Hphahlele 's m1irlwind) are expressed in nintegrated 11 terms. True, in Black America there is some tension between secular and religious communities--but so often ( and most Blacks understand this well though they don't always admit it) they are the same: on different occasions. wearing different hats Study, again, the case of a Rev. Jesse Jackson or a Rev. Ike or a Rev. Adam Clayton PowellJ We have also observed that r,1any motifs and components of' Black expression are interchangeable. 43 That is, songs and , l �speeches designed for church or other r e li r;lou s activity are often re-cut (modified) for a sec ular-- sc cial affair. are numerous example s of th:i.s pract i ce. There Dur i ng the Civil :q j_ ghts e ra., we i::wu1d s ing I woke up t h is lilO I'Di n ' wi t b my r.d.nd s t a:.red on freedom though we were fully a:ware that ch u r ch f olk were used to singing it this way: I woke up this mormin' with my mind stayed on Jesus Many of Curtis Hayfield's (and t be Impressions') songs rely strongly on the material of song s s u ng i n Black churches. Even Ma:yi'ield 's more recent tunes ( s ee "If There's A Hell Below") carry the Black church flavor--wi t h t heir warnings, admonishments, threats of societal destruct i on, and pleas for love ( see also :r-rarvin Gay's pieces like 11 S ave The Children"). Some works by the Temptations ( "Run Away Child Running Wild 11 ) reflect the historical t h eme of "search ing " found in Black religious songs. 11 This same group's Poppa. Was A Rolling S tone" describes poppa "stealing in the name of the Lord." B. B. King's "Woke Up This Mornin" is a blues treatment of the idea expressed above in the Spiritual: "I Woke Up This Mornin." When heard the old Supremes singing "Stop in the Na me of Love" we were tempted to replace "love" with "God." Often the songs contain exchangeable and interchangeable words such as "Lord" and "Mother"; "Baby II and "God 11 ; ' "Sweet thing II and "Sweet .res us"; . "Captain" and "Maker"; and "God" and "Vian". The reasons for such usages, as we have stated, are deeply enmeshed in the 44 �I mytbos of Blacks. Richard Wrlght 's "Bri gbt and Mor ning Star" (in the Bible, a metaphor for Jesus) becomes the son of old Aunt Sue in the sbort story by that name. T':1e bero of John A. Williams' no vel, Tl-:ie I'Ian Who Cr ied I Am , sa~rs "thank y ou man" to God after a sex act. When we h ear a tune like War's "Slipping into Darkness" ( "when I beard my moth er say") we must understand tl-:e historical si gnifi cance and function of social (therapeutic) art--just as we must understand' the function of the mother-like voice that ad~oni s h es Isaac Hayes to "sbet yo rnouf II in "Sbaf t." 1n1en conservativ e Black Christians complained of Duke Ellington's use of reli c;ious themes in jazz, he .replied "I'm just a ecumenical cat 11 -- meani ne; be avoided fine distinctions in where or to wbom be pla:red. The church has been the training ground (academy, if you will; see Frazier's The :Negro Cburcb in America) for most of the b i g (vocal) names in Black popular music as well as for important orators, race leaders and community business men. Against t he fore going discussion we ca n view the Folk Seculars in their ri ght perspecti ve as a vital part of the rich storehouse of Black folklore. (my own grandmother: Throuc;h songs, aphorisms "You don 1 t 'J elieve fat meat's greasy!" and "If you ain't gon' do nothing c et off the pot!"), fables (see Aesop), jokes (see minstrelsy and the Black comedy tradition), blues and other enduring for ms Blacks capture severe hardships and tribulations, folk wisdom, j oy s and tragedies, and the longings and h opes of Blacks during slavery afterwards. 45 �I I The Seculars, more so than the Spirituals, give important clues to the inner-workings of the common Black mind. And a closer look at the total folk tradition will reveal the structure and principles of folk psychology. It is, after all, back and fo1~ward to these folk materials that researchers will have to go if they are serious ab out delineating the feelings, emotions and thought patterns of Blacks. The Seculars are surer indices to the workings of tbe folk mind because they are not as limited as the Spirituals. Though most Blacks in the United States are aware of and have beard t}1e Spirituals, an even lare;er number have had sustained exposure (directly or indirectly) to the secular vocalizations and gestures of Black culture. Contemporary Black popular music and culture con- tinue to be informed by tbe street and home utterances. An exciting reciprocity allows entertainers to borrow freely from what they hear wbile the folks recorded. 11 run and tell tbatu once it's Some examples of songs, titles and oth er epithets borrowed directly from the people are: New Bag," "Licking Stick" (see 11 James Brown's "Brand hone:,r stick" in McKay's story "Truantn), "Give It Up or Turn It Loose, 11 11 T11e Payback" and "It's Hell"; Harvin Gaye's nu11at's Going On" and "Let's Get it On 11 ; Curtis Hayfield's 17 Superfly !I; tbe ,Tacks on Five's "Get It Together or Leave It Alone"; Flip Hilson's '"I.mat You See is What You Get 11 (and the Dramatics' tune 'hy the same name); Aretha Franklin'3 Knight's 11 11 Respect 11 and "Run and Tell Tbat 11 ; and Jean Mr. Big Stuff"--to name just a few. 46 ~~ ~ ,,.. . . /'tr �As with the Spirituals, wh ites ( primaril:,r abolitionists) were among the first to collect Seculars of whatever type. William Wells Broi·m, the first publisbed Black novelist and playwright, collected "antl-slavery 11 songs. Thomas Wentworth Higginson, writer and a bo litionist wh o led a Black re g iment in the Civil Har, collected song s be 1:eard a rr,ong his men around campfires and during march es. Thou c:)1 primarily con•. cerned with religious songs , he also descrihed srnne of the Properties of g eneral Black song delivery. One of the most important collections of t h ese seculars was put to gether b:t Thomas H. Talley ( of Fisk Universit:,, as was Professor Work). Professor Talley did pioneering work in the identification and class ifica.tion of Negro Fol;-: Rbymes. Describing the philo- sophy, structure and, in so1;1e cases, origin of the songs, the Fisk scholar collected well over JO O examples. Ohter important examp les and discussions of tlle artistic products of folk secular folk life can be found in tr.e works of Huc;hes and Bontemps, Brewer, Spalding, Dodson, C1.rnp r.tan , Brown (Negro Poetry), Ahraha.r:·is (Deep Down in The Jungle) and Bell (The Folk Roots of Contemporary Afro-American Poetr~ ). Bell's 1,-10rk is recent (from the new Broadside Press) and is somewhat vague in perspective as a result of an i mposed ("foreign") construct. Also valuable to an examinatio n of t he Seculars are regional works ( such as Ab rah a :,1s' ) inc ludi nG Dru~1s and Shadows (Georgia and South Carolina), Goldstein's (ed.) Black Life 47 �and Culture in the United States , Lorenzo Dow Turner 1 s work in the Gullah culture, Dorson's Negro Folktales in Hi chigan, and others ( see b ibliography). By far the r,: ost faithful representation of secular or reli Gious folk materials in the written poetry is in the work of Sterlinc Brown (see b is Southern Road, especially Johnson's introduction, and his critical comments in Hegre Poetry). Brown takes exception to Johnson's comment that dialect poetr:r ~~as onl:r two stbps-"humor and pathos "--and ir,1plj_es that Black poets up until his time had be en remiss (or lazy) i□ not de veloping hroader uses and deeponinc; the n ean in.c; of Black life t 1 ·, rou gh tbe use of folk materials. The tradition of "tall" tale-tellinc is, of course, submerged in the American my tbos. So t }1c Blac k narrator found a flexible atmosphere into wbi ch r: e could introduce b is own manner of stor:rtelling and his own tradition of song . As he had done in the Spirituals, he c ained a resourcefulness in the use of langua ge , acquired instruments to accompany tbe song or story, and developed an a½ility to seize upon a good or amenable context in which to tell or sing J1is story; b e also made use of themes and ideas fro m the vast ethni c potpourri of America. the Spirituals. The Seculars greH up side-1.J:r-side with The Spirituals emerged from tbe atte mpt of the slave to web together h is disparate (yet r.mtual) wounds. Spirituals represent t he slave 's perserverence and (in many instances) bis l10pe and faith in mankind. T1-1e Seculars, also �developing in the shadows of the 11 :.·i i g h ouse, 11 reflect the social life of the Black American on the plantation and later. In songs and ditties, the Black American couched his longings and bitternesses, but voiced his bopos and cynicisms through the oblique, eliptical and encoded words and seemingly unintelligible phonetic symbols. These African forms (see Rappin' and Stylin' Out, Kochman) have continued up to the present. Few Black youngste-rs are able to side-step the rigorous (and sometimes painful) verbal desterity demanded by playmates during verb al sparring matches that inevitably take place. The forms of sucb behavior were in tact during slavery--wb en a slave r.1 i gb t b e discussing a. master's "moma" or "old lady" during a rather harmless "rap" (rhapsond? rapport?) with his fellow field workers. Frederick Douglass reports (Narrative) tbat slave over-seers thought slaves sang because the~r were happy. We know tbat such was not the case (se DuBois Souls of Black Folks) and that such refrains as "stealinG away" implied a lot more than wanting to reach the arcs of Jesus on t he cross. similar codes in his stories and poer::s. Henry Duraas chronicles And Viel ·w atkins (Amistad 2) discussed an updated version of at least part of this phonenon in b is article on folk sinGer-bero ,Ja~;.es Brown. Though be is discussing a secular character, Watkins' revelations are similar to Dr. Thurman's: that in the absurd context of b eing owned by someone else, it is not life or death t ~ at loom so importantly. One lives, Ellison suggests (Invisib le Man), tbe day-to-day 49 .' • ~ " I ¼ :, -;•.r. - ' �absurdity in a sort of comic-tragic vi ce. ~atkins says: James Brown's initial acceptance by a 'b lack audience is fixed in this crucial factor. From the moment he slides onto t h e stage, whether unconsciously or intentionally, his gestures, his facial expressions and even the sequenti~l arrancement of his materials are external affir2ations of a s~ared acceptance of t::1e absurd or, n oro iD cenously, of jiving. Tbe i mpecah ly tailored s uit s, 1-11·:d .c:J b e brandishes at the outset, 1)e co~.~e rneard. n:_;less accoutrements as his act pro c;re sses and, sweatj_n; and straining , he s ets c.mm, li teraJ.l: down on 0 t he floor, to wrinG the last drop of emotion from a sons. Watkins is incorrect ab out t h e dress ½e co~ i ~s "meanincless" to a Black audience, but his senernl thesis is o~ target. Elsewhere Watkins, fir :11ly understand:i.n:::; t} ic i;.1portance of verbal agility amonc Blacts, so..:r::3 ":i.t is co n ,;:on to h ear 1')lack women discussinc a ~an 's 'rap' or 1 as tbe:r discuss :l is ba nl:: acconr..t. 11 proc ra~' on t he same level Bla c ks ce~,erally witb1:)old their judeu1ent on (or acc ep tance) of a 3penkcr or entertainer stands t>:o ,-._'(,,.,_._~_-LS""', _•_ i1r;: tl·,::, ;..,1 r 1 .. ..._.. ., • •, c.;;.. !v ·:-: -~ '"' L .l .,_,,, C'11CCC~ l .. .l 1 :"' "•1-· l •. ..,,, 1'"nO't·''· !!,-,,7 ,o•;rl l:ll -- ..... "C:_....... t.A,.1. ... v . .. ... L'\. " l.1 bards.n Roturninc briefly , to our histor ic al assessment, we can now see boF tbe folk strain in Bl8.clc wri tt:en nrt e•rol ved. �. ' . Dey g i '·.) us de J..::.quor, ~ And say dat•s ;;ood enons> for: t h e nisger. to the fear of 11 d0 Cun jaI: Ho. n II ca p tured j_ n rrGullo.b II b y Campbell in the latter part of t he 190O•s, De Cunjab man, de Cu,15a1:1 ii1 a_n, O c h illen run, de Cun j a h man! the decepti vel:r 11 si np le II enrlo:rc ent of fol k ex pressions have prevailed as an i □ rortant antidote for the social maladies inherited by Blac ks in t he Wes ter n Hem is plie re. :nan" is, of course, equivalent to the in the nigb t II 11 t1-1in13s tbat g o b u mpinc in Ireland--and tl''ns }ms ti es to g eneral folk supe1~sti tions and nytholo 6 y. man 11 '1De Cunjah But t be re was also tl-1e "huggah- (Dunhar 's "Little Broun Baby"), t h e "ra:::r, ;:-,a n ", "pee;-leg, " "raw-head at:d bloody bones" and (in places like Trinidad) the "obeah ma.n. 11 Most of these supernatural ch aracters are throw backs to various African reli g ious and ritual practices. Of the new generation of poets, Is11mael l"tG e d (Catecbism of a neoamerican hoodoo church) is the inno·:ator in t h e use of' supernatural the mes and vocab ulary. The theme of tho 2nd Annual Jobn Henr:r i'fomorial Authentic Blues and Gospel Jub ilee (b eld in Cliff Top, 1:J. Va., in August and September of 1974) was "Tryin' to Get JT ome. 11 How stea.d- f'astly the folk tradition runs like a v ein t h rour;h Black history. In the Seculars (and the Spirituals) we repeatedly h ear something similar to the last stanza of 51 11 Raj_ nbow Roun Mah Sboulder": �I' r,1 gonna 1:Jreak ri ;:;l1t, b reak ri ::)1 t pas t :rn.t s h ooter, I' m g oin 1:~ ome, Lawd, I' m ::;oin ho1;1e. Again tbe use of the ·work "Lawd" in a "secular" song further bears out the communal inte 6 ration of t h e folk expression. My own sisters often interject or exclaim "Lord" or "Lawd" in everyday discussions about life. It is next to impossible to list all ( or eacl, type) of the Seculars. We have mentioned Professor Talley's ~ioneering efforts at classifying t h e m. But ma ny ob stacles lay in the way of recorders of secular folk lj_fe. of censnreship of language. One prob lem was that Such censuring :narked all types of Black creativity, fro m tbe slav e narrati ves to reli g ious songs. Hence the more "protesting " aspects of t}1e works were deleted as Here 11 offensive words." Anyone w1, o 11as h eard "authentic II Black folk songs knows t b at t 71e:r reflect the convergence of madness, absurdity and h ope i n tl,e Black body. Subsequently what are kno".·m as ttcurse" or "ob scene II words are sprinkled tbrougbout much of the "secular" lore. Brown dis- cusses the "realj_sm" in t lrn folk r h y mes alone with an attempt to slassify at least some of t h em ("fiddle-sin e;s," "corn-songs," "jig-tunes, 11 "upstart crows"): Ballads, Ballads: Ne c;ro Heroes, John Henry (folkified in sone; ), Uor k S oDcs, Tb e Blues, Irony and Protest. Irony and protest, of course, run t h rou ~1 Black folk and literary poetry fro m tbe earliest days (W1i tfield, Harper, . anti-slavery songs) to the r.·1 0s t rec e nt times ( Josh Wbi te, 52 ., , ,. �Leon Thomas, Don L. Lee, Joh n Ech ols, Joh~1n:r Scott). Some observers have pointed to t h e silli ness of ma ny researchers who, white as ever, appeared i n perso n to as k Black folk song writers arrl singers if t b ey endorsed "protest,,: t b en went away satisfied with a "no" answer. Gi ve n t h e nature and history of race r elations one can und e rstand t he reluctance on the parts of Blacks to tell wb ites t h e truth a.bout "anything 11 let alone ab out such a sensitive are a as "protest." Yet in the dog-eat-do g world of surv ival, the fol k person knows that "If h e dies, I'll eat h is co 1 n; An' if he lives, I'll ride ' im on. 11 In summary we can say t h at u nli ke oth er etb nic i mmigrant groups ( the Afro-American was not a willing i mmi grant!), the Black American did not simply transplant h is stories--keeping them in their exact same for m. He fou nd American or European language counterparts for his t h e mes a nd v ocabularies. But his phonology, style and spirit were informed by tbe African tradition. The student of Black fol k poetry will want to compare and contrast t h e Seculars to oth er eth nic stories and songs. Boasting or "lyi ng ," for example, is one ingredient of' the '1tall 11 tale. . 11 Shine, 11 . How does t h e Black s onG or story (i.e., nsi gnifying Eonkey," etc.) fit this motif? 11 Dole,:li te, 11 nFrankie and Johnnie," How does it co nceal deeper meanings on the issues of slavery, inbuman wor k condl tions, or contradictions in Christianity ? ".-f oat are the si milarities between the Seculars and the Spirituals? 53 Bet1.•reen t h e Seculars and '' �the literary poetry? These and oth er que stio ns (on Black heroes, cultural motifs, blues the mes, langu a ge and endurance) will lead one through exciting corridors of Black folk creativity and thought. V SPIRITUALS GO DOWN, HOSES Go donw, Moses, Way down in Egyptland Tell old Pharaoh To let my people g o. 1,-Jhen Israel was in Egyptland Let my people go Oppressed so hard they could not stand Let my people go. Go down, Moses, Way down in Egyptland Tell old Pharaoh "Let my people go. 11 "Thus sai tb the Lord, r, bold I1o ses said, "Let my people: If not I'll smite ~our first- b orn dead 'Let my people go." 54 �11 :No more shall t hey in 1) ondag e toj_l, Let my people g o; Let them come out with Egypt's s poil, Let my people go ," The Lord told Moses what to do Let my people g o; To lead the children of Israel thro ugh , Let m:r people g o. Go dm·m, Hos e s, Way dmm in Egyp tland, Tell old Ph araoh , "Let r.1:y peo ple g o! 11 S IJ-i. VImY CHAI IT Slavery chain done broke at las t, b r oke a t last, broke at last, Slavery ch ain done broke at l as t, Going to praise God till I di e . Way down in-a dat valley, Praying on my knees; Told God a b out my troubles, And to help me of-a He please. I did tell h im how I suffer, In de dungeon and d e ch ain, And de day s I went with h ead b owed down, And my broken flesh and pain. 55 �SPIRITUALS (cont'd) Slavery chain done broke at last, broke at last, broke at last, Slavery chain done broke at last, Going to praise God till I die. I did know my .Jesus heard me, 'Cause de spirit spoke to me, And said, "Rise my child, your chillun, And you too shall be free. "I done 'p'int one mi eh ty captain For to marshall all my hosts, And to bring my bleeding ones to me, And not one shall b e lost." Slavery chain done broke at last, broke at last, broke at last, Slavery chain done broke at last, Going to praise God till I die. NO HORE AUCTION BLOCK No more auction block for me, No more, no more, No more auction block for me, Many thousand gone. No more peck of corn for me, No more, no more, 56 �SPIRITUALS (cont'd) No more peck of corn for me, Many thousand gone. No more pint of salt for me, No more, no more, No more pint of salt for me, Many thousand gone. No more driver's lash for me, No more, no more, No more driver's lash for ~IB , Many thousand gone. SHOUT ALONG, CIIILLEN Shout along, chillen! Shout along, chillen! Hear the dying Lamb: Ob! take your nets and fol loii me For I died for you upon the tree! Shout along, chillen! Shout along, chillen! Hear the dying Lamb! SWING LOH, SHEET CHARIOT Swing low, sweet chariot, Coming for to carry me home, Swing low, sweet chariot, Coming for to carry me home. �SPIRITUALS (cont' d ) I looked over Jordan and what d i d I see Coming for to carry me home, A band of aneels, coming after me, Coming for to carry me home. If you get there before I do, Coming for to carry me h ome, Tell all my friends I'm coming too, Coming for to carry me h ome. Swing low, sweet ch ariot, Coming for to carry me h ome, Swing low, sweet ch ariot, Coming for to carry me borne. STEAL AWAY Steal away, steal away, steal away to Jesus, Steal away, steal away bome, I ain't got long to stay here. My Lord, He calls me, He calls me by the t hunder, The trumpet sounds within-a m;y soul, I ain't got long to stay here. Steal away, steal away, steal away to Jesus, Steal away, steal away home, I ain't got long to stay h ere. 58 ' ./,1 ~ .~/-1;':""''' �\ C::ii,\PTrn VI FESTIVALS & FUNE10\LS: JJLJ\CK POETRY OF THE 1960s & 1970s They winged his spirit & \1ounde<l his ton gue but death was slow coning Who killed Lurnumba What kill ed Halcolm festivals & funerals festivils & funerals festivals & funerals & festivals & funepal s .,...... Overview: ---- Jayne Cortez The space between festivals and fun e rals can be infinite or ·it . Gau ·be deathly short. her poem. an<l trl J So Jayne Cortez say s throu gh th e twistings anJ turriings .in But whatever the spnce, or the pace, we all s llp, s lide, .soa r; _ as we make our way between th e polarities (assl Gncd ca.ch at ·.birtii) of life we live and the kind of deatl1 we die. 1970s often faces life and death "stra i gh t up": Black poetry of th ~ 1960s and though, ns we have seen, Black poets in other times did not cringe from the breaches of racial ni8htmares, violence, sexuality, unbeautiful lan ~ua ge , wicked or reli g ious folkism.s\ and . th e demands of music which each of them seemed to hen r--albeit from "differ en t drununers. 11 To attempt a discussion of contemporary Black poetry is to turn ·ochers' ton gues into · flames: "blasphemy !, 11 "I was the first!," \ �_JIWe started it!," "That anthology was incomplete since it didn't include me!," "It all started in this place or that place!," "llis/her poetry is not Black enough!," and so on. Nevertheless, the "smoke" from the sixties is beginning · to . clear and, while more htngsight is n~eJed, there are important observations that should be made. Hence in this. chapter, the format will follow preceding ones-- with a noticeable de-emphasis in bio graphical-critical notes on individual poets. Most serious poets who began writing in the late fifties, sixties and seventies, still have much growin g and threshin g to do. volumes really contain earlier poetry. i\lso many recent So it is not easy to evaluate .(or .· even list) Black poetry pro~uced over this period. Yei, historically spe~kihg , certain undeniable trends have occurred, and they i~ok ro ughly like .this~ Black Poetry since the llarlem Renaissance (see Brown, Redding, Henderson, Jackson) has had cycling currents of "ra ge and . "fire" thou gh not the sustained gush witnessed in the mid and l ate sixties; Black poetry after 1945 e~pressed a belief (see Ray Durem) th0t white liberals were not really interested in mounting the · "final" chariots of fire on bcbalf .of l3lacks (despite .CommunistSocialist pronouncements); Black poetry of the 195Os and early 196Os provided a Civil Ri ghts groundswell for the volcanic burst of the later sixties; In Black poetry of the early sixties there was planted the anvil which shaped the stylistic, attitudinal and lin guisti_c character �of what is known as the N~w Black Poetry; Current Black poetry, despite "evolutions" and "chan ges," has not radically altered or laid to rest the best work of Hu gh e$, Johnson (both), Davis, Too.m er, Walker, Hayden, Brooks, Tolson and nodscin: E;-:cept for what Stephen Henderson calls "tentative" i1nswers, Black poetry defies all definitions (like Hari Evc1ns's "Black Woman")--splintering off into ennumberble directions, styles, forms, themes, considerations and ideas. This chapter, all above considered ( ! ) will. briefly sketch the of poetry from the fifties into the mid-sixties. continuity · Again, chronoJ ,03y will be , related since many of the poets listed were writing in the forties · and fifties; but most did not receive attention until the sixties. ~ The sketch will include general look at transitional poets (older and youn ger) as thelc vork ·appears primarily in about a half dozen anthologies (from I Saw llow Black .1 Was, 19.58, to l(alei<loscope, 1967) and what · few volumes were being brought out _at the time. From this juncture, the examination (see Locke's and Bontemp~'s division of the Renaissance) takes up the poets ·who came to reco~nition . under the banner of the Dlack Arts Movement and _who loosly fall into the cate gory of New Black Poetry. Older poets--l~ydcn, Biociks, Randall, Walker, and others--will be briefly re-visited to see if tln2 "new" mood wrought any significant change:::; in . their views and/or their poetry. Though also a critical history, this book is primarily a historical guide--designed to aid students, teachers, and lay readers in their explotation of Black poetry. Only a naive person .. •.' �( \~ould att empt, at this stage, a full critique of the poetry of the 196Os and 197Os. However, there are stylistic patterns, similarities, and thematic clusters which will be pinpointed and assessed from time to time. Some of the most provocative of recent studies of contemporary Black poetry are Henderson's Th e .Milit a nt !Hack l·l riter in J\frica and th e United States (19.69, · with Mercer Cook); Joy Flasch'~ Melvin Tolson (1972); and Understanding the New Black Poetry (1973); Shirley Williams' s Give Birth to Bri 0 htness (1972); Gibson's Modern Modern Black Poets (1973) and Jackson's and Rubin's Black Poetry in America (1974) (also see bibliography). Literary and Social Landscape~ Assassinations, hi gh political corruption, uph eava l, violence, chan ~e, persistent ideologjes, flaming rhetoric --- are terms used to des i ribe th~ contemporary period. Revolutions (of all kinds) mock and mol~ th6 world. From Cuba to Vietnam, Harle., to Chile, Pakistan to Watts, Nigeria to Indonesia, Kenya to Berkeley, Jackson State to Kent State--tl1e faits rind symbols of change have been dramatic and violent. Meanwhile in the Black sph e re, Be Hop was declining (by the mid~fifties) and Jazz's greatest living interpreter, Charlie Parker, was dead .. Nusiciaris and v~calists began probing new forms ·u~d~r the leadership of Miles Davis, : John Coltrane, the Modern Jazz Quartet, Wes Montgomery, Duke Ellington, Ray Charles, Count Basie, Ornett~ Coleman, Billy Eckstine, Sarah Vaughn, Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday, who died in 1959. Miss lloliday's name and fame · a8ain reached a worldwide audience when, in 1972, Diana Ross, form e rly of the Supremes, starred in the controversial movie, Lady Sings the Blues. Saxophonist Coltrane, a major influence on the current generation o f musici.a ns and poets, died in 1967. An innovator, he sparked new interest in music with �( his "sh e ets of sound" approach 'to playing, influencing poets as well as musicians. The Fifties also witnessed the maturation of Rhythm and Blues, popularized primarily by Black radio disc jockeys who developed lar ge foilowi.ngs. Inter- weaving with .l.ively Illack · social news and cor.imentaries with the news, t)iey • anticipated the new ora'i poetry of the Sixties. Spin-offs from these broacl- castjn g styles were programs like Bandstand (starteJ in tl1e late Fifties). Young white America w.1tch, d Blncks dance, listened to Little Richnrcl ,:mJ Chubby Checker, and trieJ to i111itate it all on TV and in their homes. This period eave birth to the first white superstar Soul artls t~~ Elv~s Presl :Y, . . . . . Black c ritics and soc:i.al h:i.storians note that the new Black s ot L1l rnus ic, an<l the dances accomp;:inying it, freed \lhite Arneric..11~ youn i:, sters frt,l!l the . prudish and self-righteous inhibitions of their foreparents. Generally, American science and industry developed more ·r011i<lly thnn in previous periods. Russia launcl1ed Sputnick, a feat which was followed by funerican-Russian science and space-exploration race wl1ich still continu e s. Tel~star paved the way for televised coverage of global activiti e s . while biochemical warfare and atomic research became the nightmares people lived daily. The funerican literary scene was swamped with ,political nov~ls, satire, writings on the war and experimental j c:) Urnalistic prose. The "underground" newspaper emerged as a majo'r vehic.l .e for this new writing. The symbolism an<l . (, psychology, employed in e arlier writings, is still present. llowever, the influence of the writers • rom the Depression and wnr years is . r,ivin .-:; way to gadnetry and a new wave of existential concern. Black, J ewish, Cl1icnno, Indian and Asian writers are grabbin g more of the literary sta ge. �Contemporary white and third world writer s of influenc e include: John Cheever, N. Scott Hornaday, Ralph Ellison, Bernar<l Malamud, Frank Chin, John llersey, Saul Bellow, Norman Hailer, Chiua Achebe, Ernest Gaines, James Baldwin, Paul Chan, Flannery O'Connor, Albert Murray, Ishmael Reed, _William Styron, James . Ng ug i, William Demby, Shawn Usu Wong, John Barth, William ~elv in Kelley, a nd Irvin Walla ce . Black writers are inclu<le<l in the ge ne r a l listing - bec a use during tl1e cont emporary period, many of them achieve<l recognition on par with the best \ITiters everywhere. (Reed, for example, wa s nominated in two categories for The National Book Award in 1974.) temporary poets are: Some import a nt con- Sumley Kunltz, Cyn Zarco, RobC'rt llayde_n 1 JUc hard . . . Eberhart,. Robert Penn Warren, Jose Montoya, Gwendolyn Brooks, Lmvson Ina<la,. Theodore Raethke, Karl Shapiro, Robert Vargas, Helvin ;l'ols on, Johi1 Berrymin, · Henry Dumas, Victor llernandez Cruz, Robert Lowell, Daniel Halpern, Richard Wilbur, Paul Vesey, James Dickey, Imamu Bar aka, Sylvia Plath, · 1{.illiam Be :1.1 . . and James Wright. Hayden receive<l a National Book Award nomi nat: lon. . fn .1972. Many of the Black prose writers and poets (some from the pre- and post-,iar schools) died during the contem~orary period (Tolson, Bontemps, Hu ghe s, Wright, Durem, Dumas, DuBois, Horne, Rivers, Toomer, Malcolm X, etc.). Ind eed de_ath, in one way or another, not only pr e occu~ied writers (white and n1ack), but was often romantically pursued. Beat po e t Kenneth Rexroth asked 30 American poets committed suici<le .·since 1900?" 11 \~hy have· Those poets not concernec.1 with death were investiga ting deca de nce or the cleuthn ess of society. The development of contemporary poetry cannot be vi ewed properly without . unclerstanding the 11 Beat 11 period. As a partial product of th e .Be Bop era in Black music, Beat poets emulated tl1e hip mann e risms a nd aped the "man alone" (drop-out ) image) associated with musicians. Be ilop 1,as one ..,,ay th e Blackman used to fi ght the commercialization of his are. He also .used it in playing �( 11 Sometl1ing, 11 in the words of Thclonious Honk, "they can't play." meaning whites). (Thev, Important among Beat poets were Lawrence Ferhlinghetti, Rexroth, Allan Ginsberg, and Gregory Corso, among the whitc,s; and Bob Kaufman, Leroi Jones and Ted Joans among the Blacks. Ano tl1 ei a~ack po~t writing at the -time and loosely aligned with the Beat image was Russell Atkins who founded Fr e elance -in 1950. The Beat Movement, which nurtured occultism, rejection of the Establishment and an existential view of life, was centered in Ne\1 York ' s Greenwich Vill.'.lge and the San Frnncisco nay area . The movement died in the early Sixties . Knufman is viewed by many as the unsung patriarch of tlie·. .!3eatern. . . . . . . . . Black critics say major white poets of the movement enti1usia~tically t ook their cues from Knufinan 's innovations, but were not so passionat~ in re- . cognizing 11is influence. his two volumes: Sardine (1967). Ka ufman's poetry is found in anthologies and in Solitudes Crowded with Loneliness (1965) an<l ,. Go'J.den As a kind of spiritual heir to Toomer, Kaur'man is .a·complex , sometimes fragmented, but brilliantly orir,inal poet. llis work, like thrit of mpny of his cont emporaries , is influence by Eastern religious thought and the occult. Stylistically, Kaufman has the "swe~p" of \vhitman coup·le<l w~tl1 the best techniques of modern poetry. ne pclssionately experime11ts wlth jazz' rhythms in poetry and often invokes jazz themes, moods and musicians; Many Beat poets and enthusiast~ l~ter joined or were spawned by the Civil Rights struggle wl1ich' was intensified by several things : Martin Luther King's Montgomery bus boycott in 1955-56; sit-lns and otl1er dramatizations of segregation and discr~nination; the challenges of Jim Crow in travel in 1961 (CO RE); the widening activities in SNCC (1961-64) and the March on Washington (19 63) . Other significant activities enflamcJ and �. inspir e d the hearts and imagination of Black Ame ric a n youth especially. The Nuslims' (Nation of Islam) growth to 50,000 members by 1963 and the Congressional action on Civil Ri ghts Legislatio n were two seemingly unrelated but strategically important eve nts. The growing in f l~ e nc e ~f the Huslims su gge sted t ha t ·many Blacks no lon ger believed America was sincere in its pled ges t o i mplement even when th ey became law. Abetting their distrust were the continued killings, night-ridings in the south and harrassment of Blacks in public places and their humes. 1./ith the bitter taste of Emmitt Till's murder still on their tongues, Blacks reeled under the killings of Chaney, Goodman and Schwerner, Malc ol m X, Me dgar Evers, Kini , the Kennedy brothers, and the three Black Pa nthe r s ( c ~~ned down by police in their sleep in a Chicago apartment). • lly 1966, - llciwev1=r, ]Hack Power signs and slogans began to replace the "He shall ove rcome-l.llack and \Jhite Together" exclamations. Young l.lL:ick America,· adornin g Afro hairdos and African jewelry, attended cultural festivals, ba cf~to~ Africa rallies, poetry readings, and began readin g con~unity news published in r~volutionary broadsides and tabloids. Rhetorical forays by JI. Rap Brown and Stokely Carmichael, youn g SNCC officers, set off a flurry .of state and national laws against incitinri to riot and the transp6rtation of w&apons across state boundaries. ·Lar g~ and small citi e s ignited in flam e s that set the stage for gun ba t t _l:es between police nnd the often "imagined" snipers. These i.:onfla ['._ 1~a tions were rep e ated in scor e s of cities after Dr. King was assassinated in 1968. \./atts po e t Quincy Troup e captured the sho c k and horror, and chronicled the official r eaction, in his po e m "White We e kenu": �The deployed military troops surrounded th e Hhite !louse and on the steps of the Senate bi.iildinr?; a soldier behind a 1:inchine gun 32,000 in Wnshington & Chicago 1,900 in Baltimore ~~ryland 76 cities in.flames on the landscape and the bearer of peace still lying in Atlanta ... In . th e last stanza, Troupe notes with curdlinr, irony :_. Lamentations ! Lnmentations! Lament0tions ! Worldwide ! But in New York , on \lall Street the stock market went up 18 points At this writing , fallout from the Black Revolution reverberate s ·. ar.o und · th e. globe . Black journalist Thomas Johnston reports Irish revolutionaries . sinr, "hie Shall Overcome." Posters and emblems commercialize every!=hing· from African l1airstyles to the raised clenched fist--the initial si~bol ~f Black unity and defiance . A wave of lllack movies--calleJ Blaxploitation-~ beginninr: with "white " experimental flick s like Putney Swope (1969) is capturing a multi~nillion dollar theat er patronage. Dlack movies retrieved the cripple d movie industry from th e brink of disaster . Heanwhile, the murder, incarceration and political ha rrassr,ient of Black men and \vomen made them heroes and heroines in Blacl~ conununlties--yet ironicnl] y symbolized the ton ent aml Hhat some nJac:k journalists called the " ~enocidal schemes" of Amer lea (sec Samuel Yette ' s The Choice) . �( Crlss-crossed by paradoxes, poli ti ca l contradictions, social revolts and relig ious and amb ivalenc es , the Black comlilunity is nevertheless regenerated by its singers and performers. Black popular mus ic . l1as not only r ea ch ed unpr e cedented audiences, but unprecedented money-making capabilities. Rhythm and Dlues , ·said to have uied abo ut 1965, gave way to "S ou l "I Im a -S ou l Man," Sam and Dave announced in the l a t e Sixties. 11 -- The Impressions t old lovers that you " go tt a have soul" and Bobby Womack reminded listeners that th e "Woman's Cotta Have it"--pr es ur.iably "Soul." DL:ick recording cornpanies are in a boon, the two largest ones being No Town ( De troit) and \fotts-Sta~ . (Memphi s ). The current peri?d has also seen th e . npp c aranc c . . . . of t!t ~_ Black super s t ar--often called "sup e r Nigger"--in everyt hing tram sports t o .i110vles. · · Curtis }~yfield's soundtrack album Superfly (1972) sold more than 22,000~000 copies and Marvin Gay' s lfoat 's Going On (1971) set records for i.l_lbum sales. · Recently, however, Stevie Wonder has surpassed th em all. Lit eral l y dozens of singing groups--modeled on the quartets and ensembles of th e Flfti_e s -'-are rel eas lng a lbums regularly. These folk or "soul" poets hav e become .· more · "conscious" in r e cent years· and many now imbibe th e ir songs with pol_i tic a l messages and exaltations of Blackness. Much of this new wave came on the heels of severe criticism by Barake who n-q monished the singers for doting on unrequited love. Too ma ny a re preocc(1pied with "my baby's gone, gone " themes, he said. Bl ack consciousn e ss activity-~and creativity in gene ral--now flourishes .. Related involvement includes: development of Bl ack acting ensembles; opening of free scho ols and Black universiti es ; establishment of Black Na tionalist/ cultural communes; increase in the number of Black bookstores and African boutiques; establis~nent of Black Studi~s pro grams on white and Black �( _c ampuses and, in some cases, quota systems for enrolling Black students; the escalation of Black demand for "cream of the crop" jobs such as tv announcing and the hosting of variety shows; expa nslon and creat ion of new roles for Black newspapers, magazines and radio stations; for.ma.t;ion of national and state Hlack C6n~ressional caucuses and similar units in most professional associatio~s 1n<l, finally and importantl y , n ew engagement with Africa and her problem s and possibilities . Ind eed, future trips to Africa-- to the "Mother country1 ' or "Homeland"--are discuss ed at all age and social levels . Much of this r enewed inter es t is und erstand able in light of the emergenc e durin i the contemporary period of several African ·na tion s tat es ·. . . .· .. ' .. and the increased fraternization among Africans and Afro-Americans . Mn1co lm ·x , cannonized today by grent n umbers of young Black~ ~~d Biack int ell ~c tDnl ~ , did much to foster this current intere st in Africa . Shot to de a th at a rally in Harlem in 1965, Malco l m (El Hajj Halik El Shabazz) ho.cl ·already .been . . .. . ' expelled from the Nation of Islam, and had formed a splinter ~ro uµ kriown as the Or ga nization of Afro- American Unity . His Autobiography of Nalcolm X (wit,h Alex Haley, 1965), which (as he predicted) he did not ge t to·. see in print, chronicles his odyssey as Malcolm Little, . hustler "Detroit Red,'' Nalcolm X, and El -Hajj Malik El Shabazz: Nalcolm w;1s lionlz ed .by Carmichuel,- H. R·a p Brown, Ossie Davis, Darnka and various other shcolars, act .l vists and artists . Black poets , especially, have found Malco lm (and Coltrnn e) a limitl ess source of inspi'"n'tion . can b e seen in For Malc olm : A partinl indic at ion of his i mp;__i ct on poets . Poems on the Life and Dea th of Malcolm X (1967), edited by Dudley Randnll and Margnret G. Burrou ghs . Shabazz " Robert Hayden not ed tlwt: In "El-H njj Mal ik El �lie X' d his name , became his people:' s anger, exhorted them to vengence for the{r past; rebuked, admonished them , The ir scour t er who would shame· them; drive them from the lush ice gardens of their servitude. At the First World Festival of Negro Arts, held in Dakar, Senegal, in 1966, Hayden was awar-ded the Grand Prize for Poetry. A major event, the festival was attended by experts , scholars , artists and enthusiasts of the Dlack Arts who gathered for 24 days to hear papers and discussions , view art exhibits . . ~ . . .. . and cultural performances, and give prel~nanary direttion to the lilack Arts Movement . ' ' ' . . Presiding over the festival was Leopold Sedar Senghor, Senegalese Pr esident , and one of the architects (with Aim~ Cesaire anJ l~cm Damas) of . lfor,ritude . . . '• Negritude is a philosophy of Illack Humanism which cnsco-n ces; according to its originators , tl1e Black mystique or religiosity . The term gr ew put of the associations of nlacl<. African intellectuals , French· .writers and a r tists , and Illack funcrican expatriates . African-ori ented publi~ations such as Presence Africaine and Black Orplicus have renewed their interests i n Bl~ck American writers . Likewise, · Black American journals nncl popular magazines (Black lforld , Journal of Black Poetry, The Black Scholar, Essence , Encore , Ebony, Jet , etc.) have beguu· to p ublish more materials by and about Africans . The revolution in the Black Arts was signaled by many events including t he First Conference of Neg r o Writers in March of 1959 . Langston Hughes was an important figure there--as he was at the Dakar gatl1ering seven years later. The First American Festival of Negro Art was held in 1905 .a d the Second AFNA �· took pl.:..tce in November of 1969 in Buffalo, N. Y.· Int e rlacing these and other conferences, syrnposi.1 and conventions, we re e xc iting dev e lopments and experiments in New York, Chicago , \Jatts, Philadelphia , Atl a ntn, Bnton Rou ge , St . Louis, Cleveland, Detroit and ~Ja shing ton, D. C. Durin ~ these peri ods if social turmoil and artistic upsur ge writers . . . and poer.s often align e d themselves with ideological positions and r eg ional movements . Consequently, Black Arts communes and re gional brands of Black consciousness grew concurrently . and Black Nationalists wer Splits between older Civil Ri ghts workers paralleled by splits between older writers and younger practioners of "Black Arts . " The splits we r e not alw::iys c lear-c_u.t, . . . however , for many older activists and poets joined the new mood i i ;pirit, thematic concern and pe rsonal life style, while some o·f · th e youn r;e t~ wi:lte.rs retained the influence of the earlier moods . Complic.1tin~ thin gs even more were the variants on the domanant themes of each camp. Gwendo:j.yn Brooks., . . . Dudley Randall, Har ~aret Danner, Nar:;aret \Jalker an<l John Oliv er Kill ens are among the older group of writer s who vigorously took up the ba \1ner of the n ev.; mood. Younger writers whose works imbibe some "tradition 11 ·. include Henry Dumas (Poetry For Hy People, 1970 and Play Ebony Play lVl)ry , ·1974) ~ Conrad Kent Rivers (Th e Still Voice of llarlem, 1963, etc.), Julia Fields (Poe~1s, 1968), Al Young (Dancing , 1 96 9, etc.), and Jay \fri ght ( 'l'hc Home coming Singer, 1972) to nnme just a few. Th6 :creativc promise of this period was dealt a severe blow by the 'u ntimel y deaths of Dumas and Rivers in 1963. These poets are deeply influenced by the moods and preoccupations of the period (self-love, racial injustic e , violence, war, Bla c k Cons ciousness and History) but they wor' alo!1 g t e st e d lines and ex pe rime nt within careful and thou ght-out frames of references . ~ - - - - - - - - - - -- -- - -- - - - Most of the writ e r s of the pe riod �(th ei r styles and ideolo gi es notwitl1 s tandin g ) hnve found the mselves eng ulf ed at one tir.1e or another in ·ieated debates over questions rel_a ted to the "Black Aesthetic," the relationship of writer to reader, Bla ck vs white audiences, and the part po litic s should play in their life and work: · At this writing ,_ these disc ussions continu e in most s e ctions of the :Clack World. The flurry of ideological anJ aesthetical debate amo ng the poets (and otl1er writers) has often been precipit a ted or attend ed by critical writings, historical sutdies, social essays and public political statements . Some of th e individuals associated with initiating the plethora of rhetoric on the question of a "Black" a e_s thetic (and related · i ssues )_ a r i:; Ron. Karenga·, · Gwendolyn Brooks, Bar aka, Addison Gayle, Jr., Ho y t W. Fuller (Bl ack lvorld), Edward Spriggs, J. Saunders Redding , Ralph Ellison, Larry Neal, Ernest Kaiser, Mel Watkins, Ron Welburn, Dudley Randall, Le rone Bennett, J_r ., Nathan Scott, James Emanuel, Toni Cade-Bambara, John Henrik Clarke, Don L . . Lee, Ed Bullins, and Stanley Crouch. A number of important studies, . literary and cultural, by Black and white writers, aided in whetting or prolongin3 the critical thirsts. are: Some of the important and/or controversial \-i~iting s The Militant Black 11r iter: in Africa and th e Unit ed States (1969); Cook and Henderson; Black Expression (1969) and The Black Aesthetic (1971) · Gayle Jr., ed,; Nun tu: Literntur c : The New African ·c ulture (1961) and Neo-African A History of Black \fritin g (1968), Jahn; Lnnr;ston Hughes : Black Genius (1971), O' Daniel, ed.; Rlack Poets of the United States: Paul Lawrenc e Dunbar to Langston llu ghes (1963, French edition; 1973 Enclish trans., Douglas), Wa gner; Before the }~yflowe r (1962), Bennett , Jr.; Shadow and Act (1966, Ellison; Understandin g ~he New Black Poetry (1973), llenderson; Colloquim on Negro Art: First \forl<l Festival of Nep,ro Arts, 1966 (1968), ~ - ~ - - - - - - - - -- - -- - - - �f.<liUon s Presence Africaine; The Ne ~ro Novel in America (1965), Bone; ?-!other is Cold: A Study in West African Literature (1971), Rosco e ; The Crisis of the Ne~ro Intellectual (1967), Cruse; Native Song: A Critical Study of Twentieth-Century Negro ~Jerican Authors (1 968), Ma r golies ; Dynamite Voic e s : Bl ac k Poets of th C! 1960 ' s, vol. I (1971), Lee; Blues People (1963) , !Hack h us ic (1967), llome: Social Essnys (1966), and l~ni s e ]face Rays ltnze (1971), 13araka; c.rnJ Give Dirth to Bri <; htn c s s (1972), Williams. A nwnber of 13lack critics, artists, and activists heatedly de- nounce ,,hites who research or criticize )Hack literature, saying that only those who have lived the Black Experience can writ_e about it:".. An o th e r · group holds that whites can report on Black writing if t l1ey ar~ sincere and syrnpathetic. The Black Arts Move1:1ent , as the contemporary period is sometimes called, took place in the shadows of what many Black social critics h~~e ~allec.l thi "second lteconstruction." Hence, much of the writing is a revolt a Gainst political hypocrisy and social alienation. In the angriest poetry~ authors .show~red disdain and obscenities on the "system" and whites in gen e ral. Refusing "integration" even if offered, younger poets derided Americ_an va_lues and attitudes. "Unlike the Harlem group," llayJen noted, "they rejected entry into the mainstream of Americ.a n literature as a desirable i:;oal ." Of course, more than a few of the olJ6r poets were writing in the Sixties and are writing today. Man~ of the~ , however, were sometimes laid aside by youn g readers who were unable to separate "p oetry" from the fiery declama- . tions of Carmicl1ael, Brown and innumerable local spokesmen and versifiers. Often tl1e poets exchanged supe~ficial indictments, indulgeJ in name-calling and , as groups or individuals, bep,an ratin g each other on their "levels of Blackness" even though no criteria existed then anJ non.e _cxists toclay for �$i.1ch jud g ing . Huch of the dispt.ite centered around the question of who "started" the Dlack Arts or New Black Poetry movements . :rn an article in the Spring, 1971, issue of Confrontation: A Journal of Third Horld Literature, Eugene Redmond stated : While it . ts true that there are leadinG lights of the Ill.:1ck Arts Hovement , it is an emphatic lie to say one geographical region of the country is solely responsible for either the main (and Major) writing output or kicking off any tradition of Blacks writing about themselves. To take such a contcmp- tuously arrogant stand would be to write off the Blacl~ musical past. Aggression has b een the tone in much of the cont~inpol."ary poetry. This is partially due to tl1e presence of some who selected poetry as a meJium of expression because of its deceptive simplicity and briefness.· · Hanh of ' '' the new "poets" obviously have no genuine interest in becoming goo<l . or . excellent craftsmen. On the other hand, the current period continues to witn~ss a growing and wide-ranging concern for poetic craft and knQwledge. During the sixties and into the seventies , literally hundreds ·of Black poets started writing and publishing--i~ tabloids, magazines, broadsides, anthologies and individual collections. . Also showcasing the new poetry were the ne\-.1 publications : of Black Poetry . regions. Umbra, 1Hiick Dialogue, Soulbook , and The Journal Significaht clust~rs of poets developed in geographical And the atmosphere was enhanced by a number of African thinkers , a rti sts, poets and novelists who arriveJ to America to teach,. lecture, perform and travel. The importance of this inter;.1ction amon:; Blacks from various parts of the r,lobe cannot be overemphasized. nlnck writers and student s now read African, West Indian and Afro-Lntin writers. Langston �Ilughes acci uaint ed Ame ric.::m audiences with African lit e r a tur e in his anthologies: An African Trensury: Essays, Stories, Poems by Bl ack Africans (1960) and Poems from Black Africa (1963). Whispers from a Continent: In 1 969 , Trinidadian \Jilfr eJ . Cartey edited The Literature of Contemporary Dlack J\l'rlca . · Marie Collins co1,1pileu .Jaack Poets in Fr ench (1972) and Keorepe ts e Kgosfrs:ile edited The \ford is llere (1973). Other scholars <lnd wr it ers also wrote critical studies or edit e d ·a ntholo gi es of Af ric an and C<lril>bean lit e rature . Black writing rec e iv ed a signific a nt boost when in 1971 Senglior anJ Af ro-Cuban poet Nicliolas Guillen were nominated for the Nobe l Prize fo r lit era tur e--thus . . . . . . . . fulfillin g James Weldon John:,on ' s 1 922 prophecy th a t th~ first lllack Hr .i.ter to achieve substantial internationa l fame \JOuld not .c::ome from America~ Height e nin g the feelin g of the period was Charles GorcJone ' s wlnning of t lic Pulitzer Prize for drama (No Place to Be Somebody, 1970) . Hany' non:--Amer:i can Black writers now publishing or living in th e U. S . are Nigerian nov elist:--poet Achebe , exiled South African poet Kgositsile, Nigerian poet-playwright Wale Soyinka, Ghanaian poet Kwesi llrew , South African crltic Ezekiel Hpliahlele, . . I Nigerian poet-playwright Ifeanyi Henkiti , Martinique po e t-playwri ght Aime I I Cesaire and Guianese poet- scholar Leon Damas . chang e ideas and compare styles . The writers fraternize , ex~ l~hnhlele , for example, has writt e n critical st udies of Black American writing (Volccs in the Hhirlwind, 1972) while Niss Brooks has praised African ~riting (Intioduction , Kgositsile ' s tfy Name is Afrika , 1971) . South African poet; Mazisi Kunene, wrote the Introduction I for Ce sa ire ' s Return to}~ Native Land (1969 translation). Several Afro-American exp;:itriate artists and writers returned to America during th e current periocJ for either temporary or permanent residency . AddecJ to this flurry of accivities and · changes were the es tablishment of • �Black publishinz houses (Broadside Press, Third \Jorld Press, The Third Press, etc.) and hundreds of new news organs and litetary journals. Durinr; the contemporary period a number of important ;;m thologies have also been published. Some _of the more notable ones include He~ond TI1e Blues, Pool, 1962; Six es and Sevens, Breman, 1962; American Negro Poetry·, Bontemp s , 1963; Soon One Hornin~: New lhiting by American Negroes, 1940 - 1962, Hill, 1963; New Negro Poets, Hughes, 1964; Kaleidoscope, HayJen, 1967; BlaclVoices, Abrahams, 1968; Rluck Fire, Jones and Neal, 1968; The New Black Poetry, Major, 1969; Soulscript, Jordan, 1970; 3000 Years of Black Poetry, Raoul and Lomax, 1970; t:ew lHack Voices, Abrahams, 1972; The hl n~k r ~e t s .; . Randall, 1971; Black Spirits, Kin g , 1972; and The Poetry of Black Ame rica, Adoff, 1973. In ad<.lition to thesf; and other nationally distributed antholo c ies, many collect1on.s of Black Literature were compiled and publishe<.l in various re ~ions: . Watts, Watts Poets and Writers (Troupe, 1966) and From the Ashes (Sch~lber g , 19~9); South, Fress Southern Theater by tl1e Fr e e Southern Theater (Drint: et .ali 1969); Chicago, Jump Bad: A New Chica 30 Antholocv (llrooks, 1971); East St. Louis- : St. Louis, Sides of the I'!.iv e r (l{edmond, 1970); New York, Three IlunJreJ anJ Sixty De,~ rees of Blackness Co r.i in& at You (Sanchez ·, 1971) anJ ll~rlcm: ·. Voices from the Soul of Black America (Clarke, 1970); PhiL:i.delµhia, Blac k Poets Write On (Black History Huseum Committee); Newark, Soul Session (1972); Detroit, Ten: Antholo~v of Detroit Poets (South and \~est, 1968). ln many regions several components have merged to form cultural and performing arts conglomerates. It is often at these centers that white movie anJ theater moguls find ne\1 talent fo1. the current wave of Black movies. At this writing , the contemporary poetry scene is embro iled in vi t; orous debates anJ conferences dealin g 1,ith "directions" for Black writers, consolidating publishing houses, �.and r, ett Ln~ published materials ·into schools (especially into Black schools) , Caught (sometimes unknowingly) in the midst of :these issue s and qu e stions are the older Black po e ts--s ome whom have rema i ned s il ent in face o f rhetori~al provocation . Others, however, have been quite vocal as in the ca s e of Gwendolyn Ilroqks and Dudl ey Randall . }[iss Brooks ~ives a ctive support to th e youn ger writers b y wa y of - financiaJ and moral encourn r:ement. She sup e rvises writers workshops, establishes poetry prizes with her own money and travels to read before conferences and classes . Recently sl1e withdrew her affiliation with Harper and Row and began publishing throu ~h Broadside Press. Randall est.:1blished Ilroa<lside Press in Detroit in 1966 _and a lso has set up poetry awards with his own f~nds. llay<len, who often shuns ·public di~pljys of his allegiances , admonishes the youn g poets to k eep ' h i gh writing· s.t a n<l ci nl s . Ile is recognized as a brilliant te.:1cher as well as poet, and is known to · work quietly with youn g writers and scholars . llayJen pluyeJ s m~j o r role in gainin ~ recognition for Lucille Clifton (Good Tbne s , 1969; Good .Ue0a About the Ea rth, 1972; and- An Ordinary Homan, 1974), one of the most sple.n<lid of the ~ew poets . Some new and older names closely linked to the current pe riod are Pinkie Gonion Lane (I-IL.cl Thoughts) , Hichael Hµrper (Dear John, D.e.:1r Coltro.nc, llistory is Your Own lleartb e ::it, · etc.), Haring Cuney (Pu zz l e s), Troupe (Embryo), Sterling Plump (Half Black llal( Inacker), Jayne Cortez (Pisstained Stairs .:1ncl the Monkey Man ' s Hare s , Fest ivals and Fun c r., l s , etc.), Dumas (Poetry For Hy People and Play Ebon v Pl.av Ivory), Rivers (The Still Voice of Harlem, etc .), Nikki Giovanni (nla ck Ju<l r, ement, Black Feelin g , Black Thought, n. e : Creation) , Recd (C a techisr-1 of A ne oamcrican hoodoo church , etc .), David Henderson (De Hayor of Harlem, etc.), Arthur Pfist e r (Bullets, Deer Cans & Things) , Baraka (Black Ma Bic, etc.), John Echols (Ho~e i s ITT1ere the Soul Is), Arna Bontemps (Personals), llay<len(Selccte<l Po ems, Hards in the . '· . �( Hournin r; Time), Lee (Think Black, ]Hack Prid e , · etc.), Sonia Sanchez (Homecoming, etc . ), R.::indall (Citi es Durnin f! and .lor e to Rememher), Stanley Crouch (Ain ' t No Ambulances for No Nig 8ahs Tonight), Hu ghes (The Panther and the Lash, etc . ), Atkins (Heretofore), Hay Hiller (Into th e Cl~irin g), Aus tin Black ·(The Torna do · in Hy Hou th), Tolson (Harlem Gallery), Young . (The Son ~ Turning Back U~to Itself), James A. Emanuel (Panthe r ~Ian), Vesey (lvory Tusks), Mari Evans (I Am A Black \fomnn), Julia Fields (Poems), Stephany (Moving Deep), Etl1eridge Kni ght (Poems from Prison), Gwendolyn Brooks (In the llecca, Riot, Family Pictur e s, etc . ), Roy Hill (49 Po ems, etc.), Ray Durem (Take No Prisoners) . Far from bein8 exhaustive, · thiti .. list is merely · . . . . ' . . . representative of the gre ~t poetic output durin g the current p~riod. Many of these poets--Reed, Troupe, Young , Crouch, Dumas,--are also · prose writers or anthologist . Certainly the list grows and changes con~ stantly, especially in view of tl1e continual unfolJing of surprises . Suffice it to say that the contemporary mood of Black poetry is multi~levcled ~nd complex . There are generalities; one is that most of the poets unreservedly satu~ate their work with obviouij Black references and cultural motifs. There is also an anti-intellectual flavor as many poets turn their backs qn academic or Western forms. This has brou r, ht a ~eneral disrer,ard for the esoteric, · literary and sometimes secret allusions, · employed in much of the current white poetry. There are exceptions; ~f course--notably in special s~nbolism ' . I of Muslim poets (Marvin X, Askia Toure, Bar.:.1ka, Sonia Sanchez, and others). These exceptions can also be seen in works of poets who explore ,\f rican Ancestor Cults, Voodoo, mysticism and African languages. [videncc of this ca n be seen I in the poetry of Ishmael Reed, .Askia Toure, llenry Du111a s , Norman J o rdan, Sun Ra, K. Curti s Lyle, Bob Kaufmnn anJ others. Generally, tl1ou gh, Black poets are �framiqg their allusions, im.:iges and symbols in tlie more concrete cultural motifs, .:is indicated in a line from Eur;ene n.edmond's "Tune for a Teenage Neice" where he views the neice as beinp, "spiccid as pot-liquor . " TIIE POETS i\llD TllEIR TOTEMS : A. 1 Soon, One! Mo rnin g : · Tlireshhold of the New Black Poetry Hy Blackness is the beauty of this lund. ---- Lance Jeff e rs Richard \vright called the Blacks " America I s metaphor" and Lance Jeffers referred to "tlie beauty of this land." i\nJ both of the.s e definit.e su1nc~s· · were taken well in advance of " Black Pride" poetry of the s·ixties and ~e·ve1~ticu. Margaret \folker ' s discussion of her plnymates in th e···Aiabuma "dust" . (19J7) is . not self-deprecating ; and Gwendolyn Drooks ' s portrait Sa tin Le gs Smith (1945) is far from being unhappy. These are only four randomly s e l e ct @d poetic affidavits of lllacks viewing themselv es "ppsitively" before th·e ;:idvt:,nt of the New Black Poetry . We could , of course , bring up l1undreds of examples from the p_o etry of Phyllis Wheatley throu gh that of Lan gs ton llughes. But the point , already made, is simply that one is seriously remiss in }ookiri~ at recent Black poetry without considering its history. t he poe t s who wrote and publish ed bet~een 1945 and 1965 , foi example , did not work in sealed chamoers of tuntcled vision. Each group , eacl1 cluster of concern , evolveJ from what had been written or said before . Some of these poets were heavily in fluenced by white wr i ters , teachers , and critics . llowever , the best of them applied their knowled ge and tools to the service of the Black l iterary tradition . Othe r s were under tl1e direct tutelage of Blacks (Pa ul Vesey studied with J . W. Johnson , Joyc e Yeldell with llayden) and became part �af a continuing line of Black-developed thou glit a nd writing (Vesey in turn t a ught Arthur Pfister). Whatever their make-up, or their mission, the poets as a group show grea t facility with lang~age, depth of insi gl1t and passionate concerns for their collective and individual hurts~ D$ Blacks and as humans. The work of these poets, and that of their older pen-fellows, can be found i.n several anthologies: Po e try of the Ne gro (19 49 , 1970); the bilingual Ik zag hoe Zwart Ik Was (I ·saw How Black I Was, 1958); Beyond the Blues (1962); American Negro Poetry (1963); Burning Spear (1963); Sixes and Sevens (1963); Negro Verse (1964); New Negro Poets: USA (1964, 1966)~ Poets of Today (1964}; the bilingual Ik Be n De ~lieu<ve NeP,er (1 Arn the New Hegre , 1965); m1d l(.'.l leicio- · scope (1967). Bontemps and Hughes edited Poetry of th e Neg ro in 1949.. The first major collection since Cullen's Carolin g Dusk, it was revised by Bontemps in 1970 after llughes I s death. Interesting ly, s01:1e of ·t~ c 1949 entries are deleted while the table of cont e nts has been doctored to make n~w·entrics (like Dudley Randall, }~ri Evans and nay Durem) coincide with thei~ age-line. Bontemps, a Renaissance also edited American poet who did not publish a volume until 1963 (Personals), Negro Poetry, a task which g.'.lvc him the opportunity : to pick the best from the past as well a s the present. The two bi--lingual ari'thol- · og ies. were published in Bolland and E.ng l and and edited by nosey ·Pool, with· the assistance of Paul Bremen. Dr. Pool· (1905-1973), a lloll ander , came across . Cullen when she was preparinc a pa per on American poetry in 1925. covery led to a life-long inter es t in Black culture a nd po e try. This dis- . During 1959/~0 she tour ed the United States on a Fulbright trav e l gra nt, spendin g several months visiting and lecturin g at 27 Dlack coll eges and univ ersi ti es . Dr. Pool's work in Black poetry has drawn mixed re ac tions fr01,1 cautious Black writers and critics. But her importance in helping to bring at Len tlon t o Black poets, �. despite cr i es of "exploita tion," is undeniable, Even more controversial i s nrcmen, Hho ap.i)ears to fancy himself as a n English J ean-Paul Sar t e ; he originated the ller'ita~e Series-_- "d cvo t ed en tir ely to the works of Afro-American authors"--with Ha yden ' s A Bal l,:frl ·o f · Remembra nce in 1963. Sin.c c that time · Br emen , who edited Sixes and Sevens and You !letter Beli eve It: Black Vers e in - Eng li s h (1973), has released more than 20 volumes of ,\fro -American poetry . Randall ' s Broadside Press services as the American distributor of the slim books which have included the aesthetical and historic al range of Black poetry: Frank Horne (Ha v erstraw , 1963), Do nt emps , Rivers (Th e Still Voice of Harlem, 1968; The Urir.>,ht Po ems , 1972), 1'1:'lr i Cvan.s (\.;here is . all the Music? , 1968 but withdrawn " at the author's request "), · Russell Atki,11s .. (Heretofore, 1968), Lloyd Addison (The Aura &. th e tJi11br'a, 1970), ,\'udre Lor:dCl (Cables to Ra ge , 1970), DuJlcy Rand a ll, (Love You, 1970), Ishmael need, whom Bremen calls "the bes t Black poet writin~ today" (C a t ec hi sm of .d ~~oamerican hoodoo church, 1970), James H. Thompso n (First Fire: Poems 1957~ l.9 .6 0, . 1970), ... Dodson, llarold Carrinf3 ton (Drive Suite, 1972), Clar ence Majo r (Pr-i.:v ate Linc, 1971), the " first non-American contributor" Mukhtarr Mustapha (Tho r ns a nd Thistl es , 1971), Durcm (Take No Pris oners, 1971), a nd ll ayde n (The Night-Bloomin g Cereus, 1972). Bremen notes that both llari Evans and Ra~nond ~~tte~son oiderecl their books withdrawn b ecause they " we r e·. :s uspiciou s of the cont·ract t e rms.:" In addition to such "suspicion," felt · aiso by o ther Black poets, there is great resentment of Bremen ' s fast-draw critica l evaluations of th e poetry--which I are often caustic, ridiculous, and na rrow, and r ef l ect a lack of gen era l know_led r,e of Black poetry. poets. He calls Durcm, for examp l e , one of tl.1e first "Black" His statement about Reed, cominr, as it did in 1970, dies violence to both th e author and the critical a tMosph e re in whicl1 Black poets grapple e veryday. Ile says Dumas was born in the "incredibly named town" of Sweet • �. llomc, ~\rkansas . Neverthe~ ~ss (alas!), one wonJers where these Bl ncl~ poets may have gotten published if such "healthy Jiscases" as Bre1.1e11 J.i<l not exist. Nezro Verse , edited liy Ansel1n Hollo , hns no inLroducti.o n or fonmrd, but does include a dozen blues and Gospel song-poems. edited by llugf1es with a Forward by Gwendolyn. New !e~r6 l'oets was Use of the \,ord "new" exemplifies the kind of spirit Lhat w;:is in ascension at th e time. Hiss Brooks, terse as always , is also her usual <lefinitive self: At the present time, poets who happen also to l>e Negroes arc twci.cc:-tried. They have to write poetry, and they have to remer.iber that they are Ne~roes . Often they wish th at . they . could solve the Ne8ro ci'uestion once and for all, anJ go on from such success to the composition of textuied ~onnets or buyant villanelles about the trnnscience of a rainJrop, or the gold-stuff of the sun. They are likely to find signi--:. ficances in those subjects not instantly obvious to their fairer fellows. The raindrop may seem to them to represent racial tears--and th , e might seem , indeed, other than tr::m sil'.nt . The go lden sun might reminJ them tlit they ar.e burning. There is an attitude in this statement that the Gwendolyn Brooks of 1968 will· reject : "poets sho happen also to Le Negtoes. 11 But she reflects Cullen in the "dark tower" and his ruminating _{lit -the "curious thing " of the Black poet . She also presages the twistings and turnings in Jayne Cortez's ''Festivals & Funerals ." Yet, in introducing the "New Negro Poets," she informs the reader that "here are some of the prevailing stars of an early tomorrow." \!alter Lowenfcls ' s Jecision to include "20 Negroes " in Poets of Today was spurred in part by liis recop,nition (along with Sh.::ipiro) that "most general �antholo ~ies of Amecican poetry exclude Negroes." An authority on Hhitman, Lowe nfels shared an award with E.E. Cumming s in the thirties, anJ has helped a number of Black poets make it into print: Dumas, Troupe, Pa tterson, ItedmonJ, Carrington, Major, Reed, Harrer, Hayden, and many others. Lowenfels' was the first new white-edited 4ntholo gy to inclu<le such a substaritia l _number of Blacks. The r e \•1e r e 8 5 poets in all. One of the most important of th ese anthol a~ ies is Burning Spear which contains the work of the Howard Poets: Halter DeLe gall (1936Govan ( ), Jeffers ( ), Al Fraser ) , Percy Johnston (1930- LeRoy Stone (1936- ), Oswald ( ) , Nathan Richards ( ) , and Joseph White. ) ' DurninB Spear, subtitle An . . . . Anthology of Afro-Saxon Po,~ try, was an out growth . of . t.h e llosci n Litera.ry Society, ·located at lloward University, which also published Dasein: Quarterly Journal of the Arts (1961-1969). as publisher while DeLegall was editor. A Johnston, its founJer, serveJ The:Lr connection with the _o l<ler group of poets and scholars is evident in the a dvisory board list: A. Brown, Arthur P . Davis, Owen Dodson and Eu~ene C. Holmes . Jeffers, Stone and 1n1ite served as contributing editors. Steriing Ftu s er, ·Govan, Po e ts in the inaugural issue of Dasein, which <loubleJ as a memorial to RicharJ Wri gl1t~ were Delores Kendrick , Clyde n. Taylor , Jeffers, William Jacks6n, Veinon A. Butler, n.obert Slaught e r , Laurn A. \falkins, Govan, Fraser, Pelo.re s F . Henry, R. Orlando Jackson , DeLegall, Johnston and Stone. There is no sing le unifyin g threacl runnin g throu gh either Da s e in or Burnin ~ Spear but Blnck influences and subjects are clearly imbeded. Burnin g \ Spear, for example, is published by Jupiter Hammon Press, another connection-in name --to th e tradition of Black po e tr y . In a back-cov e r note, the eight contributors are called "a new ·hreed of youn g poets who are to American poetry wh a t Charlie Parke,· , Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk and Niles D.:ivis �. ·are to American jazz ." After this import<.1nt analogy, the stater,1ent continues : These eight Afro-S<.1xon poets are not rnernbcirs of a literary movement in the tr adi tional sense of the \:•onl, because . they do not have in common any monist view about cre.:itivity or aes t hetics . CollecLi'vely, lim-Jever , they ,.ire indifferent to most critics and r<.!Vic::\1crs--sinc~ criticis1,1 in AE1erica is contrulled and written in the riwin by [uro-Americans. There is no pr efa ce or introduction or statement about poetics; these poems themselves fill the pa ges . Poems by DeLegal l, Jeffers, Johnston and Stone also _appear.in B~youd the Blu~s and in mrn1erous '' little" magazines. nut all of the poets 1~articiputcd in reading-lecture programs leading up to tl1e wider in~ ~r~sts in poetiy in ~he l ater sixties and seventies . DeLegall (Philadelphia) a mathematici.:in a~d e l eit r onic data processing specialist, published in many anthol6gles and. quarterlies , and haJ read his poetry and lectured at various eastei~ and southern colleges. Fraser (Charleston) is a political scientist with a . specialization in African Affairs. Alone witl1 DeLegall, Stone , Govan, Johnston and Richards, he has been recor<leJ reac.linr; his poetry _at tbe Library of Congress . Fraser cultivated a coffe~-shop audience for his .readings a~d appehre<l before colle ge gLoups . Hi is a -~hilosopher-matl1ematiclan . One of the older members of the Cro up , Jeffers (San Francisco) is credited with having "influ ence " on 't he llmv,frd Poets . He has taught English and writin)j , a t half a dozen American colleges and universities . His first volume of poetry was Hy Dlackness is the Beauty of This Lmd (1970) and . second , When I Know the Power of Ny ]Hack Hand , Hill be out in 1975 . Broadside Press . Doth are published by Jeffers has also written novels , short stories and criticism. �Johnston (New York) currently t~aches at a college in New Jersey and with Stone "co-authored the revolutionary verse pamr>hlet Continental Streamlets ( Also a playwright , Johnston published a pamphlet of his poetry, Concerto for Girl and Convertible in 1960 and was considered the lea<ler of . the ·11oward Poets. White is a nn~ive Phjla<lelphian whose work appeared in Liberator, Poets of Today, a _nd other places. He is a technician for FAA and has urit ten short stories as well as successful prose-poems. As a group , the Howard Poets represent one of the toughest intellectual strains in contemporary Black poetry. Maybe the fact of their having such diverse interests, backgrounds, and training aided in their vitality~ virtuo~ity and power. To be sure, these are "c onscious" poets; but-- avoiJing · slognns · ond sentimental hero-worship--they present precise analyses . and interpretations of their world. Nost of them gr ew up in the Be Bop era and so their sub~ects quite naturally include Hiles Davis, Lester Young, Charles "Yaqlbird" Parker, Clifford Brown, Sonny Rollins, Thelonious Monk, and other makers nncl contributors to that period. And a preoccupation with Civil Rights and the lll~ck. strur;gle is merged with their awareness of the "bomb ," middle class pretensions, history, mythology, religion, and the various trends in poetry : Beat poetry, jazz poetry and folk lyrics. rnoderniiy, DeLegall celebrates the !Hack presence ("My Brownskin Business") an.J satirizes a _pretentious Howard coed· ("Re qui em for A lloward Lady") who is "·cultured" and performs every social amenity perfectly. She wears "lligh..a:.heeled tennis shoes'; but he hopes, near the poem's end, that the president of The Universal Institute of Eu~enics will send a New species of female who will be robed in clothes of "sincerity" and who can be called "A Homan." ). �. ·.. . : . -In 11 Psalm fo r Sonny Rollins" he ·announc ed thnt ·_ he is Absor beJ into the womb of the sout'ld. I am in the sound The sound is in me . I: am th e sound. Rollins, the ·Harle!',1· pied pipe,r , will l ead his listeners to "truth," " Zen," · "Pol!t:ry," ,ind "Cod. 11 1/- Afte · "The 131:ist" (nuclear bombing) there wi ll be ... no I, no world , no you . Govan .-:i] so writes convincine; ly as in "The Lynching" : Ile was soaked in oil and th e mntch thrO\m. _ lle scr eamed , he ·e r led, he moaned , he crackled in his fiery inhuman dance. Govan' s interes ts span the turhul enc~ in "llun~ary ," space exp]ur.-:ition (',:The An~ry Sk i es Are Callin2 11 ) , and "Pr ayer " wherein he asks "Chris~." for a new dawn's light! Jeffers is a livin g ex.1mple of the 1,10re helples s plight of many a J.,lnck. writ ~ r. Although he had been writing for severol decad es , his ,-, orl: 1,a s white-listed by nnthologists and his poetry did not appear in book for1n until th e se venti es . " My lllackness is the Denu t y of thi s Lnnd" s L,inds as a rebuff t o those who suy 11 Blnck 11 poetry .1.Jas "invented II recently, · Jc£ fers:, s po em , wri t ten in th e fifties , is a t onc-e defiant and proud: My bl ackness is the beau t y of this l a nd, my blackness, tender and s tro ng , wou n ded and wise, The narrotor , af t er the fashion of tlargaret Wa l ker, chronicles the hu rts , th e h appinesses , and the hun ge rs of !Hacks. These h e stanJs against his �'\,Jiiteness " and th e perversions of larger America. mines the same vein: past . "Black Soul of the Land" rich relianc e on the wel.l;.-deep strength of the Black The "old black man" in Geoq~ia is "leathered, lean, and _strong." And these are secrets that " crackers coulc.l not kill": a secret spine unbent within a spine, a secret source of steel, a secret stur~y ru gged love, a secret crouchin3 hate, a secret knife vithin his hanc.1, a secret bullet in his eye . The poet ·asks the old man to pass on his source of streni_;th so that h~, and his fellO\,JS , will be able to "turn black" the soul of the nation . and America shall cease to be its name. Jeffer s gathers up a fury of love, anguish and conuuitment in ot'her of his poems: "Her Black and African Face I Love ," "The Han Hith A l-'urrince _in.llis . llanc.1," " Hegro l~reedom Rider," "H er Dark Body I Cluster ," " Dlack Han in A 1-Jew Day," and "Prophecy." Johnston echoes Jeffers, thou r.;h in a difft:!rent voice and style;_ in many of his poems. But Johnston's concern is .wi th Dlack music and ni.u sicians. "To Paul Robeson , Op us No . 3" celebr.:ites the multi- faceted talents of the man whose song " stood Brooklyn on its fee t." magnificent tribute to the President of j az z: tinu es to "ignite the heart." "In Memoriam: Prez" is a Lester Young whose music con- \. In " Fitchett ' s Basement Blues , Opus B" Johnston wonders why everytime I want Coltrane or Sonny all I get is Brubeck , ... �." De1-1ey 'Square ," with its "Beat" repertoire and interests in contemporary everyman, is a poetic summary of the collective.' history of Johnston ' s generation . I-Jarels for "unkinking hair, " recollections o[ radio shows, reminders of Relief and ITPA , an<l Duke I:llington, all leave Jolins~on with the knowledge _that nothing ·· flas · chang~<l but my postal zone. ln other pieces he surveys the current and past Black musical scene : " ' Round ' Dout Midnight, Opus 17, ' ' "V:iriation on a Theme by Johnston, " and "To Bobby Timmons." "Black is My Re1.arcl 11 Richards says, noting that Sorrow came, and I left the world ... An d experimentalist, his "Do Not forget to Rememher" ·. iric-1 uJes a " p·relude-" .' and an " interlude ." Like the other poets , he writes prinwrily in free verse ( almost no rhyme) and in the foregoing poem he repeats "A petal. [alls ." The llowarcl Poets all touch f;rief and anguish, as does Riclwrds in ''God .Biess This Child :ind Other Children ... Requiem. " In syntax and vocabular·y, it .· bears. resemblence especially t _o the beats and to Bob Kaufman anll Ruf,sell Atkins . Words and phrases like " matronymic diva," "sepiacenic marty'r, " " albumenic hawk, " "womb-prize, " and "black aegis" convey the mystical and eerie ' sense implied in the repetiti on . of '.'sleep" and the innovat'ive typography of the poem . Also experimental · a nd original is Stone . Miles Davis 's " Flamenco Sketches" i ;; separ:ited into five parts: cannons, en:irt and bill . !!is study of ouvert, selim, New York is "r e<..! in weeping " aud Chicago is "Black- ·. draped" as Miles utters in "mut es ." The music captures the Dissonant nostalgi:i of one kiss of :i Spanish lady as it weaves in and out of transcontinental experiences and locations. Dnvls ' s use am! kn01,,led ge of ,1orlcl muslc is revered. Finally, �the 1,1u s:i c is aste<l to Conunent on a cloud of oriental ni n ths conu11ent ! In " Notes fro m. the Cubicle o'f A disgcuntled Jazzman" Stone becomes a verbal · maestro r _ipplng in "chan:>·s;" rattlint:, up "thirteenths," stormin~ the "minor mode," a1{<l whippin2; up "passing tones "--all " with impunity." White ' s " Black is A Soul" repe.::its "down" as the persona drops into " depths , " " the abyss," and the "infinite " Where black-eyed peas & gr eens arc storeJ . ... This poi gnant revelation is made in the end: I raise my dmrn bent l:inl:y head to chir-1.ic .. & shout I ' m black. I ' m black _14-f' & I ' 111 from Loo .. back . He think immedintely of titles like Tltink Black (Lee) c1n<l "S.::iy It LouJ-- .· I ' m Tilack and I ' m Proud" (James Brown) even thou gh this poem precedud them by several years--to say nothinr.; of Joseph Cotter , . Jr. ' s " Is it J,lcc:wsc I ' m Black ." But llhite can also do light and touching things as in " Picnic" an<l . . "Day is Done" which places "music in • t,l,ie c'lir" as he prepares ·for ·11 ~d and his "woman " sets her hair . llis ironic,- · satirical " Inquisitive" displays the ranee of these poets . The narr a tor wanders where "Gods " and " buddhas" hide if the earth and sky are both visible to man. �Little critical attention h·a s b e~ n g iven th e 110\vard Po C' t s or any of the other poet s who are appearin g Jurin ~ this time. including old as well as unfamiliar names: Jo~nson AckcrsoD, Cl1arl c s ), Julian Bori<l (1940- ), Eu g ene Redmond (1937- Anderson (1938- But they are le g ion, ' ), Katherine · ), Leslie M. Collins (1914- John Henrik Clarke (1915- ) ) , 'larp ar e t Danner, Gloria Davis, DuBois, Dur cm, Nari ), Gordon llenth, llorne, Ted Evnn s , Micki Grant, Juli.a Fields (193 8- ), Naomi Mud g ett, Jame s C. Horris, O'lli. r.,g ins, Pntt e rson, Joans (1928- ), Peter T. Ro g ers, John Sherman Scott, Carmell James Randall (1938- ) , l{obert Earl F itz g eral<l (19 35- Joyce Yeldell (1944!lcrntun (1') 3 2- ) , Lula Lowe \Jec<len (1 91 0- Carl !lolm,rn (1919Lero11e l~ennctt, Jr. Fuller (1927- ), Lati171er (1927- (1919- S.1111 ), ), Frank Yerby (1916- ) , 1:iv c rs, Mc}L \·,'r i r., ht, ), Ernest J. W 1 son, Jr. James l'. Vau g hn (1929- (193 0- ania Alba (1915-1968), Frank Lon <l on (1942- ·0'J2 0- ), Catherine C.:1rter ) , l[;uy Carter Smith (1 9.!.4), Roscoe Lee Browne ), Robe~t J. Abrams (19 24- ) , \,Jilliam Browne (1930- Ishma e l Recd (193 8- ) , Yvonn e Cre ~o ry Cornish (193 8- Brow,1 (1927-1962), Isabella Maria Hrown (1917- (1917- ) , Oliver r il c h e r ) , /\Ja m lb v id l \ill c r (19 22- ) , Don Jolrn s un (19112- M.ince \/illiams , Tom Dent, Ld~ol J o ,1 0 s (1 922) , B~ t cc D:1.rcie Herbert CL:irl~ Johnson (1911- ) , Roy llill, ) , lloy t ), Oss le Davis ), OlLver La Crone (1915- Pauli Mt1rrny 1910- ) , · Ci] v in · ) , James Em.:inuel (1921- ) , Sar a h Webster Fabi o (19 28 - ) , Carl r.ardener (PJ 31- Zack Gilbert (1925- ·· ) , Cl o ri a C. OJ 0n·, .H.Js c . ) , Alfred Duckett (191:3(19 28- ),, ), Vesey, Sarah Wright · (1929- Simmons, Jnmes W. Thompson (1935- (1923- ), ) , D.:1~id ll e n<lerson ) , Thurmond Snyder, A .11. Spellman (1935 - (1 934- ), Vivian .i\yers, Hel e n ), �) , Vil1iJa Ho\la rd, George Lcive, Allen Hor f_l .:in nrooks, Solomon Edwards (1932Polite (1932- ), Lloyd Addison (1931- ), ), :nurwood Collins (1937- Bobb Hamilton , ~foy Hiller, Stanley 1:urris, Jr. (1944 ),. This non-exhaustive list was often intermingled witl1 earl~ ~ne t s (as far back as Phyllis Wh ea tlL!y) and olJer ones (Johnson, Hcl:ay , Dunbar, etc.) , . and spiced wi~h a goo d offe rin g of post-Renaissance poets (Walker, Brooks, Tolson, llayden) . Names like Fuller, Denne tt, Jr., llolman, Yeruy, Davis, and Clarke , f.:111 in the category of 11 occ,1sionc1l" poet s --mos t of whom undertook f ull-time duties as novel is ts, editors , LH,yers or tea c her s . Other important movements paralles to this phase were th e emergence of lit erary 1.11i-1;~,1:~ines. · (Free Lance , Phylon , Ect . ), 'es pecially on BL1ck college c ..ui1pusc!s; Black newspapers' renewed interest in verse es tablisl11ne1;t · of ·poe ts-in resid~snces. for the poets at southern Black colle ges ; the flowering of regional " movements" or writing collectives--suc h as those in New York ' s Creemvich Village (Yug en, Umb r a , etc . ), Clevelands ' s Karamu House and area(Free Lance with ..Ca~~~r Leroy J ordan , and Atkins) , lloward I s Dase in C.roup , the Detroit poets , and Ceo r gia Do ugl~ss Johnson ' s home-based workshops at her home in Washington, D.C . Not all of these developments occurred only among Black µoets, however, t;.here . . . . also were racially mixed writing communes and editorial staffs . · Julia Fields, . for ex;:irnple , was in residence at the· loreaJ · Loaf \frit ers Conferent:<' in England and studied for a wh :lle in Scotland. Re~lmond , who won writing awards and pu blis h ed in l i ttle mo.gazine s betwec:n 1960 aml 1965, worked with the staffs of t he Thr ee Penny Broadside (Soutl1ern Illinois University) and Free Lanc e (Washin ~ton University ). Other poets and their oullets wer e Duma s (Trace, Anthologist ), Patterson , Jones (Fl oat in •'. Dear , Yungen), Gloria C. Oden (Urbanite, Tile Poetry Di ges t, Th e Half Hoon) , Rivers (Ken yo n Revi eH , Aritioch Review , - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - -- - - - - �Ohi.o Puvtry l~evicw), Spel]man (Kulchur, He tronome, Umlir.:i.), Ilance \-Jilli a ms (Blue am! Gold) , and Audre Lore.le (Ventur e ). }ljq_~aret Dnnner published a series of poems in Poetr y mag .:1zine in 1952 and in 1956 bec~m e an assistant editor . Of thes e, p .:i rallel move ments and developments, one other deserved speci a l notice . Thou gh not on r.:1r · with th e Howard Poets, the Umbr.J Workshop parti- cjpants aided in the production and distribution of Black poetry in tl1 e early sixties. Centered in New ~ork ' s Greenwich Villa g e, the Umbrn poets were founded by Tom Den t (New Orleans), Calvin Hernton (Chattanooga) and David Henderson ( Ne w York ). The workshop , which also :i.nvolV E;! Ll artists ilnd · fiction writerB, published the first · issue of its Umbra quarterly in 196J. · Oth e r issues c;ime out in 1%4, 1967-68 (an antholo 0 y), 1970- 71 (tabloi d• :intliolog y) and 197l1-75 (Latin Soul is s ue) . Dent first served as editor a111.l Ilenderson, wh o uow edits the public;Jtion f rom Berkeley, took over in 1967 .. Otlters attractell to the Umlira uorkshop 11e rc I s h1,iael He ed, Roll;Jnd S11 e lJ i n : :, :_; ·(now I Askia Toure) , Nonna.11 Pritchard, sini:er Len Chandler, dancer J\samc1n . Byron, the Patterson brothers (Charles and l/illimn), p.:1inters Gerald J;JcL :,_on ,:111d Joe Overstreet, Lennox Raphael, Dum.:1s, James Thorn_pson, Julian Ilon<l, · Sun-l{_a, Durem, Steve Cannon, and Joe Johnson. damaged by two events. The prontise of the Umbra 8 roup was · One was a f h ilur c to prin g un int e rview (c o nJu c ted · by Raphael and others) with Ralph Elliso n. : The s e cond, resul tin ti in .:1 split among members, was a controversial .Jnti-l~ennedy poem by Durcm. s e rious President Kennedy had just been nssassina ted when the Durc.~m piec e was npproved by the editors . taste . Hernton , Dent an 1 Henderson decided the poem (letter:) ,..,as in bad Others, ncconlin 2, to Hender so n, want e d the poem print e d and s uusequcntly · "kidnaprc<l Pritchard, who \,J.'.lS tr ea surer , thr e atening ltim 1-, ith bodil y lwrm , " �The incl.Jent is vie\/ed as one of the near-fatal blows to th e Umhra group . Later Snellings, the Pattersons, and others wc11t Uptown to \1 ork with the Jones' s ne1Jly formed Black Arts l{eper tory and School . The work of Umbra contributors range from the occasional · a1iJ :hu111orous verse of .Jul"i.,\n nonJ to the· serious commentaries of Durem. Poems by Durem; Henderson, Hernton, Dent , nndThompson , £ilso appears in the early anthologies alon13 \vlth work of other "Village " poets such as G. C. Oden, Spellr.1an, Jones (Newark ), and Joans (Cairo, Illinois). later anthologies : Some are .:ilso represented in two Bl.:ick Fire (1968) and The Poetry of r.L:ick America (1973). Though racial consciousness is not blutantly evident i11 these poets, · the _ protest is there, especially the works by Durem, lle11Jer so n,' anJ · ller11i:on.· Umbra r,iaJe clear its twofolJ aim in an inaur,ural issu e : Umbra exists to provide a vehicle for those outspoken and youthful writers who present aspects of soci.:il and racial reality which may he called 'uncornrnercial ' but cannot with any honesty be considered non-essential to a whole and healthy .society ... He will not print trash, no matter how relevantly _ it Jeals with race, social issues, or anything else. Dent views "Love" as a "blue tom" lurking "icily" in the darkncs·s.. Henderson • sees 'a "Downtown-Boy Uptown" and asks.: Am I in the wrong slum?_ llis "Sketches of llarlem" include the "CR.EAT WlllTE \JAY" and a small Black boy confusing the moon and the sun . 1'1, was horn in Seattle. Durem, who ran away from l1omc at age While still tn his mid-teens he joined the Navy clnd became a member of the International Brir.,ades durin~ tile Spanish Civil War. Hughes tried to find a publisher for his \~arks as early as 1954 . himself Durem said: "When I was ten years old I useJ m_y fists. Of When I Has ( .\ i �. thirty-fi.ve , I used the pen. I ·hope to live to use the machine gun . . . . The white North-American has been drunk for foLir hundred years. 11 His work does not have the finish of a Hayden or Diooks, but he provides an exciting shot in the arm for this period of Black poetry (though_ Jlrcrnen ' s r eference to hi.m as t:hc "first black poet " is umrnrranted) . Take No Prisoners (1971) contains many of · Durcm ' s memorable poems anJ a "l'osthurnous preface, 11 signed in 1962 althou gh he died in 1963 . " White People go t Trouble, Too" surveys the plight of whites followin g tl1e Depression, recession anJ war, and notes t hat suc h an intrusion in the affairs of whites does not equal slavery . After all, life (or history) calls for One tooth for one tooth . Most of Durem ' s poems are short, satirical, ironic~i a~<l musical js in '' Br oadminded '' : Some of my best friends are wh ite boys. When I meet ' em I treat ' em just the same as if tl1ey was people . lie writes of Black history , sL1very , social inequities, prison life; and '.'pale poe t s " to whom he confesses his is not "sufficientJy obscure" ~~ meet white critical standards . Stran~ely, Take! t1 o P.risoners does not incluJ c 11 Av1ard 11 - - "A Cold Hatch to the Ffll Han (who ha_s followed me) for 25 years--wiiich traces the agent ' s surveillance of 'the nar.ra tor throush the "blind alleys" of Mexico,. the high Sierras , the Philharmonic , L.A . , Mississippi, anJ other places of violence and mayhem. Piut it l s not all over, th e ar;ent is tol.J, for in the end I 111ay be fo llo\/in;; you! �'l'ii c work of Village poets Has hi z hlighted .by the vers a tile anJ prolific Jones (later Irnamu i\rniri Baraka), Spellman , anJ Ted Joans . Defore his new " Black" stance of the mid and late sixti e s, Jon e s pulilishe<l in lLttle av.:int garde ma~azlnes (editlnp; s~veral hiliisclf) and was identified .:is .the _ most talented I.Hae!~ among th e 1.:-eats . llis two volumes, Prefa c e Lo D T11enty Volumc Sui cide Note (1961) ,:md Tli e ·De Dd l e cturer (1964), show hlm as a hip, arrogant, musicn Uy-involved cat with a tou r., h intelligence . llis influences at the time, as he noted, were Lor ca , 1.Jilliam C;_irlos 1-/illi;_ims, Pound, .:ind Charles Olson. lie is an adventurer in style with an e lliptical and sometimes sacriligious posture. Such an aesthetical philoso phy was s hared _by . the .Black !lo uncairi · . poets: . . r.corge Opp en , Robert Creely, Roliert Duncan, Denise Levc·r tov, P:1ul Blackburn, Edwanl Dorn, Ginzberg, Corso, Cory Snydc~ ,incl f!icltncl ~le-C lure . · A music critic for such magazines a s Dmmbeat , Jazz ,:mJ Metronome, with an intense interest in Black music , Jones nurtureJ a careful ear f o r music in his verse. fensible. Hence , the belief that Jones "sudJenly bec.:ime Dlad:" is -inJe..:. In "Lines Lo Carcia Lorca"--the great Spanish poet--he uses a section of a "Negro Spiritual" as an inscription . Tile poem is typical of Jones 1 s .:ibility to merge numerous idens, symbols and images in one poem. Lorca's death is lamented as Jones uses excerpts from the C.:itl1olic mass, reflects on his childhood, explores ,ay tho1o g y, gatl)crs bits of poQtic con- · fetti from nature and hears Lorca "lau·i~ hin r: , Lrnghin g "--maybe mockin g his killers-Like a Spanish guitar. In "Epistrorhc" he finds peering out the \,inc.low "such a st;.itic. reference ." So he w1-shcs "some weird looking animal" woudl come by. In the title poem from his firsL volume--Preface--hc adjusts to the way " g round op e n s up" �he goes out to "walk the dog ." . anJ t;:ikes him in whenever Life is ;:is monotono us as the "static reference" of wine.low : \vatching : Nobody sings anymore . Joans, another Village poet closely identified with the neats, · published Beat, All of Teel Jonn s (1961), a nJ The llipsu~rs (1961). His most wiJely known poem fror:i this period Ls . "The .38" with its debts to Ilu r; hes (whom he acknowled ged ), Whitman and the Beats . Be g inning every line \vith the phrase "I hear," Joans narrates the murder of an unfnith[ul wife and lover by her husband: I hear it comin2 faster than sound th e . 38 I hear it comin :3 closer to my swenty forehead the .• 38 I hear its we.i1•d whistle the .38 I hear it give off a stcamlike nois ~ w~~n it cuts throu gh my sweat the . 38 I hear it si: 6 e my skin as it enters my head the . . J8 · 0 I hear death saying , Hello, I'm here! As a group, Joans, Jones and Spellman can be carefully compareJ to · t'he llow:ircl Poets. simil:ir . They are in th e same a ge range and their themes anJ inter C:s ts are Spellman, like Jones studi e J at Howard Univ e rsity µnd ha~ ncted as disc jockey \•dth FM rndio stations. His book reviC"ws articles ·on j clzz which hav e appear ed in Kulchur, The Republ.ic n~J The Nation . volume of poems, The Beautiful Days, \vas published. In 1964 his first : lie has also pu_blished a book-len~th study of JHack music . (Four Lives in the Be Bop Busin es s, 1966) .' 11 ·• In "Zapa ta & the Landlorc.l" the "thi ef ," the speo.ker, i s runnint; in "circles.· The poem is a humo rous treatment of revolutiono.ry struggle in u Latin American country. In "What is It" Spellman app lie s a s imil ar t echnique . This time a cat "hid es ln your face ," ln th e corne r s of th e mou th and .in "tltat :;trilcnge canyon" 1.Jehind the eyes. " A T,1eft of 1/ishes" is cxp~rimcntal ln its us e - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- -- -- - - �.of _jn 2,~~ eLl lines and shifts !Jecwcen th e tan:;ibl1 •. ,:mJ surreal \Wrlds. In the end we are tolJ that home is where 1H,! make our noise. Another po e t \·J ho j o i11::r this "irrevcnt" generation is the lleat innovator Bob Kaufman of th e S ,111 F r .:;incisco r~ay ar~a . :,ide:; f rom fcrlin1_;hcttl ' s City Li :~ ht s J:ooks : Ills first ,~orl~:, cari1 e out as broa~l" The aho111inist Vi.:111lfesto ," "Second J\pr i.l" aml " Docs the Secret Hin<l \._lhispcr ." !Zaufman' s poetry, con- veying protest throu[;h understat ement and irony, is m::irked by unusual and surreal images . His bo oks arc Sol i. tull e s Crowded with Lon ~l i rw ss (1965) · and Golden SarJine (1967). Solitmlcs 1•1 as published in Frcncl1 , · 11 i111111e<li.:.1 t c l y " achieving " a notoriety rare among books of poetry. by . for e i gn poet s . 11 Sardine) . (j ~1cket, Leading French m::i 0 azines reviewed tl1e book, publishers noteJ,. adding thut "Tod ay in Frnnce Kaufman is considered amoni; the tr.(2ates t Negro -American poets alive in spite of his continuing exclusion frorn i\meL·ican anthologies, ho th hip & .:ic;ademic . 11 ("A f:r:ican Dream 11 ) , Kaufo1.:1n' s themes arc racial me1:1ory jazz ( 11 \/alking P::irker llome, 11 "\Jest Coast Sounds-':-1956, ") other poets and writers ("Ila rt ••. Crane, 11 "Ginsberg ," "Camu s : I wan.t to i(now"), incarcer.:1tion (a series of 34 in Jail Poems), history, mytholor;y anJ religion; In " The Eyes too" he says Hy eyes too h:1ve souls .that rage .... A "Cincophrenicpoet " meets \•iith "aJ .l five" of himself where a vote is taken to " expel " tile "weakest " one who resents it .:ind so.1rs over all limits to cross, spir.11, and whirl. Somewhat typical of Kaufman ' s elliptical constructions and \Jacky ima r,ery is "13 eavy \later lilues": �The radio is teachin g my go ldfish ·Jujitsu I am in love with a skindiver ,Jl10 : sleeps un<l e n:ater, Ny nei ghbors are <lrunken linguists , & I speak butterfly, Con~o]itlnt e c.l Edison is thr ea tenin fl to cut off my brain, Tl1e postmau keeps putting sex in my mailbox, I put my eyes on a diet, my tears a re g aining too much weight . In tlLis form and style, Kaufman is not only related to · th l'! 1\~::i t s but t _o ..fones ~ Joans, S~ellman, Atkins, and the fictec.1 young Los Angeles poet K. Curtis Lyl~. Among the older poets who did not come into prominence unti l th e 1960s : were Ve s ey (Columbus, Ohio), Holman (Minter City, Mississippi), . Hctl. \vri i~ ht (Princ eton , tlew Jersey), O'Higgins (Chica go ), Duckett (Brookl y n.), Atkins (Cl eveJ.:ind), Emanuel (Nebrask::i ), r:.anda ll (lvashing ton, D .C.). .T h.1.2sc ·poets , and oth e rs of their generation, arc not similar enou gh to be lab e l ~.d a "school" or "mov ement '' but they c a me of a ge durin g th e intc z ration push when · words Black "id entity " and "humanity" engcnc.lere<l more philosophical (li.scussion ·t han they do today. These nre the men who went to \·J orld \Jar II, opposed lynching , · attended northern white g raduate scho<;)ls: academic or professional careers. Host were occasional poets pursuing Vesey as a poet and professionnl, brid ge s middle pas sage between African and .'\fro - America . At Fisk Univ e rsity he studied creative writin g under James lfolJon Johnson, then went on to law school at llarvnrd. l-n1ile studyin g at th e Sarbonne in Pa ri s some of Iris poem s were p ubli shed, through the interces~ion of Richard Wri ~ht, in the French ma ga zine Presenc e /\fricnin c . Vesey has h elpe d r:1;ea tly in the int e rpretation and - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - �and di.sscrnination of ~~ceritude . Paul Vesey (birth name Smnuel J\llen) is the name under which h e published his bilin,:•,ua.l volume of poems: Zahne (Ivory Tusks, 1956, Germany). Elfenbein Vesey works with skill nnd precision . "The Staircase" is a poe1.1 on which, Vesey says , "I 11oulJ rest my case , I think, anJ tha _t of the fJc ~ro in tl1is lanJ." (Blues) th1.:: poem studies th e .· Black predicament thr ou:~h the pli ~ht of a man for whom the "stairs mount to lii. s eterni ty." Perhaps, like Sisyphus , th e stair is purposefully "unending " since the rotten floor , the "dripping faucet" and the "cracked ceiling" also remain. The man is joined by a "twLn" who later ~oes "exalted to his worms." Vesey u l so 1vritcs an clciw for Dyl.'.1n Thomas ("Dylan, Hho i:.; ·nca<l"), .:1 praise for Black basehall 1 e~cnd s~ tch el Paige ("American Cotl1ic"), and piece intcn,,eaving two different iJeas anJ themes: ll 1;m.,c·rru"1 · one- vicwin;_; t"ho universe and th e mortality of man; the other kno1.,ring the reality of being lllack ,.1nd · called "nigger" by t1vo adolsecent r;irls . tribute to Louis Armstronf_> "To Satcli" is rcmin"l f>ce·nt of Tolson 's Speaking in the poem, Sa t chel Pai~;e_ s<1 ys one mornin~ he is goin g to brab a "hancHulla stars, 11 thrm-1 three strikes to - burn Jown the "heavens," And look over at God and say llow about that! ' llolman's work is among the few entries for poetry in Soon, One Morning. But h e is also found in other anthoJo s:i;e s. Ile has led an active life as a Civil lUghts fighter (Inforiuation Officer of the United States Commission on · Civil P-iGhts) editor (Atlanta Inquirer), writer, and teacher. at Chica 130 University he won sever:.11 aw~1rds for 1vriting. \-Jhile a studer1.t llolmnn, ,vhose poetic subjects range from complex psycl1ic meditations to racial pride, is very good indeed but much overlooked. The l e isure class finds c locks "intrude too �early" ln 11 ,\nd on This Sho re . " ·The [jCnera l indlf ference ls also captured: Across the c ups we yawn at privatci murd ers . " Picnic: The Lib e rat ed " examines th e shifting ·unccr tainiti cs vlith leisured southerners must live . The tension of everyday southern life . lie underneath th e merriment _of th e pic111c· g roun<l s where me,1 rot a te th e liquor in "dixie c u ps" an<l "ab sen tl y " c.l i sc u,, s !'civil ri~~hts , money and r, oous . " Yet as the "country dark" comes in and they return to sprinlere<l yar<ls and "morq~a ge <l houses " they do not know they a re Privile~ed prisoners in a haunt e d lantl . Yet this same poet can hear " Three Brmm Girls Singin ?, !I throu t:,h the ' 'rib s. of an u g ly sc hool building. " · Celebratin:..; th e Black musical pa~t, l!ol1nuri sees them Fuse on pure so und in a shaft of April li ght: ... ·Nell. \fright , no,1 a Federal District Jud ge in New York, \•his_. ii i~lncol~ University poet and Hith Hu r;hes and Cuney edited Lincoln Unive:i-si cv· _Po ets ( 195Lf) . Ile served overseas in World \·Jar II , later r ece ivin ~ law trainin r, a t Fordhc1m . lnlile he was in the Army in Hales, h e published a volL1111e of his poetry, From t:hc Shaken Tower (191,Li) . " The A~ric::in Affair" finds Md( Hri[\ ht on a safari to find out wh£it " Black is ." li e discovers it: in "prisons ,'·' in the " devils <lance ," where " desert s. bun1 , " the Middl e Pass age ; · :i nd areas · t o wh ich " conscience cannot )jO ." lli s ·sea rch carries him deep into Africa where " tr aders shaped my f .. thcr ' s pain ." In "Four Odd DoJkins for My An alyst " one finds that " out:ra p, ed flesh of secret guilt " has come from the pressures of "circum s tance " and " n ccJ ." Fi11c1l ly, " When You h a:,.,e go n e from Frooms " there are "never bloo1:1ing petals" nnd "neve r hurnin~1 suns. " Bontemps calls O ' Ili p,g ins a mem!Jer of th e "trib e of Hn n~lerin g poets ." �i\fter studying with Sterlin ::,, Brmm nt llownrJ, O' llig~; ins won Lucy l!oten anc.l lle l.:1ter served in 1forld I.Jar II, · )uli us ltosenwald F0llm-JShips in writ in ;; . after which he co-authored, with llayden, The Lion nnd The i\rcher (1943) . O'lliggins's style is less formnl than eit h er llolm.::m ' s or HcH . \fright ' s . He · is closer to Vesey, especially_ in poems 1 ike "Young Poet" and "Two tean Cats" in which · th e r .:.dn fell lik e "ra gGed jets" and made a " r,rav e along" the street . The lean cats , runnin~ in " checkered terror" intu a poolroom, find that a "purpl e billiard b.:111" 111.:1kes the colur scheme explode . The much antholo~izecl "Vaticide ("For !loliandas C:handhi") sees G.:imlhi "murd ered upright in the clay" and left \vith his flesh " opened and displayed . 11 Dut , who cre.: tL.cd tl1e " act of Jove" knmrn Lhe ~uUty ~:;ir_r y_ his ''llcatl1 to r.:heir. ·coo1n5."". r.andhi ' s 11 111:irvelous 11ounJ:;" contain tl1L! s un and the seas . Diffcccnt, y :t similar , these pocts sour;ilt throu~h their individual voices to ·duc.t l. with man ' s current and past hurts. i\tl~ins, for example, sa,, the '\;1.1 0llcn <lee:r" rise bii:,h e r as he ' '\;ent walkini " in section t1-10 of "Fant asie .•·•. ·A 1 '.r.e.st.J.ess experimentalist with a very hi g h re ;;.:ird for craftmanship," Atkins j1.:1s a _· founder of Frce T.nncs.,:. (1950) which JU. vers called the " oldest black-Loss c d magazine around ." Between 194 7 and 196:2 , Atkins 's poetry upp e.arccl in nu1frerous journals and other outlets . A fe,J a.re View, Deloit: Poetry .Journ :1 1, l! innesota Quarterly, Jlakcd Ear, Gall e y Sail Tlev.i e \/. Bis volu1ues of poetry are Phenomena (1961), Psychovisuul Perspective for I!usical Composition (1958), T110 by Atkins (The Abortionist nnd Th e Co rps e : Objects (196J), and ll e retofore (196 8) . as complex as the poetry itself . Two Poetic Dramas set to Music, 196 3) , AtLins ' s a es t:hctical ideas ;ire uften An early t:rainin c in music and literature, he said in Sixes and Sevens, that.he 1-1as t:ryin~ for " egocentrical phenomenalism: an objective construct of propcrtiet~ tci substantiate effect as object ." .... lie �searclHiS ;1fter the "J es i gncd im a~ina tiun." In " Ni gh t and a Distanl Church " lie moves " ForwarJ abrupt " tl1en "u p" throu !;h a series of interming lin g "mnun" and " ells " with words like "win d " and "rc1in." ti1ere is more . than Llle hint of Tolson' s ability to mca11Jer amonp, Crc1eco-n.omans and Af ru-Arner.Lcirn trnditions in Atkins's po\.:: try. J\ut ·J 1e · is unique. " At \for" informs the rccJ.Jer that beyond the "turning ::;ea's [ar fuam " the " epliernera " of a "mome nt's da\111 11 suJden ' d its appear .... Later, in the sane poem , after .::illusions to llcnunin gway , the s ilence splits: Listen a moment-- ! Sh ! Listen--! that hurry as of a shore of fuE;itlves. Onc e Atkins ' s technique is understood, how e ver, his . poe'try can be -c~t-ijoyeJ fur · lts witty, 1-1ac ky, off-beat, philosophical musings . In "Irrita ble Song " lie inver U,, reverses and convolutes re g ular syntax: Or say up on return Coronary farewell Leaves me lie. Dare, sir? Ugh! lie nay'u Tomorro.J, L01,1orrow in today? Atkins writes of th e fine arts, John Br own ' s i.:aid on Harper ' s Ferry, Black heroes ("Chr Ls tophe"), the "Tr ainyanl at Nil:ht ," the Cleveland lake front , and other subjects which fit his style and interests. At another e11d of the stylisti c and thematic pule i s Rallllall , a librariat1 by trainin g and trade who, as we shall see in our discussion of poets o[ the late sixties, fii urcs prominently in tl1e development of an audience for the . I d., ') l �· llew UL1ck Poetry . Randall also served in 1/orld War TI and Hritcs poems about the war, love, violence, art and the Dlack presence . llis \,ell knO\m " Uook.er T . anJ W.E . ll .,'' digesting the Washing-DuDois controversy, Has seen by DuBois and this pleased Randall. Tl1e poem first appeared in Midwest Jouinil, 1952 . Randall ha s aJso 1, ritten about and trnnsJatecl Russ-Lnn poetry . \Hth i'larg:uet · Donner he co-authored Poem Counterpoem (1966) and his Cities Burning appeared in 1968 . Nore to Rememlicr . (1971) pulls together Randall ' s poems from " four decades." Ills work has Leen published in Umbra, Ue.loit ro,try Journal, and other places . Ile initiated the Hroadside Series (pusters) in 1965 with dation for l1is Broadside Press , the most signifiGnnt Illack press in hLlerica . . ltandall's 1Jork of this period has the stamp of formality. Ile wri.tes in ballads and free verse forms but he has a tightness that will lie .n ilaxed in the lat e sixties and seventies. " I.eg.:1cy " chronicles the hurt, physical ~md . . . mental, of a land "Li t by a bloody moon ." . . Rut the one who is · 11 1i1oul_Je;<l from thi s clay " vows that My tenrs r edeern my ·rears . "P erspectives " recasts the time-immemorial them e of '\,e only paHs tlfis \la'y once ." There is no need to co111plai.n _;1 bout discomfort, the poem s:1ys , because even the mountai n s--in their hu ghenes·s_--n re Jissolved 11 .:11Jay" hy the seas . Randall ' s Pacific Epita.£!1s are recoile et ions of the war. are epi~•.rammatic and haiku-like . The short pieces .Here is a poignant one ("Iwo Jima"): Like oil of Texas My blood [_;ushed here . Prominent Ln a group of Detroit poets (tlargaret Danner, Oliver La Crone , Naomi Long Madgclt, .James Thompson and others) , l~andall often c1uneshes himself �in n sense of personal injury over his p20ple ' s hisc.ory. This t~ndency, and a c.lebt to the DL:ick po et ic tr adiUon (espcd.'.llly ~;terli.n:~ llro1m), cnn be seen in " The Southern Roac.l " where Lhe "bla ck . river" servqs .:is u "bounJary to hell." Tlie country is "ll.:i u ght y as .:i star " 1\nJ I set furLli upon the so uth e rn road . The variety of St.Jlcs ·,.md th emes [ounc.1 in tl1 ese poets i s found .:ilso in younger poets of their i:eneration : l'.:i t ter so n, Addison, Hrmm e , RL~Jmond, Jay Wright, Anderson , He rnton , a nd Polite co1ae r c.:idi l y to mind. poets , l'uttersou is particularly .int erest.in~; - Of these Ills "Bl ack ull Day " yie lded from it s seconJ line the title for I Snw Ilm, Black 1 \..';is. Patt .rso11 ; ;:mother·· Lincoln University poet , ,,1o n an mvard for his poetry while still o.n uudl.i.r.graduute . A native New Yorker , he studied politicul .sc L:;'. nce and l'.ngL.ish , and has Horked as a counselor for delinquent boys anJ an English Instructor'. Pa t terson said in Sixe s nnd Sevens that his fir s t po em was wriq:e n · cluring Wor l d \far II as the c onseq uences ." 11 out- g ro\-1th of a Cain-and-Abel conflict ,~itlio u~ _th e. tlire " Three Views of Dawn " incl u des the " silken shawl of. ni ght ," • t he ~i sappearance of " corner spe c t e rs " :md the " split.tin~" of " stillness·.·,, The musical " Tla Tla " presents fr ee ve r se sriced ,,itl1 a lliterntive l .:i ngual;e of landscape , se:ison :ind nat u re . Sitting " Alone, " the protagonist of the poern '" keeps poems warm" as he watch es. over the sle e ping lovers as well as th e " numb " who wak e and we'ep . Pa t terson did no t publish a h ook un t il 1969 ; and its titl e , 26 \foys of Looki ng at A Black Man , shows the influ e nce of irna g ists and modernists ( see Wa l lace Stevens ' s 13 \.fays of Looking at A Black Bini ) . It also revea l s mu c h about t he Black poet ' s ability to for g e .:ind merge his academic training �with hi s own in<ligcnis m. The spe a k e r in " Blacjz a ll Day " i s "lo oked " into "ra ge and s h ame " by a whL t e passerby ; out he vo11s th at "tomo rr m-, " I'll <lo as much for him. Patterson constructs a sol i d poetic foundation, "stone on stone," i.1.5 li e paints pre c ise · portrai _ts of "th e brav e who do n o t break" when provoked ("You Arl! the Brave"), or the "lost, the "tireless and ra g in g soul, " (" Envoi"). In the 1,o rk of Patterson, .:ind the yo un ge c grou p of th e period, one finds anger or prot est , thou gh th e gener a l t endc nc e is toward experimental verse which pinpoints th e surest and ri chest human feelinGS . jects more often than not r e fl ec t this fact. As Black poe ts, their sub- _ But v~n:.Lcty is - c~rtaj·nl y not shunned by th em . Neither ls variety avoided by their sisters of th e pen and image : Black women who have been an identifi ab le aspect of the long tradi~ion of Afro-Ame rican Poetry . Phyllis l-n1eatl ey was th e most well known fcinale p_o et until th e mid-ninet een th century when Frances Ha rper took u p t he , bc.tnner· of · fame thou gh not of skill. A later ne1,;r mood was evidenced in the work of An ge lina Gri mke , Ceorr;ia Douglass Johnson (the most famous poet after Franc e s llarper), Gwendolyn Bennett, Ann Spencer , Alice Nelso n Dunbar, itelen~ Johrison (a young spark in th e Rcnnissancc), M:rr?, ,ne t Halker, and Gwendolyn Broots. _Between th P forti es and sixties, th e n ube r o f pub]i shin g wom e n poets increased~ Po e try in America has remain e d und er the domain of whiles (men); and since wome n in gen e ral have not had th e .range of opportunities op0 n t o 1t1en, certainly th e Bla ck woman went tl1 e worse way of that flesh ! poets of the pe riod still remains impressive: But th e li s t of Black women Gloria C. Oden (Yonk e rs, New York), Naninn Alba (Mont gomery) , Marflaret Danner (Pr yo rsbur g , Kent11cky) , Mari Evans (Tol e do), Julia Fields (Uni6ntown, Alabama), Vivian Ayers �(Chestcr, South Carolina), Audr~ Lordc (New York), Naomi Lon~ }!a<l g ett (Norfolk), Pauli Murray (Baltimore), Sarah Writhe (Witipquin, }~ryland), May Hiller (Washin 8 t on, D. C . ), anct Yvonne Gre: •:,:iry (Uashv lll e ) , ainonr; the dozens of occasional and re eional names. In 1952--two years aft;.:,1· C\1endolyn :Ur-oks won the Pulitze:r P ri z c--G.C . Oden , who uses her i1titiuJs "us a \-1ay of ueing anunyrnou s ," r'(•cc.i.vcd ;:i John liay \·/hitney Opportunity Fellmvship for · ·. The I·l;i L ed Frame : A Love Poem and Sonnets . She has \•JOrkcd as a senior editor of a rn;J.jor puullslting house and currently teaches l.::nglish in 13alti111ore . the fifties, she joined the Villa g e poets in ln l..!w York where she re,1ll her poetry ln coffee shops, rcvic,1cJ boots and uorJ:.ed on a novel. has also arpeared in The Saturdn v l~cvicw nml ThL' Po,: try ]) lgest; Her · poetry r:ot: i.n:i that · she appeals "primarily to the intellect ," Hayden ( l:ul..iidos copc) co1i1 pared .lier to Cullen, adding that she " is concerned with poetry as an nrt expressi ng · what is meaninr,ful to everyone , not just a vehicle for protest ;:ind special pleading ." Although G . C. Oden uses a variety of forms, her poems .are 1.1 sually crisp and intellectually tart. "The Carousel" in an empty park rides me round and rounJ , and the dark drops for her as she gleans her surr:oundings with . explicit worcl-clwices: "si ght focusses shndow . 11 • In "Review from St.'.lten Island" an item ' in the viev, ls " spewed up fro ni h'.uter·. Later we are told that "One gets used to dyinr, livin g " and "even th e . rn g c disposes of summer." We hear the dislocated woman in " ... As t1hen emo·tion too far exceeds its cause" (phrase from Elizebeth Ilishop) . Retreatin g from h eartbreak , she admits that she t oo knew "lov e 's celestial venturin g .": I, too, once trusted air that plunged Yes, 1 ! 1,1e down. �Nanina Alba is similarly terse and poignant. The Parchments (1963) and The Parchments II were published before her.· <lea th in 1968 . She taught English, Husic an<l French in public schools an<l was for a long time a member of the English Departmen t at Tuskegee Iustitute. "Be Dael!alus " · makes use of r.reek Hy _tholo,w to chaw a subtle and analogy between Black and Icarus's "unwise" actions . Death cor,H~s as a "tax" fo r "par chin~" the sun: Suns can be brutal thini:s. "For Malcolm X" recnlls "History' s stonin~." Margaret Danner is slinilarly sensitive . Born in Detroit, she has spent the r;rea t er part of her life in Chicago where she was o.ne t _i111e cu.it.or of ·. Poetry. Iler poems in that publication in 1952 promp t ~d the John . tlay . HhHtH~y Fellowships Committee to offer her a trip to Africa . · AnJ in 19G2 · the. liternry gro up with which she id ent ifi ed in Detroit wns the subject of a special issue of the flulletin of Ne?.,ro History . She hns published four volumes:· Impressions of African Ar t Forms in Poetry (19 62) , To Flower (1962), Poe~ Counter0oem (with Dudley Randall, 196G) and Iron Lace (1968). A. former poet-in-residence at Hayne State University , she founded Boone ll ouse , a lively center . for the arts in Detroit, and a similar cultural program in Chicago: No]ogonya ' s. She employs A.fricnn t erminology anJ theme; but she can nlso write delightfully in other veins as in " The Elevator }\a n Adheres to Form." win gs " the elevntor reminds h er of " l:.ol'pco art ." The "t nn man who · Struck by his ele1_;ance--and "God speedings "--the she wonders why · so intelligent and artf ul a "tan" man has to run elevators . It is a meticulous poem, subtlety exposin g the lie that c<lucntion <JLHllifies you . She finnl ly uishes tile elevator man '.s services cound be employed toward l ift. in n th em 3hove their cripplin ~ storm . �Far Fro1n Africa : Four r oeus is ·a sh ee t of sights, sounJs a nd su gges tions carryin~ th e reader across "moulting days " in "thejr twili g ht," ("G.:irnishinr, the Aviary"), "lines " of "c lassic tutu," (" Dan.:e o f the Ab.:1kweta"), " eyes lowered" from " despair, " ("The Visit Li bet.I of ~:r(,en· moss , o[ the Professor of Acs tl1.etics ") and spa r kl in i:; as a beetle, tlari ]-.vans is anotht't" ·Lind of transit ionalist--shiftin g from Civil lUghts poetry of the early phase to, [ini1lly , i1 more obvious "!Ha ck " s t .:ince Her I Ami\ ];Jack \.Jo111::in \vas not publ i shed until 1970. of the l nte r perLoJ . She ha s 1vorke<l as a civil service em ploy ee , tv shO\v h os t ess ancl producer , a nt.I in struc tor of viriting . Sometimes refer r e d t u as technical, heir to Gwendolyn' Drooks , a .sp~r.it ual, if · not_· !..Jri Evans cmplnys irony, susileosion , . an<l rich folk iJioms in a -:- r ee ve rse sty le. " The l{~bel;" poncle ririg· his dea th and funeral , won<lers if Curiosity seekers want to LnO\•/ uh e ther sl1e hus really cl LeJ or ju s t wants t o cause "Tr o ubl e.·. .. ;" Ther e i s humor and sa tir e in manner of Vcscy 1 s 11 /\ 11 \-/hen in rromc " as th e poet int e r laces (in the Homen t, Please ") t\W diff e r e nt conversutions . 13lack mc1itl " Harrie dear , 11 is allo\Jc<l t o ea t " whatever " she likes· . . 'The Alternatini_; the maid 1 s silent r espo n ses with tl1 e reci L.:1 tion of a me nu of th e 111iJ Jle class environment ("Rome "), the poem incid_en·tal ly r ecords th e tra<li.tiona l so ul food i t ems whi ch th e maiJ craves. ." The Emancipat Lon of George-llector " ("the colored turtl e ") shO\,s a g rowing i mpatience with one - step-at-a -t ime social c hani_: e policy . The turtle us e d to stay in his " shell " but now. he peeks out, extend s his arms and le gs , and talLs. anti se ntL1,1entc.1 l. Bu t thi s s.::ime poet can wax philosophical "If th e re he Sorr0\·! 11 it s hould Le f or the tliin ::s not yl.!t· dreamed, realized or done. l\d<l to th ese the wLthholding of love, l ove �"restrnincd ." In " Shrine to what shoulcl De" an·. audience is asked to "sin g" songs to "nobility," an<l "Ri ghtousness. 11 The ch ildren should brin i, "Trust, 11 the women "Dr eams, " the old men "c onstancy ." fronically th ii a udi e nce is tolJ to ignore tears that fall like a "crescendo," and constantly as " a sof t black rain." Iler tribut e to Gospel sinr;,ers is telling in" ... And the Old Women Ca the reel." One cinno t (despit e "Rome") esc.:ipc one's self, the poet says, ns s he notices th a t the "fierce " and"not melodic " music lingered on even as "we ran." Julia Fields, truly sensitive spirits , studied at Knox Colle ge in Tennessee, in En13lanJ and Scotland, an<l has tau ght in high school an u· _c o llege . . . Her work appeare,l in Umbr a , Massachusetts H.eview .:ind oth e r journn1s. . . Along . · with H:up;aret Halker, Tom Dent, Alice \/alker, Pinkie ·cor<lun Lane, ·un·<l ·Spe llm_a q she is among the few good Black poets who now voluntarily live in the South. Her first book, Poems, was brou~;ht out by Poets Press in 1963, ·t .h~ · same year · she received a National Council on the Arts grant . She is sub s t u11tialiy represented in R. Baird Shuman's Nine Bl ack Poets (1968) and her East of Moonlight was published in 1973. She also writes short stories and plays . Iler main poetic subjects are racism, death, love, violence and historr, "The Generations" come and go and in between there arc "Th e wars."- AnJ in between them are the seasons, flo\-i e rs, '.'lavender skies, 11 dawns·, " Sombre seas," and the "embry onic calm." "Arr dv:irk" has achieved "fame" since "Hulcolm · died and the poet muses: Looks like Mnlcolm helpecl Bring attention to a lot of things We never thou ght about before. She again salutes this martyr in "For Malcolm X" whose " eyes were mirrors of our a go ny." In "No Time for Poetry" the render is advised that miclni ght is �not time to beseech one's muse : too much " calm." the " spirit" i$ "too la gr, in g " and there is But the mornin~ is ideal sinc:e it carries "vibrntions of lau r;hter " and has no "oran:;e -Hhite mists . " As ·a "woman," listenin;~ near the · " broken-hin ged door " at a man talk of war ("I Heard A Youn ~ Man Snyin~"), the narrator "_somehow planned on livin p, . " world " sends 11 And the "bri~ht ~lare of the neon ['.,as-ivords· burstjn;-; free" in "Hadness One Monday Even in :; . " Pauli Murray and Sarah Wright are sometimes poets who also write other things . Pauli Murray pursued trainin g for law \-Jhil e s l1 e 1vun academ i.c aw;:irds and fellol/ ships for her writing . A Civil ni:>,hts pioneer, she published one volume of verse (Dark Testfr1ent, 1969) a nd a family history_ (Proud · Shoes ~·. 195fi). . In 11 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . \lithout lfarne , II she is revealed as a formal but excellent craftsm,tn. Tliere are no names for true feeling ; but let the "flesh sing ·.1nthems to - its . ;_n-rivaL 11 Sarah Wright , known as a novelist (This C.hilJ's Gonna Live), co-authored Give Me A child in 1955 with Lucy Smitl1 . About Black writers she sntd, · in 19Gl, " My motto is tell it like it damn sure is." " black outlines in livini:; flesh . 11 and traffic lights . I In 11 \·iindow Pictures" . s.l1e ·sees "Ur gency" vie\vS relationship bet1._1een drivers "God" is "thanked " that the car stops so the p~1ssenger • can " glory " a whi l e in the " time-bitten punctuatiqn." Of the "pause ·. " Vivian Ayers, the daughter of a blacksmith, GttencJed Barber.~Scotia College (Concord) and Dennett Colle ge . (Greensboro) \Jhere her major · interests were drama , music and dance. She publ.i5:l.1ed a volume of poems (Spice of Dawns) and an allegorical drama of freedom and the spnce ai:;e (llawk), performed at the University of Houston ' s Educational Television Station . lives in llouston where she ed i.ts a quarterly journal , ,\dep t. Currently, she ''.Instantaneous " features a man hein r, " :-; tunned" by th e bolt of " cross-firing energies" and grnbbecJ up jn a blaze resonant as n million hallelujas-- . �A 1,1.:1n j11habits another man who, dyin t:, g asps fi.lintly: "tly ~o<l--this is God .. , " Similar an<l different is N.::iomi Lon;~ Haclgett, who moveJ to Detroit from Virginia in 19116 to teach at a high school. from Wnyne S tat~ Univer s ity. She holds a Mnster's· J.e g ree AssociateJ with the Detroit group of poei$, she has published four volu1,1es: Son r1s to a Phanto1 '. 1 Ni r, htinr,ale (19L1l), One in the Many (1956), Star by Star (19GS, 1970), and Pink Ladies in the Afternoon (1972). Currently she teuches I:nglish at tastern Michi~.:m University and runs the newly cstablisliccl Lotus Press. projects was Deep Rivers: (197L1), which lncludcs .:1 A Port fol Lo: One of its first 20 Conte mpon1r v I\Llcl, A1ne i·i~:nn . Poets teachers' guid e prepared by Lhe poet. tJiL o r s fur Deep l~ivers include Leonard P . Andrews, Eunice L. llownrd, and GL:idys Rogers . i·!. The 20 poster poets are Pnulette Childress White, Jill \-iithersroon, \Hlliam Shelley, G. C . Oden , Haoml Ha<l g ett, Patterson, La Gron.e; Pamela CoblJ, Pinkie Con.Ion Lane, Etheridge !(night, Run<lall, l!i.lyuen, Thomps·on._; : Hargarct Walker, June Jordan, Gerald W. Barrax, Audre Lorde, RcdmonJ, Michael S . · Harper and l~aufman. Naomi HaJgett ' s "Simple" ("For L:rngston llu i~hcs) is realj~; tLcally humorous. Simple sits in a b.:ir, wanting to talk.· to so1ncon¢, when he is approached by a hand-out seeker who needs to cl,an r, e his clothes "but' rny lan ' lndy' bolled the door." Jo yce will tap "imputiently" .:ind leave the bar and Simple vion<ler n g what "he· \:1anted to say." In "Mort:ility" we learn th a t of "all the deat'i1s" thi s one is the "surest. 11 Some Jeaths ..ire merely " re:ice" but vultures "reco r, nize" the "sin g Je mort:11. thinL;" th:.it holds on to 1 ifc and they \,alt hu11 ~~ ari] y for the t i.mc ~ten hupe starts ~ta ggc rin ~ . Man must come to grips Hith the thinp,s of tlds worl<l, we arc tol<l in �"The Rec 1:oninf;" : And why nnd hm-1 nnd what, and so1:1l ·times even if. 0 Poems from Trinity : women and humans . 11 ( A Dream Sequence convey uncert a inties and fcnrs of One character has been besei ged by "dream and·Jream again " 411 ) ancl a n.'.lked day "corrodes t he silv er dream " b ut the music will not. " cea se to shiver . " ("Hl ") . · "After" ls a lan1e11tc1tio11 for "mortaJs" \vltliout "wln:1s " to fly awny fro1,, th e "purple sad ness" of ni;~ht. ,\ml "Poor J~enalJ0 11 is " deaJ and gone Hl1erever people go " \. hen they "never loved a sonr~ . " 1 even "hell" 1,1ust have "music of a sort." llu t Finally sculptcJ , like the ot 1ers, unre s tin13 , 11 Audre Lonle ' s 1,,1ork ref]ects sl~iJl a nd controJ. ·1n 'the early' :;i:-.t:ies she wrot e : I wn a :-~cg ro woman my realm of choice. i:111<1 a poet--all thre e things stand ouLslde Hy eyes have a pc1rt in my seeing, my_ breath in by Lreathing , all that I am in who I am . love .:ire of my people . All who I was not born on a farm or in a forest, but in the centre of Llie l;:ir g~st city .i.n th !.'. world-:-a member of the hui11:.in race her.u,1erl in by stone, ,1\•1ay fro111 earth ~md sunl.i.[;ht. COJJll!S J; ut \Jhat is in 111y · liJ ood ~ind sl~in of r Lclmess, Lhe roundabout j ourncy frou ·,\fr lc:i throu (jh sun i s lands to a stony co-1st , ancl t 'icse are· the gifts throu ,:h \Jhiclt I s in g , tlirou)jh \·1hich I sec . This is the knowled ge of the sun , and of lim, to love even where Lhcrc .i.i, no sunlL;-,l1t. Tl1ls · i s the kn0\•7lcdi_;e and the rich0ess I shall L, ivc my child rcn proudly, as a streneth against th e less ohv Lous forms o [ narrmmess and nil_;ht . �J\udre Lot; <le thus ~ivcs a balanced account of her self c1s a imman, Blc1ck and poe t. And al l these things she hc1n<lles qui_te well in her poetry-- on page ,.rnd in the air. She has published thrC(' volumes: The First Cities (1 968 ), Cables to Ra ~e (19 70) <:1nd From a Land where other People Live (1973) , which w<:1s nomi.natcd for r eflects Oi1 .:i :-rational Boo!~ Award . In her early poetry she "Oaxaca" ( Ln Hexico) where the " land moves sl01•1 ly " under the " carving drag of vJOod . 11 The drudging field work goes on while the hills arc "l irC\·ling thunder" and one can observe All a man ' s strength in his sons ' young nrms .... " To a Girl who knew what si<le Iler 13reacl was Buttered on " describes the girl as a " catch of brir_: ht t hun<lcr " apparently gu.1rded by (and e·uardia.n ·of) _ bones .. · Or dered to leave the bo n es , she watches as they ris~ - llkl' " an ace.an· and trample the one who orde r s her " into t h e earth ." . " for th in Lhc moonpit of a virgin ." The 11 or-stnl\v 11 . N;.1 mph 11 is brought In " How can I Love Yoll " the ui1\v<:1nte<l lover " comes like a thin binl"-- unlike the magnificent Phoenix bird _of myt holoey--later to become " great ash ." No wonder , the speaker con_firms_, that your sun wen t down . The " Hoon-minded t he Sun .. . " decrees that The light that makes us fertile s hal l make us sa n e . And we hear t hat the " year has fallen"- in " Father, the Year ... " Audre Lorde ' s work c u ts s h a r p pa t hs of insig h t nnd ligh t ac r oss the stealthing ignorance and diffusion around her . " AnJ Fall shall sit in Judgment" ex.1minC:!s lov e, co n cluding that " in all seasons " it is fa l se , but the s.1me . A much-neglec t ed poet is M□ y Miller , of Washin~ton, D. C. , and whom GwencloJyn Brooks acknowleJr,es as " excellent and lonp,-celebro.tetl " (Introduction ) �· Tile Po 12 try of Dlac: ~ Ame ric a ). 11i ss Drooks also laments Hay Hill er 1 s absence amon f\ tho se nn th o lo p, i ze J. lier work c<.111 be found in three volumes: Into the Clearinri_ (1 959 ), Poems (1962), and she is one of tl1ree poets r ep r esen t e d in Lyrics of Three Homen (1964). . Currently a member of ·the · . Commi ssion on th e Arts of th e District of Columbia, she has been c1 t eachur, · lectu r ·r, dramatist a nJ has published her poetry in a number of mn r.; az ines : Co111c1on Gr o und, The Ant ioch . Review, Th e Cr i sis , Phy l on, a nd The llntion . "Calvary Way" s how s n Christi.:m influ e nce with a twist of irony c1nll g ore·. Hary i s asked h ow she felt , "womb -h eavy with Chr ist Ch ild, " ns sh e tasted th e "du st " o f a n "un certai n _iourney." finally asks Mary: " Were yo u nfrnid?" Recallin :( th e .c.ruci.fi): 1 0 11., tile poem · The "r oi'lc;hes are winninr," in '' The last Wnrchouse" where humans seek to " abner,a t e s urvival laHs" and k.111 roaches until they are "saturated with their d e crease ." " 'fl 1e wr on13 s1., . l e o f· ,.'I orn1.ng . II were s 11a 1( en f rom a 11 The ch.:1racters in : s II.. a n d n.t• [: l1t111arc o f 1nng " mu s hr oor,1s of hu ge death" as th e poet power fully collects ima ~l! S ·. and . ,Ltyer •.J meani n~s . " Procession " employs the dramatic technique (m.:1dc famou t, by llrown and oth e r::;) of i.nterlacinr, t he formal Ln i.; lish of the poem 11ith itaJ ~cizecl Black reiter;:itive expletives .:111d r._;frains such as "ltin r, , ha11u1H2r 1 ri1ig ! 11 It is tl1e procession o( Chris t but t.lll : rc!ader easily unJert,tand.s, . noting the £lack idiorns , tl1n t it ls a Black v rocession throu g h the lab yr lnthes of slavery anc.l racism. Ther~ ls a s rl ~:; · O[ juxtaposed contradiction s like " Time i s t.oday , yesterday , and ti1 •10 to come ," "moving ;:md r.1otlonlc s s, " and . "i nfinite takes familia r form ," as all while " we s eek convictio n." Christian mythology pervaJes Hay Hiller ' s work (though she Black-bases it). In "Tally " the subjects "lay there drained of time" anc.l empty like the "bul ge of l1our elass" viltile " Lucifer st.r e aked to reality." �The Jeaths of Dumas and ]livers l.::ft voiJs .aml created still more anxieties , coming as they did (19G J) in the midst of r acial turbulence. Ilowever, by the miJ-sixties both poets had written a grea t Jeal of poetry and a great deal about themselves. Rivers died an unnecessur y clc~.tlh in what has been . called an •11 ill1pulsive" act. white policeman in other. c1 ,;ew Ybrk suhway. Dumas \HIS shot to death by 3 Both deaths occured 1,1on ths of each Rivers was born in Atlantic City, · iew Jersey, and attended public schools in Pennsylvania , Georgia and Ohio . His colle~c Juys \1ere spent at \Hlberforce University, Chica~o State Teachers Colle~e anJ Imli:rna University. In hi gh schoo l (1951) he WOll the Savannnh St::i~e· poetry prize .. Rivers was g reatly influence·d by llu r,hes , \frieht anJ his uncle l,ay itclvC'r. llis five books , two of them published posthumously; are-: Perchance co Dream , Othello (1959), These Black Dodies nncl This Sunburnt Face (1962), Dusk a t Selrna (1%5) , The Still Voice of J:arlem (1%(3), anJ The \Jright Poems (1972 , · with an Introduction hy friend-novelist Ronald Fair). Ohio Poetry . Review, Kenyon Review , and Antioch Review were only a few magazines in whicl1 his work. appeared. Respondin g to a request (1962) to comment on himself as Black man and poet, Riv ers said, among other things: I write about the Negro because I am a Negro, and I am not at peace wi.th mysel f or the world. I cannot divorce my thou r,hts from the absolute injustice of hate. I cannot reel-on w.itl1 my color . I am obsessed by the ludicrous and psycholoeical behavior of hated men . And I shall conti.nue to write about racc--in spite of many 1,arnings-- �until I <l.i.scover myself, 1,1y future I my real race. I do not wish to capital i:~e on race, nor do I 1vi sh to begin a Crimean \Jar: I am only interested in recordin['. the truth squeezec.l from .my observ:1 t.i.ons and experil!nces . 1 am Lirc<l of hei.ng misrepresented . .i\clding tu the sta tement, Rivers said "b eauty anc..1 joy, whi.ch 1 ✓ ns in the world before and ltas been buried so lonp,, hns got to come back." But Rivers s.::iw little "beauty ancl joy" in his own mind's eye. His poetic landscape is often bleak .:inc.I filled 111th Jeep psychLc ye:;n' nin,~s and wnn<lerinr.;s through the ambivalences or l\lack-11hite rl!l,1L'.lons. is also tonicnt and brood Ln l: . 'l'h.c t:l' · In this way he bears Sll1:1~ .· k.Lnship to ·Dµ,m:is . .· For both delve deeply into psychology, but are nt the same tim~ accessihlc. Rivers spent much tLr.ie researchin['. his past an<l rendin g from the _ grea t volumes of world literature . During the mid-sixties in Ch Lca r.,o ht:! parti_.,.. cipated in discussion ~roup s--involvin ~ Fair, Dnvi<l Llorens and Gerald NcWorter--out which this grew the now well-known Orr,anj 211.tion of TIL1ck American Culture (OBAC) which figures prominently importnntly in _ tlte -'Black arts programs of that city . poems ... !livers talks · about his own <leach in ·several "Postscript" ls a poem wliicli · " .s hould not hnve been publisl11.2,l. 11 The · narrator says lie 1,as "livin::; and clyin; : il1.1d dri=amlng" all ~t the saue time in Ilarlem. /\nd , toyin~ 1--1ith ,h l s 01v11 fate i.n wake of \/1-i;~ht ' s "sudd en Jl.:!ath, 11 he rccnlls the elcler writer· s "rropll ecy " 1-ms that he too " soon 1vould he deau: 11 The tl1eme of denth--oftcn 111orc1l, spirit ual or plty!;lcal .:is ln llayc.len-- can be found iu pi~ces 1.LLc "Th e Death of a l~e2,ro Poet, " "Pr elude for Dixie," " Four Sheets to tlie \Hnd , " " Tlirce Sons ," 11 ,\sylu1,1," and all of The \Jr i gl!t Poems. �In 11 \!atl ~J , 11 he cap s ules r,ene rations of fear, h orro r , histor y unJ anguish i nto e pi ~r ar,mia tic fury--with n c.lec:cptlvely a ppircnt ease : Nust I shoot th e white ma n Jeat.! to free thL~ ni gge r in his head ? In ,.m incredibly 1-1e, k Ut;!;eswuent of nLv..:rs ' s poetry, llakl 1-la<l huhuti (L ee ) said thi s poem " :1sks a r c voJut .Lonar y qucstio11 '.1 (l•yn:11,1 lt c VnLccs, Vo l . I) . Such a ( " question, " ) of course , continudlly tui:ns or r e volve s . Dut , semantics ::islde , the cor.1111cnt is blinu to Rivers ' s \.TL'.sll i 11,·~ w.i Lil • the dc~•p · fears a11Cl sores cni.:cndere<l by /\Jueric;i ' s ni g htm:, r c. . IIc• knew no s i111pli. st·Lc answers or verbal jousting wo u ld make th ese~ hurts <l"isapp ec1 r . 1',,11y11ay , such crltlcis111 violates the poe1,1, robbin )j the poet of his rnany-laycr<.:d· c;q nccrns unt.! a nalytical p01,crs . 11.lver l s not all soml,cr ang bleak , hm,cv e r i. in " Th e Still Voice of llarJ cm" h e .:mnouncf!s : I am t h e hope and tomorr011 of your unborn . Ev en m:tlllst the contraJictions ant.! un cc rt;:iinties of racl.::il/politlc:11 ping-pong ("In Defense of ]Hack Po e ts " ) /1,, black poet mu s t remcmbc.or ' the horrors . Especially since Some black kid is bound to read yo u. The " Note on Black Homen " asks t hey te a ch t h e poet "honor, " "h umor ," and " how to <li e , " presumnb]y th e rcbornin :_<, de.'.lth . s h eet . The \!ri. c~ ht Po ems l s an elcgaic " To lUchard \Jd g hL '' excla.i1;1s alr.iosl witl1 dcf'2 a t , tll.'.lt �To be born unnotic ~d i s to b e b o rn bla ck, anJ left out of the g r a 11J adv e ntu r Q. Another " To Rich.:ircl lhi;~ ht " piece refer s to the nov e list .'.lS youn g J os u s of the bl.ack noun .:ind verb . Other po e ms find t.h e poe t \-hmJerin t o r s e.:irchin z throu ~h th e "spirits" or "bon e$ " • of \Jri g ltt . In " A Nourninr:; Letter from Paris" Rivers r ec .:ills knowin ~ and feelin g "Harlem's honeyed voice." Some times similar in feelin g :.inJ theme, but almost never in voice and form , is the work of Dum.:1s who " Nc•,•, ritu c.le ran g es acro ss tim e a 11d s pace . II_· . . . . . Dumas was born in Swe e t llomc, Arkansas, moved to Ne\J . York \Jh~n · he wns 10 . ye.,1r s old and completed public schools in that city. He ~t~erided City C6lle~c of New York and Rutgers between stints in the Air Force and other activities. Active on the lj_ttlc m;i,;azine circuit, he won a number of :11-mrt! s and helped establ 1.sh several publications. /\t the time of his d e ;:ith, h e v1; 1s _L_e jching at Southern Illinois University's Experiment in llighcr Education i11 East St. ,Louis. In 1970, SIU Press published two posthumously collectc,_l volumes: Poetry for Hy People and 'Ark of Bone' nnd Other Stories, edit e d by llale _ Chatfield c1nd Redmond . Random House re.:..issued the poetry (Play "Ebony Play Ivory) and i-;tortcs (same title) in 1974 uith Redmond as editor. Thou l\ h there have been no full-len g th critical studies o f Dumas's poetry, Jny \Jri ght and Bnraka assessed him in the SIU editions ,1r1cl Wri r, ht 's Tntrocluction is retained in the ne11 releases. Wright, himself a major po e t of the era, e l c ;ined th e linguistic skill and th e 11111sical ran g e of Duma,,: None of this is pe rverse, int e ll e ctual pla y . of Dumar;' sense of hi story . It is indicativ e In "Fmoyeni, Plnc e of the I.Jinds," �he Hrites "I see with my skin and hear with my tonr;ue ." ... The line , I su~nest, asse rt s some elementa r y truth about Dumas ', and not alone Dumas', poetic techniques . is gro unded in that line. Thi~ hook ... What Dumas means i .n that th e re arc ract al ancl soci.a"l Jetenninants of perception, ideas tha t he was jus t berinnjng -to develop . The mind articulates what the senses hnve selcc t e J fro1,1 the ficlJ, crnd tltis articuL1tion is , in part , dt.!tcn1incJ by 11hat the perceiver has learned to select und articulate . There is CL~rtainly no consensus among thinkers ttwt this is 1vhat happens , but there j _s · s0m12 evidence for believing·, as Dumai:; did, that it docs lt:1ppe1r. · ln 'lJ] h ear with 111y Lonr;ue, 11 Dumas asscrLs th ..it· Lh<:; l anguage · you speak is a 1,J[Jy of de[inine, yourself 1vitliin u ~ro up. The language of the Illack community, as 11itl1 that o( any ~roup , takes its form , its imu3ery, its vocabulary , becu~se l.Huck people want Lhelil that 1,uy . Lan 0 u<.1ge can protect , exclude, express value , as 1-Jell as assert lu en tity. ii, 1Jhy Dumas ' language is the 11ay it is . Tlwt In the rhytlu11 o.f it, ls tl1e act, tl1e unique n1anner of perception o( a lH..ick man. \1ritin ;>; with the rc111ovcd pass:ion of t"lie friend that he was, \.Jri.ght makes vital statements not only about Dumas hu_L i1bou t the whole area o.f Black creativity ,_. pcrcepti.on and stance in the 1,1orJJ. Indeed Dumas juLteJ all th ese ante:nnue from his poetry whicl1 he Hrote to maintain " out precious trad_ltilln . 11 Lin- ~u i s tically , Dumas ' s base is fon11al Ene,lisli , a lJlencl of Black II.fr lean lun c uag es; · Arabic , and r.ullah from the islands off the Carolinas .:ind Ceor1~L1 . - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - I! ls c·os111os �is !:,,ltap1.2J by the rich t ex tures ot .!Hack reli g i o us and spiritual lite, expecinlly old time church services a nJ Voodoo:. \Jri ght notes: anJ gospel mu sic , particularly , 1-1er c his life breath. " The blues Only Langston llughes knew more , ar a t lea s t as much , . about Gospe l an<l ;~ospel s in ge rs .. '. .·· Mu sic seemed to UL11nJ i~ to Le ;1ble to carry th e burden of direct participation in the ncl of living, as no poem , thal 11as not musically str u c ture<l, coulJ .... " "Du rn.'.ls 1-1 as searching for an nn.'.llagous structure for poetry ." ,\s a poet, Du111as comb ines the past , present and tuture, of t e n in s..:para bly, as in "Play E!Jony Pldy Ivory": for the son~less , th e <l ea d who rot the earth all the se dcaJ whose sour mut ed ton g ues speak broken chords, all the~e ag in~ peopl e poison th e h e art of ~arth. Curs'e s and curdles, rnysLlcism , \)less i.n gs a11cl v1arnin1•,s abound : Vo<lu g reen clinching his waist, obi purple ringing his ,neck, Shan~o , God of the r;pir lLs, 1-,1hispcr in g in his car , thun<lerligl1t stabbin g the island ot blood risin~ from hi s stull. Later, in thi s same poem ("Rite"), th e 1,1onl tak es prece<lent over a ll; wliat mu st come , must come : �No pO\•l er can stay the mo j o when the obi is purpl e and th e vodu is green .:ind Shango is whisperin g , 1:ith e 1111>. in bloo<l . I am not clean. Hi s intercontinental, inteq~alaxinn so a rs e1,1ploy nny unJ all Jevices nt his comm.::ind. Dumas explores the dense rhythms ("of pcrcention") as in "Ngoma" where he compares the lielly of a pregn.:mt woman to the drum ltead. The Joctor listens to the ba'by's heart; the dru1!llner listens · tO .. th~ ~oice s, ~f the·· anccstors.: .iiwa aiwa it is th e cl1es t-sound same that booms my chest aLwa aiwa a strong sound runnin3 like feet of gazelle aiwa aiwa The crescendo, with its built-in call-.:ind-rcsponse pat tern, rneq~cs 139a t skin and woman I s belly in the <leathenin c f C llr:. the ~oat-skin sing s th e bo om-sound louder louder sin gs the g oa t-sl~in louder the goat-skin sin)js th e hoom-souncl louder sings the goat-skin louder louder louder boom the 3oat-skin noom-sound loud e r louder louder The rich, experimental lan gunge, couched in scv e rnl "traditions," is seen �ever y\Jh c> re i n th is major voice ("fr om J .:1 cklw.mr.1 ~ r "): Th e j a c kj:i c k b.::ick in g back a n d s t n ¢. k i n i~ s t one c it y - s t one int o cn:ick~d hyclrn u lic · echoes of d us t Or ( " n oot So n g "): Once 11h en I \g1s tr ee flesh c ame and wo r s hi ppe d a t my r oo t s . Or (" J\ · f,o n r, o f fl e sh") l o v e a n d maddened so:1r a ncl need : Hh e n I a wok e I took th e ~l eep in B ~ou n ta in s of yo u r b r e asts t e n de rl y t e nde r ly b e t ween my ri uiv'Pr i n g li ps a nd I r:uilJot inc <l th e s t a llio ns, drown e d th e eag l e s, an d drov e t he ti g er fish back into th e s ea of your heart. Ther e a r e a]s o "many" po e t s in Dum as . ll c r e i s a c ombination of DuJ'.l.bar, .Hughes, \falk ~ r, coupl e d with th e b es t o f th e r i mi n g po e t s o f the s i x t ie s t u produce th e san p, uin e a nd humoro u s Bl a c k t ruth ( " l La ugh Talk Joke "): i l a u c h t a l k j oke smoke d ope s k i p rope, 1,1:1y tcJke j ump u p and d own, unlk a r ol111cl dri nk mas h an d ' t alk Lr :"1s li bea t a bl i nd boy over tl1e hea d with c1 br i ck knock a no - Legge <l m:in t o h i s bende<l k n ees .:1 coke �( cause I'm a muvin~ Iuul never been to school ~oJ raiseJ me and the devil praised lllc: praised m1..; catch a pr1..;::ic.lrcr. in a l>o:.it and slil his throat pass a church , 1 mi~ht pray hut Jon ' t fuck witl1 me cause I c..luu't pl:iy There i°ll"C epic poems likl! "lio saic llarlem " and " C:ene·s is · cin an f.nc..ll · ss Mosaic," 0 a blues series, experiments in ,\frican forms (u sin~ spontaneity anJ ritu,il); and mystical/exploratory poems like Thou/',hts/I1t1i..1 1\e s, Kef , 11:ef-s an<l.:iab.:i :. In one " Saba " Dumas uses bizarre i1i1._,~i <.!ry to render the harJ Lo· J0sc.r.ibe -: sx w::iterin~s streams striking c1orta vibraphones sx veinings myriads of flagella flutksing rite Dumas possessed a soundless love for tl1e acoust ical leap and the dramatic " implosion" ( as he put it) of ideas in poetry . have on Black poetry remains to be seen . What influence his iJeas will It would hilve heen indeed interesting if his oork , much of it 1-.rr it ten i.n t'.1e early and mi.J-sixties , haJ been �availab] ,., in collected form 1-1heri tlw first ri;;nrous battle of th e Neu Black Poetry 1-:a s being fou~ht . The American t ernpera1rien t (disfavorin f; Black writers telling their truths) kept Dumas a nd Rive rs running. in the deep v1el l of his 01-m Dumas sou~ht ltis peace folk culture and in occasional excursions into mystlci sm , /,[1:i r.:a , ;ind \'tJodoo . l~ iv,,rs LurieJ hiusclf in the 11 iJc:2ntity 11 issues and urooJeJ ov..;r his -plight as a brilliant Blacl~ in a country where th e t110 adjectives to~ethcr are neither believc1ble or le~itimate . Yet they Loth left le8acies . B. Gr i efs of Joy : The Poetry of \Hngs & The Clack Arts ~lovernen t No nothing remains the sa,ne .And my spirit reaches out t,) _ you my love 1-1ithout apolozies witho ut emuarrussment 1-1ith only the thoup,h t that th is is right for us that moving · towards you is like touching leaves in autumn .... . .• .. .. . . . . . our minds and spirits interlocked like J12ath . ---- Pinkie Gordon Lrne , " griefs of jo y " One 1najor difference between t he cultural/political upsur ges of the tw e nti es and the sixties/seventies was location: the Renaissa nc e was centered li t erarily , if not ah1ays ?,eor; raphically, in llarle111; but its �·recent r;_uccessors can be found in every Norlt American community \vi th a substantial Black porulation . political interaction. /mother differc' ttce was in de p, ree of artistic - To be sure, the culture and political arms of the Renaissance were, on occasions, interlocked. But such weddings n·e ver reacheJ th eir ·curr e nt state of ''l-1 l10leness " and "continuity." In the early_.· clays of th i s period th ere were (are) "stars" of the NeH Black Poetry; but the f itt er often attenJeJ the activities of poets " outsiJe" their poetry. Or, put differently, the stars so111et-Lmes put "outsi de " topical anJ emotional stimuli "in side " what vms indefensible as "po etry ." This 1neant the star .. . . poets h.'1J no connection whatever with a ]Unck lit c r:ny .t>r [oJ k p.:10Lic . . d 1t1.on as sue lL . . . u<.1-_· I nstealI t I1e1.rs . . ". o f·. 1.m111el · 1·1acy, po 1 I· t.1ca. . 1 was a " tra ct·1t1on ur gency , and newspaper ltea<lli11es, comliinecl with hi;_;lt-sclwol type , pu nclt-lin ing . This is not to say good "po e tr y " (of whatl.!ver definition) was (is) not being written or that clrnrlat.cins 1.;ere a]ways on "t ake. " There i~; much evidenc_c to support the belief that Jozens of these soothsayers were sincore. an<l· honest--and had chosen what appeared to be the "simple s t" and "fa stes t" . vehicle for expressin[; thoughts ·.:ibout " Revolution, " and " Black Together" : or raising the " Col] ective Consciousness" of their people. Sucl1 LJ s:;i.tuat.ion was not helped by the learned poets-activists who sometimes advised young Black writers to give up "western " in.flucnces in a 1,hite lanp,ua~e. advice (ln America!) usually impl i.cd L,1<J things: This that an African language was easier to m.cis ter and that sinc0n~ expression , no mntter ho\v poorly arrange, could carry the day for Blnck poetry . However, th e insincere versifiers more often than not fell by the wayside in a short time , pavin~ th 0. way·, like the Phoenix liird, for still more soap box mounter s . At the sa111e time, a number of poets --who se wits and crafts were �-not obout them in th e ear ly phase--took to the wooJshed t o become much better h a ndlers of th e wor d . .:1 " panormn.:1 of violence . 11 All thi s occurre<J, Lirry Neal note s , a p,ainst Indeed by the late sixt i es Black conu~1unities .:i ll over America lrn<l b een turned up side Jown hy po li ce and spokes1i1 ~n/suppor t crs of th e Ulack. Re vo lutt on . Youn~ shoe!: troopers like Carmichae l, Brmm, Charles Koe n, Ron l~nr:-en 13a , · 1luey Nc\vton, and Eldrid ;~e Cleave r h ad already for ced the " olJ time" Black leadership t o ta ke a se~1t . llOh', with f:ithcr having destroyed son (l-lilli.nrns , lfr1 ldwin ), tl1 e poe t s were free to d ec l a im, procla i r.i and e xhort. Th is trend a l o ne \-1::is a shock to the poetic tradition-- since it created a flood of polemicists and pamphl:iteers 1-, Jw · couldbv0uld not dis c uss poetry in histor 'i c a l co nt ex ts . Tt caused fu rth er s hock by labelin f; itself " Black" nnd rene[;o ti a tin r, its 01-m "r oob, ." (th e .wo'rd ''Black" h as appenre<l tl1rou fl hout the history of Black poetry , hut before th e sixties it was not used as a categorical term for the po e t r y written b;'.. Ar°r:-o-J\meric.ins.) Bence much of tbe New Black Po e try has been viewed as non-poetry or .a·nti-poet r:-y ( in a traditional lit erary context) Lecausc .:11wnz other thinr,s, it · did not depe;td primarily on subtlety an J recondite references . Yet it r em,1i.n s to be seen what impact this s t ance in Black poetry 1-ti ll_ have on the l _it en1cy t rends i.n Afro-America . Blyden J.:1ckson (Bl~1cJ.... Poe try in /\merica) , for . ~x:.11ap J c , be gins his own discussion of th e 1k1-1 .)H.1ck Poetry by buildinr; a · convi ncing· analo r;y between th e rise in JHack li t<.'r:1cy and th e popularity of poetry. Stephen Henderson (Under stanJinr; tl1 l' ;~ew Dlucl- Po0tr y ) ass ure s his readers th a t Bl.:1 ck reade r:-s or listener s clearly "un,lers t and 11 whc1t their po~ts are sayint.; an,1 nre participati.n~ more an~l mor " as jull~es of Black aesthet i.cal qualiti e~ in the poetry and th e po e ts ' \vill conclucfo Hith a fC\! lcliveries . But \Jli ile t h i s c hapter bro:.id critical observations , t he inunedi.:1te c1im i:::. to �conLlnui:o the ske t ch of the poetry ' s dcveloprnenL, int erpo L1tin r., from time to Lime pertinent critical and illuminating d.'.ltn. : There a r e dozens of 1vays to approach t he :-hc\.J 111.'.lck Poe.try . One could, for example, e~:.:1min 2 its th er;ie , struc ture a nJ sntura t-Lon (lle11lk.rsnn) , or its several t ypes (C.:uoly1\ · Rod[;e r s , sec bibli ogr.:iphy) . irnport nn t names i s ..1notl 1c is ano th er \1.:1y. Neal , Dumas) . Sta rtin g with \Jay ; the :C l ac k Aesthetic (Gayle, Fuller) appro.:1ch Th en there is the rnar;ic of Black poetry (Dar11ke, To ur e' , The mus ic is also a favor it e path (Stanley Crouch, Michael Ilarper , J ay ne Cort ez ). One could go on :rnd on: but the poetry has been written and one pl a ce to start is with its emer gence: New York cert a inly played a k~y role in the new mov~nen t; but it JiJ n o t, we said earlier, play the key or only role . Arc~s of the Enst . (Phili- delphia, :Goston B.::iltimore , Washin g ton , D. C. ) enhanced in the boon . Midwest centers were Cleveland , Chica go , Detroit, East St . Louis-St . Loui~~ and Kansas City, to nnme some . TI.elate-I events also took place in :th e .South where there was another '' risin~" in Atlanta, :lashville , Jackson, m1 t on Ro ug_e , Tusker,ee, Houston, .'.1.nd Too i~a loo. The Hest added richly fro111 Los Angeles , San Francisco Day area, Sacramento , and .Sea ttle . Int e rweavin g dev elopments related to poetry were numrirous Black.Arts activities (connecte~ t o cultural or nationalist programs·) -.loc.1ted a t settlement houses , conununity centers , museums , centers for the di. s::;em ination of id e olo g i es , anti-poverty projects , and ed ucational ihstitutto ns . The !1igh Enthusiasm and vi gorous spiri t were also evident in the plethora of t a bloid·s-(B lack-orient ed , journnls, ....; flyers , posters, books, pnmphlets , anJ record ~ . And of gr ea t .impo rtance were the neH Black bookstores , African curio shops, 11a ll s of "respect" (Cleveland, Akron , Chica go , St . Louis, New York, Newark, e tc . ) , art exl1ibits, weekly •·. festiv a l s and jubilees, writers ' conferences , writin g wo rk s hop s , the flood . . . �of . ] iber a tion fl[l::;s ( bl.::ick-;-~reen-red), J3lnc1:-orienteJ tv u1lk nnd vnriety sh01vs , and other physi.cal (power si ;>, ns a!1ll han ~lshakes) or cultur.:11 (African c l othes , hairdos and je1velry) . new conscious n ess . New York was ah important sh01,-p1<1ce for the It lrnc\ the r esi.clue of the post-Rlenaiss<1nce y ei'lrS ( t he Sh omhur::; Lihrnry and !'-liC'h e: m1x 1 ·s · Bookstore) in Hnrlem as wel1 as numerous surro unJin ;:; conununlti es ,ihich plu gg ed into its sockets . New orp,anizntions such .:is the Barbara Ann Teer ' s Nationnl Black Theater, New Lafnyette Th eate r, and t he llarlem Cu ltural Council flowered in the amazed ligh t of olde r i n s t itut ions like Freedonn,ays magazine (Clarke and Earnest Kaiser) which has p ublished many of th e new poets: Tourk , ( Snellings) M.::idhubuti (T ,c ~)~ Hender~on, Cla r ence Reed, Welto n Smit h ,' Ll9yd T . Delaney, W. D. Wri riht; Joanne ~onzjle~. · Ma ri Evans and o th ers . Frcedomways also offers livel y' reviews and commentaries · on poe tr y, litera tur e a n d th e Bla c k Ar ts scene. From t he vurler,ate<l atmosphere o[ New York p,ushed forth Black poets, some who lwd made tllelr marl: earlier: ( 1937- _tld.., of 1:enderson; · Lan.:y N<?.a l ) , Reed, Patterson, Sun-l ~a, Dumas, June .lorc.lan (19]6- Soni.:i Sanchez ( 1935( 1936- :.1 ) , S. [. Anderson (19l,3- ) , llernton , (1uintin Hill (1950- Baraka , Audre Larde , John Major (1948Lennox Eaphael (19l10- ) > ) , Albert l!ayn ~s ) , . llm, :ird Jones (1941) , N . B: Pritcharc.l (19J9- ) , John,\; \Hll_iai,1s, Levert Dethune (LJJ7- . ) > ) ; ) , Le thonia Gee , Bobb llamilton , Q . R . lland·, '/usef Iman , Ray Johnson, O<laro (Barbara . Jones, 19l16- ) , Clarence.: r,eed, Yus e f Itahman (Ronalc.l Stone, JLirliara Simmons_, Lefty Sims, Welton Smith (1940Clarence ~lajor (19J6(1939- ) , Spellnan , [dw.:1rd Spr izs (193L1- ) , Lorenzo Thomas (1944- ) , Jay 1-lriglit (1935- 1938- ' ) , RiclwrJ Thom.::is ) , Ted Wllson, Lloyc.l Addison (19Jl- !~attic l·!. Cun1ho , James Arlington Jones (193G- ) ) > ) , Jayne Cortez (via \Jatts , ) , J:manuc.:l , Ci1lvin for!Jes , ,\le. · is Devt2oux (1950- ), Nikki Giovanni �) , Tom 1/eathe rl y (1942- ) , Hae .fac kson (J 94G- Djangatolum (Lloyd }I . Corb ln, 1949(1940- ), Jullus Lester (1939- Simmons , Felipe Luciano (1911 7(19 47- ) , Ron l·kluurn (l :J4L1- ) , l•: louis c· Lofton (195 0) , Charles Lynch (J 9!13- ) ), Joe Johnson ) , Judy ), L.v . Mack ) , lU10nda rlills, Quandra l'r c ttym,:m, Larry Thompson (1950- and K.11. Prestwid g e . · ' ) ' Tlic:: 1;e\-1 ·York I.:lack Arts scene (po e try specifically) was a Ll- a -1,hir Hith the excitement of pul i lishin r_; and re:1dln;~ poetry <1 loud at the infinite nun1ber of gatherin r,s . older , often revived ones . his death in 1967 . Joining these yount_;er \!ritcr s were llu [~hes oversaw much of th e proc ee ding s until And there Here olt.l , .:is well as n e w, . o.utlL!ts (or· Lh i; poetry which was being read at the Apollo , Carnei3ie llall, Ne\✓ L:ifay'et:Le Theater, Slugs East, l!ount Haris Park, anJ in countl.ess .co mmunity. ·centers.· and churches . Most of these poets w~re not native Ifow Yo rLers; and a g n ~<) t 1~~rnb er · were not perpetually there during th e heig ht of the Black ,\rts Hov~in_e1\t~but often in outlying areas like Bridgeport , (Youth Ilricl~e) Yale, Fcedo n .i a, Brockport, !Zutgers , Brooklyn , Boston (Elma Lewis ' s Center for Afro-America n Culture), and Bedford Stuy ves ant . But , Hhile they had scpdrate Black Arts programs, most look ed t0 the movement in llew Yori:. Workshop there were : In ndJition. to the Umb·ra Harlem \fr iters Cuj 1 J (Cl:i rke, Klllens) , Fn, Jerick Douglass Creative Arts Center, Poetry \hirkshop, the Afro-l!lspanlc \forkshop , Workshop for Young Writers , 'the CoJ _u111 bi.a Writing program (Killens), BJack Arts Repertory and Theatre/School (J:.:1rak;:i, Snellinr,s), Among the new journal s were Umbra (1963) , Soulboo .. (196 l1) , l~Ltck Dialo r', ue (l9(i5), Journal of Black Po etry (l 9(>G) (lroni.c al]y , the la :, t Lhn.!c \.Jer e l>e ,:, un on Lh~ \vest coast) , Pride , · Ill;1ck Th ea tre (1969), Cricket (1969), BLick Creation (1969)', Afroi\r.1eri.ca11 :· �. '/\ Third \.'orld Literar y Jou "" nal (197 3, Syracuse) , BOP (lllncks on PapL!r, Drown University, 1964), Continuities: \Ion.ls (ror:1 the Crnn111unities of Pan-Afri ca, City Colle ~ e New York, 1974), Im11ressions (1 974), Cosmic Colors, (Fredonia, ]975). Durint~ a speech at llmmrcl University's First t,,1tj'onc1l Conferen ce of -Afro-.i\m ~ rican 1·/riters (Novc>r~ber, 1974), Tourt recounting the tumultuou s years a nd dc>v c·lupi11cnts, s.1id those responsih] e for tlH' "Ul.1 ck arts anJ aesthetic movement" were "activists as wel] as artists. " It seemed so , for thi.s particular pn tt ern wc1s most obvious c1s Bnralw returnec.l to Newark (renamin g i.t "N ew Ark") and chan~~ed his nnme (Imrnnu Amir i Rnraka), reflec tin g the f;reat influence of the Na tion of Islam and his interests in African culture . . !laving BART/S "to re-educate the nenrly half a million llarlc111 N0groes to find a new pric.le in the color ," he 1:1ovecl to establish SpLrit ]louse · (Newar k) , and such spin-ou t s as Spirit llouse Players and Movers, tile .'\fri.can free Schoo] (with its l~awaic.la doctrine), Jihad Pu!Jlications , Co1:{miLtee fui:" a Unified tk1-mrk , and to help l..1uncl1 S'2VC~ral national Black 1)L)lLl-i_c~i _CL)Uventions. lie 1-, as a founder (1970) of Lh c curn2ntly scr.Lfe-ridJ e n C,>11gr12s:; of African Peoples . DurLn~ tl1c l9G7 rials (insurrection:,) in llc\rnrk, l~aralw was .urrl2:,ted with sevcr..11 companions anc.l chnr~eJ with . possession of two hanc.lgu11:, and ammunition. Between his arrest anJ tli'u t c_.ial 1' Black Poeple ! " was publ Lshec.l in Evergreen l~cvie1-,. The poem openly· 12nc,)uraf'.ed looti11g, whites, anc.l t,eneral insurrection: \,e-2k"; " You knO\✓ 11 L112ft, murder of \.Jiat about: t:k1t baJ short you List S:.lh' how to ~l'.t it, you can get it, no 111 onc;y dmvn , no money never"; "li e owes you .::rnythLn~ you \JanL , even his life"; "U p ai..;alnst tlie \/all mothcrfucLer tltis ls a stick up!'.'; to gether and kill him my 111.111 11 : 11 I S1.1,1sll the windu1•1 at n .i.,~ht"; "Let s e,et �... let ' s ge t to :s.e th cr the fru it of the sun , ll;t 1 s m...1ke :i 1-1 orld \JC•1vant LL1ck cliiLlren to P, rm, a1td l,-=:! ~lrn in do not l e t yo ur chilJn!n ,.,hen tli,!y )'. row lo ok in your . f,ice and curse you Ly rityin ~ your tu,,tlsh w.:iys . It \1L1s th e kind of nuJf.C and raBe th.it c lwr;:ic t e ri zeJ D:.ir;:ik;_i ' s ( and o ther J;lack µoets 1 ) output Le twe e n 1 96 5-1969. s i gnificant developments occurred. Dur in;_~ this pe ri oJ , l1 01-1 ever , <1 nu1nber o f I mpresscJ Ly thL· TJS ~'.roup o( l~on Karenga (whil e teaching briefly .:i t San T'l.·.:.inc Lsco S t a t(: Colle[:c. in 1 96 7) ,· J\:,raku returned to llewark and organized the 13 l ack Cor,ununity D<.!ve Lopm en t an<l Derens1.: · · Or~anization (BCD). llis effor t s eventually a ided iii th e e lection o·f BlacL mayor (Kenneth (;ibson ). · ;J Th ese thin gs were h a ving g r ea t iii1pc1ct on reBional and national lllack political/po e try scenes . ll;:iraka ' ~ ~ictures (with bc1ndages from th e 1967 scuffle \vi.th Newark police) be ga 11 nppcarin8 on walls of cultural centers, dormitories .ind homes. Many observ e rs, however, · were . somewhat wary of llarake , havin )~ see n him go throu gh the " clwni:es " from neat poet ,-,itlt ;i 11hite wife, to llarlem .:md !Unck Arts, into Me\~'.1 rk nnJ political \1ork (for g reat insi ght inLo a11 this, see TheoJore Hudson's From ' LeRoi Jones to Amiri Dar.:ilrn, 197'3) . . · Yet r.aral.~o I s influences were felt in most centers of the lkw Bla ck Poetry~-and even i11 places where liis poetry hacl not actually li een read; ' or, if .rea d, not fully understood and Ji ge sted. It was not unusual to hear a Black youth q11ote a few lines from a poste r-poem . or fro m a live reading, but who, vhen questioned nbo11t Darnka ' s works , did not know th e name of n single on~ . After Th e Dead Lect ur e r, Rar nl~a (nlso playwr i ~h t) rublished lHack Magic : �Poetr y l ~J(, ]-1% 7 (1 % 9), ln Ou r i.'c rriblcnl.' s s (197 0 ), Sp irit, !! encl (19 72 ), (19Ci o ) 1vhich , a]on [~ wic h J:a jor ' s Til l' '.l<.!1-, !: l ncl· ( o e tr y (1 9Ci 9, s hm,,-c ;1 seJ the new poetry) . lu t he Forward to !Hack Fire , B.'.lraka cullcJ Black ;;_rLi 1~. ts "the the pm,er of out· bl:li e: r s , by · Lhe puri.Ly :ind s tren ;; tlt of our acLi.on:. ." The Ll a ck man . hol y 1i1;1n . The black art .i.st. The 111 ..111 maker of pcuce . you s e ek . speaker . you seek . T\1 ' lover. Look in. The voice, cyeclosings. Co on . Tlte The climb e r t h e s triv e r . Tlie 1-1n rior . FinJ yr self . The \·le: arc th e y 1,Jhom Find the bein g , th1; tlw hack Just h o ver in yuur so[L Is you . or minus , you vehicle! :;elves . The blacL 1,wn . Is the cre.1tor. ls notldnt'.·· · \le are presen tin g . \·Jc a re p resc:n ting , f ro1.t r.otl , :::i l'lus \'our various tone , yu ur own . Now . lie thu s sets the "tone " for poets / philosopilers , rei t erati.np, at the sallte time · much of 1Jha t had been exclaimed in other 1vri tin gs . lleal, a perceptive critic and halanced thcoretici..111, has pnhlisllctl volumes : Black lioogaloo: Uotes on Bl n ck 1.ibcrntion (l9G9 , Jounrnl of Black. Poetr; Pre!..i::; , FonmrJ by Jones) and Ji., n d,)u liollcrin ' l~~liop Chost s llts Aftenmrtl to !Hack Fire is tanta1 111,1i11·_ L to llu r, hcs ' th e tw enties . t\JO (ICJ75). famous tlcclaration of Prcse11Ling " ntt Lst i.c _;i nd po] lt Leal 1-JOrk" t:ltat 111ust be " c<.1llcd a r adi.cal perspective" !:lack Fire should he read "as if it 1,l.!rc a er ltical re-examination of Hes tern J• .> lit ica l, sc,ci.11 and artistic vaJ ues." and exhor ti ng other writers, Nea l contlnuetl: We have liel.!n , for t l1e 1110s t p:1rt , talkin ;•, :il.ioul contc:111porary Cli;:i llenginl,; �r.;a l ities. Ive have not bce·n ti.llki.n )'. nbout. a return to some 2;lorious African past . total past . But \-IC reco g ri lze the paht--the Il.::iny of us refuse t u accept -.i truncat eJ N,, ,; ro history which cuts us off completely from our African ancestory. To do so is to accept t:1 c very racist assumptions which we auhor . Kat her , we wnnt to comprehend history t o tally, anJ understand the manlfold 1,,1<.1ys in 11hich contemporary problems are affected b y it . Speakin g ag.1inst the hinJsl g ht of psychology anJ turbulence, Neal iJdJed: There is a tension within Black Americn . its roots in the ge n e ~ai history of rncc!. .And it ha.s · The u nnncr Ln H:1lch we see this history Jcter m.Lnes how we act. should we sl.!e thi.s history? it? 11.:hJ Oh;.1t sho uld 1-1e feel abot1t This is lrnportnnt to k.11011, bec:luse the sense of how that history should be felt is 11lwt eitl1er unites or separates us. Final_ly, he sums up \•Jhat can be cal Jed th e creJo or modus operanJj uf the tle1{ Black Poetry and tl1c ]}lack Arts Novc111 nt: The artist and the political activist are one. They are both shapers of the future r eality . . JJoth under s tnnd a nJ manipulate the collective myths . o f ·. the race . 1,,mrriors , priests, lovers and d·t.!s tro ycr s. Both arc For the first violence \-/ill Le intcrnal--th c d~struction of a wenk spiritunl self for a nore perf c t self . be i1 n e:cessa ry vjol c nce. nut jt Hill It js the only Lllin g that wiJ 1 dcst roy th e douli] e -cons ciou~,ness --th c te nsjo n tlt a t is 1.n the souls of bl. .:k folk . �.I t wns the ki.nd of clwllenr,e th.'.lt sent many a 11cwly Blackened poet or activist in t o th e lon 8 night of the soul t o purB0 hims e lf of real or imn fl ined enemies of hi s people . Poetically speakin;~ , 1-iowev er , it was Ba r aka ' s " Black Art " that set mu ch of th e pace, form and violcint tone in the New Dlack Poetry. Poems arc L~llsh it unless they nrc t e eth or trees or lemons piled on a step. Or black l~Jies Jyine of men leavinG nickel hearts beatin~ them Jown. Fuck poems and they ar e useful, ,:<l thL!y shoot come u t you, love \vha t you a re, breathe like wrestlers, or shuJctcr stran~ely :ifter pissing. l~e wc1nt live 1v0rds of tile hi.p worlJ live flesh & coursinc hloocJ . :Ie,Jrts g r <1 ins Souls splinter inti fir ' . '.k 11.:.int poems like fists hentin[j ni: ;:.:,e r s out of jocks of 01.; ncr- j e11s . Black puems • Lo smear on g i.rdlemununa Hhose brains uce rec.1 1,1t.t1 '"i t:·co bitches ju Lly stuck between ' lizabeth taylor ' s toes. 1n10res ! 1_;uns . \.'e \Ji.Int St inking "poeJ:lS t:l1;.it ki1l." Poems tl1a t wrvs llL.! cops into alleys �nnd ta k e th e .Lr weapon s l oa v.i n;~ th f'm J e ,1J 1-1.ith ton 0 e s p ulled out ~mJ s ent to '. Irf'l.-rncl. pO P l\lS Knockoff f o r ,lo pe sell.ill L'. wops or s li c k h :J] f11hit e politi c i a ns Airplane poems rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr n· err rrrr r r r r rr . . . tuhtult tuh t11htuh t uh tuh t ur1 tuh ... rrrrr rr rrrtrrrr ... Se ttin ~ fires and d ea th t o whities as s . • • . lie want a black poem. AnJ A l:Hacl: ~/orld. I. e t th e 11o r] J h e· a BJ a c k Poem AnJ let /,ll JHack People Sp L: ak This l'1..lli11i Silently or LOUD " Black Art " wns often cited a s the s cm ;_; uin e e111hoJ.i111 e nt o[ t h t2. Taact Aesthl.!tic anJ a reject.ion of white cultur e a nd life style. Pol.!ms, 1::.iral:a · s t a t es, must not only hav e ,~uts a11J carth.incss (lik,.; lHacLs) but th~ y 111ust a l so be weapons and shi.elJs at.;ainst racism , police, merchants, hu s tJcrs , crooked pollticians anJ sta tu s - climh.in1 : IHack l>o11r2eosie. Ahov ~11.1, they s h o ul d exalt Blackness (" sons , 11 "lov e r ,,, 11 '.'warriors, 11 " poets , 11 :irid " all th e lov e liness here in this wor l d . 11 ) Th e se· then are the dominnnt themes in much of th e New Poetry and the phi1osophi ~s stated (witl1 radical divergencies) from coast t o coast. Baraka ' s purge ext,.;nds throu g h poems l.ike " Poem for lla lfWhit e Col l ege Students, 11 " The R,1c.Lst ," "Littl e nro1✓ n Ju r, 11 ('.'Wr. i\RE CODS "), "W.H. 11 ( attack o n wi~-wearin~~ women), " CIVIL JnGllTS POEM" ("Iloywill: ins is an eternal fa g1~ot "), " Ka ' Ba," and finall y , in " lcr oy ," hi s la s t wlll nnd testc1ment: �When I die, the consciousness I carry I uill to black people . Nay tl 1ey pick me nii.irt and t al~c th e us e ful par t s , the sweet rnea t of my feelin 3 s . And leave th e bitt e r bullshit rott en u hit c. parts But th ere arc also sc.,ns ltlvc· love poems in the L:iter period , poems cau~ht up iu the str·cssed life of I3L:1ckr1~ss ("St er lin ~ Str eet September"): "th e benutiful black man, and you, g irl, child ni ghtlove , ... : We are strange in a wny because who we are . \JC. know Black bein r, s passing thr n u:.;! a tortur ed p£1ssage of fleslt. In his Fonrnrd to BJ ack Boo ~a loo, Baraka s:iys of th e world : · " tlte solJi c r poets Hi.11 change it ." What Neal ' s volu me clwn g ed has not ye t been . ascer tai.n ed but it c e rtainly contain s ambitious a n J s uc cessf ul poetry . His :debt to th e older genera tion of poets, artists and thinkers, can be seen in pocii1s like " Queen tlothe r ' s Sermon ," " The Hiddlc Pass a ~:c and After," " Love So ng. in th e Hiddle Passar,e , " " Garvey ' s Ghost,." "Lady Day, " "Harlem Gallery: Inside," 11 1-!alcolm X--An Autobiography . " musico 8raphic interpolations. Neal (re: Fro111 the _- Hatin g u se of mysticism, chant and Dumas) is e[fectiv e--movi11~ ,sensing , and feeling: Olorum Olorum Olo rum The h o rr or o[ " The Middle Passa ~e Aftet· " is seen in t he "Decked·, s tack e d, pilla ge d" sJ av es . "Lo ng Song in Middle Passa;~e " Red g l ow of sea- d ea th mo rni~ ~s . vi c\ ✓ S tli l" �Other pO<' lllS ("Son f:, " "Jihad," "Kuntu," " Orishas ") r eveal Neal 's interests in supernaturalism, African philosophy and the a]iusivc, mystical powers inherent in the 1 '110rd." Il e seeks poe ticall y to implemet1t the ideas l1 e stated in Black Fire and a special Black issue of TDR (The Drama Revi.eH) in sunn;irr. of 1968. The issu e, edited by Tl)R's ·contributin g edi tor Dulli.ns, compj}pc[ i.dc.:1s and · plays root ed in whal was then· cal led the "new" consciousness also featured work by Sonia Sa nche z and Adam Dav.Ld !tiller . or the co1tccrn1, of ti1c· :~e\.J BL1ck Po12tr y . The spec.L:il issue projectC!d many ilcal ' s "ThL· Llack /.rls i,'.ovemC!nL" w:1s a bluc-pr.Lnl for J:l:ick Arts :ind po1itical chan~c. J.clio.Ln ;.:, state1:icnts in THack Fire, hC'! ar g ued against "nny concept of the art_i;, t t\\:i t ,1li,·11 .1 t e :;; l1.[ 11i [ro1,1 hls conununity ," anJ not~J: Black Art is the aesthetic and spiritual sister of · t!1e Black P01-1cr concept. As such, it envisions an cJrt that speaks directly tL) the needs and aspirations of Black Ainerica. In order to perform this task, tl1e Blact ,\rts Movement proposes a radical reorder in:; o[ tl1e western cultural aesthetic. 1t pr.opuses a separdte sy1nbolis1;1 , 111ytl1olo~y, critique, .:ind lconology. Th<2 BL1cl: Arts .:1nd Black Pm~er concept both rcla le.! broadly to Lh'2! Afro· American 's Jeslre for scl[-dctcn .tln;i.Linn '11\d nat Lonhood. noth concepts arc nwtlon:1lislic. · (Jne ls concerned with th e relation between art and p_,)litic:s ; the otl1er wlch th e art of politics. But his idea of .:1 11 separ:1te 11 a12sthcti.c was not embrac.ld by .:111. rnack poets, artists, or intellectuals. !~either \JaS unJ erstan,l ln ~) amon:_>; it::; own proponents. tltere a complete ,1r;reemcnt (or For example, Spri~r,s, a versa til·e �•artist an d thinker , l ed a l>oyc o i:t of l!ajo r ' s 'Lhe ;Jew l~lnc:k Poetry on the g rounds tk1t it \vas bl:in /~ l>rou;1ht out l,y ;J white publisher (Intern ati on, l Publish ers) . Dut Spriggs h;.icl not obj ec ted ear 'l ier to use of his work in Black Fire , also published by \.ih lt es (Morrow). llis position starl.!f,ient appeared in Tht: Jo ur n.1 1 uf Llcick Poetry (Fall, 190 ~.;) : how ln tll e hell cHl~ · the ·black pub 1 i slw rs ever t~oinG t o ,',e t off lnto it if not by the assis t ance of the! \ffLtt:rs. how are distril.Jutor s hip s ever .:;o i ng tu mature wlth th e publisher.., if the highly marke t able \10rk s o[ wm kelly , j . killens , j a wrns, l nenl , e bull..lns , ler o i j , o r the like n1;ver . comes th e ir way? does th e concept of black power .:mcl hl nck ;Jrts extend t hat far? l say yen, i say yea , yea . Sp1 izr,s jo Lned a l a rge n umb2r of critics a nd \H;Jctiuncrs of tlle 13 1::ick Arts--To ur~, Heal, Crouch , Bullins , Goncal ves - -in the cont rovcr.s·y ·over Jilack writers ' roles and responsil.Jilities . Despite the controversy, how~v~ r, Major ' s anthology appeared as a kaleidoscopic offe rin g of the Ne1.; Hlac J(.Poe tr.y. Majo_r incluJeJ a perceptive and fitLin~ Introduction: TUT:: i;rni:R crisis of l>lack r ea J ity is often s tudded in th ese poems by the svift , vividly crucinl fncts of social reality; ' which cons is ts in p;.irt , any1,ai, . of all the implicati o ns and forc es of n1ass media, th e soci~.11 · pc1tter nr; , the 1.Jureaucr;:itic and meclwnical rnc.d iums' of hu m~pi percept ions, ev ·n of th e quickly evolving nature of the hu1aan psyche in thls hi f~hly h o moge niz ed culture., in all of its e l ec tri c processes a nd specia li st fr ag11w nt at l on . Clnc.:I~ real lt y , i n otl1er 1-1orcl:; , is ULe any other r cc1 lity profouPdl y effected by tec.:hnolo !-_'., y . The �crisLs anJ drama of the lat e 196Os overwhoJms nnJ threntens every crevice of human life on enrth . Th ese poems nre born out of this tension. In his own poetry, Maj or ensconces Vietnnn,, alienation, i.mpendin:; uorld des true tion, Rlnck history,· music, mythology , and personal excursions into · dreams. He publislwJ Th c. Dlctionnrv of Afro-/\meric.:111 S J ang (1970), Sw..1llow th e J.r1 ke (1970), Symptoms and l!ndn 12ss (1971), Privo tc Lin c (1971), The Cotton r.]ub (1972) nnd The Svncopnted Cnl~ew.:ilk (197L,), as ,-i el] els novels and essays. He hns also clirecte<l the Harlem Writers Workshor. In the acknow- ledz ements to Poetry, 1!njor indebts the a ntholo ;o,y to l'l:rny :i,nflu c nccs : Lowenfels, Ishmael ReeJ, Raphael, Art ner ge r, He lton Smith; Hoyt FulJ.er; Nat !lend to ff, Dudley Randall, Russel] Atkins, Bremen, ,\l Young, nntl° David . Henderson. Maj or ' s "Down Wind i\gnins t the 1-lighest Peaks" is typical of his style: sharp and angled twisted language, spacings tl1at replice punctu~tion, tidbit s of world knowlecl3e applied to tl1c rncl.:il stnteMent (satir-2 ur· cxhor~ tation), and experimental typo graphy . Recnlling his 11 pass.1~c 11 h<! s l;es "Tonto SmnlJo Willic"--notin~ thnt even Hcxico--- "an asskissing nation"--now has the " super-blonde " on its " blllbuur<ls . 11 In the rni<lst of ;ill these events, Li1e poets vir:o roui, l y prOLioLed pro;_:1· .. un:.i · wliicl'·, e:..:tenJcd their concepts nnJ vl :-:, ton~: Sprigg$ und /\li1,1ed L\llwrnisi were corresponJin~ ec\icors u[ the Journ ~iJ; ·ear.::ika, l'.c1jor , Nazzmn Al Sudan (nO\J El Huhaj ir) nnd Neal ];ecoine 'c ontrll.iutLn[: editors . was later joined l,y Tour~. EJitor-at-largl' Bull Lns In the s2venU.es r::rnie Mkalimoto was .:icl,ieJ as a contributin 0 editor with Major ' s n omc J-Ls:.ippeurLug. lb jor, R.:tnd:111, lit.:! Ul, Spri:3g s , Bullins, liaraka , nn<l ,\Jhauisi h.::iv~, all s12r v cJ as ~uest special ec.lltors. · 1\.n important influence o n (;1nd outlet for) the n e1v pol.'.try , th e .fo un1al 11.::is �~'in 1;1 a ny \•Jays Lorn or So ulboo k ·anJ Di .::i lo r uc " (f:o ncalv e s, e ditor) . bo.ne , Journal nO\·J l1i1 The magazin e c o ntinues t o print the :n e \.;est poetry, z •niin:i in on other areas like the He s t Indies (Su111r.1er, 19 7 j ), print in t; ] i vc:l y ne\vS and announcements , as we ll as reviews and criticism . Its Spring , J9Gn , issue , for exampl e , _v1as Jedi ca t~ d· to Joseph T . Jol1nson, Los Ant;el~s po e t \•1ho had -· recently been k ill 0d . /1..lidul - Karim eJiteJ Ula c l: Dialo i•ue \vitli Sprlgr,s , Tour~, and Go ncalves servin g ;_is associ a t<~ editors . r,clocntin;,:, .i.n New York in the late sixt .i. es , Ululocu e ' s new editorial board was repr~senteJ by S11riggs, Nikki C:iovanni, Jaci Ear ] y , Elaine Jones, S . E . Anderson and Jam e s llinton . Alhamisi and Carolyn Rod g ers becnme Midwest editors; Spellman, Julia Fi e lds ~nJ ' ' ' Akinshiju became eJitors for the South; anJ Joans <1nd Ki..;ositsil e toot over ·as Africa and at-large editors . Soul1>ool: ' s editorial boa·c~l now incfwjc s : Hamilton , Alh.:un isi, Carol Homes , Baba Lamumua, Zoli li, Ng qondi Hasimini and Shango Umoja. AmonG th e administrative staff is Donuld Stone · (.Rahman ) whose . . work appears in Black Fire and all the _journals. . I . Alon e with Spri ~j s, Toure, and Larry Hiller (Katibu), Ralman aiJeJ Baraka at Spirit !louse. llis " Transcendal Blues ," full of chan t/so ng and line-experimentation, fuses th e world of Black music ( a nd mu sic i ans) wi th the " strife riddled concrete botto1,1~ of i,kyscrpper seas ." that ·. a Rahman ' s influences, obvi o us in his name, are seen in his statemen t 11 riff 11 so hi gh and grand "Coul<l be Alla h." Final l y windinr, the poems into a tribut e to th e Bl ack woman ("Hitter bit her bitterness humming "), h e rejects Christians a nJ whites and ~ a rns that My spears sha ! l rain .... The Islam influ e nce is a l so seen in other poets of the pe ri od : . Spriggs , I Toure, naraka , Iman, Ne<1l , Alhamisi , Dumas , Harvin :: , Sonia Sanchez, who along with Hikki Giovanni eme r ged as one of t he: most v1ell -knmm poets of th e �ern. Th(, se 1101.ien poets an<l others--.'\uJre Lorde, June Jordan, H.J.c Jackson, Kattie M. Cumbo, Jayne Cortez, Alexls Deveaux, Eolise Loftin, Odaro llarbara Jones in the general area of new York--lrnve crca tecl a ne1, 11ave of excitement about the possibilities and potentials of Black uornan poetry. A.Jdin r, to this flurry of active and interest are the new Black women ' s m;i r, azines like [ncore and Essence . The mo s t [.J.mOus of these poets is Nikki Giovanni, who is a profounJ thinker and provocative speaker, but tl1ese skills and insi g hts do not come throu g h to her poetry . Her route to New York was by w.:iy of Tennessee and Fis!: University where s h e was a member of Killens 1 \-lriters 1.Jorkshop. Fame came in the lute sixties after she penned n ser_i _es of .vol.1tilo pros~-l il;e statements which 1-1ere startlinr, : nnd even more so, co111in r>, ·from a wo;nan . In · the sixties she privately published her poetry and ,~as LJter broui~ h·t: -oi.1t liy _ Broadside Press and Li.ri~er publishers . lier volumes include Black Feelin,~, . . . Blacl~ Tnlk, Blacl: Jud~ement ( 1 9 70), He-Creation appeared ( 1970 ) ., 11y Bo u se (1972 and a book of poems for children, Spin a Soft IHncl ~ Son,' (1 9 7L) ·. Her antlioloiy of !Hack 1,ome n poets, Ni nht Co111es Softly , was publisli.eJ in 1970 and she has recorded nlbums, written an autobro g rnphy, and puliLished a series of "conversations" with Har3aret lfalker . . llighly contr_o vers.L.11 ai:1ong the new poets , she hns been accordeJ accolades: recip icnt of \Joi:wn of the Year 'Award; featured in mai3azines ll h ~ I'. hri11y, an<l Essence; appearcJ on the · Johnny Carson Sltow; constantly sou g ht -~1 fter as a speaker on the colle g e circuit; awarded an honorary' doctor Hte cl ~ree by Wilberforce University and labeleJ the "Princess of IHnck Poetry" by the I<la Le1-1 is, Encore editor. Denounced as an "individunlist " by 1-laJhuhuti (Lee) R.nd prn ised . by fbr g nret Halker aml Addison Gayle , , 1 ik.ki Giovanni dL:nied (Carson show hosted by Flip Wilson) Lein g n "n.evolutionary . 11 lier sin l3 in ~ of "CoJ [;less America" on �nutlona1 television , .:::ifter receivin g the 11 \/01,1.:::in o[ the Year J\\varJ, 11 prompte<l letters t o nlack publications questlonin~ her ~incerity. Durin~ th2 slxtles s ite wro t e " Of I.ihera t ion" : Dykes of the uorld arc united Faggots r,ot their thinr, tor,cther (Everyone is organized) Black people these arc f.:icts lfucre ' s your power .... Honkies r u le the world .. . The most vito.l commodity in America Is 131.::ick people' Ask any clrcumcized honkil~ . .. The final sta n za of this poern Ha r ns : Our choice now i s Har or death Our option is surviv al Listen to your own l3lack hearts 11 Concernin13 one Responsib] e Negro with too much Power" echoes other· t h emes in th e New ~lack Poetry . The " responsible ncgros " are " scarcJ" and on -the run . Sh e tells t hem that your tonr,ue mus t be rei.h)Vl.!d since yo u hnve no brain to keep it in check I n " Reflections on April 4 , 1 968 ," she calls Dr . J:ine, ' s assassinntion "an ac L o f war ." In " The Great Pax Whi t e " she pnr..1phrases a section fcorn Genesis in t he Bible , noting that the word was " Death" ; " deatli to all niggers ." Occusionally a l ine of inte,: est jutteJ Ldrou3h the otherwise pole1~1ical concerns . The pnnts I L.( \0 �oi . "lh:!autiful Ulack Men" "hur,h 1~hat i like to hug." There is the characteristic repetition anJ emotion-freighted lang11::ige as ii1 "The True Import of the Present Dialogue , elack vs Neiiro" · Nigger C.111 you kill Can you l: iJ 1 Can a ni[:l;er Lill Can a nig;~er kill a honkic Can i1 nl13ger kill the llan . . . Can you stah-a-jew ... Can you run a protestant clown with your ' 68 Eldorado .. . Can you piss on a blond head .. .. The poem continues , reciting names of the " enemy " and catalo~ing crimes and ·. wrong-doini3s visited on Blacks, fina]ly asl:in~: Learn to kill ni~gers Learn to be Black r.1en Mu ch of what Nikki Giovanni was saying in the sixties moved Black yciuth--it was not always safe or chi ' was a<l1nirablc . " l1y Poe111 11 ..."nd t_o disa ,~rce even if you w.1nted to--ai1d some or it · But these things do ·not in ci ke her work dcfensil,lc a:, poetry; 11 J)oe111 for· "'retl1"" ar•'~ cc rt.nin · 1 y wor tl1y, even no bl e, su b Jee · t·s b u t u t h ey fall leisurely down the' page, anelinG here ilnd there but revealin~ nothing of the insight into human beincs or poetic power tl1at one finds in a poem by llelene Johnso n , Margaret lfalker , Gwendolyn Brooks, or J.1yne Cortez. "Nikki-Ros·a," J1er most often quoted poem from the early period, is a hi c h point in her work. It hns .:i believable flow in the conversation-lil~e lan ~u.:i ~c (ch.1racteristic of �hc' r ro c• try ) :i n d the detnils pull on the. inner re.ac h es of the. collective Blac k exreric.nce a s she. un fo l ds the story of rantily Fun :i ncl misfo rtun e : your bio;;raphers n ever und erstnnd your fothcr ' s pain c1s h e sells his st ock ·anJ anoth c• r drear.1 g oC!s And tltou ;: h you ' r e poor it isn ' t poverty that conc e rns you My House is a n e wer Ni~ki Giovanni . The v e nom h as l csseneJ , thou~h s ome of the ramra~e is e vid ent in n poe111 like "On Seein µ; BJack Journ a l a nd Hatching Nine Negro Leaders f:iv e Aid and Comfo rt to the Enen\yt~ r)u ~ t c Ric.h,ud Ni xon ." Ag ain tl1ere appears to be no vi 3o r ous inter es t in stylis ti c o r lin~uistic development. The poems d a l with love, the city , childhood (.::ilH.:tys her rites of \,oman-possar,e), Africa .:incl Afro-Ar,erican culture . Iler pro mi SLt anJ poten tial can be glimpsed in " A(rica I": on th e bite of a kola nut i was so high th e clouds bLmketin:.:; africa in the 111id r,1orni11g f J j :)1 l \ Jere pu slt c J away i n nn an:~ry fllcLC'r of tl1e sun ' s ton~;uc .... Ni kki G iuvannl I s i111portancc lies 1.10J"c• :L,1 her pc rson.:il ln[lu12nce (e s pecially her 3re<.1 t drama on albu1 ,1s anJ in p1i l> li c ) which !tns inspired many young I.Hack . women t o ,,ri t e al.io ut th emst= lv es and their world . Jac kson who 1-1011 Hut so111c of tl 1em, like Hae l\L.1ck \lorld ' s Co n rnd Kent Riven; Av.rard , have yet t o s how th e "stu ff " of poetry in their writ·in ~s . 19G9 hy BL.lck Dlalo i3 ue Publishers . Ca n T po e t \Jitli You \.le s published .in !!il·_ki Giovanni lffOte the Introduction and I • �Ila~ .bcL::un, in turn, Je,licated the Looi- to h'-:r. Po~t is full of the "complaints" that riuickly becane mono tonou s in; th e poetry of tli e s i x ties . In themes ancJ usa ;-;es , the poems resc1,1l.Jle tllkl:i Ciov.11111.i. ' s \:orl:. Reactiona ry ," " To the ile~ ro Intelle c tual," i1nd 11 " To a :':o t e frou ,\ f L,/\.d :l .i.1;:e r , 11 are fa m.i.li.ar .to the confused crnJ di.sturlied ann::ils of the ne\J poetry . Sonia S.:mchez, clo~,t.: l'y· .i.denLif .i. c J 11ith the rtC\J poetry and tltc ne11 conscio usness , alternatL!S betueen terse, explicit ver se , :rnd the spr,n1lin3, prosaic m~a1 Ller.i.ngs tk1t often s,,rves the auJitory Je1:1;:rnds of the ne\v aucJ.i.ences . formerly marr .i.cd to the poet Etheri,l~c 1.:.n.i.ght, she has nc tiv e ly 1,orkeJ as a play1vr.i.ght , po2t ancl teacl1er . Iler books .:1re llomccomi.n'.' _(TCJ69), \·l e . People (19 70) , It ' s a Hc\1 Day : . . . . . :1 l~:1c!JJJd. . Poems for Youn:; Drotltas an-,l SH;tus (1971.) ,· Love Poems ( 19 73) antl an antholo~y from her younG 1/r.i.ter s \/orkshop · .:it th e · Co untee Culle n Library in New Yori: , Three Ilundred nnrl S.i.xty Dc r~ rCL!S of Blackness Cominp; at You (1 9 72 ). " Halcolm " is a l ament arnl a ni :jht-f.i.ll'c!c_l memo ry (or h er : Ye t this m:m this drc m1c r, thick-] ip[)etl with words will never speak agajn anJ in each wi11ter wh e n tlte cold air cri..lcks · \·11 th frost, I ' ll brca ~he h is breath and mo u rn I my eun - fi ll ed nigh ts . lier " for unl>0r n 111alcol111s ," however l s :motlier appro;:ich . str u cture, .:111J Constri.ctine words , stt e mptin ;:; to achieve a nJaclc strC!ct speech , she tells Bl ack!:> • �to 11 ['. i t th e \</Ork out" t o the "1nn n/ boy " murder e r wh o is tnLin r; il "holiday. 11 !Hucks a re "hip to hi s s hit" and \/h e n "blk/prin c e s ' di e .ip,a in whit.:: ''fa gg ots" "will die too." An exp e rimcntnlis t, Sonia Sa n ch e z a clcled h ~n:- v o ic e to the flood o( an ~;ry, cynicnl a n d dcr isi.ve lnn g ua ~e in the n e w verst ("c! Gnition for blk/chilJr e n"): n poli c . :!l!ln n is n pi g nnd shd be in a zoo with the oth e r pi i~~W ,:mi nw l s . nn:I until he s tops killin g ~ lk/people crackin i: o p e n their h e ads rememb e r . th e policeman is a pig . (oink/ oink .) She · lso .i olned th e poetry of Til ac l~ .l uv~ -:mcl mn11-wom~1n unity, Sl' L!kln[\ throu gh her particular style and voic e to !1 0a l wounJ s of Jouht, mistrust nn<l loneline s s. In "to all sisters" s he s a y t "hurt" · i s not th e "bag " women "sh<l b e in." Th e y ; ', are advised to love the Black man \vho make s th e rn "turn in/side out." Hc::r journ ey has cnrrie cl h e r from lhe fire of the hlntnnt r e volutionary to the quiet e n e d turbulenc e of Lov e Poems--l.ieing , ma ybe, a mo n :; th e fir s t of th e n e w poet s Lo fullfill l{andnll .' s pr e d'ict ·ion tha t DL1cl : po e tr y would "mov e from til e �declamatory to the subj e ctive mode." Jun e Jordan published \Tho J,ook at tic. (19 69), Some Chnn:.~es (1971), nn antholo EY , Soulscri p t (1970), and a vol11me of poet r y by s tu dents in her Brooklyn creative writin n work s hop, The Voic es of th e Children (1 970) . lier la st vol111w o·f poPt x- y is This is a tleH Day (1974). Concis e , analy tic c1l. and b ool:-fo lk bas ed , h e r poe try is a l so a fre e verse style characteristic of prnc ticnlly all t he recent IHack peocry . " Unclc; Bu ll-b oy " relates the cle.:itlt of a rnnn whose eye!:i " were pink \Jith alcohol ." Tl1c lirother (uncle) reminisces, in th e 1ni1nncr of n l ack men , about tht2lr si 1ar i11 g of s l n.!et-t:1lk , expens iv e shoes , anJ a lcohol. And finaJly : llis brother dead [ rum d rinl: ln:;. l'>ulluoy clrank to clear l ls Lhinl:lng saw the roach i ns id e the ri.dclle. Soon the bubbles from hi~, g lass ,1cre th e only bits of charm wh ich overcnme his fold eel an1s . Audre Lor<.l e ' s " Rites of Passage " ([or l!U( Jr) eulogizes Dr. King: Now r ock th e boat to fare -the -w e ll. and r emembers hirn thi s \Jay Quick children kiss us we arc grow in g t hr-ou2,li Jrvan . lluch· of ,\udre Lorde' s r ecen t work conc erns yo u ng peorle; even th e title of " her late s t Lool: , From a L AI \!here other People Liv e (1973), carries the m1c a ncl dre am of th e child ' s world . She writes nm1 a Lout teach(!rs , men-women re l a ti on~, , sea~.ons , drew,1s , "As I Gro\l ui) Ar~ain ," and "Elc1ck tio th c r \!o.1c1n" �v7!to ll1"i.11l, s of her O\m 1,10ther 1 s stren~th when "stran i_::e rs co1;1e to coupliml!nt" her: I learneJ frow you to Jeny c1yself throu g h yo ur Jeni.:.ils. Among the younger t:c,; Yorl<,· i10r.1cn poets, Judy Simmons , Alexis Deveaux nml Elouis , LofUn sing out . .JuJith' s Blues (~rondside) ,.ns puLlishcd in 197J. Tl1e poems submert~c themselves in the troubled human psyche. ("Schizoplircnia), :.ind explore the "Youth Cult," " Homen ," and "Daffoclils"--althou;~ h th e titles do not reve.:il the poet ' s pithy se.:irchint;s. l{cflecting Judy Simmons I s ~1st,1inccl study of psycholoi;y, Llie poc'try yields its me.::min~ as tlte 1i1ul L.i:pl e laye rs tensions :inJ insights are uncovered. In 11 of Schizophrc.:nL1 " the "ani m.il. ~.;c1u~1.t s 11 next to th e " piano" in a ,. (:Or ner" with nn abnormal nu mber of legs , anns , and a mouth th.Jt stretches from "for ehead to nbdomcn ." Bu t the poe,t' c1ssures herself that if she Joes not lose control it \JOU 1 t come bacl~ inside of me Elouise Loftin ' s poetry (JU111bish, 1972 , Emerson llall) hns youtl\ful, ·. zesty in1.:i~ery, inJic.itlve pcrb.1ps of these ne\v teclmiclans' e.:isc . "l:_a :ln Spreadr, informs tlwt Last nii3!1t threw her le g s open to me .... ' She has the new woman sc:nsibility, a 13 00d knm, ledgc of social lamlst::.ipe, and the cynicism often foun<l among toJay's young , sifted and !Hack. cau:;ht " Jispl:.iys h~r humor anJ wit: if they cntch yo u ~-. ··• " ,., .,e ttin • �1-1 ith your p.:rnts do1-i n Offin~ your ~uarJ or peein B for free if tlicy catch you <lo_in g s01o1ct!ii1Lr, cra2y vtith qu otes a round it anJ try to ma t e you feel lil~e you bec~n catche<l you must be doing sonc thing ol~ Spirits in the Streets (1973) is Alexis Dcvl!aux ' s st r an;:c but fascinacinc prose-poetry ac count of ~ rowing up in Harlem . A Hest Indian nio_thl!r , <lispail'.'s over a husband ' s misuse of his wife a nd chi] drcn, co111plains: lord why he beat that 1rnm.:.m so? and them children god only kn0\1 wlrn t ' s bo nna happen to them . e:i tin poison. jesus have mercy . children. has lyc. cat you up inside you can ' ~ be too careful with y ou got to watc h them every scconJ . The 1-,orld is s o evil h onl!y : yo11 knov, what i iuc,.111? merciful' jesus :;h,1 mc th em \vi.th th e la st word . Tliese examp les represent only a f i: act ion of the n w poetry U(linr, 11ritten by youn [; er (and older) New York ar.:.~n poe ts. Sorn:! o th e r s arc Cath erine Cuestas, .· Phillip Solor.iun, Gayle Jon es , Stephen KH,Htlcr, Vanessa llowanl, Rhond::i lli.11s, �nnJ (:len Thor'.lpson, to nm1e just a hnnJful . the earlier perioJ also publisheJ new it cr'.ls . Forest (1967) bears no <.bte . H.lS introJucec.1 by Jones . Poets who ::,o t their sturts in l!enJerson 1 s Fel i.x of the Silent T!1e 111e;1eor;raph,~J Th't • Po-2try of Sou] ll e nlso pu.ilishec.1 De Hetyo r of 1-brlcm in 1970, tll r- sar.1c year h e re- located . to nerk elcy . · f'.ssenti,::i 1 l y a llarlcm poet, lf c n,lcrson surveys_ e v ery thin~, from the "Harl 011 RPbel] ion, Summer 1964 " to "Harlem Anthropology . " The transitions and ou trcac~ lngs of these poets are also evident in et poet 1 like To u re wh o in 1968 wen t to teach Black. Studies at S,'.ln Francisco State Collei_;e . liis \vorks nre J~(l970, ThirJ \forlJ Press) and Son 0 l1td the lat tcr puLlisheJ by Songh,'.li P rcss unJ intro,luc..::d by Ki 11 ens ; ! (1972) , ',.lourc'1 ;,·. " Soul-gif_ts" ,::ire amply s 11ice~l 111th philosophy , ClacL his to~y, . !)lack. music, IsL:11.iic influ e nces , and " Juju " 1-Jhicll snys Coltrane ' s llllrn ls " cas<i<lin:_, · fountains of ulooJ .:incl bones. 11 Son:.,hai ran~es frur.i satire~, of Diana l~oss anJ Dionne \l.::irwick to insincere act iv ls t s ; the 111a~ical power o[_. 1,onls to . the structure ideal nlack society. Tour~ ' s list of influence s (se~-Fot~1var<l) expl.:iins much about sOiae of th~ P.L ck poetry emanating from the tleH York area i tle.::il, Durn.:is , Dar.:1ka , Goncalves, Coltrane , Pharoc1h Sanders, Cec il HcBee--all called " Poets of a Hation-in-Formatiun." Related developni;nts of the: new York movement can h · seen f°n such proj eels as the Ghetto 1 GC (Sol Bottle) n,11 tholo1.:,y of the l!orkshop for Youn~ Hriters in llarlem; \/akra, a neu Bost.011-l>nscd journal dcvoteJ to the examina t ion " of events , the arts,' iJeas".; Retch Ain ' t (1974), Ccles Tisd~1le 1 s antholo:_;y (nro a JsiJe) of "Poems from At tic a " ; a new antholOL\Y of youn:; poets, \,Jc Be Poetin ' (19 74) , Tise.Lile; and \Jritcrs \:orksliup .\ntho l o,•y . . 1-~o unifying threaJ runs through th e work of Nc:11 Yoi:k area poets, c:,ccp t that of a relentless acceptance anJ pursuit of their nJ :1cJ.:: ness. . _ _ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - ---'---- - -- -- One notes, ho1vever; �-that 1;1y,-;t icism, e:~a1nin.1.tion of t·he occult, cosnic-music1l f orias anJ subjects, u11J the influence of IsL.1u are 1,1ore evident th l.!re than in the poetry of other regions . But these urc , of course, r,eneraliti 121; wbicl1 mwit 1:1ore hindsir,ht and resl.!ar ch before they can r,.e fi11alized and presented as signjficant phenoraena in the _l.'.ir ~er t npcs try of the poetry . finally, for th e IleH York area, the fire of the oral Lru Jition was i ~ nited by the drama tic incantory (Jrumaccomp.1.n ieJ) declamation s of " the Last Poets" nn<l "the Ori'•innl T.nst Pocls." /I.long Hith Gil Scott-lleron , theLr impact on the Black masses hnvc been obvio u s , if tcmpoi· ..11:y . Th e re 1-JL! re boo;:1c ran g i_n:..; L!Ve u t :.l ,,•hie h p r,)V id eJ . :1..::1.,' ·YO r l:·_ . \i . i Lli . . .1 . C\111 ti nu. 11 . flO\.J of l _ife Llood v1hill~ it repaid other arens throu ~h t.:xch:mi;e progr0ms among puets and teachers . Neal, for example , is a PhiL:1Jelphian 1~ho ·attc1i.J2J· Lincoln, but has ended up in Harlem , with occasional short su1ys nt - Yale, llm-1::ird , Southern University, anJ l~ent State University. Simi L:it patterns can be seen in dozens of other poets who criss-cross th e country·. a1iJ· the uorl<l, sometimes yearly, teaching and writin g . During the New York. rcsuq:~e nce a number of things were going well for Black Poetry in Pcnnsylvsnia; Lincoln llniversity--Hhich proJuced Tolson, llu ~hes, et al--delivered another diverse of poets durin2 this period : Carl C:rc ent! , M.'.lry-Louise Horton, Ev.irett lloa 1;_lanJ, S. E . Anderson, Kelly Benjamin, C:il Scot-Heron, Bernadine Tinner, lUta Hhi tl.!h12ad, and othe rs. lloaf;land is a Broadside po.et (BL1cL Velvet, 1970) anJ Scott-Heron_. (Free Will, Pieces o[ .'.l l!an,· etc . ) i s a r aco rJin g poet-singer . Conver i in g at · po intG lil ~e the Muntu Black artist r,roup--founclcJ by Noal, C . H . Fuller, tl1eoreti.cL111 Jimmy Ste\lart, and !larybell e tloore--Phil.::idclpllia poets found various kinds of assistance. Otlter Phi],ad e lphin poets are Greene (1945- Smith from Lhc older school, I,' .J . Br ya nt. (19/i3- ), Lucy ) , Clarence Malone y (1940- ) , �·Pat Ford, Joseph Bevans Bush, .T.:met M. Brool:s, -Dour,h try Long (1942Caro] Jenifer, Don Mizzell . Bl ack Poets Brite On : \fo r ks by some of these youthful poets are i n An Antholo ~v of Black Philadclnhia Poets (1970), publ ished by the Black History du ction stntes: ), !useum Conunittee . llarold Fran}: li .r1 ' s Intro - " A f;L,\Cl ( POET IS A KIND OF HJ\RIOR" --thus linkin ;,, Philadelphia s e n t i ments to those in n ew York nnd Boston . The Hlacl: Butterfly , Inc ., was one of t h e severa l c ro ss -road s f or v a riou s cu ltural / political activities in Ph iladelphia . Its founder was lialoney (no\1 Chal,a Tn) Hh0s,! Dl1,1c1t:;io11s of Morning 1,ms puLlislicd in 1964 i11 Puplona, Sp:1in . celeLrutL:S a " sultry brown iirl ' \·.'ho " sepln sircn " also holds II Sl.!llle!J 11 ,;ecms a supcrlor . ,1n i1_1al. 11 2 i~. ! l. 11 "C:o,lll Frl.,Lly: • p aS S l<)ll. poets explore city 11.fe , ,\ft·ica , and exalt BL1ckncss . 11 · 'l'lrts· II l. lierc ls, · ttio, the . rnge and vehemen ce of t en found in Ne1-1 York anJ Chl.ca:;o poetry . A sense of 1vhat k1ppens on "Cool lllnck Ni;;hts " (Traylor) also captures dri_.ving s t reet rhythrns anJ thymes: them hard-loving hnr<l-t.:ilklng ha rJ-lov in:; Cool blact Judes and ' them fine-lo,)ldn::; f ine-1-1a lkint; fjne-tall:ing fine-loving the111 fine soul sisters .. . . In P .it t:,buq~h there born tlie short-1 i.vcJ J;!acl: LLncs: StuJiet, (l<J70) . /\ Journ::il uf i3Lick lt published P.ittsbuq;li :.irea poets l.ike EJ l~uberson , August ·,: �_\Jilso, ·, .foann e :B ra x ton, i.1S well as poe ts from th ~ ;•lid\vcs t like Al Crover Arrnstrong and Hc<lntond. The univ ersi ty of Pitt:sl>ur~h Press opened up to Black poets tltat sa1.1e year , pul>lishin~ Michael Harper ( Dear Jolin , Oear Coltro.n e: , 1970; Song: Can I r;et a 1·/i t n ess , 1973) , Roberson (111 wn is a Eoy , 1 97.0) , o.nd Cc,pLI Ba rra x (Ano ther kind of !~ain , 1970). Thy l~ing ltuber so n ' s poetry runs the gan1 ut of Lhemes .:ind styles--from ne:.1t Llram;:i t o slan ted spacini~s and 8lc1shes. In " :nayday " there is a n " und e r s ide of heuve11" ~rnd the warnin~ from one misunderstood that he is " armed" to fingt the fin.:11 kinJling of your <lrew,1ing . " Othello Jones Dresses for Dinner " is c1 so.tirici.11 lo9k. :it t}i~ _" Cuess _\!h0 1·s . coming to Dinner" Lh c m2 . . . . After J a tin ;_; a white wom;:in, the narr.itor as:;ures her parents that he is '\,e ll munnereJ ." Roberson a<lds ·]tis voice · ·t o g r o up of Pittsburg poets whi ch includes Kirk Ho.11 (19 L,!f- Ll · !_\r-O\dng ). Poetic talent wo.s being sired soutlt1mrd in \Jashington, n·. C . 11here Sterling Brown continued to teach into the lat e sixties . llOIJ .:i r J , -1,y nb 1v. leaJing all Black universities in tl1e new consciousness , was the s~ene of a n u.mber of significan t disturbances . t oward the new trends. The Jis turbances nud ge d the·. school While Hownrd ' s poetic history can be tr ace J _throaul1 the early days of Sterling 13r01vn ( ,.tnd into the How..:ird Po e ts) , th e school has pro<luccJ a number of youn ge r writers -: Clay Coss, !Uc hard \!ehley , ~- Et helbert Mi l ler (Andromeda, 1974), . ;:ii1d Paulo. Giddin g s . The school ' s new imc1ge atmosphere was deepene<l anJ broaJenecl b y th e appointments of the Cuianese poet Damo.s and Stephen ll end erson ( Cn i3 lish Ch.:iirman at Mo rehouse) who heo.ds the Institute for the Arts anJ llu1:ianities . wo.s playeLl out ae nins t ..1 However , Ho\lnrd Llro.m.:1 series of J e velop1~1enu; in the surrounding communities _:· Federal City College (Scott-lleron) , Center for Black ~ducation (Garrett ), - - - - - - -- - - - - - - �Uew Th.i.ng in Art and Architec tu re (Topp h~r Care\·/ , Gaston Neal) , The ~Jev1 Sch ool of Afro-American Thought (Gaston 11eal ) 1 anJ Drum & Spear Booksr.ore (and Pr ess) , the D.C. Black Repertory (H ooks); In addition t o D,.J?nas ;inJ llen<lerson, the Instit u t e h.:.1s aJJcd ~bclh ubuti (L ee), Killens, Goss, l:rown , ,\rtl1ur P . D.:ivis and J\hmos 7.ul\o l ton . the pro:;r;11a ' s service tn 1-iocts hns h een inv:1111;:ible. Alre"1_Jy · Se l ec: t cd [or honoring so far, have been nar;:i] ~a , C\.rendolyn nrool:s , Joans, ;incl Dodso n. poets ucre a l so fe a tur ed in th e First Annu.11 Sy11posiur:1 : /\ nu mber of Lucllle Clifton, Cos s , Sc ott-lleron, Ad"sJnya AL:il:oye , l!iller, and tl<1ri Eva n s . ' Toure, Johnston and Kgo sitsile were g u es ts for a pror,ram exil!:Jin in:: · tl, e Af r:f c.:i n · Cultur nl Presence in th e Americas. Several poets h .:ive been in\/i te<l t o· r ead and be recorded for tl1e perman e nt Ruclio / vi<le6 liGr.1ry: Ja yric Coit ei , Crouch, Dnvis, S.1rah Webster Fabio, Ha rper, Jeffers, Joans, Redmo n_d , Sonia · Sanchez, Scott-lleron, Bruce St. Jolm, Margaret \·l..'.l lke r, and J,iy_. \Jr .i.ght. I n 196 8 Gaston Heal said his " philosophy " was "to purge 111yi,clf. of t;.he whit eness within ne aw.l link cm,1 p] c tely \Jith rny Blac:.:k brothers iu th2 s-Lrug~le to tfestroy t:1e enemy anJ rcbuilc.l ;:i I'i l:1ck ::.:.1t ion." Ue appe ared tlJ ·be work lni; at that task for a 11hile before the Af r o-J\meric,rn school closed. In " Tuday " he said the tone of h js llfe rcsl!1:llJled a " g rm1leJ li1ini:l 'cl 11 th e groan of the µ..is t .. ·, . anJ h e la mented th e j un;;les v1!1ich h:1d hL!cn Jeflouered by 'nap:11111 . .:. L1rl Car t er , another ll . C. poet, ~1p1;e,irs in ll1hl 'rsLrnd in: , the New 1nack PL)etry. lie evokes t11e spirits uf the " llerocs " of Oran~~cbur;_; , .L1ckson , . lfouph is, ;1ew York, anJ Jbsh ville, recallin G th:.1t durin~ llidlnt:, some11 h ere in !,1y ,1 riot i n ::.1shvi ]l12 h<.: 1r s uind with Ll J r ld;_,,e CleJ vcr ... �" noot s " i.s u n un s uccessful l a n::;u a~c \-titli .J u tt e1;1pt to f11sc:: th1.: .Jr:11 ,1n o[ co ll oq ui. --11 J;l.:1ck f onaal i:11:-:lis h n:.irrn tive a Lout: h i s gr-.:1 n<l1:1o th e r. poets livin g or- publishin;_: ir th e !J . C. c1rca d u i·ing th e s i :,cics i.lnLl sev e nties ) , llcn l-211 Qui f_\ less (19 !+5- were Berna<lette Colden (1949Nurphy (1 908- Other ) ,. irnJ 0eatrice ) , \,il10 ·uver the years has contributed grea tl y to th e ;_:,ro1-.1tlt of Black poetry . ~;hi:: cditcJ tl1r ee i1,1port;:int un th l1 l ogics : Ebony 1";l1ythm (191.i 7) n nJ To day ' s Ncrro Voices (1970). tlePro Voices (l 9JJ), · lier O\m volull\es of poetry are Love iG a Tcrr- ihl e Thinf' (1 9L1S) a nd, \lith l~a ncc Arnez, The Rocks C.rv Out (19 69 , llrnadside). li er- U\m poe tr-y ha s 111oveJ [roll! meter t u a tr:.iditional free ver-s e dealin~, in Ll k caused hy overemphnsizing Jirec t or o[ 11 \;hite " .::ind 11 .'.l traditLon.::il n _\v p!i;:isl',- 1-1 it h tl1nslons . BL.1ck , 11 nnJ 1-,.:ir . Sh·e i:.:l . cu rr- ent l y the Negro Bibliographic nn <l nesenrch Cent c·r _- and serves editor of its publication Bibliographic Survey : ;_i:,:; The l{e11ro in Print . ·munng Lr_1L~ Poetry by other D.C. area poets can be found in Transition , a journal _.of l!m,nrJ_ ' s Afro-Ame r-icc1n Studie s Department. Editors are Miller , Tris llolid a .y., '[lla llarJin r.; and Veronica I.owe . . Adjncent to D . C., in Baltimore mo r e strength i s atldeJ to the totem . Lucille Clif ton (1936- ) , Sa1.1 Corn i s h and Yvette John son (194 3- produce<l poetry tltat holds them ln ;•,ood s t ca <l . ) have Good Tim es (19 69 ), Good llews About th e Earth (197 2 ) a nd An Ord Ln ar v lhi111::in (197L1) c1re volumes produced hy Lucill e Clifton who a]s o writes man y clri l<lr e n ' s books. She currently teaches at Coppin State College in . lLll timore where she liv es witlt her husband . and six children . tempcrnment. Even her titl es suggest somethini; ahout li e r spirit a nd In the swamp of depression n ntl bleakness , it is. ind~e<l \•/armin g to see someo n e procla i m Good News ! which will not "ru st or br eak ." . . _ _ - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - -- ~- - - " Eldri<lp,e " i s compared t o a mc.:i t "cl ei.lver " And th e re is hu1;1o r, lrony anJ truth in - �11 L1 t l l'y' ': uh e r e th e " nlw;iys dru nk " ct eliver y ma n s:iys: and n ll th e white h oys .a_re yo ung£'r than me . But whiJ e some sin 0 goo d times in the kitchen, there nre also other a cknowlcd ge1:1cn ts: "Malco]m, " " Eldridge," " Bobby Sen l e ," nnd th e s tutl c n t-participants n t Jacl:so n and J(cnt S tat cs . Go od lle1vs About the [arth ~ives a temporary settinr, to Rihlical stories. D] ack or con- Most arc uniciue, like " Mary ": this ki.s s soft as cotton over my br e asts al1 shiny bri r,ht somcthin ~ is in thi s ni ~ht oh Lore! have mercy on me i feel a r,,1 rden in my mouth b etween my l egs i see a tree An On.linar y \.loman is conscio u~ly ,.,Onan and th e poems, like those in other volumes , d ea l with everyday thin r: s-- " ordinary" thing s. However, she has become more of th e mystic, usin i; surreal and n]lusory imn °,e ry . as in " Ka li," "Th e Coming of Kali, " "Ile r Love Poem, " and " Snlt ." "Co d's Mood" is: �lie i s tir e,! o[ Lone, it breaks. Ile is tired of eve ' s fancy and adurn ' s \/hinj 1g ways . Cornish . i::; a poel , LL!acher and editor . ll i s l>oob; incluJe An!:lc.:s (19G7), \lint er:, (1 9CS) , Your lLinJ · i n ~!ind (1 970 ), r.encrations ( 1971 ), and People lle11<.::tlh tlie \✓ ind01-1 (n. d . ) . Hitlt \·/ . LucL:rn, h e edited Chicory: Yuuni• Voices from th e B]ack Ghetto (19f, 9) \,hi ch d,~velope<l iul o a series stil l b2ini_; publish e d by th e Enucl1 Pratt Free Library (Comrnunity Act.Lon Prur, r;..un). editor of Chicory is He lvin Eu\.J<H<l Brown . Current Corn i s h _Jp:; 1:1uch · :. tyli!:,"tic a1:im u- . · . nition and is a precise nav.i r.;a t or of lan~uuge. lle tells " IHUDLE CLMl:. (;JRLS 1-JITII CRIPPLED fHICEnS Wi\.ITINr: FOl~ HI: TO LIGHT TJICIR CICARETTS" : yo u r fingers folded in y our lap control the se rpent in your eyes your foc c nev er s t u rin ". with a sm :i l e in your ruffled color your eyes popuL.1 te th e L rick . �Tlt~se B:iltirnore poets, and others, contlnuc the vast Jine of poetry outp ut that e1:1braces the South 1-1here many poets -now live: Spell1a:1n, Jeffers, ) , PinkJ c Lnnc, tl1e l~ lXAP,TSOUTll poets (New Orleans) , the Ex-U111ura poets (north Caro1i.n,1 Cent ml Univcn;JLy), Uetty Cates (Mlle:.; Colle~e, AL(Lar.ia ), Cer,1ld ll,nrn:{ (19JJPowel]), Leo J. l!i.1~;011 (.\tla11t.:1), Lor enzo Thomas . ) , L,dcl c X (Lesli e· The South hns received and giv en 11e1-1 blood to poetc/ t\1rou ~:h exch.1n~e pro2,r:1mG 11hi.ch, since tlte ]ate fifties, hi.1vc allowed for n flow of poets and te,1chcr,; to and f'rom th~ South . Some wel] known older n.:1mes nn! Johnson (James), Br:1ithwc1i.t - , Tolson, l!:iyd en, Jeffers antl Vesey. Some ynun~eL· poets South arc i\udr~ Lord~ (Too;.>aloo), Redmond (Sout h ern ),. Wri r,ht (Toognloo and Tallnder,a) , Spcllnwn (!Jo rehouse), and Kgositsilc (North C,1ro) 1.na A & T) . The South, too,· hns c.xperii,11c.o,l · tr emendous a nd dramntic clrnnges as a result of the Black Consciousness Move-' men t. Some symbols are everywhere : The Free Sout h ern and the ·n;,ish iki theaters in New Orleans, SUDAN Soutn/Hest poetry-music theater p,roup in llouston·, . the Th ea t er of /\fro-AL·ts in Miami , anJ ,\tlnnt:i ' s B]at:I: 1111:11.~e . ln /\tL.1nLe , S1wllman or~.::in.i.zcd the Center for lilack Art \·1 hich pul;llsher, 1~11vth111 (1970). editor , l:bon (Sl~cmonde l:J1;1rlo:, \·Jimher] i) poetry of essays anJ features . Jircctor o( 0 .• S.Lone bec:111112 llLur ;,ind SpL'll11wn· cdi.to:r The su1111:1l!r (1971°) lss11, of lU1vthm \las ,il!;o the \Jrltcrs \.Jorb,hop at 1.'1,°;L . h3cl puhlished three books: GrLih:rn1, \•1ho \·!3S ;i]so .'.l ~t 111l!111orinl· musician, iiJack Sun)', , ~iou1 HoLion , and Soul MotiDn IT. l~hythm E;n Ld he " via ... runnini~ one of the badJcst workshops ln thl! South " ::i.nd "t eacl11ng at the Revo lut ionary PeoplL''S co]let:c in r:::i.:;livill ·• ." . :-llssis:;ippl, hosteJ Ln 1cn3 the bi-cL'ntenni;,il ccle!ir.1tion of the puhlicatlun ~ - - - - - - -- - - -- - -- - - - - - �of Phyllis \/heatle y ' s PoeP1s . lier ll\!ll po0try, :10\.levcr, h:1s chnnL>e~l sol!1ewhut from the s tance she took in ror l'.y People . Yc·t: Propltcts for a i(0\J D:1v (1970) and October Journe y (1973) c1re difficult to jud;;,c i.lf~:.iinsL her 0tllt.!r worL She turned to th e novel Ln the fifties and sixties hut several po~1.ts .Lu Octoter were puhlis liL,d in journaJs between 1930 and 1960 . Prophets is a chronicle! of the Ci.v Ll It:Lghts noveme nt up to its allLrnce \vit!t ilL.1ck Po\,•er. She writes nbout " Birmingham, " " Street Demonstr..ition," " Jnckson, Mississippi ," on Hnshington , :ind the new prophets: " JeremLih ," "Is nL.1h , 11 11 the March 1\mos, 11 unJ " Joel. " In "Oford l s a Le gend " she says some " fought th e civil war all over again ." . New prophets are Halcolm, He.d r,ar Evers, Andy Goo;lman, fl iL:luel Scl 11,L'.rnc1:, c1nd James Ckiney , who fought "oppression" in Louisiarrn, Mi.s s Lssippi and . C:cor~~ia . October is a quieter 1;100,l, halla<l in "Harri et Tubman . 11 employing a variety of verse for ms including :the ller own unique sonnett is seen in ·"Fo.r. Mary McLeod Bethune " and " for Paul Lawrenc e Dunbar ." The earlier poet is suggested in "I want to \Jrite" with the poets telling us: I want to write songs of my people. Alice Halk.er, novelist and 'poet, shares the state of Mississi,ppi (llockdale) with :Margaret Walker. Iler volumes of poetry are Once (1968) and Revolutionary Petuni:is (1973) th e title of which , juJgin1.:, from other statements she has made , is pro}nbly Hl:.rn a pun. Her poems cover her own civil ri g hts activities, general experiences, and some satire. A poem in Once relates the story of the youn;_', lllnck man who wanted to int egra te n white '· bench in Alabama--in tlic " nuJe. to Petunias : 11 She: announces her debts in the dedicntion Ceor:.3e Jackson, "h eroes and heroines, ancl friends of early StJCC, " Bob Moses, and Fannie Lou !lamer· . These poems (written in personal tones) deal · �with history anJ folk-strength am! th e stuff the l~ lacl: South is made of: "romance " that " blossomed" in pews Ctt funerals~ w, imen with fis ts thnt " battered " doors; " Sunday School, Circa ]950"; ·-a "bnckwoods wolllan " who kills her hushanJ ' s murderer , then reinincls her e~:,, cutors to water the petunias . An<l she ,i] so writes of a different kin,\ of "Rn ge ": The sil ~ nc~ b~cween your words rams into ne like a sword . Yet another Mississipian and poe t is Julius Eric 'c'hompson, a history teacher at Too~alo o . Hopes tied up in Promises vas published in 1970 anJ njms at lifting the new consciousness above mere "hopes . 11 Thompso~ writl!s· ahout be i ng a Black man in Hississippi, "Delta Children,'' Ma.rtln Luther !(i n ~ , - and "Black Pm-,er . 11 Th e re is also a seri.cs of poems on Africa. In Louisiana much new poetry has be2n arribing from the pens of you_n g and old poets alike. Zu-Bolton, now in D.C., edits Hoodoo ma~ n zine _ throt.i;~h Energy Blacksouth Press in DeRidder . lie formerly co-edited The Las t Cookie baseJ in DeRi.d der, San Francisco, and Cenevu, New York . lloodoo I , Jedicated to two Blac k studen t s killed by policemen on the campus of Southe1 ,1 Univer·sity i.n November of 1972 , contained wori'- by l.on~n,:o Thomas, Hay Mi] Ler, · Pinkie Lane, Kalainu Yu Sa laam, Jerry \/arJ, anJ utr.er s·outhcrn-b.ascJ poeL ; , lloocloo 2 E. ·J , a double i.;sue published in 1975, cont.1i.ns \Jorl; of 1:1ore sot c her-n poets: Arthenin Bates Mj llican, Al'.i.cc \J:i lLcr, anrl Charl e s Rowell, frora the broader \Jorlcl of IH.:icL wr itinr; . 1s well as sclecLioa , Energy BlackSoutll Press will nlso publi s h A lti:,;1;crer Amen , Zu-Boltun' s first volu1;1, of poems. Under tli c guidanc12 of tlll' late English chairman, Helvin A . 13utler, '.; outhcrn est:abl isheJ the short-1 ived l:lacL faq~eriencc , the first issue of \lhich contained severa l �poci:1 s 1,y Alvin Aubert, a Southern alu1,111us who nm, resides in :·ic\l York ar"!d edits Obsidian: 13lack Literature in l~cvie1-1. ,i ubert I s ,\•1 ainst the Blues (1971) surveys blues, love and his Louisiana h~ritage . Pinkie Lane, new En13lish Depnrtment head at Southern, publislH~d \!Lnd Thou ~; hLs (1 <.! 72) ~is 1wll ns several eroaclsi<les: Too PocE1s (1972), Poems to t :v Father (1972), and _ Songs to tltL~ Di.aly s i s !·l..1chine (1972), all ]nought out by South and \·lest, Inc . , of Arka11 ~,,1s. South and \·Jest is also the pulilisher 0£ ti1c i.lnnual Po(~ms by B]acks (1970, 1971, 1972) for which l'inl~ie L~me has beco,ae pcrm,rncnt eJi.tor . Butler inauv,urated the annual Black Poetry Festival in 1972. In the program of the first festival, he stated: The IHcick Poetry Festival provides .:i rare opporLunity Lo urLn,:; to~ether professional and apprentice poets in : 111 <i f. fort to dcfLn.::: · and ler,itimize nll forms of Blnck poetic talent as n preludl.! and postlude to defining and legitimizin~ the renlity of Black_.pcople. Hopefully, the results of our efforts will be a better uulerstandinB and n 3reater appreciation of the lives , aspirations and achievements o( Dlack people. For the festivals, Southern has nttracted a number of poets: l!adhubi_ti, Sonia Sanchez , R..:inc.lall, Redmonc.l (1vrltcr-i11-resic.lence , sunuaers 1971-72), Zu-13oltci'n, Knight , Aubert, Lucille Clifton, HcLaurin . Ki.!1~11111 S;ilaam , l'leal, Audre Lonie, anJ Irma The festivals, which includ<ld· student poets nnd musicians, lwve inspired a Poetry Hritin~ Workshop un der the supervision of Rowell, an Enilish ,instructor . The first two volur,1es of Poems by Blacks contain a r icl1 loc.le 0£ soutliern poets : Leon E. \Jiles (Phi lander Smith Collc.•r:c) , Elijah SaLb (Little Rock), Booker T . Jackson (Lit tlc RocL) , Eddie Scott (;ll!1.1pl1i.s), Otis \.Joodar<l (Memphis), Arthur Pfister (Tuskegee Institute, Beer Cans nullets Things & Pieces, �19n), l!;)ton Pears on (J ac kson, !!i;;sissippi), J:.tcqut'lyn Drynnt (HcrjJ i an) , Lo i_s Hiller (Daton n.ou~e), Borbnri.l Jenn K11i;;ht: (Shr eveport ). J\ltliough Pinl~i e La11 t2 did not ed it: th'-" fix st t\ , ,1 _i :ssuC'.S or Poc·1,1s , she nctcd ns ad visor ond her o e, i ftecl , (''.c-rnph i s) anJ J:atlieJ L!Cen !teed 1- 1ord...:111a ni mm 11ork w1 . ; s 11list c1nti.:. l ly r ep resent ed . · Sl -.c is pu l :1to r with soncur.1111nte skill ancl passion . t!nrr-h of Baton Rou ~•, e i.n New Or l e.1ns, th e Fr c0 Southern Thc:1tcr hod burn ed out Ly the 1.:. t e sixt_i cs , but out of i. ts uorkshops c.1me _!:)_1 :ornhC?_ \vhj -: h corrj es th e work of BLKARTSOUTJI lffitcrs. FST, and Kalamu 11011 j ointly ed it the pub]ication. \foshin g t oi1 a nd J ol m O ' l!e:1 1. tozetlwr--excep t the Tom Dent, one of th e founde r s ,1£ 11 Some BLl:1\RTSOUTll pocl; .:. re A3.1in , no sinsl<.2 thrc.'.:ld t-L L!s th c:.;e puL!L~3 1i1,1ve111ent " in th e Suu th. But their concerns· Lor th e; movement are oft en expresseJ bett er outsjJe of the poetry tk111 l n ; BLKAln'SOUTll published individual volu1.ws oC 1,ue1,is Ly ~;alaam ('i':1e !\ L t!CS ·l,:rch;.in t), (Vis-Lo ns Fro m th e r:Jwt: to) . Afro-~\rn erican salvation. Jrinki11 :1 anLl l!lore time " Eacii,t Psycl10Lherapy " is Black ' s blue-.;,ciilt for. lie advises ]Hacks to spcnd le ss t.i1ae n1µpin~ a1iJ \·✓ 0rl:.i11g for t 11L' c:, cts<.2 . In " P,ay Cliurl L•.; , .. ,_ His.!; lss.i.ppi State" Dent s uys tl. e ir ltec1 n s .... Of "Tlte I\ lu cs ," Salon1:1 s.::iys : it i s not: s ubmission .... But too mucli of h is oork is speechy . Sn l:-i :m has a l so pu bli sh<.2J llofu Ni Kwenu : tly Feor Is For Ycu (1 ~17]) \.lh.ich ·rece iv cJ a l'i.ixed rcv.i.::•1J [ro111 Ko1,c l] i_ u the �SepLc1.1li, .c, 1974, issue of DJ ;icL· ',!or lJ. !!cw Orlei:lns-ba se,l Blacl- Co lJ cpi:1:1 . " Be<lti1,1e S tory": ironic.:iJly tl1ey Fcllu1-1 P, T.iC.:.\lrl'SOl1Tl'.erner :! ..1yu l.'riLC'~, a an c:..:ch:.inr,c l.H·t11e cn uotlier ;1.nd s,)n nbout "revolution. " Answer.i.11 0 the son ' s question , " when si:lys " soon ~:u.n ." Sa la :11 .. i s _, 1 s ,) nn ,. l i tor of the WL.: 0 01111 ..1 have the rev0Jutili1)? 11 , th' mother Till' 0Ll1L:C puets cnsti.~ate whitey :111,i pn1i!,C Jaac.:ks . 1-✓ rile V<'r)' 1ittl,· nl;l1 ut southern li[ · . the Co11~0 Squ.:1re \Jritin'.~ 1-Jorksh op . But, . Dent cucrcntly le.:ids 'j'lJere ace also 1Hitint; 1-: orkshops :it Dillard cmd Xavier Universities . Julia Fields, still livin~ i.n North Carolina, brour,ht ,iu t E:1st of J.!oonlii'ht in 1973, but one of h er 1,10sL eloquent t..:sti.L1.0 11ie:,· i. '.,_ II og II Iv h. 1c I 1 " gut " or 11 . I1es I1er rJ~~ . l 1l to l 1:1ve esta b 1 i.; J 01·1 l ." II • II c:.1v1ar or 11 Hi ,; h _,H1 _t!1e: .. - I.e1 II ,>vec . . ., l 1rirnp soul L . II l ' So111e menus and polit i.cal stances arc; ·nver-cxot •j·c i:~ed ·by' revolutionaries, she says , and she ha s " earnet.l " th0. rir,ht to <lo v1hat sh1:~ likes. She has even heard " Haus 11::i u s " scrL.:1rning ilncl "Romanticizing p'c1i11 .·11 But sho has paicl her dues, and h.::id enoui;h prc~;sures from both sides of Ll1L! color lln e . The subtle nudge, but direct pom~r of Julia Fields suggests that Black. poetry is i_n good han<ls in tlie South . North of North Cc1roJ in.::i, came John Oliver Killen :, irnpoctant \Ir 1 tl!rs . Confc:rences at Flsl· University, the mus t important one takin :; pl:ice :[n SprinL; of 1967 . Ila yden , who hnd bee11 at Fi.!;k ~;lnce the forties left in 1968 after a series of brushes with proponents of the Dlc1ck Aesthetic . The 1967 con- f erence (probcibly the stra\/ th:1t broke th e cnrnel ' s b:1cl: for Hayden) is seen by some as a major junctuce in th e Mew Bl;1cL 1ffiting . GuenJLily11 Brool:s tc1ll:~cJ about it .i.n her autoliro/iraphy , Ha r r,c1ret \7i.1J kcr Ji.scusseJ it w.ith i!ikki Giovanni · in thei.r publis h ed " convl~rsations ," nnJ lloyt Fuller 1-Jrote "- lowin :; l y of it i.n Black \!orld . \!rit ers attc.nt.l:i.nt: t'.1e confl.'rcnce \vcre Dav id Llorens, Fuller·, �!ton tlilner, Clarke , Bennett, Margaret lbnner, Nil:l:i Giovanni, R.::ind;1ll , Le e , Margaret Halk e r, Soni.-i Sanchez , JonC!S, and ?iari;ar ,·t Bur r ou~hs . Probably ]JQlJ in the South [or symbolic r easons , the conference prov id ed the f ir st real national dramatic a r e na for old a nd yo un r, writer s. Gwendo lyn Drool~s ( a 11 Ne 0 ro" then, she has · said) rec.'.l lls beins "co ldl y respect ,• d " after .iust havin r, flown. to Nashville from "whit e whi t e South Dakota ." ll01 •evc r, sh e was among th e first (with Randall and Fuller) to tnke u p the ba nner of th e Bl.::ick Aesthetic and the causes of th e yo un c writ ers . Sue!, a ction of course, was displeasing to a number of whit e and Black poe t s , not the lea :;t rn:io n g them Ha yden uho refused to ackn0\·1l edp,e the existence of a 11 sC'pa ra te 11 aest!1etic · for · 1n:,cLs (Ldeido,,co'1f', Januar y , .1968, Black Horld p oll). Althou r, b the Fisk c onfe renc e has b een followed b y ~ozens of l!laik colle ge s all over the South, Midwe s t and East, ther e is still no monolithic stand on. "directions" hut so111c Hr iters keep tr yin 0 to give tlieu nny,Jay . · One i nJ i cation uf th e healthy dive si t y BL.1cL 1-.1ritcrs is the jouril:i_l i~oot:, , .:11:1011 0 pulilished a t Tex.:i.s So uthe rn Universit y . Turn1.?r \Jlwr to n , and Hnnce l.'ill i.:iJilS . l.dLtors are Tou1:1y_ Guy, Je f.Cree ·Jawl!s , Voh11 ,i.:: I, number I contains es.s~1ys , . ar t · and th e works of se ver al poe t s, mo:;t of tl1c1:1 southerners. o[ The -ppoetry , Ji::v oid mo notono u s th eme or sLyle , reprl; ~;en t,; n broaJ ran~c of intcr12~ts in lln""'.' 3 uist.ics , s ubject s and fon:is . ~azed forever b ack1-mrds . 11 rn' Jo fn 11 ,1 love supreme" says In 'sh e' 1-l nc:,ve r k n mv'' J-lj 1 '.:111 rny :yes cb.,y Lcl.rnd write s of vari o u:; aspec t s o f th e socia l a11<l p\1y,dcal lanJscape:, inclu<lin~ the "KLnl-y l1aireJ boys " who LuilJ 1 \ 1rsena l s of stra1-1." Cl;1ren ce \!arJ notes in 11 11..mging On" that the rent ltas gone up, eviction is inunenent, there is no food [or th e baLy, nnJ llangi11['.. on a in t easy .... �_j • .:1lrn1ad j . ' s titl e " ilarJ llo ..1d Makes a So ft Pss " iI.1plies tlie poem ' s statement. And fan t asy cterna li z,:s , "liLe a ~oo,. i i~h , 11 f,)r To ,rn1y Cuy in " lirothL.:r ." But th e themes of 1 tity, self-e ,;te2m , t he African 11 mot he rl.:1nd, 11 and unab.:i t ecl anger remain i n the new poetry as the HiJwes t .:ind \Jest cQntr ibllte i mmensely t o the . br illit,nce and th e controvecsey . Ohio, for c~xamplc , ropr.e- sente<l a unique za th eri;1~ of d i ver~w views on th e new conscio u sness , attr.:ictin g ) , 1\tL ins, J~.uHes a nu1,1l.Jcr of poets to aid the worl~ of :~o r nia n .lorcbn (193JKilgore, (all fo r m Cl e v ela nd ) and Hern ton. Redmond \;ho ,1;1s ~low at OGerlin , Ilernton succeeJed writ er -in-r es idence t he re (1969-1970), the same year Troupe be zan a residen cy a t Ohi,J Univ e rsity. durin g Hern t on ' s l euve- of-absence . Sarah Webster h 2s also t.1u ..'.,ht ,1t Ob1..rli11. II ,we ver, Cleveland ac tivity was spurred by a loni tr ad ition of Bl ack 1vriters ncluding Hu ghe s , Chesnutt (<inL.: of the: fo und e rs of Kara111u ll oL,se ) and Atkins. This continuum produceJ Jordan an:! a host of young e r poet~: Anthony Fud ge.: , Lnrry lloward, Larry W<1de , .\.r Nixon, Clint Nelson , Robert rl erni ng (Ku \Jais 11 aiazi ne), Alan Bell, P-.olanJ · Forte, Te<l llayes , E . Bufor d an J Bil l " usscll of the Munt u Poet~ . Other participatin~ wr it e r-artist s uere Clyde Shy , l\p1eer Rashid a nd Ane tt a J cf[erson . for poet s and t heir oct iviti es ca1:ie from v a riou s p l aces : Suppor t the Clevcl,md Call and Post, l\fro -Se t Black Arts pro jec t, United Bl a~k Artists, Fred Lance anJ Karauiu llou sc h w re Jord::m ' s play s wer·e p roduced. l(il :..;ore \!r ites o ut of a stro11;>, trnd iti.on of Black hum ;:i nis m riurt ur ecl in reli g iou s hon1 ,!S . lli s volumes a r c The Big Buffalo and Other Po ems (1969), Hidnip.ht Blas e (1970) and A Time of Black Devotion (1971) . Th e poems ex pose the contradi ct ions in Am e rican De1n,1 cracy and s urvey the "llig h ·JUs8 Dre a ms" of metr o poliran Bl acks cau ght in t l1e urban r enewa l scrabble. Devotion, dedi- cated to Core tta Scott King, vibr ates w:!-th conc c rns fo r Black stuJents, Third \ �lfo rl d survival, nnd .'.l fascinatio n wit h F r .'.l n z F;mo n. A d iff e r en t k ind of poe t, Jordan i s somet iI:1e s a n gry, c y nic a l a nd vio l e nt; o th e r times p r o ph e t ic and mystic a l . He ha s p ublished thr ee volwnes : D~s tin a ti on : Ashe s (1 9 67, 1971), Abov e lb ya (1 9 71), n nc.l uith Na r c h a C:: .:1 g e , Two Po e t s (197 Lf) . Dedicn t e d to th e " Cor,1muni t y ," j)(:!S tin.a ti o n c on t ain s Jordan' s b es t anc.l mos t memorabl e po e ms . I n Cl ev e l and he 0~eig e d a s a mn j or fo rc e i n t h e n ew Il l.'.l c k po etry, unit ing the older tr a di t ion s yr1bo li ze<l b y f r ee Lan c e , a nd th e Huntu Poets . De stin a ti o n, f irst pu l, lishe d p riv..i t e l y by J o rdan, was l a t e r bro u ght out by Thir d \·/orl d Pr ess ( Chica go ) with an Intro du ction b y Lee , uho said h e "learn e d" th a t Hu gh e s h a d n o n eed to " re - writ e and r evi se ." (! ) " An yway , DestinatiQn chronicl es J o r dan's own deve lo pmen t fro m th e pe r iod of civ il ri g hts throu gh Black Power . Uis p o et r _· is a ll f r ee ~ e r s e , usu a l l y simp lis tic narrativ e makin g am p l e use of dram :1 ti s p e rson .'.l from ev e ry walk of Black li fe . Th e r e is al co holism, violen ce , po v e r _t y , lon e lin es s and ex altati on · of · Blackness . " I Ha v e Seen Them" d e '; c rib e s thos e on r e lie f, hun r, r y 3. n <l cold praying fo r "mira cles ." Ne llie Ree d u sed t o be a hirl-ab out-town, "Lnughing and dancin g , " put now a t 26 she ;is dead and he r gh os t "tr emb le s" i n an a ~l e y . win e bott le "nc ecii11 ~ a f i x ." Jor da n a l so sp, ofs 11 1!iz h Art n n d Al l t ha t J;12z 11 Fue l: y o u un<l yo ur d amn v e rb s le t rnc te l l it like it is 1v1:i,t;,,£..¥ arnl f i.;,;_lM;~ . " Feed i n r~ t he Li. o.1s " (1966 ) i s hi s r:1ost antho l ogized poe m. Tiu.~· "army " of bri ef - c CLr;e- c arr 1 in ~ s ociaJ worker s inv a d~ s Bl ac k n e i ~l1bo rhoods each mo rn inL\ , pass ou t che c ks , r,1ov e qui c k ly f r m one Joor t o ano t he r, ;:inu , af t er f i l l i n g : �L--- - - - -- their c1uot:.i~, leave "before cl ,rk ." • Th,~r~ are also poems about 111ys ticis1.1, reli~ion, rnytho OBY, c1nd b,n.1n , inclu dint.', drawings of eyes, trian g les and circles--all re Ucct in g th e many influenc e s on Jo rdan I s work unJ the nppro;.1chi11::; new mood (Abov e , [.:1y<.1) . But Destination, with its short, e:-:pizr.::inma tic verses and parab l0s , sees tilrou._;h allusory, romantic "unity" near the encl and no_unt s an atta .k on revolutiona ry clia'i-lo.tans , b a ck-sliders of the P10vement and those v:ho vie1·1 violence as the only solution to rncism. Yet "Cosmic Witchdoctors" reaffirms his faith jn 1310.ck writers working far into a "liquid nieht'J they provide the [o u11Jati on for tomorr ow ' s liber1tion. Jordan's belief in the 1.1ys tical, mag ical pm,ers of the word can be seen in the name Vibration, a Cleveland rnazazine 1.;,ith which he was closely .:issocL.1te<l. It is "Dedicated to the Resurrection of the :-~entally and Spiritually Dend ." Other Ohio poets found outlets for their work in Vibration ;ind other . journa ls: Black J\scensions (Cuyaho ga Community College), Proud lllack Ima?,es (Ohio State University) and Lifeljne: When America Sin:::,s She Croak s (Oberlin). Oberlin students also produced a ,spe cial Black issue of tl1e college is Activist macazine; it contained poems by bith students and well known poots. a staff m.:!mber of Rlack Ascension , , publishcJ Higration in 1972. Cleveiancl poet , D. Felton (1934- Judg0, /\notlier ) ; _ broucht out Conclusions wilh an Intr·o- duction by Atkins who praised tl1e y oun~ ~oet [or not consciously engaging in the "<lis[igurement of perceptions" to polemicize a " constrictcu kinJ oE 'rele va nce .'" In 11 /\n Elegy to Eternity," Felton, n vibrant poet, s.:iys: Tear-ducts swe Ll, bursting in a delight of flood and fury. Garfield Jack son, a young prize-winning poet, is one of tl1e editors of - ------ -- - - - - �Prou,J 1nack Im,H;cs. pages: Hany young and old e r Ohio : poets arc .includ e d .::unon:; its Forrest Gay, Dianne Gou:)..<l, Jackie Toone, Ebrahim /\ ljahL:z, Hohssen Asl.'.lm (Chri s Jenkins), !3 attuta LuL:::.mba Barca, Linda Callender, Beverly ChceLs, An tar Sudan Hberi, Leatrice Emeruwa, Roslyn Perry Ford, Ray Hon,t p,omery, Kilgore, Jordan, und o_tlwr s .. Al thou~h the jour,Hll I s title set s the conceptual pace and plac e s iL in the s tremn of the new con ; ciousncss, there is no unifyin c thei:1e or idea in the poetry . John \Jhittaker calls "Singers, Dancers," the "doers of initial d e eds" and Impl ,~ menters of the inevitable Black life. Hernton, who :i ttcnc.lcc.l Oj1io schools, b e came writ c r-i n- 1_-L·s hlen c l: u t Ccutr i..! 1 State Univer s ity, .in th~ sixtiL'. S . House of Nightso 11 Il e p ul>lishcd Th f> Ccmin:•, of Chron os LO th e in 1963 and since then he has written many books and ,1rticlcs on America' s soc L i 1 / scn1a 1 h a n g ups . in the first issu e· of Confrontation: One of his most powerful po ems appeare·d A Journal of Third Wor1 d Lit ~ rnture (summer, 1970) founded and eJi Lcd by Troupe at Ohio University. " S tr ee t Sc.enc" sho\1s Hernton pla , (ul _ly lookin r, at the identity ·question alon:; with other things . When he · c ets am! spenk·s to his "dream" on the "street, 11 h e rccc.ives this ansner: "Go • o hell, sonofabitch." ' Confrontation al s, publishes o t her Ohin ports; yet, its concerns nre bron<l as seen in the names of contribut .i ng e<lit6 rs: Damas, Sergio Mondra~on, FernanJo Ale~ria, ,•; c.'.11, l:c:dmon<l, Tam Fi ur :L, David llenderson, .Melv:Ln L<l\mr.<ls :ind \Hlfr e J Cart e y. In oth er Ohio co1,11,1uni L i. L'.:; related events oc c urr '-' J, Black Arcs Fe s t i v ,1 \J.J S Cincinatti' s [.ir s t ,n g an.i. :~cd li y ti :Lkki Ci.ovanni in 1 9(J7 and out of tli.is effort g,- l!•.J The :: .: Tl,L!.:.tLer. li'e rh er t Ha rt ln (1 9 J3- �i[j J l iO! -1 : J Other Poe1:1s (1 969 ), maJe :rn jru;ieas u rabl y vdlu.:.ible con tr ibutiun to th e un<l crstanJing o f Blacl~ poetry \Jhcn he o(;_,c11 i~cd the P: ul L.:.iurencc Dunbar Centennial in l:J72 a t the University of J)ayton . In<li.::ma h c.:iv ecl forth preciou s \,or<ls from Gary , Indianapolis , Purdue , Te rre Ha ut e auJ- ot her ar.:~as . t!ar i Evc1ns or~.:.i ni zc~l c1 rL s an:1 consc-Lou snc::::;s progr:.i11t,; in Indi:.in apul ii; u •,J J l oo .,in ",ton. f /\Jn :1 Blnck Wo111an, containin g poems wriLLun over scvcr.:.il years , unf o tunately did n o t fin d a pubJ.ishcr until 1970. llowever, th e book de se rv ed ly r ec~ivcd th e! Black .\ca dcmy of Arts a nJ Letters Second i:\nnunl Poe tr y .'\~tan! . She~ hets been closely identified with ac tivi tics in Chlc :.igo ,,here Tl1 :Lrd llorld Press publishes her _ch .i.J dn~n ' :; vll"it:ing'.;, li er tit le pOei.l i_s a spiritual , psycltolll~ical n nJ lli.storicnl journey o( till: J;lack \ uoman 1-1hosc "tri gger 1. re/<l finger s " no1v seek th e so ftness of 1;1y 1varrioc ' s beard ... A major poem arnonfj tL new poetry, it combines the best of th e modernists techniques with a cltart-work of mu si c so as to give the impression o f someone sin ~~ ing or hununin g a long with the re a dinr; of it. Mari Evnns scans other fie] ds of 13lack li fe , writing about lonel y a nd Jej ect,~J wo111en, self - pr iJe, . violence., Black unity anJ Af1-ica . In " Hho can be l\orn Black" she joyousl y anJ Jefi_a ntly asks : Who can be born and not exult! Also closely a ssoci.:.iteJ with the Chic a~ o nnd Detroit movements is Ethrid 0 c Kni g hL (] 9:33 - ) , 1vho 1,1as scrvint a 20-y ca r tcn,1 in InJL:ma State Prison i1hen Poem!~ fr om Prison (1968) appeared in 1968 wi th a Preface by Cv,cndolyn s �Brooks. She called his poetry Vital. Vital. This poetry is a 111ajor announc eme nt ... And there is blackn es s, inclusive, pos se ss c J and Biv e n; freed ~n d . terribl c uriJ beautiful. Her own version of th e ],l a ck Aesthetic was expressed in the snme stat:ement: "Sinc e Etherid g e Knight is not your stifled artiste, there is air in these poems." Kni g ht roams the deep crevices of Black spiritual .:ind p s ychic experiences as he combin e s the L:in r~u::ig e of the prison sub-culture with the rhythms of Hl.:ick Arneric;in street sp l~ ech . He bounc es o r dri v· s . hard-- n poetry of "hard .boµ"--lookinr, nt prison l i f e , love anJ ancestry . Exce µ tional pi ec es are the folksy "Hard Rock Returns to Prison from th e ll os pital for thc.: Crimin i> l Insane," the mysti c al anJ mythical "lie Sees throu r:h Stone," the g enealo g ical "The Idea of Ancestry," the innovative Haiku sections, and "On UniversalismJI ·which warns ;i g nins t applying "universal laus" to "pains" and "cl1ains" in America. llis technical abilities .:ire poignantly displayed in lwiku "9": Hakin t~ jnzz suing in Sev e nte e n syllables AIN ' T t o square poet's job. Knight, who W.'.l!, lnter released from p ris o n, also eJited Black Voices From Prison (1970) c1 nd in 1973 Bro.:idsid e . rr e s s published J; e lly Son g and Other Poems. He los e s his reach when he tries t o over-intellectualize in his poetry . And though it may be a bi t uncharitable to say , Belly Son g proves tl1at he wrote better poetry in prison. slips into pol e mics. The last book has some fine moments but it sometimes However, .Kni~ht is still stretchin r; out as a poet, currently doinL: research into oral lit e ra turc with the aid of a Cu :~g enheim ~rant. �Bel] v shous him pursuing this traditi on in "Th,, Rones of Hy Father" ,_.hich smile at the moon in Mississippi from th e bottom of the Tallahatchie. Finally , n _numb e r of · poe ts from this p;eneral re ;; ion of the Midwest and South are included in a specia l J3lack Poetry issue of Negro American Literature· Forum (spring, 1972) eJited by Redmond . The Forum is publisheJ by In<lianu State Un .Lv~rsity School of Educ;.ition and ec.litcd by John B.'.l.yliss, an Eng,lishman. It rcr;ularly revi e ws Jllnck litl.!rat11re. Chicai.;o is a l'-lilh-1 e s t h ,1rt ard h.:is a long tr.-:iJ _itto n o f DL.H.: l~ ,'..rts, go in 1: 0 back to, . and before, Count Basie ' s openin r, at the Sunset Club in 1 9 27. !iO\.ve vcr, some of tile more recent forces lielpine to sliape the n c 1, poetry move11 h.~ nt ther"t:-: are : South Side Community Arts Center, Johnson Publications, Kuumbn's Root Theater (Francis and Val \lard), the DuSable Museum of African· American History, OBAC , 1nstitute of Positive Ec.lucation and Third \]orld Press (Ha.<lhub-iti) Free Dlack. Press, Afro-Arts Theater, ,!nlcolm X Coller;e , Oscar Brown , Jr., l'luliar.rniad Speaks , Ellis Bookstorl:!s , Chic<1go Defender , Philip Coli ran (Artisti·c ller.i,tai.;e . J•:nsembl<'), to name just a few. As a major point - bet1,1cen East and \! _• st/North nn<l South , Chica go remains a city in transition. ~ Much of the ne~, poetry scene · i:.;ene·r ates from the hub known as th e Organiza tion of Black M,1erican Culture and (;\1e11dolyn Brooks . Fuller , Blc1c l~ \io rld managinc editor , is also advisor to OUAC I s \friter ' s \lorkshop·. In J. 9 G9 (fall) issue of Nommo , the workshop ' s journal, Fuller said: Hlacl is a way of looking at the world . The poets of - Ol:AC, in revealini.; their vision, celebrate their blackness. In tl1is moment in history, 1,hat might under clif ferent circum- �stn~ces be simp ly assumed must neces s a ril y be asserteJ . And the OBJ\C poets know--if others Jo no~ --tlwt pille men out of the He s t do not <lefine for mankind the peri111eters of art. Tbis th ey wan t all bl ack people to knoo . In the Journ t 1·• i, win·t er issue of the s rn,1c year , Fuller sa id OiAC 111emb c rs · ,-1 ere 11 seekin t; " to b·e "both si11pl e and profound. " They displ ay an "ima gi native re- prese ntation of the ir e,:per;iences, 11 but th ey also seek "to be rt=volutionnry." In t:he first quote, Fuller's tone, carrying the battle-baiting phrase , "even if other s do not , 11 s ee1,1e d to h..1ve been a siGn.:il fo r, among others , Don L. ), to continue his att.:ick on all fr onts . There were no sncred cows, as Lee saw it, and since "oth ers do not" know what the youthful Chicago Blacks presumably did l(now , Lee's assignment was to teach them. C\!Cndo l y n Brooks concurred with 11ost of this feeling , embracing as it were a 11 n ew" Blackness and (unfortu11a tely) occas ~onally engaging in a kind of self-defrecation: "It fri g hten s me to re n lize that, if I had died before the .:ige of . fifty ·, I would have died a ' Neero ' fraction. 11 Lee followin g the examples of_ RanJall .:inJ naralt a, began Third World Press-.:..a valual>le vehicle for th e new pocts--and changed his name in the early seventies to Haki R . Nadhubuti. Be also estab- lis hed the I.1stitute for Posit ive I:duc::ttipn which publishes Bla ck Books Bulletin wilh himself as eJito r. Sterling Plu Ptpp (19L10- J, Other poets Johari Amin i included in the eJitorial st.:iff: (J ewel Latimori..!) (1935- ) , Ern~rnuel, Sarah Web s t ~r Fabio, the late Llor e ns ( who launc hed Lee 's national career in Ebony , l~rch 1969), anJ Randa ll. OBAC was foun ded in 1967 and poets of varying. t emperaments were a ttr acted to it and Gwendolyn Brooks ' worksh.o ps : ) , \h1lter Bradford (1937- ~ - - - - - - - - - - - -- - -- -- - -- - ) , Carl Clari~ (1932- Ca rolyn ) ' (i - \l �Hike Cook (1939- ) , Jm:1es Cunnin gham (1936- Sam Greenlee ( ), Phillip Royster (194 3- Lee, Linyatta (194 7(193 3- ) , Sharon Scott (19510 ) , Ronda Dovis (1940- ), ), Pe~gy Kenner (1937- ), ) , and Sir,emonde \-/il:1berli (Ebon) ), and continual str e..:im of newly arrivinG poets. Other Cliicazo area poets are St cp h .i ny Fuller, Eugene Perkins, Irma McLaurin, Lucill e Patterson, Jerrod, Zack Ci]bert (1925- ), Alicia Johnson ( 1944- ) , Rmm Chiri and n.ohart Butler. The work of many Chica go area poets can be fo11nd in Nornmo, Black Expressions, BJ ack l·Jorld, Black Writers ' News, Muhammad Speaks, and in the antholo~ies ~ Broadside Tre.:isury (1971) aqd Jump Ila<l : edited by C\vendolyn Brooks . A New Chic.:1 :~ ,1 .\ nLl 1o lo ·,v (1971), both They can also be found .h1 the numerous ot:1er na tionally-Jistriliuted ant:1ologies and journals alre.:idy listed . · Illa ck \,/or lJ , as naw:~ anJ concept, was concession won by Chicago area artists and activists , who protested a~ainst the old nar, e Negro Dir,es t in the lnte sixties. Fuller continues to g uide the ma~azine ' ~ new i1:1age through the ti cklish · \Hltcts of · controversy and chani:;e. ... as Black \Jorl, . ' s But many renders h.'.lve been critical of uhat is seen pnrticularize<l stands , lack of " open" foru m on pertinent Blnck issues, .:incl a tern.L:.!ncy t0 circunscribe indivldu::ils and iruups. But . the jour?al has .:in indispensable aid to many Black poets and writers, printing their Hork, identifying antholoLies, ·11otln:3 books publishec.l, and serving as facilitator for prizes and Benerul contac t. Amon~ all nc~1 poets, N.:1dhubutl is second only to Nikki Giovanni in the number of accolades ancJ the comr::ercia l attention he an~! his poetry h.:ive received. A sampling of critics, poets and schola rs who feel he is one of the greatest of the new poets oould !1:.1ve to · include Stephen Henderson, Full12r, Gwendolyn Brooks llargaret \folker, Pa ula Giddinr;s ,' Barak.a, Hari Evans , Randall and Gayl e . �CwenJolyn Brooks has sai d Maclhubuti r .:csenhles Jesus Christ an<l her IntroJuction t o Jump Dad hails hi1:1 as "the r:10sl significant, inventive, .:ind influential black poet in th e country . 11 Overlookin3, for th e 11101!1ent, the necessity of reading "all" the poetry in the "country" before making such a state111ent, it si1,1ply is 1 ot wis e in view of the "collec tiv.:/' policy--and the nnti-individualist f~-.;lings --which .:i lle gedly form the cornerstone of th e Ch ica go poetry scen e . Lee has published five volumes of poetry: Thin]: Black! (196 7) , Black Prid e (1968) , Don ' t Cry, Scream (1969), He llalk the Way of th e New \lorld (1970), Dir ec tionscor e : (1973). Selected and Ne,-; Poems (J 971) aml Tl1c Book of Life His Dynamite Voices, Vol . I (Broadside), publi s hed in 1971, is a study of lLf Black poets of the sixties; but it reveal s , like his other criticism, that hen hazy thinker, who lncks discretion and firm understanding of the Black poetry tradition. lie spends an entire page , fo r examp le, illuminatin8 ,md apparently advocating the use of the word "motherfucker ." And any book about the sixties should not come off the pr e ss without exami- ning - th e poetry of Le Roi Jones/I~amu Daraka . Madhub u ti attributes the fathership of the New Black poetry to Barakn , but apparcntly: is incap a ble of discussing the man's poetry. There arc oth e r, incredible flm-1s in the book; for which this youn g poet's older mentors must ·s har e some blame . As a critic, he did not (could not!) cultivate the " distance " of a Johns on, Drown , Redding, or Henderson, and consequ e ntly--alrea<l y lacking discipline and training--could not really see the poetry. But in fairness, it must he said that his bihlio ~raphy and oth e r random bits o f information about the new poetry arc ·usable. As a poet, Lee far es bette.r, emplo yin3 wit, irony, understatement an<l signifying . nut there are excellent poets in Chica~o which h is politico-poetic - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - -- -- - - - - - - - �ima ,.~e has dwarfed (Plumpp, Cunnin~harn, Rodgers, Gilbert, etc.) ran Ge from what Arthur r. llis themes Davis has calleJ "The !Jew Poetry of nJ.ack Hate," through love and Black pride, to the ha-cared pontifications in The Book of Life wher e h e r e -arran:~es sayings and parables stated better by Aeso;i, b ush Africans, Plntd, and nnraka , and Tolson . 1.ike Nikki Giovanni an<l others, his ea rly \lork re-inforccJ the self-love concept, castigated whitey an<l encoura~ed !Hack unity. Host of his themes are sumned up in the titles 'J'hinl~ 1:l « ck! and Black Pride anJ his devices arc ~very<luy conversation, often not wcllwroueht hut sornetir.ws quice startlin~~ and musical rhyth;11s (" The 1/all") . These he aJjusts in nn often effective typography which columns verticnlly or horizontally on the pa:1,es . 1,tLWl..! ::i lit pc1r.1llel In IntroLluctions to h is books and critical articles Hadhubuti :.il,_.ays gives "directions" Lo l:lack writers -- ns he does in much of the poetry itself . "First Impressions of a Poet's De.:ith , " his ele[;y for ConraJ Kent 1'.ivers, subtlely revenls the often un-talke<l-about thin cs th ~1 t cause prcraature !.\ lack Jeaths . Speakin~· of · '.' too much" sex ,:rnd drink, he s:.iys many "poets who poet" sel<lom die from overexposure. But he can unknowinzly dilbble llith tlt e ,aost complex aspects of !Hack life as in "The So.;lf-llatre<l of Don L. L2e 11 ·,.,1iere, after studyin~ !.lnck history , he l earns to love tile " .i.nner" person my light bro\Jn outer . ;:i;HJ hate (\/ith vehe1:1cnce) �Cert.:iinly .:i profound and tra gic dilemma i s stated here : si nc e h;iting o ne's color will not change it; and since one lws t o li.v e wi th it for the rest of one's life. It is a go o d poem for studying th e so-callee! " sol ution" th.:it some Black wr .i.ters claim tu have "found " to th e iclen tit y pro!Jle1:1 . 'l'lle r e are other peaks of .r evelry and · dunGeons of confusion .i.n Ha Jhulrnti' s poetry . . One of his mos t fanous poems 'is ·" Don't Cry, Scream ." Praised hi (jhly by Stephen llenJ erso n, the poem paraphrases th e heratical rantin gs of Ron l~arenga who e ncourag e J Blacks to renounce the Blu es . Hadhubuti's poem, ,3 tribut e to Coltrane , is lar ge ly crap l1ic with occas iona l areas of int el li g i b ility. Then there is the self - d is gust : i cried for billy hollidny . the blues . 1•1e ain't blue the blues exhibited illu s ions of manhood. Even the Gernian Janheinz Jahn knew bet tcr. must face the question: it"? And certainly , toJay, Hadhubuti · if the blues were destructive , then Lm-J <lie.I iic• "make Inc.leed, how did any o ne "make it" without th e tot em of surviv a lisms· necessary to "cro s s over"? Madhuhuti's influence on the new poetry • h a s been . substanti.:il, however, thou ~h in most instances the influence ha s b ee n in ~he area of politics rather t han poetry. C:irolyn H.odc c rs' volu,.i e s arc Papc~r So u l (1968), Songs of a .Blackbird (196 9) , 2 Love R~1 ps (Br oadside ) (196 9), · Blu es Gitt in Up (1972) and Ho\J I C-:ot Over (1975). l·!oma nl y ,m ·d convi nci n z , she \;rite s of younr, women, love, revolutionari e s and music. In "Pho enix " sh e recall s traveling "with the wind" and h ea ring the m;iny voi ces screrl1!1ing blooddrops of time . "Jazz" describes "thr ee " nt the bar, the clicking of drinking £,lasses , and the murmur of thick mouths .... �" Rcbolw3lLi.nary x - r1as/ens tuh julie 4/etc . etc. 0.cc . 11 is a sati.re on " militan t s ." And she t el l s us that hits o f r.-ic sp linterecl in to a mir ror in " Lo ok .::i t Hy Face a Coll ag e. 11 These idea s and th emes , :1 nd nwny others , c a n a lso b e fciu:i1d .in th -2 poe try of J oh a ri Am ini , Plumpp , :nul Cunnin3hc1m. Jolrnri /1m ini ' s books incluJ e Imaf'eS in ];lack (1 96 7), A Folk Fab l e (br oadside) (19 (i9 ) , Le t ' s r.o Somewherp (1970), and /1 l!ip Tnl e in lle., th Style (1972). She relies heavily u po n Black co lloqu i a lis ms , usu n ll y achievi n r, s uc cess . But she has other rRn f,es as ca n be see n i.n " Brother" which lon gs for the "s o il" of Hlack p o ep l e, where th ey can fe e l the univ e r se s huJder Plumpp ' s Portalil e Soul ( 1969 ), Half Black, Half Bl ncke r t o Bre a k th e Circle (1975) . (197 0 ) anJ Steps A southerner with a b.::ickground in psycl)o l or,y , li e h as also writt e n a provocative study call ed Black Rituals ( ). His interes ts are see n in titles like "From "lanless Sisters to Bi g llad Rappers,'·' "Black Hessaie!:> 11 ("believe in us"), "T.ivin?, Truth" ("bl nck history ... a k1nne<l ep ic"), an<l Egypt (For Black MothcrhooJ) ,., : an everlasting s unri. se awoke . . . One of th e most perceptive, skillful anJ innovative poets, ·. h u\vever, i s· Cu n nin glt,11,1 . ll is one volume i s The Blu e Iw rrator (1 974 ) nn<l li e has been p ub- li. slicJ 1,idely ln peri.oJicals . " The.: Ci.L y Ri.ses " as a sad s ti ff \100Jet1 pl;., ce " St .. Julic>n ' s J.:ve: For Den nis Cros s " he wo11Jerfull y mi xes the senses; the n ar r a t o r is tlt e " ear " hy Brahm s, and th en there ful]o\vS ;; reat poo2try : th e wind - 1,w.n t cnri.n~ at th e briJ 6 c as a man stnnds wonJeri.ng �why does the river float up to th e sky In a Tolsonian thrust, "Rappin13 Alon~ 1,1ith I'-.on ~l;_i Da vi s " i s ,1 de li ghtful combination of }'. oon hea1:1s yams E.. aml slto11s Cunningl1.11n I s :1 hi lity to pL1ce dispar a te orJ e rLn ~s in lils poetic vis e . 11 /\ Street in Kau fm an-ville: place" is u stu<ly of the 11 or a note thrmm to c,tr o l yn f r o:!1 r o<l ge r s fra3ments" of Bob Kaufman in whom th e poet sees a madness unlike my own . . . . Arriving "From the Narrator's Tra nce," a song thumbeJ-dO\vn a cruiser for a r iJe .... Cunningham also writes of other poets anJ artists . In conductin g Id s fascinatin g experiments with the language, he celebrates the wide span of the hybrid Afro-American heritage. And certainly, here is a po e t co be closely watched. AI:1ong other Chicago poets who published volumes are: Gilbert, I-lv Own llallelui a hs (1971); Chiri, An /\cknowled ~ement to Mv Afro-American Brother (1968 ) ; Perkins, Black is Beautiful (1968); Winberli (Eben) ~h e cto Scenes (1968) and Revolution (1968) (' 'a new Ina·ck voice to .:ilar01 the establishmerit"-Perkins); Hargaret Durroughs, \-Jhat Sha ll I Tell mv Children W1to ·a re Rlack (1968); Greenlee, Blues for an Afric11 n Princess (1971); Lucille Patterson, Moon in Blacl~ (1974); Steph~ny, Hovinc Deep (1970); Royster , The Black Door (1971); Kgositile, Spirits Unchained (1969) an<l For l'!elb.:1 (1970); Butler, Black Visions (1968); and Jerodd To Paint a Black Picture (19&9). Yet a newer group, not all Clticagoans, have been published in Third World Press ' New Poets series : Anr,ela Jackson, Voodoo/Love Ma r, ic (1974); Damc1li (Denise Burnett), I Am that He May Be (1974); Fred !lord, After Hours (1974) and \ �Sandr c1 Roy ster, \/ome n Ta lk (1974). Th e se yo u ng po e ts d ea l with a v ar i e t y of subj e cts, thou gh with a s ma ller variety o f f o r~ s ; mostl y , however, th e y are concern e d with revolution, self-prid e , h e t e ro sex u a l r e lat ions and Tilack lif e in urban Am e rica. Amon g t he _ 1:w ny ,',oo d thin g s which e me r g ed fr om Chic ago was th e "n ew " Gwend o l yn Brooks who, as we s aw in Cbnpter V, ha s c1 l.ways been s olid in her Blackness a nd wonderfully ma g ic in her po etry. The Bro oks of In th e Mecca (1968), Riot (1969), Family Pictur e s (1970) a nd Al o nenes s (1 9 71) is not drasti c all y diff e r e nt from her form e r self • . In Report From Pnrt On e (1972), her autobio graphy, she appar e ntl y approved the u se of a MA<lhub11ti Pr e face which t e lls more about his own rcadin ~ an tl writinz pr obl ems th a n it J ocs about this g reat woma n's poetry . Madhuhuti com p lc1ins . ah o ut h e r c omp l e x vers e ; but her poetr y has never b e en "eas y " to read (prob a bly never will) and I'-iot c o ntinu e s that tradition of tou g hn ess , a po e try whi c h yie ld s men nin ~ after many readin g s. She employs mytholo gy , histor y , sarcas m n_nd ·d rama t ic dialo r, ue to reveal Hhite middle class pomposity even in face of a "lUot.," · lat~r incorporating Bing Crosby and Melvin Van Peebles, and aspe~ts of love. The ''Black philosopher" is th e thread that spines the section call1::d The: Third Sermon on the \farpland. Th e re a r c traces o f h e r t e r se c.i rli c r s tyle, p a rti c ul a r ly h e r unique word-sound .pro g r es sions: as he r und e rfed Ji a u nc h_c•s ·je r k _j azz . And a wh it e J ih e r a l, o l>servin 6 a r .io t, ask s "But \JJJY do Th e s e Peo ple o f fe nd t he:msL:lvcs? " a Jdin ~: th a t lt i s time to "h e lp." Fam ily Pi c tur e s c o ntain s th e s na ps hot s of h e r n ew y o, 111~; heroe s , th e p eopl e wh o h e l pe d h e r be come "Black." But despite 11c ll- r.1ean L11g sci lut e s to K0 o s itil e , Don , Br a d fo r d , a nd yo un ~ Afr .i ca ns , th e re i s a 111o not o ny of praise. Admitt e d l y, no on e is pe r fec t, a nd s h e i s a p pa r en tl y _____________________ _ ....__ �struf.?)in['., .:is har d with conunitment ns she is \-Jith the ncH poet r y . " Spee ch to the Youn1.1, " dedicated to 0\·111 In chilJren , the sensitive mother-poet gives advise that many ano t her young person might cuddle anJ cherish : Live not for The-En<l-of-the-Son~ . Liye in ci1e a16ng . Su ch advice comes at an i 1:1po rtant juncture when the world is mov in g righ t .ilong, to use a clich e , and l eavi ng behind those too mired in their own "self-revel.itions" to look , lis t en .::ind learn . Yet one c rownin g salute to this gre.::it lady of Black l _t ters wc1 s an impressiv e antholo:1y of poe t ry and t es t imonial s , To Gwen Hith Love : A Tribute to Gwendolyn llroois (1911), assembled by MuJhubut i .::ind others. Chica~;o poets were only a skip from places like Gary , Indianapo lis, Detroit, c1nd St . Lo uis , Cleveland , Kansas Ci t y , and the closeness provided interchan ge s and excha nges on all levels . Hotm-m ' s poetry output , like that of other communities , was also interwoven with related symb ols· :1110 ·· expressions of the new consc i ousness : ~~rgaret Danner ' s Boone Douse for · the Arts , Rev. Cleage ' s Shrine of_ the Black Hadonna, Motown Records, Bro.::idside . Press , Vaugl1n's Books t ore , and area Black studies projects. The poet~y h~b for the l ate six t ies and sev enties , of course, is RandalJ J s Erondside Press . Randail has changed as a poet and per so n, he says, in ways that pe rhaps parallel the changes in Gwendolyn Bro ol~s ·. A "f.ither" fi g ure among some new Black poets, he publishes dozens of them (over 100 at this writing ) , releases new books of his own poetry , serves as distribu t or of Breman ' s lle r itage Serles, and t ravels \.,,idely cJ.s .::i l e cturer , teach e r , libr.::irian anJ tr :msL1 tor o f Russi.::in poetry. A formalist by training anc.1 temper.::iment, T(andall c.lescribe<l hls new poetic stance in a statement in Modern a n.J Contemporary AfrorArnerican Poetry �(Bell, 1972) : ~fy poetics is to try to write poetry as we ll .:i s I can . I think I have said elsewhere th.:it the function of the poet is to write poetry . My earlier poetry was more formal. a· I nm tryi11 2; _to wri.te No\,r looser , more irregular, more colloquial .:ind more idiomatic veise. I abhor logorrhe.:i, and try to make my poems as concentrated as possible . Indeed, It~mdall h.is tried to do just th.:it- - moving from a traditional to a loose conversational verse. This he attempts in volumes like Love You (1970 ) and After the Killinr, (1973) . village o.r the "Miracle " e, -c \Jhen Randall is descrihin g a g;i.rl in an Africnn · love , he comes over genuinely and s tron::; . nut poer:is like " Green App l es" and "Words \fords \for<ls ' 1 show him out of · his field. These and otl1er pieces are merely vertical prose , appearing as rou~hed-obt lett~rs . But he is primari l y a librnrian , publisher , and eJiior whose service to Black poets has been and remains invaluable . This is seen not only -in his prod uction of their work, but in the many antholor,ies which he has edit e d . With , Chicagoan llargare t Burro ughs , he co-edited Malcolm : Poems on the Life and Death of Malcolm X (196 7), a foresigh t ful and - cornrnanclinn work . · Also to hi s e d it ing c r edit are Black Poetry (196~ ) and The Rlack-Poets (1971), the l atte r imbalanced a nd a ppa r ent ly quickly thrown toge t he r since it has practically . no Introduction and contains no bio-:bibliographical material on the poets . In addition to 11,m<lall and Har[iaret Da nner, other poets "i.n this upper Midwest area are James Randall (1~33Thomas (1939- ) , James Thompson (1936- ), Richard ) , William Thizpen (1948-1971), Naomi }~<lc ett , Hayden, Rocky Taylor (Teju1aol1 Oloi3lioni) (194_5- ) , Pearl Cleage Lomas (now living in ) , Malalka Wangara (1938- ~ - - - - - -- - -- - - -- - - - - - - - ), �Re;~L11:1l ,l 1./ilson (1S27Leonea<l l~aily (1906- ) , SoneL-2yatta (1956) , He lLa Boyd (1950- Jill \!itherspoon (19.'.i 7- ) , Carolyn Thomp son (1944) , Sh irley 1/ooJson (1 936- ), La Donna Tolbert (19~6) an<l Frency llo (1950- ,.1. ~ . .t~ • ~ t~t:~ - t,: ), ), Ste ll a Crews [;CS (19 -'f0- · can be [ound iu· Te n , .\ ,~1:oa<lsicle Tr c,asu ry, The !Hack Poets, anJ (l(..,. ), jn ). They t he sn, 11 iJ\ ?,_J indivi ,lu .:1 1 volumes re:..;uLirly puLlishe<l by Hroc1Jside Press. For further de- tail s on Detroit anJ other P.roadsidc poets see Broadside Authors and /\r tists (Leonead Bailey, 1974). James ltamlall h.:is published Don ' t /\sk He \·.'ho I /\m anJ Cities .:rnd Other Disasters (1973). llis poetry is i ntense , con11'iandJn)3 and dr...i 1,1atic . In " Netuork. . News," we are told that For years he ' cl watched the ~:rowin g 111:idi1<.~ss of the State . There ls irony and pathos as in "Street Games" where a b oy is blacl~ as the ancient curse of Africa A different kind of poetry is written by O]ogboni \Jho intennin:1lcs drum rhyLhms , incantatory meditations anJ sharp estLblish1nent-dlrected Larbs in Drum Son;'. (1969), Intro<lu,ed by C:,,,endolyn Brooks . The poet is also an artist who tells us in "Untitled " that the nir,ht contains indifferent stars . . .. · llayJen has Le en teaching at th ,! Uu iv ersity of Hichir,an , his alma mnter, since tb e lat e' sixties when' he le ft Fisk under pressure. l!is Words in the l-lournin°, time (1970) ~mticipatc the theme of J ay n e Cortez ' s overpower.lng " Festivals c, Funerals. " He seeks a place v1here man Hill no longer be called ni gge r, gook , kite or hunkie , _but " man. " Th e re nre fri ghten in f, poems ,::md terri[yin g images in \.Jords as Hayclen surveys the " Sphinx" ("my joke and me " ) , . i " Soledacl " ("cradled by drugs , by jazz" ), - - - - - - - - - - -- - - -- - -- 11 Kodachror.1es of the Island " �("fin gerless hands " ) nnd " El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz" ("the w::ikinr-; dreai:1 11 ) . "Zeus over Redeye " refl ec ts on n visit to the r,~'dsto ne J\rse1rnl. It is an intense drama, joining other great poems ns a major statement on our times . Western man ' s mythic totem, his depravity, his quixotic movements at the speed of a 1,lur, the hur:wn "loom" of t ens ion--all a r e sta~ed aga inst th e hacblrop missile arsenal where decith-machines bear th e names of ancient Grneco-Roman mytholo gical fi gur es . mythologies" to "cor.1e to birth ." Such namin r.; allows death-denline "new Among terms associated 1.Jith Hayden ' s nightmarish world of visibl /invisible and anticipated violence are dra gon, hydra, basilisk, tulips, corQllas, Zeus, J\pollo, Nike nnJ llercules. The missiles tower ("st as is") as a sacred phallic grove . .. . Apparently the guides cit th e arsenal cannot satisfactoril y ans1,er que stions about the missiles ' des tinies and dan ge rs : Your partial answere reassure me less than they appall . I feel as thou r;h invisible fuses 1-1ere burning all a ro un d us burning all around us. Heat- quiverin ~s p,itch dan ~e r's hypersensitive skin. The very sunlir,ht here seeri1s flammable. And shadows r.; ive us no relieving shade. Dismal and final, Ha yden ' s poem adds its own pa rticul a r tone, style and language to the leng theninf totem of the New Black Poetry. For, desp it e his disa r, re cments with the Black J\esthcticians, ther e is no doubt that �"Z eus " r ea ffirms a b e li ef expressed b y youn~er, sometimes loude r, poe ts: that the Hestern world is rloomed to d est ruction at its m-m hands (uill "off itself," a yo unze r poet mi ~ht sa y) and this is . what has been decreed. In fact, the theme of an approaching end is quite "American" in poetry, still being pre.:ic hed by whit e poet s. and spokc~s1,ian : from Dobby Dylan to Bi lly Graham . Rich con tri b ut ions liuvc illso been made by poets lllinois and Hisso uri. i.111J ar ti sts in so ut hern Eas t St. Louis anc..l St. Louis, thou ;;h located in t\✓0 different states and separated by the Mississippi , have a mut u a l hi story tha t ~ocs back before th e days of the f:.1mous Dred Scott Case . These Blncl~ co11m1unities , alternately mir ri n~ anc..1 loving , worked closely to ge ther duri11 6 th e 1tei~ht of t!te Black Art:s Hovcmen t. Poe t s and artists Here drawn to or s upported by HAG (!Unck Artist Group ), House of Umoja, The Blacksmith Sltop of CJ.ne t Cul tu .re , Black Liberator projec t, the House of Truth, Impack llouse, the Experiment in Higher Ed uc.a t i on at SIU, Sophia llouse, Katherine Dunham 's Performing· Arts Train.ing· Center ( EIIE_- SIU ), Black lliver lfri ters, and the So uthend l,ei~hborhood Center. Some of t he poets in th e area wer e Bruce Rutlin, Rhea Sharlem Carant, Sherma n Fowl e r, Red1 ,1onJ, Cynthia Conley. (who later joined OBAC), Arthur Dozier , J.,obb. Elliott, Austin Bla ck (192 8- ) (who went to Los Angeles), Pved Horton;_ Dwight Jenkins, Romenethn Washington , Donald Henderson, .Henry Osborne, Jon TTil shn , Vincent Clark, Gloria Walkir; Vince nt Terrell, Reginald Al len Turriage, Hayne Loftin, Derrick 1.Jright , Crcgo:ry ·Anthony, Katherine Dunhm:1, and others . Hritings by th ese poets are in c luded in Sid es of the River: ,\ Mini-i\n th olor,y of Black 1-Jritin5s (196 9 , Redmond ), ne tt y Lee's St . Louis-b ased Proud magaz in e which offers prizes, Th e Hil l Creek Intelligencer, n special issu e of Sou ' wester (fall, 1968 , selected by Redmond), The Black Libe r ator , Th0 Crea t or (1969) , Tambourine (19 66 , \Jhite and Schwartz), Collectiot1 (196 8 ), �Volume I of Poems by Blacks (1970). Dum.:ts, \Jho t;:iu r.,h t for a year at E..1st St . Louis (SIU-1.:J-IE , 1967-196 3 ), an<l ReJmond co-sponsor~<l writin~ prograllls in the l'...:tp-\Jrite Now \Jorksl10ps and Black River hfriters group . Collection was stu<lent-proJuceJ under Dumas' supervision, with Fowler an<l I.inJa Stennis serving as editors . EJ liot t writes, in 11 T11C· Dream Time," about the "spirochete wornb" of the mo th~r of the universe, the Phoenix, and the Jeath "f ashioned ut the end" of 500 years . Great Phoenix that she was, the mother of the universe now leaves the dreamer 1-llth only her creut murky sexuality .... Elliott is a dreamer anJ durre alis t but !Hack ushers in a diffl!rent tc1:1perument with his The Tornado in My Mouth (1966), Ile 11as the irrev erence of · the Beats, the funkiness and <lrive of the hard boppers, an<l the s_e_x uulity of one in hou pursuit. ''Asexu.:tl Flight" says a lllan's last wish is to h e banishe<l to the island of remiss and loose his love. Another mood is presented in "Razor Mama Democracy/. the ache in J-D" where the blue haze !Jurts and now the hair is turning " into ,:in ach ing r;rey." Black salutes "the gladiator" in "Coeval Drums for Lc-roi " hut in th e meantime he covers quite a bit of ~round : "the dea<l arterial insanity"; "futility in jil[rneJ crags"; "Kierke gaa rd/Sartre"; "lil~e drippin g, brine"; "ov er th 12 \-1ln<low of my being"; and f lna lly " Iler pmwr in howlin g \vinds" bring s A DIUJHBEAT FO:R LEIW I . -------------- -- - -- - - - ,. �f . "Blnck & Funky" i s subtitled " a hyrothctical orr,as1:111 onJ there is irreverence in "DAHH YOUR god ! II His II (a poem fo r HALCOLH . :n II is sub ti t l d "th e lib erated war-h orse ." In " Ca rryin~ a S ticL " Fo1-1le r c.sks : \11110 c.:1r c s, that I h ad yesterdny I s stale g um for breakfast? "Thinking " n llows v ar i o us ·i rnnges s tr eam nnd burst forth vomiting tictin z s only the mind can h c nr . Student-mother Romenetha Was hin g ton writes about tl1 0 pressur Ps on tnJay ' s Black woman watchine people Scurryin ~ from sun to sun •.• Also pulled al o n g , she says I protest but still I run. Loftin, a youn g poet who writes with economy and simplicity, su111marizcs Wrlght ,. and IialJwin up in "Reali ty": out of t!t e cotton fields anJ bur'nlng suns t o overcrowded citi es _ and s h ~,des of slu1J1 !; Itc:Jrnond anJ Fooler fonnded th e !.; Jack JUver Writer s publishin'.':, co111p.:111y \vhich brou~ht out Sides of th , Itiver . Currently under the supervision of Ca'ther-i.nc Yo un1.;e , t!t c pre:;s lws µublisheJ 1:.ed111ond ' s volumes : Toms (bru:.1dside) A Tale of Two (196 3 ), ,\ T::ilc of Ti1ue &. Toilet Tissu e (µ a 111phlet) (196 9 ), Sentry o [ the Four ColJcn Pillars (1970) , River of Eones nnd Flesh and Dlood (1971 ) , Sonus Fro:: an ,\fro/Phone (1 972) , In A Time of P..ain & Desire (197]), - - - - - - - - - - - - -- -- - - - -- - - -- - - - • • �anll an Lp , lHoodl Lnl:s , Thin;, s \73S nu Sacre<l P l:1c c s (1 973) . Consider L,rncliness as Thcs~ published in 1973 1.Jy C . nt ro Stucl i r Sc.::rn1bi J nto.nwzionali in lLv.ly. Redmond, a ncJ.tive of East St. Louis, strives fro Black famil, hoo<l (irmn~J i a t c and extended) in his poet r y ; thou~h he a ttempts to do this \tithout forced .::il]egianc ,,~; ,_ h1 itl1out 11 disfii3u r enent of per c ep tio1 s ," but by al lO\vin g the Je e <l - s h:, pinG wore.ls co11c naturally and historically . lli s poe try ranges from humo rou s folk portrnits like " Invas i on of the No s e ": llis nose was his r adar , l!is eyes ic y darts that moved fas t e r tl1 a n s peed - of-so und jets. Il e could rap like a pneumi.l tic drill Or croon like Smokey Dill when th e occasion ::i ro si:> . to consiJ~rations of lov e under s train as in "Inside My Perimet er ": Inside my perimeter Of fear s A unit of g uerillas S tri kes at Lhc barbed-\/ t. l·e llovels th .1 L ·hoard ou r love: Tha t inc arce rate our needs-An insurBent army Ston, s the bastille u f pride Shells t h is fac a J e of custo1,1, Knells t he collap se Of th e st r aw men inside us-Accepts t he sun, Al lO\•.'S tl l(· co ntort ed face · of ,: �Stress to smil ~ again-To s low a ga in ! Allows Love to Live . Els e\,hcrc in the lar 6 er nrei..l there \Jere/are other i3oings-on _in poetry : Im-. .'.l , Neocas k a. a n,1 Kc1nsas . City wh e re l!llbur Rutl eJg e (1 9110- ) a m! ot!i e rs as8oci n t (•J \•l ith the Af ro -American Cultural Center and the JH.-ick Wi:iters Horlu ;hop r e ceived , s sistance and exposur e . Amon ~ these poets ure Nary Ruth Spicer, Guiou Tay ,1r, Hi l lesse Hes t er and J ,1 ckie Hashin g ton . in Anth o l o;,,y: Black Hrit e r ' s 1-lorl~s hop (Kizna, 1970) Some o f th c r.1 are incluJ e d ;:J 1Hl Wnshin g ton has pub- lished Jomo (1971) . Locat ed nt the University of Denver for the year 1974-1975 where he s ubstituted for Hphahl c le Juring a leave of absence, Kg ositile U.93 8emb o di.es Pn n-Africani ~, m in fact a ll d symbol . ) Ile was born in Johannesbur g , Sou .h i\fricc1, nnd has be e : exiled in the United States sine 1961. His . articles , poems and interviews ha 1e been published on an international scale, and he h;:is t n u :>; ht at several Ame r i can colleges and universities . In ad,lition to books a] rc:id y menti o n e d, he h . s publj s hed Hy }lame Is Africa (1 971) ;:incl edit e d The \lord is ll e r e : Poetry from l·lodern Africa (197J). llis own esthetic is stated in hi s Introduction t o the antholo gy: Poetry, th e word at its most ex·p re s sive, can be a prayer, an appeal, condemnation, encoura r~ment, affirmation--thc li s t of en de avors is endless . And i f it is authentic, as anythin ~ else ex p ressiv e of a p e opJe ' s spirit, it is al, ~ays sociaJ . This con c ept he e mbraces in hi.s mm poems, especially in Africa where in the Introduclion, Gwendolyn Brooks writ r s thnt his Art is life wo r ked with; ... �llis Afro-Ame r ican brothe r s incorporated the Africanisms into their works and, K~ositsile combines his own indiginisms witl1 u mastered fluency of American Bla c tisms . He assays the ,~a l e of our turnu tuous times (in Africa and America), in terming linr; a n a c f[ u ired Bl a c k st r eet l an ;: uage wi t h a der:iand i ng and strin r, ent form . One cf tlte mo s t ;:ible crafts1nen, he unites excellent poems about chilJren, women, v i o lence, 1 usic, 1l~1 lcolm X, Lur.1un1ba, Gwendolyn Brooks, /1.frican Jances , eLll y llo]liday, or ''The Nitty Gritty" in ,,hich the~ once furious SLrngs ,1re nm, frozen on battered black lips The poets of t:1e. East , So u th , Hid,,,est anJ near West are a bit more than a hop, sl~lp and jumr from California , but many of them \•Je r e ln ~; pir 2 d by tv appea1anc c> s , lli!L ion~:l na 6 ..tzinc coveru~e, and cross-country tours of the W.:itts poets . Born, ,, ,:; i t 1-1ere, ie t ween the Cnlifornia sun a nJ tl1e rebellion of 1965 , the H.:itts \-lritcrs ' \ .orkshop was initially umler the direction of BudJ Schu luei:g . vision 0 ( Later , .:is 11lJer wr iters left unJ newer ones came in, tl1e super- · the \/Orkshop ,-, as assumed by Har r y Dolan and Herbert Simr,1ons . Related centers of culture and influence included the \!atts llappenin~ Cuffee House , the shor t-J.lveJ 'hreu magazine , J:,he \fat ts l~epertory Thc.:i t er , the Acquiarian 1 Bookstore, the Sons of \latts , the Bla c k Ponth~rs, Karenga s US oq1arii2ation , nnJ Frederick Douglas i; lhi ~e r s ' House which housed t l 1e \/a t es writers program . · Among those associate d with t his n nJ i.1ther writing groups were tl.llton HcFarlane , ) , Troupe Bowen, Pamel.:i Donegan (19~3- ' (1 9 131 ) , Robert ), Stanley Crouch (1945- ) , -Emme r y Evans Lance Jeffers , Lino , K. Curtis Lyle (l94L1- (1943 - ) , Fanita (1943 - ), Vallejo Ry.:in Kennedy (19~3- ) , Blos;,01 Powe , Ojenke (1\lvln Saxon , 19L,7- C . k . Horclnn<l, Jimmy Sherman (194 !, - ) , Johnie Scott (1948- ), T:dna Gipson ) ' ) ' ) , Ernest ) HayhanJ, Jar:ies Tl omas Jackson ( 192 ,'- (1946- ' (1947- ) , Simmons (1930Eric Priestly .) ' ); Jayne Cortez (1933- ) ' �l\lo s so1 ,1 Pmvc (19 29- ) , Sonora Hcl~eller (1 9],!f - Blr<l 2ll Chew (1913- ) , Riclhian, , anc.1 other s . antholo 0 i e s: ), Harley Hims (1925- ) ' Their \vorks arc in t\vO From the Ashes (19G7, Schulber3) and Wa tts Poets and Wr iters (196 8 , Tr oupe). Other poerns are scattered throu 2,h such periodicals as Los Angeles Ha :- ,:.1z.ii1c, Sitreo , Confrontation, and \le st . Seen as a movement, the Watts group, in quality a nd quantity, emerge ns one of the most powerfuJ_ on th e New Black Poetry scene (roughly res embling the magn ificent lloward g roup) . For although the poetry is not uniformly good or excellent, th ere i s cournge i n the visions, styles and th ewes th.:it one looks ha rd t o find in othe r groups . This may be du e in part to tl1 C' ml :; ratury patterns of lll ncks in th e Hest--most of these poets were not born in Los Angeles-- and the racial kaleidoscope of California . Whatever th e reasons, th e re is a prismatic rani3e in the poetry that moves from th e earth-1101.wn musicality of Jnyn c Cortez, across the a llusory nnd often mysLica l _ex_c ursions of Lyle, t o the si gnifying blue s interludes of Crouch who has a l so writte n s01ae <larin,_; and seminal criticism in Bla ck World and the Journal of Black Poetry . :.in' t No Ambulances for • no Ni13guhs Tonight (1972) is the titl.:: of both hi s hook and Lp recording which includes "r ap " as we ll as -poetry , wiL.h liner not e s hy Lyle . Crouch uses folk forms ancl themse i ntercwined with mus ic a nd variou s <lramntic t ec hniriues . Many of th e poems are deJicated t o mus icians lil: c Pnrl~cr and Co ltrane; oth e rs at t empt th e complicated s pont anei t y of live j az:: solos . The ti.tle poc1•1 anti cip.1tcs th e day of the f ina l riot when there wi l l . not be "no " ambulances for "ni g~ahs". But the poem's hero , Honkey Junior, · " go t on his job" like Na t Turner- . I Lyle says l1i s influ ences a te Artaud, Octavio Paz, Cesar Vallejo, Cc saire, and other s . His poetry is •,rounded in elliptical. phrases and obscure information • �which h e co nstricts into frightenin ~~ , surreal ima ge s and states. " Sometlmes I Go to Camarillo & Sit in the Loun~e" <lescr j_hes ho\v the poet s t.-ires into "an awnin)j of spirit ," viewinr, t he uorld as yellow tru11pets of starving blues Yet he;:ir i. n~ a _\'ietn ;:i: ,-.: Sc i,;othe r' s " ultra-hl[.)1-frequency screaw, ." told that "cob al t LulL~L!. ' ~.1i10 s '. t the henrt or t liere j_s a need to Sc ream." or \!e .ire t il e "J one ranie:r " i.n "Lacrlnws llm:ever , Lyle ' s most fa1 ;1ous poc' i,1 is "T Can Get it for You IT11olesalc ," .:.1 staten ,·,1t 0:1 the contempornry politi cal-r eligio u s- raci al scene . Oj 'nl~e has nn u1tllr1ite<l ran:3 c or intell e ctun l anJ s,h:la l concerns is he s c ul pts _1i i. s poetry from tlte <liverse in~re lien ts that produced the Ah-o-,\Jncrlcan . Apparently well-versed, ref lect ln~: hls f~ r eat knm1leJ1;e o [ Graeco-Rouau cLJs ~ Le s , " l\letck Pmver" has th e lyre of " Blnck Orpheus " pierce the dark solit u de of a 11.Jdean world : Ile wo1tders into anci e nt Greece .rnd in the same poem . is a cui.uuot i un caused by li~hlning nnJ frn'1ine, assassiu.J.ting tin people and whole grass-blaJ,. s? Later on Dio Lc nes, Socr.:1 tes a nJ th e Ora cle of Delphi e nt er tl1 .- poem. Blit these: characters only come t o \Jatts to fi nd pc1op le escapinr, lnto .J " toxicant " s ane t oo - true truth .... O_jenl~e :.lso 11ro te an Ln tr )ci uction to Evans ' b ook Tile Love Poe t Ev ans ' r e.::i Jin G ability, Ojenk.: said: (1971) . 1'Emmery is crying slyly into you r cnr .'' F,)r this poet, Evans ' ,, " Roach es " d epic ts n f.::i1;1iliar scene to -sor.1c : t 1vo ro aches dance across th c1 room to the tune of pover t y ; ... About �Scot t is one of t he mo re ucll Imo .r11 of the 1/o.tts poets . In "T he Fi sh Part y ," he s.:iys The fish are r;athering again tonight, ... And fish-watchers, i r_; norant of th e wor ld's prob l ems , ze t th e ir cha r ~es from trying t o 2ue~_s \-.1lwt th .:: fish will do . During th e conversation , Sco tt t .:.ilks partnt hetica lly about ,:~rind pover t y, but all i s Hey , look ? 11 excla □ atnrily interrupted: · Goldie has ea t en J es us up! 1-latts , 196 6" is a poem millions he ard on nat i onal tv . It has th e familiar th eme of Blacl: ra ge and ,,h it e indif ference . • Dut Scott closes it on memorab l e lines : The wrn named Fear ha s inh er it eJ half an acre , a nd is <1n[jry . Other l~tt s poe t s deal with love, viol ence, contemplation of fr•cdom and music . Hany left \fatts after th e l a t e sixties. Troup e wen t to Ohio Universi t y . (t o e dit Confron t a tion) and publish ed Enb r yo (1973), As h Doors and JuJu tui t ars (1975,, and co-edited Giant Talk: on to New York. Third World Voices (197~), a f ter moving Lyle, who has _not published a voluem, went to Was'hingt.Qn Universit y in St. Louis, and recently returned to Los Angeles~ Ja~ne Corte~ went to New York where she has lived and wrote since the late sixties. Her thr~e books are Pisstained Stairs and the Monkey Man's Wares (19o9), Festivals and Funerals (1971) and Scarificatioris (1973). She has also recorded an Lp, Celebrations and Solitude, ' (1974). · Her themes and styles are broad, but mostly embrace music as aspect and form. Africa, as stru gr; le and s pirit, is also a dominant th eme in her poetry. Pisstaincd is especially rich in its · t erweavings · in o [ mu si· c an cl s t r _u zg 1 e. "The Road" and is 1· s "where another l{anl<. moans'.' �Stoney Lone s ome "Lead" describes the kind o f hard li f e th a t i s "cra cklin ho t a sunrise." Lead, of course, is Lead P,~lly whom the "nigguhs" de s pera tel y want to hear spit th e blues out. li e r strur\g l e s a r e no t simple "contrivances" as they chronicle the ha rdshi 1J s a nd i~ ood times o f Dinah, Birc..l, oi:-nctte, Coltran e , " fa ts" Navarro, Cli ffo rd Brown a nd o thers--a veri f iable poetic ta pe stry o f Black e xp res s ion in d ef i a nc e o f death, f rom one who would ... eat mud to touch the r oot o f you .... Among other Southern California poe t s are Robert Dow en (1936lloze (194..,- ) , Arthu.r ;, ) , Dee Dee McNeil ,l:;,...,J- ), Kinamo Hodari (1~4v- Bill Thompson, and Lance Williams. Northern California has also been characterized by in- anJ t rans mi gr a tion o f Black poets and wri t er s. Indee d a l is tin ~ o f poe ts f rom th e ~cne r a l a r ~a o( the Sn11 Fr a ncis co Bay re a ds like a na tiona l conv entio n : Reed, You n3 ( 1939- ) , Anr, cl o L '1i s (1 950- ) , Mil ler, Lm1rc nce McC :.iu~;h (19L10- (Ha rv:!.n X), Lco ua \)e lch ( Hcifoir ( ) (n m, a t Br own), Conyu s (19 4 2- ) , Hnr per (] 938- Cl ycle Ta ylo r ( (1 947- Con cn lv~s ( l937- ) , He n a.:rn f'. r o1 111 ( ) ), Jo s eph ) , Gl en llylc s (1933- ) , Da vid llend crso11 , ,Jo n Eckel s ( Cc·o r:;c Ra rlow (1948- ) , ) , L.V. Ha ck ), El Muh aj ir (1944 ~ ) , Jo yc e Ca rol Thomas ·( 19 38- ), ) ) (Muu mba ), Pa t Pa rk er ( De Leon Ha rrison (J 9L1l- ) , Sarah Webster Fa bio (192 8- a nd }~ya Ange lou (1928- ). , ) ' ) , \H lli arn .\nde r s on : Ba y a re a ac tiv i t y in th e ar ts has been he i r,ht ened nnd enh a ncc<l b y the Sa n Franci s co Af r o-Ameri can ll l s tor i ca l a nd Cultu ra l So c i e t y , bookst ore s su ch as Herc , llarcus .::md New Day (Go ncalves ), nc tivit i.cs o f l' a nthci-s an J s i mila r t ro ups, the Rainbow Si r,n cultura l c ent e r i n ll e r l~c ley , J·"'\ I ,• �Nairobi College , a nd nume rous other cultura l a nJ lite ra ry pr uj octs. Poems by man y bard s are inc l u<led in Hill e r's Dice s of Bla ck Bones ( 19 70), J ourna l o f Black Poetry, Yarclbird Rea der (a semiannu n l e d it e<l by Reed, Yo un g , Cecil Brown, Youn g and My le s ), Umbr a Dl nckworks (H end e rson, all issues, esp ec i a lly 1970-71), and o t h or nationa lly di s tribut e d antholo r.; ies a nd period ic a ls. Re cd ha s published three voluuc s: c hurch (1971), Conjure: and seve ra l novel s . critics: cat e chi sm of d ne o.:11.1 e r i c.J n hoodoo Selected Poems, 1963-19 70 (1972), Ch.:i tt anoo ga (1973), His work has dr awn a curious misture of nt!je c tiv es from "brillia nt," " c ute," "jumbles a nd puzzl es ," "imp ort a nt," "bad comics" and so on. Tnceed ,Re e J wr it e s hi s po e try i n Lo h i s nov e ls ·and his nov e l s i n t o his poems . In this s e rvic e , h e emp l oys .dialec t s , Voo doo , t he occult, whimsic a lity , wit, mysticism, satire, which he obviously e uj oy s, a ll reinforc ed by .:i ssorted libr a ry information and stre e t-instinct s . lli.; violates time ba rri e rs, placinG an ancient Cr e el~ fi gure in a contem po ra r y poem, or vice ver s a. His verse f orms are experime ntal, rou ghly recallin ~ th o Beats and o tl1 e r r ecent or p.:1st stylistic irreverencies. There a r e no s ac red .cows for ReoJ \vho sometimes lambasts· Blnck nationalists nnd whit e lib e r ,1 l s in the same poem. Gen e r a lly, his techniques wor k (some a re a st oni s hi n: ; ); bt1t he often s pends to o 1:1uch time a tt ncki n;'. re a l or cr eat ed a nta [_;o nists a nd liavi nG fun at tl i.:.: expens e of r e aders. lli s titles alone are enou [!_ h to keep you slapping your thi ~h or scr~tching yo ur hea d: "I nm il "Re por t o f t he Reed Con:111 is s i on , 11 cowbo y in the hoat of Rn ," "The r e 's a whal e in my thi gh," "The fera l pioneers," "The Blac k Cock," "G r i s Cr is," Pinto, which She al s o Rout ed." 11 AnJ the Devil Sent a ford In 1973 Re eJ b cc aic1e th e f ir s t Bl a c k \ffiter to b e n ominat e d fo r a Na tio na l Book !'-. wnrd in two c c1 te go r ies . - - - - - - -- - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - �GoncRlves ( Dinga ne), an occas i on~ l po e t , i s u nique in his int elle ctualt yp o grap hical tap es tr y of ideas (se e BJnck Fire), but h i s serv i ce to Black poetry has been more obvious in h is wo rk as found er-edito r of Jonr n a J of HL1c k Po etry. He also served as poetry ed it or of Black Di.nlor;ue. A q ui et , but stea d y , i nfl ue n c e o n t he t!cw Black Poetry , h e has 1ff.itt12n some of t he most informed cr itici sm t o co11ie o ut of the period. Currently h e: ru n s/opcrat8S Neu JJ.iy nook.store in San Frnncisco, where Th e Journal nn<l its pres s ;.ire hcndquartered. Amo n g poe t s publish ed Ly the presi; arc Nenl and Uelt o n Sm.i.tli (Pen etrat ion, 1971), a virtuoso poe t 11ho was horn a nd rais e d in San l'r a n c i.sco . " tfa l coJm" enc.ls discuss.in t th e l~incls of tracks t e ,irs 1,1,, h.0 nncl t0.l l in}~ t l1e. · reader tha t in my h ea rt there are many unmarked g rnves. There a re a lso word- g ifts in "the dan g er zone,'' "If I could hold You for . Li ght, 11 "for a sorceress" ("you kee p chang ing me into air") and "Blac·k · Mo ther" ("an odd ecstasy movin g "); these join blues, excursions throu p.,h ·city streets, and thoughts on Africa .. Youn1; and Harper both teach wri ting at S.tanford and Brown. Yoi.m g has published Dancin p, (19o~) and The Son ~ Turnin P. Back i nt o -I t self (1971), as well as nov els a nd articles. His 'p oetry satirizes militants ·, salutes white and Third World po ets, and inc or porates legends into a bro ad base of linguistic knowled 8 e, t i tles o[ hi s books. There is a consistency of interest as seen in the In "Erosong " he finds himsel f dan cin r "naked" thou gh J\11 my shores had been p ulled u p 11 '' es, the Secret Mind Hhls p ers , " dedica ted t o Kaufmn n , calls poetry a "tree" forever at y our door .... - - - - - - - - - -- - - -- - - -- - -- - �('. Yo unR ran Res over the whole of the life experience, writin ~ about squirrels, jazz musicians, Spain, Stockholm, ni ght time a nd sorrow. His poetry is markedly diff erent from that of Harp e r who le ft California in 197u. llar pe r's volumes are Dear J ohn, Dear Coltrane (l:,7-., ) , llistorv is Yo ur Ch,m Heartbeat (1,711, Photo grn phs: Want a Hi tness (1973 1 (1::,,4). Nega tives: , History as Apple Tree ( 19/2;, Son,~ Debridement (l'.- 73 ; , and Ni 1~ht ma re Ber, ins Responsibility Praise for his poetry has come from a wide spectrum of eminent critics and poets, prima rily academicians, including Gwendolyn Brooks and Ha yden. Critic M.L. Rosenthal recently sing led out Har per and Bar aka as important examples of Black poets contributing to the new Arne r -i can po etry scene New York Times Magazine, November 2..,, 197 -, J. ~ The Laurence Lieberma n has also praised Har per who received nominations for the National Book Award as ~ell as the Black Academy of Arts and Letters First Annual Poetry Award. Har pe r has kept a consistency o f tone which critics pa rticul arly en joy a nd though his poetry sometimes lacks metaphorical tension ~funk ? ) to ignite the important statements he makes about Black music, there is a f irm intelli nince at work. His themes are illusion, pained creativity, war, racism, ja z~, nature, histor y, death, and the mythological evolution of mankind. Huch of his poetry is personal, confessional , and he interweaves a medical vocabulary into some of it. and musicians. He often inclu.-;ies chants, hums, and names o f songs His musico-poetic concerns can be seen in these lines f rom "Dear John, Dear Coltrane": Why you so black? caus e I am \fuy you so f unky? caus e I a m �Wh y yo u so bla ck? c a use I a m Why y ou so sweet? c a use I am Why yo u ~o-.E_l a ck? cause I am a love supreme, a love su p reme: El Muh aj ir (Marvin and ad amantl y Bla ck: ... X1 is a different kind of poet, Is l am-in f luenced Fl y to Allah (Bo 'o , Black Man Listen , bu ~;, Woman-- Man' s Be s t Friend ~l i7 3;, the l a tter obvious l y a reje ct io n of wh i te America' s · f eti s h fo r a nima ls. Ea ch book s a lutes All a h a nd cont a ins some occasionally well-turned poetry interming led with proverb s, parab les a nd song s. He p r a i s e s Eli jah Muhammad, Tommy Smi th, a nd announce s th a t "Bi gg er · Thomas Liv e s!" I n " The Or i g ins o f Bl ackn ess " he says Bl ac k is no t a color. bu t t h at All color e c ome f r om Bla c k ...• Myles a n d Eckels are also at di.ff erent e n ds of t he poe t ic S[kCtrurn v1hile lfcN;lir is i n t he middl e. of h i s drm1 i nr,s a n ci poems. My l e s published Dow n & Co u ntry in 1 97 l1 . . ~H, a col l ige He surv eys cont empo r ary li f e , his u pbrin~in:~ on " Bebop and blues in Ph oen i x , " a n c.l his experiences as :rn artis t anc.l art s tuden t . Ecke l s ha::; mo v ed from a p o <..! t ry or- :rn r: e r and prote st to a " p o e t ry \lrit t e n by a ln1man b e i nr, , for huma n b e inr, s." lli s books include Black Dawn , Th i s Time Tomorrow, rnack Ri g h t On, Tlome is Wh ere the Soul Is (1969), 011r Business is in the S t reets (1 970 ), and Fire Si ~~n ( 1973) , whic h giv es its name t o his press . In his early phas e Ec kels wrote ·abou t " Black Is, 11 11 1Jcll, Mary, 11 �"In Men,ory o[ Marcus, " "A Respo nsible !·l ee gr ow Le ad e r," a nd other poem s a lso coining an inter e stin g tenn : Western Syphilization Fire Sir, n " f or th e fre e and will be," s hows a thema tic a nd cultural b readth 1/ as he writ <: s l ov e po ems ,:rn <l salutes freedom in 2, enera l. NcNa ir, a cosmic poet who brid ges African spirituality and his own psychi c revelatio ns, has published Earthliook (1972) -and Juba Girl (1973). Cert a inl y the world \Jill hear more from this gifted young wri t er. J\rnon~ northern California women poets, Haya Angelou i s prima ril y a prose and script tffit e r , but ltas pµblished a book of poems : Drink of Water 'For I Die (1971). Ju s t Civ e l!e A Cool It wa s nomina t e d for the Pulitzer Prize. Pat Parker's 1rnetry can be foun<l in an excellent little volume called Cli.il<l of l[y s e lf (1972) and Di ce s. She uses her ovm woman- feelings t o asse ss landscape of the current upheaval. "Brother" reveals contradictions in the love -but-hurt approach some Black men take towa rds their women . The "system" she has just been struck with, she says, is calle d a fist. Otl1e~ poems deal with humor <1nd tra ged y in husband-wife r e l a tions. In "A Moment Left liehin9 11 she asks Have you ever tried to catc h a te a r ? "From Dee p Within" says the way of a woman is turbul ent with many forces and colors of feelin gs, but A woman 's body must be tau ght to speak-- ... Pat Parke r's work searches b ehind the cosmetics and the vo gue to tl1 e truth and t he disturbance . So does the work 6f Joyce Carol Thomas whose two books, �Bitterswee t (1973) and Cryst a l llreezes (1974), were pub lished by Fire Si gn Press. lle r poems are about women's moods, church, Black mus ic, children , and love. There is a moder n feel and te x ture ih her lines which e conomize and without <lisp] ayin g a bru p tness or und cciph er al1l e code. Yet he r s tren gth is unmi s tc1kable a s in "T .rnow a Lady": I knO\J ii Lldy A careful queen She bows to no one lier will is a Fine thr ead of steel .... In these poems, and the works' of Pat Park er a nd Leona ·ueld1, one sees a .. strong hea lth a nd future in Bay area \JOmen poets. Welch's first book, wa s published in 1971. lH n ck r.tbraltar -, Leona Here and there, one fin ds sub- dued ra ge and impatience before racism and ignorance; but her poetry also exalts th e Black woman a nd speaks in low tones to men. from f olk e xp re s sions to formiJl examinations of love. Her la11 ~ua ~e _ranges "Status Quo" i ~ th e study o f a Black with "class" and di gnity: Got my white poodle by the leash. Less able than the o ther women, he r poetry salutes n nu mb e r of l1eroin~s including women in her fnmily and tlil.i~i Gfovannil Fin;-illy there is tlte muc h-travel e d .Sarah F;-ibio, instrumental in Black studies developmen t in nortl1ern CiJli f ornia, but who now lives in Io wa. publi s hed two vo]umes, A ~ irror: She A Soul (1969) and Blacl~ Ts a Pa nther Caned (1972), and then without notice, brou ght out seven volumes (!) all in 1973: Soul Is: Soul Ain't, Boss Soul (also the name of her Lp), Black Back: Back Black, Juius & Jubilees, My Own Thin~, Juius/Alchemy of the Blues, �<" ',, and To µ-~ther/to the Tune o.: Coltrane's Eciuinox. Her later Hark is more formal than the later which shows that she has j oined the new poetry movement completely . One of her more memorable earlier pieces is "Evil is No Black Thin~" in which she takes all dark things traditionally a ss_ociated with evil an<l · reverses them; or, allows them to be seen in a lar ger context wherein they invariabl y embrace somethin~ that is li ~ht. Her later volumi- nous efforts deal with experimental blues, ra p-sty les, folk narratives, and the reconstruction of a c eneral Black oral histor y . This she does quite well on her album but much of the writing in the new books is too conversational. Cruz has published Snaps (19...,9) and Nainland (b7.,;. A Puerto Ric a n now livin g in the Bay , he writes with brevity about other poets, New York Cit y and other large northern cities, and Spanish mythology, often interpolating bi-linp, ual phrases in lines. Barlow (Gabriel, l':i 7--.; has done i mp ressive. things with language and history. Il. Rap published Revolution Is ·\17~~; and Netamorphis of Superni8cer (1973;. \-n1ile an inmate at Vacaville, Brown (Muumba) published Some Poems and Thinp,s (1~71). In Sacramento, the youn g poet Clarence }!Kie Wi ~fall has shown promise in The Other Side . ~1970), while Wes Young published Life Today (l7JQ, and Ramblin g and Thin~s tl97L;. Grant High School young Hlack poets 0ere included in Omnibus (1973,. At A number of youn ger and older poets ar e itudying with Redmond, who has tau ~ht at California State University since 19iO. His workshops are located on the campus as well as in community sites like the Oak Park School of Afro-American Thought. Meanwhile, in Seattle, 13lack Arts \vest is attractin g many poets; and across state at Washington State University poet Primus Sc , John writes and works with other writers. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Eugene B. Redmond Digital Collection Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context EBRWritings_07_55 Title A name given to the resource Copy of Drumvoices: The Mission of Afro-American Poetry: A Critical History, typed manuscript, Introduction, Chapter I, Chapter II, and Chapter VI Relation A related resource Eugene B. Redmond Digital Collection Language A language of the resource English Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource For digital rights and permissions, see <a href="https://www.siue.edu/lovejoy-library/about/policies.shtml">https://www.siue.edu/lovejoy-library/about/policies.shtml</a> or contact <a href="mailto:library@siue.edu">library@siue.edu</a> for direct inquiries. In copyright. <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Redmond, Eugene B. https://digitallis.isg.siue.edu/files/original/d8eb1aa3baa8362470f1f9ad7acd11de.pdf 192c5bb1aee5077ef8c5dd67e040609d PDF Text Text j. nhlil,1d j. ' s titl e 11 ilard llcad M:.ikcs a Sof t ,\ss " li,1p lies tile )Oem ' s stute!llent. And fnntasy etcrnaliz cs , " 'ike a ,.,uoJ hi..:,h," ft)r 'J o1:uay Cuy in " Hro t hcc . " 13ut the thc1:ws uf unity , self-esteem , Ll c .\frlc.an " 1,1utherL.111d, 11 nnJ unabat eLl an,,cr rcr,m in in tl1c n -~w poetry .:is the !·fiJ11cst ,1Il J \:est cuntr ibutc inunensely to tl1<! Lrllliancc nnJ tlK conLro v crsey . sented .'.l unique ga tl1eri ni of a nwnLer of poets to aid the l~il~orc, Ohio , for cxnrnp lc, r cpre- live rsc views on the new consciousness , u ttr.:icti n~ I ) , /\tkins, J.:11ues o rk of :ion an Jordnn (1 93G - (all form Cleveland) a nd JlL~rnton . ~low at Oberlin, 1Jen1Lon succeeJc,l Redmond \1h o \Jas oritcr-ln-resiclencc thcr , (1969-1970) , th e snme yea r Troupe bezan a r esidency at Ohio Uni ·.1e rsit y . during ll erH ton ' s le:ive-of-abs •nee . Sarah Uehst ec ho.s also L,1u<)1t a t Oberlin llowe ve r, Cleveland activity was spurred by a lonB tradition of Il lack \ffitcrs in 1.uLlin g llu ~hes , Ches nu t t (,rnL' of t1k fuun<lers of Karainu llu L, se) and At kins . host of y0tmger pO, '. U, : Th is continuum producc<l Jordan an! a ,\nthony Fml;~e , L:trry Howard , Larry \fade, .\r Nixon , Clin t Nels on , Rob er t F lernin!; (K u \!ais maga zine) , Alan Bell, Uo]and Fo rt e , Tc<l Hayes , E. llufo rd and Bill Rus s,•11 o f th e Mun tu Poets. Other p,Htlcipati'ng writ e r - artists uerc Clyde Shy, 1\p1cer ltn , hid a nd A11ettn Jeff e rson. for poets an<l thelr nctivi .. ies came fro n vnrlous places: Support the Clcvcl,md Call and Post, Afro - SeL Black Arts project , Unite<l Black Artists, Free Lance and Karu11tu ll u usc 1-1h e r~, Jordan ' s pl.:iys wer·e pro du ce<l . Ki] :_: ore 1-.rrit es out of a stron<,_ -t rn tliti.on of Black hum ::i nism riurturcd in rcliiiou s homes . llis vol umes arc The Di g Buffalo and Other Poems (1969) , 1·1i.dnir;ht Blast (1 )70 ) and A Time of Bla ck Devotion (1971) . the c ont ra<licti o1 The poems expose in i\m..; rican De1.1oc r acy ancl s urvey the " lli r:,h Rjsc Dreams" of metropolitan ] lacks caught in the urban r enc\·Wl scrabble . Devo ti o n, dedi- cated to ~o re t ta Scott KinG , vibrates wi t h concerns for Black stu<lents, ThirJ I I \ ·I �\!orJJ s urvival , a nd f.:1sc i nation with Frnnz Fnno n. .'.l /1. different kind of poe t, Jo r dan i . somet i me s a n gr y , c y nic a l ::i nd v i o lent; o t her tim s pr o ph e tic le h as p ubl i s hed t hree v o l urnes : and my sti ca l. 19 71 ) , Ab ov e J:, ·1 Des t ina t ion : Ashes (1 96 7, ( 1971) , nm! uith r!arc lw G.--1. g e , Two Poets ( 197l1) . D<:!clica t e <l to t h e " Corimun i , y , 11 Det~t innti o n contains J o rdan ' s best anJ most memorabl e po e ms . In Cl eveland h e c me r ~~d ns n major fo r ce in t h e n e w Bla ck poetry , u niti ni_; t he olJe r t raditio n s ymbol ized by rree Lc1ncc , c1 nd the !1untu Poets . Dest i nation , 1 irs t pub l is h eJ priv a t e l y b y J ,1rd,:m , wa s lat e r brou ght o u t by Th i r d Worl d Pr e s s (Chica ~o) wi t h nn Int r o duc ti on by Lee , uho sni d he " l ea r ned " th::i ~ Hu ~hes h a d no n e ed to "r e-\-T i t e and r ev i se ." ( ! ) Any \•.•a y , Dest i naU 0 11 ch r o11 ic l es J ord.:1.n ' s 0vm dev e l o 1 '11cn t from the pe riod of civil ri g hts thr ou ~h BJ ack Pm1e r . lli.s poet r y i s a ll f r e e v e rse, u s u a l l y simp listic narra tiv e maki n r~ rnup l c use of d rama t is pe r !~o n a f r om e v e r y wa l k of Bl ack li fe . Th e r e is .J. lcoh o l i sm , v iolence , pov er _t y , l o n e liness and exal t a tion· o f' Bl a ckness . " I Have Se e n Them" d e scrib Lis those o n r elief , hun :'. r y and c o ld pray in i3 for " mira cles . " Ne l ] . e Recd u r;ed t o be a hirl-ab ou t-town, "Lau ghin 13 an d danc ing ," b ut now a t 26 s e is deaJ and h e r !3hos t " tremble s" i n nn alley wine b o t L1e " n c>ed i n r, ,1 fix . " Jordan a l s o spoofs " l!i zh Art a nd All Lhat ,tiz z " : ru c k you and yo1.. r d rn.m v erbs l e t me t e ll it l i ke it is na~, _t;,.<',.;,' and f W.11~~:,•. " Fe eJin r: th e Lion s " (1 966) is hi s ;:,osL anth o lo g iz e d po em . Thl! " a r my " uf brie f-c a s e - c.1 rryin:~ s oci a l wo r k !2rS in v ad e s lH:lck nei r) 1b o rl1ood s L'.:l c li 1.10 r nin~, pas ::; out ch e c ks , 1;1ove qui c kly from 0 11 2 door t o anoth e r , anJ , after filling �th e ir qu ut;1~, lenvc " before uurk ." ' TlH!r<= are nl so poems about 1ay ~; ticisu , rc lii i o n, 111y t holo13y , anJ l:aniu , i ncludinlj drm1i 1, r, s o f e y es , Lr icrn~ J cs :J.nd cir c l es--all r e.· i" lec t in ~; tl1 c mcm y in[ l uenc<.! S u n .J o r dan ' s ,wrk new mood (Abov c-_: ia va) . ,111J the a pp i: ouc l1inL, Bu t Dcs t i r.:t Li o n , \·J i th it s slor t, cxp i f:ra ,t1n::i tic v e rses and pa r ables , ~; ccs tltrou .jh allus ory , r omantic "unity" n ea r th e e nd a nd moun t s an att ack o n rc vo luti on;:iry d iur l .:t.:a n s , b uck- s lid e r s of th e 1no v emcn t :inJ t hose \-1h o vil~11 vi o l en c e a s th e onl y sol u t i on t o racism . reaff i rms h i s fa ith in Bl.:i cl: writ e r s 1.'o r tin g far Yet " Cosuti c lli t ch<loc t o r s " j n t o u " l i q u i d n i ght''./ t hl!y provid e t he !o unJ u ti on for t omo r ro w' s liberati u J o rcl a11 ' s he l ief in th e 11ys ticul, rn.i,: j , ·11 pm·1 ers of th e word can be see n i n t h e name Vi br .:i t iu n, a Cl ev e 1nJ rna r, a z · ,1e 1. ith which he 1.Ja s c lose l y ::issoci.:J. t eJ . · It i s " Deel i ca t e d to th e n e sur r ec ti on of t he ~~e n t ally a n J Sp irit u:1lly lh~ad ." Ot her Oh i o poets f' oun<l out] ets for th e ir wor k i n Vi bra t Lon ,1n<l o t he r journal s : nL:ick As cei, s i on s (Cuyo. ho ga Co1mnunit y Colle g e) , Proud 1aack. I mo.:~es (Ohi o Stnt e Un ive r s it y) and Lif e line : W11 e n Amer i ca Sin g s Sh e Croaks (O be rlin). Ob e rlin stude nt s a l so pro <l u~ed a .sr c ci ,l l Blacl~ i ss ue o[ th e col l cge ' ·s Ac tivi s t . ma e,az in e ; i t c ont a i ned poems by both s..: ucl e nt s and wel l k now n poets . a sta f f me1,1 be r o f Rl.:1ck .i\sce ns ions, pu i1 l i s h e <l Mi r, rati on in 1 9 7 2 . Clev e l a n d p<Je t, IL Fe lton (1 934 - .Fu dge. , Ano th e r )~ br ou t_; Lt out Conclusi o ns wi t h an Iutro- duct io n by .\ t k ins \/ho p r aised the youn~ . po e t [ or n o t c o nscio u s l y e n gag i ng in the "<li sfi .; u r c,ae nt o f pe rc e p tio n s " tu pole mi c i ze a " co n stric t e d kind of 'r elc v anct· 111 In 11 /\n i: l egy t o Et e rnit y , 11 Fel ton, :1 vib rnnt poe t, s::iys : Ten r - du cts swe ll, b urstin g in a de l i ght o f flooJ and fu ry . Ga r f i ,· LJ J ackson , a yo unr; pri:~e-winn i n g poe t, i s one of th e ed itors of �P rou,1 Black Im:1~es. pai;es: Nany youn G .111J old e r Ohio poets are includc!c.l ~rn1ong its Forre:, t Cay, Diunne Cou j J , Jacki e Toone, Ebrahim Alj a hi z z, Hohssen Asl,:1111 ( Chris Jenkin &) , Battuta Luk-1lilha Barca , LinJa Callend e r, Be verly Cheeks, Antar Sudan Hberi, Lt!ntrict! Emcrm.1 a, Ros]yn Perry Ford, Ray Hon ,t gomccy, Kil(jore , JorJan, an d otlwrs . J\lthoueh the journal's title set s tl1 e conceptual paci2 :11H.l plac e s .i L in the strem11 of the ncu consciousness, tli " rc, is no unifyin'.', theme or iJea in the poetry. John \·/hit taker calls "Singe rs, Dancers," the "do ers of initial cl..•c ds " anJ Implementers of th e inc!Vitable Black life. llernt o 11, \Jh o atten<lec.l 0 ]1io schools , Le cm1e ,1ril c r-Jn- r cs idt'1 1cL! .i t Centra l State Univl.!rsity , in the sixth· ; , !louse of Ni;~ht son ;-.; in 1963 and Il e publ:ished Th e• Co nin r•. o[ Cltron o:; t o t:he ;incc theu he J1as ,vrittt' n mn11y l>o o Ls :rnd ,irticL.. s on Amer:lca ' s sor:lal/se:·'. u.:11 han ), 1ps . in the fir:;t issue o[ Confro nt n ·ion: One of his moGt powerful Jh)('i,1s wpp0 J n,;d ,\ J ,lllnrnl of Third Worl J Lit e rature (suuuner, 1.970) founder\ anLl cJited by Troupe at Ohio University. " S tr ' ct Sc.en c " shm-1s Her n ton plav[ 1] ly lookin ~ at the hl 2ntity question alon~ with other things . \/lien he mL · tG ,rnd s ricn l(s to his "<lream" on the " street," h ~ recc.ives " Go t o hell, so no 1hi tch." Cnnfro nt ntion nlso publishes o !1er Ohio poets; yet , its concerns are broa<l as see n in th r names of co ntribu t i 1g edit o rs: Damas , Sergio Mondra~on , FernanJo Al ~13ria, , ,·.'.11 , IZcdmond , Tam J?.io1· i , Duvicl Henderson , Melviu J'c hmrd s :.rnJ \Jilfr,:J Cwrtey. I n other Ohiu c01,1munili.es reL:.1tcd events occurrl:!J. Cincinattj ' s fir ~: l Black An ,. FL!stiv .i1 11Js oq;an.iz12J by . . ikki Ciov,rnni i11 1 0 G7 ~nJ uut uf tl1.is �lUl.l l o :1 dnJ Other l'oc:ms (l0(i9) , 1:1a J2 :1:1 i.u11e .1 su1·Ltb1 y v:..t]u::ible conu·lhut:i,m to th L! Lt1tderslnnJin[_; of f,lacl- poet r. / li hcn h e o r~ .t1Yi.:OL•d thL! P:1ul L.1urence Dunbar Ccntennl:11 lu ] lJ 72 at the Cniv,orsity of Dayton . Indio.no. hc::ived foL"th precious \,orJs from Cary , Imlian..;po]is, Purdue , Terre llo.ut e .J11d- oi.:llL!r !!arl Ev;rn" ·or t:,. ,nlzeJ o.rts ar.J ..:onsciou::;ness ,l ."L! as . progr:11,1.; in Int!i.:inapuli. i ,. .:11J l.l loo,nin~~ton . wrilLL'.1 T .\Jn a DL1ck W,ll:1.1 n,conL.1inin g poc1:1s over s c ver.::il ye::,trs , unfortunately di d not finJ a puL!isher unti] ]970 . Howe v er , the ]Jock cles "rvcdly received the Black ,\caJerny of Arts ..inJ Letters Secom! L\nrn1al Poetry ,\Hard . She h s bL!C!l closely idc•ntifil!d ,iith :1ctivitics in Chlca;; u \lhere Third \Jorlcl Pres :· publi '.d tes her childr •n ' s writ:in;;~, . Her t itle pc>1 ' ... is ::i spiritual , psyclt<,l o r, ic::il ,ind historical journey of the: t.:la ck woman \-,hose " tr iegt'r t re/ cl fin~cr :;" now seek tltc softness of my \-1 0.rrior ' s bco.r<l ... L\ major po em a111ong the nc.:1-1 poetry, it combines the b e st of L:lw 111o~lernists tec h n i que :, \Ji Lit a dwrt-\JOrk of 111 usic :;o as to r,i.ve th e impre:, sinn of 80111eonL slnzlng 01 l1u11unl11;~ .:1lon:~ with the readin:.:, o( it . Mar-i. Cv.in:, sc.:in ~; 0Lltv1 · fil'] ,L of Black 1 i.f,,, writing abou t lor\ely ancl di.;jLCtl!J \Wl11en , se]f-priJc , violl.!n e, Black uni.L y and L\frica . In 11 \1110 can be llorn Black" she joyously :rn,l_ Jefiantly asks : can he born and 1ot c .:ult ! Al :;o clo s ely ;.iss11ci:1ted with the Cl1lca~o ;ind DeLruit mov e m nts is Et h riJGe Knight (1933- ) , \~I o 11as ser.vinf, a '.20-year tcn.1 in In-!Lm:1 State Prison �Brooks. She called his poetry Vital. Vital. Thi s 1, 01.;try is a rnaj or anno unc eHicn t . .. And there is blackn ess, inclu sive, possess ell nnd give n; fr eed nnJ terribl~ uriJ beautiful . lier own vers ion of th e JlL1ck ,\esthctic was expressed in the snrnc statement: " Si nc e Et h er id ge Kni~ht is not your stifled artiste, th e re is air in these poems ." Knight roams the deep crevices of Black spi ritu:11 and psychic experienc es as he combines the lan:.u:i~e of the prison suh-culture with the rhythms of Black Americ~rn stree t speech . lie bounces or drjvt'S lwrd--a poetry of " Iinrd bop " --lookine :.it prison Jifc, love c111J ancestry . Exception.'.11 plcc s are the folksy "llard Rock Returns to Prison from th e Hospital fo r thi.:! Crimini>l Insan e , " th e mysti ca l and mythical "lie Secs through Stone," the genea lo gi c a l "The Iden of Ancestry," the innov.'.ltiv c Haiku sections , and "On U11ivcrsa]ism 11 which ,~arn s agnins t appl y ing " univ crs.'.ll la,JS " to " pains " and America . 11 cl 1a in s 11 in lli s technic a l ab ilities arc poignantly <lisp] nyed in h.'.lik.1_1 " 9 " : 1!.'.lidn g j a z 7. swing in Seventeen syl lables AIN ' T No square poet ' s job . Kni gl1t , ,-1ho vrns lnt c r released from pr l so n, al so edited rnack Voices From Pris on (1970) and in 1973 HrnaJside Pi0ss published lle]ly Son g and Other Poem s . He los es hi s reach whL~n he tri es to over- int e ll e ctualize in his poetry . Ant.I t hough it may be a hit unchnritablc. to say , Belly Sonr proves tl1at h e wrot e better poetry in prison . slips into polem ics . Th 0 last book has some fine moments -hut it sometimes However, Knight is still stretchinr; out as a poet, currently doing research into or;i l lit e rature with the aid of a Cu;~genheim grant . �· ncJ l y s h ows h im pu r s u in g t his t radition in " Th '-' Bon es of My Fath e r " which smil e at the moon in Mississ i ppi from th e bottom o f th e Tallahn tc hi.e . Fi nal 1~, , a numb e r o f · p oets fr om t ' lis z enern l re g ion of the Midwest a nd So u th ar e includ e d in ;i sp e cial Bl nck Poet r y issu e of Ne ~ro Am e rican Li t e r ature · Forum ( spr ing , 19 72) eJi t e <l by RedmonJ . The Forum is publi s hed by India na S tat e Univ e r s ity School o f EJuc a ti u n and e dited Ly John Luy ll s s, :.i n 1:n z li s hm:.1r1 . I t H !r,uLirl y r e vi e ws lllack lit e rature . Ch i c a g o i s a Hi Lh-,cs t !1e,1r t nnd lws .1 l ong tr.;id _i t i.on o f e L: 1c L /.rts , to i n 1; back tu, a nd before, Co un t lJnsie ' s op cn i n, ; at the Su nse t Clu b i n l (J '..!7 . 1/m:eve r, some o f th e 1,1orc r •cent forces h e lpin g t o sh a pe th e; 11<..: 1.1 po e tr y mu v e111e nt LIJL'rl' ar c : So uth Side C01,1 munity Art s Center , John s on Public:itio n s , Kuumbn ' s l' oot Th e a t er (Franci s and Val \~ard) , th e DuSable Muse um of Afri c,rn· A:,w ri c au ll i s l o r y , 01\AC, 1 ll !, Litutc of Positiv e Edu cntion ,rnd Third \!o rld Pr esr; (/J;,,lhuhL ti ) Frt~l~ lllack l' r ess , Af r o - ,\rt s Thea t e r, l!alcolr.i X College , Oscar Br0\·/11, Jr. , Muh a nuil ad Spe <.i.ics, Elli s Books tores , Ch ica go De fe n der , Philip Coliran (Art i s t l°c ller Lta.Ge Ens embll') , to n ame j ust a few . As a maj o r point b e t1-1e c n East a nd \/c;s t/ Nor t h aud Sou th , Chic ag o r eHiains a city in tran s j tion . Huch of th<..! n c H poetry sc e11e 0 c, nerat cs from t lte huh known as th e Or ;_;il ni :<'. a t ion o[ Blacl~ /uae ri c ;..111 Culture and 1,\1e nd o l y 11 Bro oks . Fuller , BJ :ic t i!u rld mana ~ inr_: edit o r, is a lso advi s or t o OBAC ' s Writer ' s \/or ks hop·. ln J 969 ( fall ) issue of Hommo , th e workshop ' s j u urn n J , Fuller said: Bl ac L i n a 11ay o f lo o kin t c1 t the 11orl d . Tl1 e po ts 01· OJ;AC , in rev ea lin g their vis i on , c c lcbrntc th e ir bl:.icl:ne ss. In thi s momen t ·i n hL s tory , what mi g ht un der differen t ci r cum- �st; nce s be sii!lfllY assumed must nec 2 s s aril y be :.1ssertcJ . 1\ml the OBAC poets know--if others do not--tlwt pale men out of the \vest do not <lefine for mankLnJ the perimeters of arl. Tliis they want all blacl; people to knoo . In the Jou nw l ' :; \lint e r issue of th . s ai.w ye :ir, Fuller said 01:,AC members · \·J er e " see];in t;" to 1..i·e "both si1:1ple and profound." They display an " i maginative re- pres e ntation of their e;~pe~ _i.ences ," but they also seek "t o be revolutionary." In the first quote, Fuller ' s tone, carrying the battle-baiti1 ,r, phrnse , "even if others do not," see111ed to have been a signal [or, among oth e rs , Don L. ) , to continue his attack on all fr o nts. Ther e \Je r e no :.;a cre<l cows, as Lee saw it, anJ since "others do not" know what the youthful Chicago Blacks presu1;1ahly <lid knm-1 , Lee's assi gnment was to teaclt them. C\iendolyn Brooks concurre<l with most of this feeling, embracing as it \Jer e a "n e w" Blackness anJ (unfortunaLely) occasionally enr,aging in a kind of self-Jeprecation : ·j "It fri g htens me to reali.ze that, if I had <lied before the age of . [.Lft y , I I \·JOuld have died a ' Neero ' fraction." I Lee follm,7 in8 the examples o[_ Randall anJ Bar aka, be gan Third 1-Jor] d Press-"-a valuable vehicle for the ne\l poecs--:rnd I chang ed his name in thL! e arly seventies to llaki R . !>iadhubuti. I He al s o eslab- lished the Institute for Positive [ cluc .'.l tipn whicli publisl~cs nl.a c k Books Dul let in \vith himself a s e<litor. St e rlin ~ Plurnpp (1940- Oth ..: t· poets .1 included in the editorial st.::iff: ) , Joh.::iri i\ 111in.L (Jewel Latimore) (1935- ) , Em.'.lnu c l, I I Sarah Webster Fabio, the late Ll o r e ns ( who launched Le e's n:.1tional c a reer in I Ebony, l ~rch 1969), a nJ Ha dall. I OBAC was founde<l in 1967 anJ poets of varying temperauents were attracted to it and Gwendolyn Brooks' worksh.o ps: Rodr,ers (1943- ) , I/alter Bradford (1937- ) , Carl Clari~ (1932- Cnrolyn ) ' I I I I �Hike Cook (1939- ) , Jo.1:10s Cunnin~:h;1m (1936- Sam Greenlee ( ), Phillip Royster (194 3- Lee, Linyatta (]947(1938- ), Sharon Scott (19510 ), Ro1da Davis (1940- )' ) , Pe ;;g y K.2nner (1937- )' ) , and Sigt moncle Hjmherli (Ebon) ) , and continual stre:::n of ne,·: ly arrivin g poets. 0 Other Cl!ica ::;o area poets are St cp b n n y Fuller, Eugene Perkins, Irma McLaurin, Lucille Patterson, Jerrod , Zack Gilbert (1925- ) , Alicia Johnson (1944- ), Ruwa Chiri and Robart Butler. Th e work of many Chicago area poets can be found in Nommo, Black Expressions, B]nck Horld, Blnck Writers' News, Muh.'.lmmact Speaks, and in the antholo :; ies ~ Broacls .Lde Treasury (1971) arvl Jump ll a<l: edited by Gwendolyn Brooks . .\ Ne w Clli ca :~ n .\n tho lo f'. V (1971), both They c.'.ln al s o he foun<l .in the numerous . other nationally-llistrilrnteJ antholo ~ ies a nJ journals already l i.~teJ. as nci1,l l! and conc ept, \-/llS concessio n won by Chic.:i~o ar e a artj_st ~ HJack h'o rLl, , 1,1 d i.l Ctivi s t: s , who prot e sted again s t the ,)ld na1i1e ,Je f- r o Digest in the lo.tc six tie s . Fuller continues to r, uidc th e ma z azine' s new i111a g e throue,h the ticklish · 1rnters· of · I controversy and chan r_:e; . I as Bln c k \!or] ,1' s But m.:iny readers have been critical of wh:1t is sel!n pi.!rtlcular i2ej st;:in.li,, lack o f "open" (orur11 on \k.C ti nent -I Blnck issues, and a tendency to circu:-:1scribc in<livi<lu.:11s and ~ r o ups .. But _ the ·j journal l1as an indispensable a id to man y · Blnck poets and writer 3 , printing t11eir \vork, ident Lf y i1 1,: antholor;ies, 11otin13 books published, an<l servin g as facilitator for prizes .:ind genercil contact. Among all neu poets, Hadhuu1 ti is sec o nd o nly to il ikki_ Giovanni in the nu1n!Jer of accolad e s anJ the comm <..!rcial nttenti o n h e nnJ his poetry have receiv e d. A sampling of critics, poets and s cholars \Jho feel he is one of the 3reatest of the new poet:, 1Jo uld h.Jve to in c: lude Stephen Henderson, Fuller, G,,en<lolyn Brooks l!ar g aret \h!lker, Prwla Gid ,lin[; s,· Dar<1ka, Hnri Evans, lbndall and Gayle. I .-1 1 �GwcnJul y n Broo l~s !ins said Had hubuLi r cser.1h lcs Jesus Christ n,1cl hL·r IntroJ ucti on t o Juiap Bnd hail s hi1:i as "th e r.os t signifjcant, inv entive , nnc.l influent .i. ::i l black poet in th e country. " Overlookinr: , fo r th e I11ouc nt, the necessity of r eading " all " the poetry in t he "countr y " before rnal · Ln r~ suc h a state1:1ent, iL sj 1,1 pl y i i; not Hise in view ,i f th e " collective" policy--,:1.ncl \\ the antl-intliviclu::ilist f..::clin~s--1,,h i c h ::iller;edly for m the cornerstone of th e Chic.::ico poetry scene . Lee ha s publis h e d five volumes of po e try : Think Dlack ! (1967) , Dlnck Pride (1968), Don ' t Cry, Scr eam (1 96 9), He IJa lk. the l'i.1y of th e New \Jo rl<l (1970 ), Di.r ec tion sco r c : (1973). Selected nn ,1 nc1J Pocr,1s (] 971) :ind Tl,L' His Dynamite Voice s, Vol. I ill)l)] : of L{fc (Broadside), published in 1971, i s a study of 1L1 Elnc k poets of the s i x ties; but it reveals , like hi s othe r criticism, that h e/\ .:i hazy thinker, who l.:icks discretion ancl firm underst;inJing of the Blc1ck poetry tradi t ion . l!e spends an entire pa ge , for examp le , illuminatin~ a nd apparently advoc a tin g th e use of the uord " motherfucker . " And any bo ok about th e sixties should not cor.1e off the press without ex:wni.:.. ning the poetry of LeRoi Jones/Im::imu nara!~a . Mad hubuti attributes · the f a th e rship of the New Black 1ioetry to B.:irakn , but apparently is inc ap abl e o f discus~Jng the man' s poetry . Tl1ere arc othe r, i ncredible flaws in the book; for ~rl1ich t his youn ~ poet ' s olJ e r mentors must 's hare some blame. As a critic , he did not (could not!) cultiv.:itc the "dist nncc " of a Johnson, DrOlm, P..eddin~, or Henderson, ancl consequenLly--nlreaJ y lackin g discipline and tralnin g- -could n o t really see the poetry . But: in fairness, it mu s t be snid that his biblio ~raphy and oth e r rand om bits of informa tion abo ut the n ew poetry a r c usable. As a poet, Lee· far es bett e_ r, employin~ wi.t, i.rony , unclerstnt emen t and sig nifying . nut there are exec] lent poL~ t s in Chi c.:igo uhich his politico- poetic .I �i.magl: lws d\-Jarfed (Plurnpp , Cunnin f~ lwm, Rodgers, Gilbcrt, etc . ) llis themes r a n r;e fror.1 what Arthur P . Davis has cnlled " The t!ew Poetry of Black llnte," t hr o u g h love and J3lacl~ pd.de , to the ha-gared pontifications i.n The Rook of Life wh e r e he re-arran:; es saying s and pa rnbl c s stnted better by Aesop, b u s h Africans, Plato, and nnrnka, and Tnlson . Like Nikki Giov.::inni .:ind othe r s -, his ea r ly \mrk re- inforced tlte self-love CLJ11cept, ca!3ti2,i.lted whitcy a nJ encouri.l/jl!d 1\L!cL unity . llost of his themes i.lrc! s unuacc.1 up in the ti.tlc!, ThinL el.,ck ! and Blnck Pride and l1is devices .::ire everyday conversation, often not well\vrOu[',ht hut sometir.1es quite st~1rtlin~ and mus-Lcnl rh yllw1s ("The \.'all"). These he a<ljustD in an often effective typor,raph) \.Jlrich 1,1ovcs 1.a pc1r:1llel column s vertically or hoi:izont;.1lly on Lh e p;:i :•,cs. In IntroJucti.ons t o h i.tJ bool~s and critical ar ticJ cs :ia<lhulrnti nh•ays r; ives "directions" tu l;l;:ick 1•1ritcrs - - as he c.loes in much of t he poetry itself. "First Impressioas of ~ 7r i.l Poet ' s De::ith , " his elegy for Conr.::id Kent tivcrs , subtl~ly rev c.::i l ~ th e often · un- tall:ed -il bo ut thln:~s that cau se pre1;1ature l\lack Jcaths . Spc.:11,.i.n)j · of "too much " sex nnd <lrink, he sGy::; many "poets who poet" I ·1 die fro 1 ovcre,:posurc . Du t he can unknowln ;:;ly dabble wilh LliL uost complex aspects of Blac k life as in "Thr: !, c l[-llatr cd of Don L. L..cL: 11 1Jitcre , nftcr stu<lyin~ ianck history , he le a rns to love tl1c "L1rner" person .::ind h.::itc (w.ith vehemenc 0 ) my li t:,li t �Cert n in Ly n profound and tragic dile1nmn is stntl:d here: since hating one ' s color will not chanze it; and since one h n s to live with it for the rest of one ' s life . It is a ioo<l poem for s tudying the so-called "solution" that some Black writers claim to have "found 11 to the iJentity probll!1:1. 'J'l1ere are o t her peaks of revelry .:1 11J dunt.;eons of confusion Ln HaJhubuti's poetry. of his most f cmo u s poems L "Don ' t Cry , Scream ." One PraiseJ hii~hly by Stephen :, ? llenJerson , the poem paruphrases the her tic ,11 rantings of lton l~,irengci \·1ho encourageJ Blacks to renounce the Blues . Mc1<lhubuti ' s poem, a tribute to Coltrane , is lnrgcly ~raphic 1-1ith occasiona 1 areas of intc] l i~ibility . Then there is the self-disgust : i cried for billy hollidny. the blues. we ain ' t blue the blues exhibiteJ illusion..., of manhood . Even the Germnn Janheim: J ahn knew better. must face the question: it 11 ? AnJ certainly , today, l·ladhubuti · if the blues were destructive , then ,.ow d Ld lw " make Indeed, h ov1 did anyone " r.1ake it" 11ithout the totem of survivnlisms· necessary to " c ross over 11 ? Madhubuti ' s influence on the new poetry - has been . s u bs t ant i al , however , though in most insta n ces t he influence has been in ·~he area of politics rather than poetry. Carolyn Ro<l~ers I volumes arc P.:1pi:~r Soul ( 1968), Sonr;s of a ·Blackbird ( 1969) , 2 Love Raps (Broadside) Got Over (1975) . 1.forncinly revolut i.onaries and music . (1969), Blues Gittin Up (1972) anJ How I ,id convi n cing , she writes of youn~ women , love , In " Phoenix" sl1e recalls travel in~ '\1i th the wind" and hearing the many voices screaming bloodc.lrops of ti11e. "J.:1~2 11 descril>cs "three" at the bar, the cli c king of drink.in:_; f.lnsscs, and the murmur of thicl~ mouths . . . . �11 Rc b o lw; ~1inary ::-nas / e nstuh juli.c 4/et c . e t c . 0 cc ." is a satire on " militants ." Anc! she tells 11s that hits of r.1c s plintered in to a t;lirror in "Look n t Hy Face cnn also ];0. i1 Colln g e ." Th e s e id e n s [tn,l th eme s, .1 nJ 1,wny o th e r s , fnu1Hl in t hL' poe try of Johnri Am ini, Plumpp , ,md Cunnin g ha m. Johari Arn ini I s books incluJe I m, :• es in Blnck (1967), /\. f o H (1%9), T.et ' s r.o F;:i lll e (hr oa dsiJe) SomewhPre .(1970), and A Hip Tnle in 1Je.1th St v l e (1972). She relies heavil y upon Black colloqu i nlisu s , usu.-ill y nchi e vin ~ success . But she h as oth e r nin n; es a s can be see n i.n "B rother " which lon g s for the "s oil " of Black po ep l c , wh e re they can _feel the u niverse s huJJer .... ,L Plumpp' s PortabJ. ,, Soul (1969), lla1 f Blnck, llc1lf Bl.1ckcr (197 0) and Steps t o Bre;:ik the Circle (1 975) . A southenwr ,1ith a back g round in psy ch o l o r:Y , b~ ha s also wr itt e n a provocative study called Black Rituals ( ). His interests are seen i.n titles like "From Ma n less Sisters to Big Bad Rappers,'.' "Black Hessar,es" ("believe in us"), "Liv in?. Truth" ("lllnck hi.story ... a li .:m1 1e d ,: I) Le "), an<l E~ypt (For Black ~iotli e rhood ) ,., : an e v e rl as tln t: sunrise m,•oke ... One o f the mo st pcrc e rtiv e , skill f ul a nJ .innov~itive poe t s , hu1: ·v s: r, i s Cunn.in g l1 a1t1. llis one volu1:1e is The Bl u e ,,nrrat o r (197 4 ) nnd li e h ~ts be e n p ull/ li sl 1eJ ,,.i.d c l y i.n pe ri o Ji.c a ] s . " Tll<.! l. l t y Rises " as a s a d stj f f \JO o de .1 pL " St .. Juli. e n ' s lve: ci= ror Den n.is Cro s s " li e 11011Jer[ully i,1 i xc i, Lli <.! Sl, n s ..; s ; tiie n a rr a t o r i s tl 1e " ,,a r " by llrnhms , and th e n th..:rc full o1vs f; rt.!i.l t po etry : tli ~ "' .i nd -1.1: 11 a s a man s L ,md s \Ju n d e 1.· i.n ~: tenriri'.j ::it the brid :;e �why does th e riv e r float u p to th-'. sl~y In n Tols on i:rn thru s t, "Ra ppl!l r_ Al on ;; with l'. 011,tL1 D,7 vis " is ,l deli ghtful comhination of }:oon \.J r,au:-; E. y a rn s anJ s hous Cunnin t: h, ,11 ' s :1 b i l l t y to pl.::ice dis par a t e o rJ e cL 1~s in l,is poetic vi Sl!. "A Street in Kaufma n-ville : place '' is i.l s tuJy of the 11 or a note thrm,m t o c:1r o l y11 f ro1:1 r oJ l,e rs fra1:;ments 11 of Bob Kn ufmnn in wh o111 tit , i1 oet se e s a madn ess unlike my oi-m . . .. Arrivin g " From the Narrator ' s Tr.: mce, " a song thur.1bcd-dow11 n crui se r for a r lJ e .... Cunningham nlso 1vrites of other poets nnJ artists. In cu nclu c ti n: ; l1i s f.:iscina tin~ experiments 1Jith the l a ngua g e, he celeurat e s the Hid e span of the l1yhricl Afro-Ameri c an herita~e. And certainly, h e r e is a po e t to be closely watched. AI.1ong o tl1er Chica go poeu, uho puhlished volumes are : Gi lu~rt, t-lv Ovm llallelu jnhs (1971); Chiri , J\n Acknm,lecl c: cmcnt to Hv Afro-Ame r l e an llrotllcr (1968); Perkins, lllack is Beautiful (1968); Wioberli (Ebon) ~l1etto Sc enes _ (1968) a nt.I Rev o lution (1968) (' 1a n e11 Black voice to alaro1 tile cstablishme1~t 11 - - Perkin s ); Nargarct Durroughs, \.lha t Sh3ll I Tell my Children W110 ·are Black (1968); Greenlee, Blues for an Africnn Princess (1971); Lucille Patterson, Hoon in Black (1974); Stephany, Hoving Deep (1970) ; Royster, Th e Black Door (1971); Kr; ositile, Spirit s Unch.'.lin c d (1969) anc..l For 1-:elb.'.1 (1970); Butler , Black \'isions (1968); and Jerorld To Paint .1 Black Picture (1969). Yet a newer ~j roup, not all Chicagoans , have been published in Third \forl<l Press' New Po e Ls series: An fl ela Jackson, Voodoo/Love Ma ~ic (1974); Damali (Denise Burnett), I Am th.'.lt Ive May lle (1974); Fred Hord, After !lours (1974) and �S.:rndra !~oys ter, \Jon,cn Talk (1974) . These young poets d eu l wit h a vnri c ty of subjects, th o u,;h Hith a smc1ller v ar iet y of forr1s; mostly, ho\l cvc r, they arc concern e d witl1 revolution, self-pride, het e ro sex ual relati ons c1nd Clc1ck life in urban i\mcrica . Among tli c_ many goo d thinr.;s which emer g ed from Chica go was the "ne:w" Gwendol yn Brooks who, a!; we s m -1 in Clinpter V, has alwnys beC!n t,olid in her Bla ckness and wonderfully magic in her pocLry. The Brooks of Tn the Mecca (1968) , Riot (1969), Family Pictures (]970) nnd /\]oneness (1971) is not drastically dif fcrcnt from her former self. In Report From Part One (1972), her autohio r, raphy, she npparently approved the use of a Mc1clhuL11U T'r e(ncc which tells more about his own readin ,1 and writing prob1cmi, rhan i.t Joes about this g reat woma n's r,oetry . Madhuhuti comp1nins ::th,1 ut h er comp] x verse; but her poetry has never been "easy" to read (probably never wjll) and Iliot continu es t l1at tradition of toughness, a poetry which y i e lds mcanin ~ after 11111ny readings. She employs mytholo gy , history, sarcasm :rnd . drama tic dia] or, uc to r e veal white middle class pomposity even in face of n "li.iot.," latGr incorporatin ~ Hin g Crosby and Melvin Van Peebles , and aspects of love. The "Black philosopher" is the thread that spines the section called The ThirJ Sermon on the WarplanJ. There arc traces of h e r ters e earlier style, p:.irL.i c u] a rl y her unlquc wor<l-sound pro;~r-L!ssions: as her underfed l1uunchc·s· ·je rk jazz. i\nd a 1-11\lLc 1.Lbcral, o l.rnt:rv.in 0 a ri,i t, asks " ll ut l.':IY do Tl1csc l'L!op l c offend tl1 unsclvL' :,? 11 a<ldin::: th at .it ls tlme to "help . " he r 11 2 11 Family Pj c ture s con tn.ins the s naps hots of yo11n;; !1 e roe s , the pcop_l e who helped her beco me "Bl.:ick." l\ut despite 11e:ll-r.1c,111ln 1; s,1 lut cs to K0 osi ti.l e , ]Jon, l~r.::id(ord , and younr~ i\fricans, thcrl! is a 111011otony o[ praise. - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - -- - - - Ad mitt ed ly, no 011e is perfc!ct, a nd she ls .:..p 1>uren Ll y �s t ru,~;•,J it, 0 as h a r cl Hith co rmn itment us sh-2 i s 1,ith t i ll' n ew poet r y . In " Spee c h to th e Youn g , " d eJ icated to own childr e n , th e s e n s itive mother-po e t gives advi se that ma ny nnother younr, person ~1i1~ ht cud J le a ncl c h e rish : Live not for The-Encl-of-the-Son :; . Live i n tlt ~ a lon g . Such aclvicc come s at n n i 1apu rtant juncture 1,h e n th e 11orlJ i s mo ving ri g ht a lou~ , Lo use a cliche , ~mJ lenving behind tho s e to o mir e d in tlt e ir own " s elf-revelations " to look, listen 3 nd l e arn . Yet o n e crO\,'I in 3 s alute to this i rcat laJ y of Bl a ck letters was an impressive antholo ~y o f poetry and t es t imo n i:ils , Tor.wen with Love : assembled b y MaJhubu ti ancl A Trilrnte to G\-/c ndu l vn ilr ,,oh; ( l 'l7 L), ,the rs. Chica r,o poets were only a skip fro m pl ac e s like c ~1ry , Indi ~tndJW l is , Detroit, and St . Loui s , Cleveland , Kansas City , and the closen es s p rovided interchan g es ancl exchang es on all levels . Motovm ' s poetry output , l i ke that of otlter communities , was a]so in t erwoven with relatcJ symbuL; · ancl · expressions of the new consciousness : 11.:trgaret Danner ' s Boone House for · the Arts , Itev. Clea g e 1 s Shrine o f th e Dlac]; Hadonna , Mot own Rec ord s , Bro udside Press , Vau r, lm's Bo okstore, and are a Dlack studies projects . Th e poetry hub for the late sixtie s and seventies, of cour ~e , is RundallJs Broadside Pre s s. Randall h as cha nged as a poet and per so n , he says, in \vays thn t perhaps parallel the chi..inge s in Gwe ndolyn Br ool~:-; . A "f a ther " fi 3 ur e rnno ng so m"' n e w Black poet s , h e publish es c.l o zens of t hem (over 100 at this writin g ), releases new books of his own poetry , serves as distri.butor of nr e man ' s li e rita ~e Se rle s , and tr a v e l s wid e ly ns a lecturer, teacher , libraria n a nc.l t r:1n s lator of Rus s i a n po e lry . A foni1a]i s t by tr a inin z a nd tcmp e 1· nmcnt , Rarnla]J <l e s c rjb e d l1is new poetic st a n ce: in a stat eme n ~ in llo c.l e rn an ,l Contc.mpor a r v .\f r o-/wte rlc a n Po e try �(l}e l l, 1 9 7 2) : Ny poetics ls to try to write poetry as 11ell .:is I can. I think I have said elsewhere that the function of the poet is to write poetry . t!y earlier poetry was more formal. No1J I am tr y iq c to write a looser, more irregular, rnore colloquial and more idiom.:itic verse . I abhor logorrhe;.1, anJ try to m.-ike L1y poems as conceutrateJ as possjli]e. Indeed, R.::mdall has tried to Jo just th.:1t--moving from n traditional to conversational verse . il loose This he attem1its in volumes like Love You (1970) o.nJ Aft e r th .:: Killin g (1973). \Jhen R.:-mdall is descrihi1 g a L; irl i n a n Af r ic ,rn villaze or the " Hirac1e " of love, he cones over 1;2nui.uely ,:111J str o n-.; . f, ut poe1:1 9 like "Gr een Apples" and "Word s I-lords \lords" show him out of ltis field. These and other pieces are merely vertical prose, appcarin[; as rou ghed-out letters. But he is primarily a librarian, publisher, :ind cdit o. r whose service to Black poets h as been .:mcl remai.ns invaluable. This is see n not only in his production of their ,v0rk, but in the ma n y anthologies Hhich he h a s odit,~J. \-Jith Cliicai~ oan I!ar~aret Burroughs, he co- edited Hnlcolm: Poems on the Life and Dea th of Ma] calm X (196 7), a foresight ful nnd command in ~ work . · Also to his edi.tinr, credit are Black Poetrv (1%9) and The Black - Poets (1971), the latter imbal.1nced and apparently quickly thrown together since it has practically · 1 no Introduction and contains no bio~b1b lio grnpl1ical material on the poets. In addition to r:.n nuall and Hnrjaret Dan ner , otlter poets in this upper Midu-2s t area arc James llandall (1938Thomas (1 93·)- ) , !Uchard ) , \Hlli a m Thl~ren (1941';-1971), llao1:1 L Ha d:;dt , Hay,len, P-ock y T.iylor (Te j u1;iol~ Olo ~bonl) /\tlanta, 1043- ) , Jai,1es Thompson (193 6- I (Elt1_5) , I I �) , J ill \Jith e r spo on (19 4 7- ) , S tc J l a Cr m,,1 s ) , Ln Donna Tolbe rt (1956- ) , IJ arne J 1 Ha\Jkins (19 116 - (1 950 - ) , ) , Shirl ey \/ootlson (1936- Leone:1tl Da il y (190 6- ) anJ Frcncy ll o tlr, -.! s (1 9!10- ). Tiley c a n b e [,rn nd iL1 1' , n , A 1\ro ad s idc Trcasur.,r , fhc lilacL l\JL.ts , :rnJ i n t he s,n:11] (<. t" -" ~.(. •.. ,•.Ji..c.: ~ ,~,:. ._ I,·. ilt •?..1 lntliri d11 :1 l v o lum es 1c..:,uL1rly publi she d by nro;.1J s i Jc Pr ess . f' n r furt l1"' r d e t ai l s on De t roit :1nJ ot he r f roatl s idc po e ts s e e Br o adsid e Aut hors anJ .\ rLi s t s (Leoneatl Bailey , 1974) . J ames l~n Llal l h a s published Don 't Ask Me Who I Di s.:1 s t c r :, (197 3). 11 NetuorL 1\1.1 anJ Cities :rnJ Othe r lli s poe try is i n t e n s e , c o1:111inmlin ~ :mtl dr.JJ.i' t ic . In !ews ," we ;_ire tulcl that for years he ' d watch e d th e 6 r ow in ~ 111adnl!ss of the State . 1 Th e re i s irony and pathos as i n " Str e et Cnmc s ' \Jh c r e a boy is bl.:1ct a s the ancient cur se of Af ric a J\ diff e r e nt kind of poetry is written b y Ol o gboni \/h o int cnn i.n:; l cs drum rhyLhn1s , inc a ntatory me dita t ion_s am.I sharp est a blishment-d i r e ct e d bar bs in Drum So nB (1969), Intro d uced by Gwendolyn Brook s . \vho tells us in 11 Th e pot i s a l so a n a r tist Unti t l c tl 11 that th e ni i ht contai n s indif f erent stars ... . ll.'.ly<lcn has ue e n t e nchin g a t th ,! Un iv e rsity of lfichi r.,,:rn, hi s a l ma 1tia t e r, sinc e tl1e l a te sixties when h e l eft. fist under pre ss ur e . His \fords in th e Ho urni n°, time (19 70) n nticip a te the t heme of J a yne Corte z ' s ov e rp owering " Fe s tivals & Funer a ls . 11 He seeks a p l nce v1here m.'.ln uill n o lon g er be c a lled ni g~ er, gook, kit e or hun k. le , but " 1.1a n ." Th ere a r L~ fri !_', ht en i ng poems :rn <l t e rrif y ing i mage s in Hor ds .'.l s llnyd c n s _u rvey s the " Sphinx ' 11 Sol ed.1<l" (' ' cradled by dru g s , by jazz "), 11 1 1 (' my jok e nnd me " ) , 11 !Z odachror.1e s of th e Ts lnnd �("fin gerless hancls") and "El-llajj Halil~ Cl-Shabazz" ("the \J::tkin;; drea1:1 " ). " Zeus over l~eJcye" r eflects on a visit to the n.,,Jstnne Arsenal. It is an intense drama, joininr, other ~rea t poer:is as a major statement on our times . Hes tern man ' s mythic totem, his depravity , his quixo ti c movements at the speed of a blur, the liu1:1an " loom" of t ensio n--all are sta~ed ,1~~ains t the backdrop missile arsenal where death-machines bear the names of ancien t Gcaeco-Romnn mythological fi gur es. mythologies " to "c or.1e to birth ." Such naming allows death-dealing ''new Among terms nssociated with llnyden ' s ni ghtmarisl1 world of visible/invisible and antic ipated violence nre dragon, hydra, basilisk, tulip s , coro.llas , 7.eus, J\pollo, tab, nnJ llerc ul..~s . missiles toHcr ("st nsis ") The 2:; a sacred phallic grove .... Apparently th e gu ides at th e arsenal cj-Unot satisfactorily ansuer ciues ti ons about the missi les' destinies and dan ge rs: ✓ You r partial answe re reassur e me less than they appall. I feel ns thou[;h invi sible fuses \Jere burning all aro und us burning all around us. Il ea t-quiveri.n,;s tuitch dan ge r's hype rsensitive skin . The very sunlip,ht hero. scer.1s flmTJmable . And shadows give us no relieving shade. Dismal and final, llayclcn ' s poem adds its mm particular ton e , style and langua ge to the len gthenin g t otem of the New Tilack Poetry . For, despite his disa ~re ements with th e Black J\estheticians, th ere i s no doubt th a t �"Zeus" r0af firms a belief exp r essed by youn~er, sometimes lo uder, poe t s : the Hes tern world is <loomed to destruction at its a yo unce r poet might say) Olm that h:i.nJs (oill " off itself, " ind t h is is wha t has been decreed . In fact , the th eme of a n appr oachi n g e nd i s quit e "America n " in poe t ry , still being pre.:iched by white poets nnd spokl;s1,1,rn : from Uobby DyLrn to Dilly Graham . Rich contrihut.i.on s ltavc also been mac.le by poets und artists in sou t hern lllino.i.s .:rnd His sour .i.. East St . Luu is anc.l St . Louis , thou;;h loc1.1 teJ in t \vO different otates and separntecl by the Hississipp.i., have a mu t ual history Ll w t ~oes bacL before the days of the L1moL1s Dred Scott Case . These Blacl~ communities , al t ernately wur ring an<l loving , uorked closely to :;e th e r dur i_n~; t liL'. lH.:ick Arts Hovem '11t . ! tt! Lt•, ht of tlte Poe t s 1.1nd arti::;ts Here drawn to or supported by !\AG (ln~1cl, Artis t Group) , House of U1noja , The: nlacksmith Shop uf J;la ck Cultur e , lllack Liberator project , the llouse of Truth, Irnpack llouse , tlte Experiment in Higher Ed u cation a t SIU , Sop h ia Ho use , Ka t herine Dunham ' s Performin!; Arts Train.ing Cen t er ( tl!E_- SIU ), Black lt i ver \friters , and t he So ut hend Nei g huorhood Center . Some of the poe t s i n the area were Druce Ru t lin , Rhen Sharlem Carant , Sher nwn Fowl ~ r, lle<li.1onJ , Cynthia Conley. (1-,ho later joined ODAC) , Ar t hur Do::1icr , Bobb Elliott , ,\ustin Black (1928- ) (who v1ent to Los Angeles) , Fre<l llorton;_ Dwight Jenkins , Rornenetha foshi n gton , Do nnld llen c!erson , .llenry Osborne , Jon Hi l s6n , Vincent Clark , Gloria Walker; Vincent Terrell , Reginald. Allen ·r u rnage , Wayne Loftin , Derrick Wrigl1t , Gregory An thony , Katherine Ounham, and others . \.JritinLs by these poets are included in SiJes of the P.iver : A Mini - Antholo~y of Black. \fritin~s ( 1969 , Redmond) , Detty Lee ' s St . Louis-based ProuJ mar,azine wh i ch offers prizes , The Hill Creek IntellL gcncer , n special issue of Sou ' wester (fal l, 1 968 , selected by ncdmon<l), Th e Black Lib t2 r a tor, Th c Creator (1969) , Tambourine (1966 , \Jliite and Schwartz) , Collec t io11 (1968) , ,,o_ �\loluue [ of Poems by Blacks (1970). Dum.:1s, 1,ho t,1ur;lit for a ycc1r c1t East St . Louis (SIU-1:l!E, 1967-1963), .inJ ReJmond co-sponsor-.,<l writin ~ progr;__ims in thE:! l~ap-\-lrite NO\v l/orksl1ops c1n<l Black River Writers group. Collect ion was stu<lent-produceJ under Dumas ' supervision , with Fowler am Li n In Stennis servin 8 as e ditors. El1 i.ott writes , in " The Dream Time ," al.iout th~ " spirochete womb " of the mother of the uni.verse, the Phoenix , anJ th e Jeath "fashioned at the end " of 500 years. Great Phoenix that she was, the mother of the univ,~rse now leaves the dream e r \-llth only her J ~rc;__it murky sexu;:i lity .... Elliott .is .:1 dreamer and rrealisl but Dl.:1.ck ushers ln .:1 different l~ l!lJJL'ra- ment with hls Th e Tornado in My Houth (1966 ). lie !ias the i r re v erence of th e Bea t s , the funkiness _ nd dr i ve of the hard boppers , arnl the sexuality . 110\1p pursu1.t • o f one 1.n . " Asexual Flight " says a man ' s last wish is to be banished to the island of remiss and loose his love . Another mood is presented in "Ra~or M.:irnn Democr.:icy/. the nchc .i.n J-D " where the blue haze h u rts and 11011 the hair is turning " into ~ n ·.. ching grey. " 13lnd, snlutes " the gladiator" iu "Coeval Drum~ for l.L' roi " but in the me.:1nt imc he covers quite a bit of ground: 11 " the dead arterL1l ins:mity " ; " futility in jagged crags " ; Kierkeganrd / Sartre 11 ; " lil~e drippin~•. brine " ; " over the windO\-J of my being " ; and fin.:i.lly "Her pouer in howling \linds " bring s A Dl~lJHBEAT POil LEl~OI . �I I I I "Black &. 1'unky " is subtitl ~d " a h y poth<.! ti ca l or:;.1s1:1 " ;ind t he r e l s ir rev e r e n ce I in " DAH!-1 YOU!l ;~o d ! " His 11 ( a poer1 for ! !,\LCOLM X) " is subtj tl ed "th e lib e r a te d I wa r- hor se ." I In " C,1 rr y in~ a S ticl ·. , " f owl e r asks : l \T\10 cn r cs, t h;i t I had yes t e r<ln y ' s stal e ~ul'l f o r I breakfas t · I " Thin kin g " a ll ows various i ma ~e s st r e a m and burst forth only the mind can h c nr . S t ud e nt - mo th e r Ro1:ien e th .'.l "1a sh i n g ton writ e s a bout t'.1e pr r>r:stir ,·s o n t o<lny ' s Black woman wa tc h in8 pe o p l e Scu rr y i n ~ from s un t o s un •.. Al so pulled a l on r; , she says I p r otes t b ut s till I run. Lof t i n , a young poe t wh o writes with economy a n d simp lici t y , s umma r i z t.:s \,Jrl. g ht a n d Baldwin u p in " Re aljt y ": out o f the co tt on fi e lds anJ butnin g suns t o ov e rcr owded citi es an J s h ades of s lums li(:d.~,o nd ano..l F011 l e r f ounJ c d tl1~ J.;la c k Riv e r \Jrit c r s publi s hin~ c olll pan y whi c h ll r o u:.!, ht out Si.des cc t l1c !Uvcr . Cu r rentl y un UL' r th e sup t: rvi s i. u u of Ca'tl 1er i.nc Yo un Ge , t l1e Jl L"L'.~;s h as puh li. s h cd l:c d rnonJ ' s vo lumes : Toms (l iruc.1ds Ld c ) Se nt r y o( ,\ Ta l e uf Two (1 %13 ), ,\ Ta l c of Ti 1,1c L To Ll C't T .i. s~;ue ( pamp hlet) (1 969 ) , th e f o ur Go l Jcn l' .i. ll nrs (1 9 70) , 1nve r of' !!,ones ~i ncl Fl e sh a nd IHoocl . ;, Des i.re (197J) , (1 971) , Son ° s Fro1·1 an Afro / Phon e ( 1972) , In A Time o f n.-a in �anJ 3n Lp , 1aoodli.11Ls anu S;-icred Pln c.:c :; (1973). Thin:,s uas published in 1973 by Consi.Jcr Loneline ss as 'Jiicsc :c ntro :- Ludi [ Scnn,hj lnt c>n a:~ionali in I taly. Rc<lmond, a native of [as t St . Louis, strives fro I3L1ck faE1il yl1oo d (imm2di.atc and e:~tended) in his poe try; th o u ~~h ltc nttcrn pts to d o this \/ithout forced alle~ianc r•~;, 1d tl1out " Jj sf i~urcr.w .. t of pe r cep tion s , " but by .:1llm;ing the Jec<l-!.jlt· pin~ worJs co1:1c natural] y atHl hi s torically . ~ hu,norous fo J.k portraits lil~e His nose Wi..1S 11 llis poetry ranGeS from 11 va sio n of the ~;ose ": hi s re lar, !!is eye s ic y J irt s that mo, c J faster tkm speeJ-of- so uncJ jet s. He cou] d ri.lp 1 i.ke :: pneurna ic drill Or c r oon 1 i.k c SmoLcy Bill lien the occasion arose . to con s iJcrations of love unJer s train as in " Ins i de My Perimelcr ": Inside my pcrimc t e· Of fe.'.lrs A un it of ~;ucrlll:1 : Su ·.Lkcs a1 the hi.lr 1 c d-1s•ire llo vc ls th .i t ·honrd >llr love: Th a _ incarcerate c 1r nf•ctls-- An in s ur ge nt army St on.1s tJi,, bastil ~ of pride Shells this facaJ ( of custo1;1, Of the s trnw me,1 in i,ide us-Ac ce pts the sun , Al Lm-.'s the contorted fnce · of �I I I Str~ ss to smile again-- I To z low again! I Allows Love t o Live. I Els ewhere in the lc1r 0 er arei.l ll1c r e \Jere /an~ other go i ngs-on in poetry : I0\,1a , Nebr,1:,k:1 .1n,l l-'.ans.1s · C Lty wl1ere \!ilbu r Rutledge (1 9110- ) and others I I associ n.t e d \•J ith th e Afro -Ame rican Cu ltural Center and th< ~ J~ l..ick Writers Hork shop I r ecci.ved assistance and exposure . Amo n g these poets are !lary Ruth Spicer , Guiou Taylor, \.Jillesse Hes ter and .fa ckie Has hin g t o n . I So me of the1:1 are includ ed I in An th o l o,w : Dlacl: Fri tcr ' s \lorl:shop (l~iz na, 1970) and \./ashin g ton has pub- 1 lish ed Jo~ (19 71) . I Loc.1tccl a t the University of Denver for t he year 19711-1975 where he s ub stituted £or ~lphah e le dur ing a leave of absence, K~;os i tile (] 938eml ocl ies P,m-Africani ·m in f,ct and symbol. ) lie was born in Johanne s bur g , South Afric a , and h as been ex iled in the United States since- 1961 . His . articl es, po w s and int e rvi ew s have been published on an int e rnati o nal scale, a nd le hast; ug h t at several fun e rican coll ege s and universities . to 1, In adJition ,o ks alre a dy mentioned , he .h as publish~cl Hy }lmne Is Africa (1971 ) ;:ind cdiL ,1 The We rd is ll ere : Poetry from Hodern Africa ( 1973) . llis O\~n est)1etic is stated in his Introduction to the nntholo g y : Poe try, the wo rd .'.l t its most ex·pre ss ive, can be a prayer, an app ~. 1, cond cin na tion, encoura r e ment, aff irma tion--th e list of e ndeavor s is e ndl ess . And if it is authentic, as any t 1in g else expressive of a people ' s spirit , it is c1 hm ys ;o cial . This conce r L he embra c es in hi.s <•\ /11 poems, especially in Africn wh e r e in the Introduction, Gwendol y n Brooks writes th~t his Art is lif e worked with; ... I I I �Ilis Afr o - Ame r ican broth e rs incorporated th e i\fricanisms into t heir Horks ;ind6 ,.,,,. l~gos i ts il e comb i nes his own incli.r,inisms with a mastered flt1 c nc y of American Bl a cl: i sr.is . He :-1ss;:i y s th e •:rho le of o ur tu1c1ult·11ou s t i.m e s (in Africa an d Ame rica), i nterm i n g l-Ln ~ an acq u ire d Bl ack stree t la n :1, un g e with a Je1:wnd i n g an d s t rin ~:e nt form . One cf tlt e mos t ;:ib l r craf t s 111.2 n , h e un i t e s excel lent p o e ms :.i bo uL ch i ld r ..,.n , wome n , vL o lenc e , mu s ic , l·\: l c olrn X, Lun u1 ubn , 1.1!e nJoly n Bro oks , ,\ f r.I.can J,:mces, Bill y !Io llid ~ty , o r "The ii itt y l' ri t ty" in 11h .i. cl1 Lh c o nc e f u r iou s s o n ijs ar c now (roz en on ba tt(~r c> J LL 1..:!, li ps 1'111..! poet:, u f t !w Ea st , South , Hid1-1e s t ;1 11 d n e ar \lest cl re a bit more than I I a hop , sl~ip a nd jump fro m Cnlifornin , bu c. mnny o f th em we r e i ns p:ir ed b y tv I appe a r a nc ,:' s , nati o nal ma ~az i ne cov e r ag e, anJ c ross - co untr y t o u rLl of Llie \·/.::i tt s .I 0 po e ts . Born, as i t wer e , be t we en th e C, ,i ifor nl.a s un ,111.1· th e r ebell i on I l) [ 1 9 Ci5, t he lfa t ts \lriters' \/orks l1o p ,~as i 11i t:i.all y under the dir e ction of Budd · I Scl1ulLer ~ . I ·I l.:1ter , as ol d e r ,vr.I. t 2rs l eft and n c.1-.1e r ones ca1~ie in, t l1e sup e r - vi ~;ion of tlt l.! workshop Has ass L 1cd by l lai ry Dolan an J llerbcrt S.i.rn1•1o ns . centers of cult u re ,111d l.nfluen I.! ReL.1 t ~d includ e- I th e \!at t s llappen l. n ~ Coffee House , t he shor t - l i ved Shr l~IJ magaz in L, ~he \Jatt s Reper t o r y Theater , the Acquiarian Bookstore , L11e Son s u f \/atts , :: he Black !)anthers , Kareng a I s u:; or)janizatiDn , rtn cl Frederi c]~ !Jou r.J., s ~. lh i ter : ' !louse wh ich housed th e 1-/a t ts writers pro g r a m. /uno n g tho ~c , s socia ,. e d vli th t l s anJ tith e r \ffiting groups \verc Hilton tlcFarlan e , ) , Tr --- up e (194 3- ) , Rober t ) , Stanley Crouch (1 9L15- ) , ) , E!.1mery 1:vans (1943 ), Vallejo Ry:tn 1:enn c Jy ( L9 L, 7Clevela nd S i • s (1 9 ! ) , J;los _su111 Po11e , Oj ..-mke (,\ lvin Sa x on , 19!17 C . l~ . ~!u r c LrnJ , Jirn.1y Slle n:km (1 9!, 4- Ha y ltn ,J , J a1:ic.s Tl 011 as J :1..:k:., on (1 9 27 Dnvi J i- e es 12 Mo od y (1 9 3 3- ) ) , Simmons ( 1930- !, - ) , Johni e Sc o tc (1 948 - , , ) , Erne s t ) , Fa nni e Ca role ll rown (19 4 2- ) , f.Jn a Cl. ,ison (1 94ll- ) ) ) , ) , JJync Co rte z (1933- ) , ': �(19 29 f i rd Ql l Ch ew (1913antholo t; i c s: (1 91,/f- ) , Sonor a tlc l~e ll e r ) , Ridhi , na , and och e r s . ) , Ha rl ey Hi ms (1 925 - ) , Th e ir wor ks a r c in two fr om the As h es (19G7 , Sc hulb e r g ) and 1·h tt s Poc Ls a nd Wr iters (19 68 , Tro u pe ) . Othe r poems a r e s c a tt e r ed throu g h such pe ri odical s a s Lo s An ge les t!a ~,;_:i,:ine , Shr e_1, , Co nfront a ti o n , ..ind I/e st . Seen a s a mov e1:1ent , the \fa t s i; ro u p , i n qu a lit y a nd qu a nti ty , eme r ge a s o n e of the most powc r f u:).. o n tl ,2 llew Bl ac l~ Poe tr y scene (r o u;:•,h ly r esernblin i3 the mag nific e nt llm,,a rd g roup) . or excel l e nt, Tu r althou :1 h the pe e. try is no t uni f ormly e ood th erlc! i s c o ura ge i r. th e vi s i o n s , s t yles a nd th c nies th :i t o ne looks h :1r d t o fin d i n oth e r i; r o u p~ . patt e rn s of Black s Thi s r.iny be du e: lu p:.rl tu tl1c mi~~ra t ury Ln th e 1Je st-- mos t of t h ese poe ts \vere not born i n Los An ge l es -- a nd the r u l i a l k a ' e i d osco pe o f Calif or n i a . What eve r t h,~ r easo n s , t her e i s a pri. s mnti c ra n 2,e i n th e poetr y t h a t mov e s fr 01,1 the ear th-woman • mu s icallt y of J ay n 0 Co rt e z , a c ross t he all u s o r y a n d often mys l ica l ex cur s i ons of Ly l e , to the s i ;n i fy ln li blues in t erluJ c s of Cr o uch who h a s a l :;;0 11F i t t e n s o me darl n g and s e1,1 i na l c riti c ism in l3 lnck World a nd the J o urnn l of Black P oe try . .\ in ' t No Ambul anc e s £or · no Nir, g uhs Tonigh t b o th hi s ho o k and Lp r c c o rd i n r, whi c h includes lin e r n oL,!S h y Ly 10 . 11 (1972) is th e title of r ap 11 a s we ll :is poe tr y , wit h Cro u ch uses fol.k f orms ancl th ems a nJ v ari o u s <lr. a ma tic t e clrnici u es . in tcr t11Lnc d with music Man y o [ th e poems ,H e d e Ji en t e d t o lll u s ic i a n s li k e Parl : c r a nd Colt r a n e ; othe rs att L'T'lpt th e co1:1p lic a t ecl s~1o nt ane it y o f liv e j a~ ~ s o l os . Th e tltl e poc1•1 nnt ici p:-ite s th e J ay of th e fin a l ri. o t wh e n th e r e wil 1 not b e " n o " a mb uLm ccs f or 11 ni gr,ah s 11 • But the p oe m' s hero , Han key Junior, " g o t on hi.s j o b " li h~ na t Turner . I Ly 1c.: says hi s i.nflu c· n c cs arc> Art a u d , Oct nvi o Paz , Ce s a r Vallejo, Ccs:.1i.r e , .::me! ot h P ·s . His po e try j s g rounded in elli p tic a l phrases and obsc ure information �which h e constricts into fri ght e nin~ , surreal images nnd states. "So me times I Go to Cnmarillo & Si t in the Lounp,e" dL~scribes ]10\.J the poc•t st.:nes into "an nwninr., of i,pirit , 11 viewinr.:; t he \mrld .1c yellow tru1:1p'-'ts of stL1rving blu es Yet l1e.::irin._: ,l \' letn::t·IL!s-2 i.10th2r ' s "ult ra- L:~h - frequency screams ." told th.'.lt "cob.'.llt bull , iL;'' ·s1.1.::ish tlie hec:.L or Ll 1l.3re is a need t o Screm!1 . 11 IIO\,cVvt·, uf the "lone- ranr.,cr" i.n \Je ,He. 11 Lacrl111as Lyle ' s r1ost L11.1ous poc:..1 is 11 l Ca11 Get it for Yo u \ll1olcsulc ," n s t atenent on t;1e contemporary polltlc1l-re J l~:lousr.:icL.11 sc •nc. Ojenb~ Ji 1s an unlie1.i.t0cl nm::;c of l11LellectunJ anJ soc.i.3] concerns ~is lie sculpts his poetry from tlte diverse in:3redients tk1t prL)ducetl th e: Afro-Amee .Lean . J\pparently 1-1el l-v ersetl, reflectln:._. h i s ::reu t kno\l l .J!_;e ,)f Cr.'.lec,>-R,l11a11 cL.1s ,, Le :~, 11 l\L1c l: l'O\u~r" h:1s t!t-2 l yre of 11 Bl,1cJ: Orpheus " pi erce the dark solitude of :1 ll.:idean world : l l e ~ r s i11Lo ancient Greece nncl lli~erlo. in th e same poem . is a co1iu11otiun ca u sed by li).;h lnln:~ .:inJ [m1lne , ,bsass .i.H aLin:._; tin _people an<l whole i:rass-blad es? Later on Dioi~encs, Socr.:itcs anJ the Or.::icle of Delphi enter tl1c poem. Iiut the se characters only come to Hatts to find people esc:.1p i n3 into a "toxicnnt" an<l ·r1eein~; from so~ too-true truth Ojenke, ls o \,rote an Introduction l tl Eva ns' re.:i<ll.ng ability, Oj enke s.:ii<l: Evans ' book The LllVC Poet (1971). " Emmery i s cry in:; sly l y into your cnr ." Fo r this po 2 t, Ev:rns ' s " Roach es " <lcpicLs n L:rn1ili.:ir sc12nc Lo some : t wo ro ,tches dnnce across the room to th e tune of pover t y ; About �S,:o Lt i s one o f t ik r.1o r, we ll LnO\m o[ t!.c 1/atts poe t s . In "T lic Fish Part y ," he s.-iys Tl1c fish are in tit er in~ again tonight, ... And fish-\.;atcllecs , i ~;noran t of th~ \:orld' s problcws, ~ct tlw i r char,~es from Dur ing th e conversation, ~;co t t t:ilks t o 2uc~.s \•!hat ell ~ fish will do . ./ ✓ ;_ nu par:tnth c tically about 1:a r Hey, look? 11 pove rty, but nll is exc l ar.1.:itor i ly intcrrupt~d: Goldie has eat,~n Jesus up! 1-/atts, 1966 " is a poeu m~llions heard on nation.11 cv. th e1nc o[ iauck ra ;;e nnd \vh lte indlf fe r enc It has th e familiar Dut Scot t closes it on rne1,1oraule line s: The 1:1,m nnmeJ Fear bns inheri.te<l half an ncre , and i :, nngry . Other \/att s poets den] with love , violence , contemplation of freedom uml music . Hn nyToft hfatts a fl cr th e l a t e sixti es . Troupe went to Ohio Unive rsit y _ (t o edit Confrnntation) and published Embryo (1973), Ash Doors ancl .Tu.Ju Guitars (19751, and co-edited G ~ Talk: Third World Voices (197:i), a f ter moving '· I' on to New York. Lyl e, who hns not published a value~ , went to Washingt on University in St. Louis, an d recently returned to Los Angeles. Ja~ne Corte~ w1 r"flr:J!,., went to New Yo rk where she has lived an~ wrote since the late sixties. iler three books are Pisstained Stairs and the Monkey Man's Wnres (19o~), Festivals and Funerals (1971) and Scarificatioris (1~73). Celebrations and Solitudes ' (1974). She has also recorded an Lp , Her themes and styles are broad, but mo stly embrace music a s aspect and fo nn, Af rica, as stru gg le and spirit, is also a dominant th 0me in ~er poetry. Pisstnined is especially ricl1 in its interwcavin i•.s of mus! c and str_u ~:; le. "The Road" is "where another llank moans'.' and is �St on e y Lones ome "Lead" descri be s the k ind of hard li fe t ha t i s " c r a c kl in ho t a "'sunr i se ." Lead, o f c o urs e , is Lea d Be ll y whom th e "n i r,g u hs " <l esperat e l y want t o h ea r sp it t hP. blues out. lie r struf'. f' ) cs are n ot simp le "contriva nc es " a s th ey chr on ic le th e h a r dsJ-d1Js and goocltimc s of Dj n ah , li ir <l , Or n c tt e , Co ltra n e , " Pa ts" Nav a rr o , Cl i ffor d Brown and n t hers--a veri f i ab l e po e ti c t apest r y of Bl ack exp ressi on i n defia nc e o f death, f rorn one wh o wo uld ... ea t mu d t o tou c h th e r o ot o ( y ou •••. ) , Arthu_r Amo n g oth e r So uth e rn Ca li fo rn ia poe t s a r e Rob e rt r.owen (1 936Boze (194 .... - ), Kin amo Hodar i ( l~4~ - ; , ), Dee Dee McNeil ,1 :, -.:J- Bill Thomp son, and Lan ce Will iams . Northern Califor nia h as a lso been chara cterized by in- a n J t ra n sm i g rati on o f Bla c k poet s a n d wr j ter s. I n deed a li s ti n r~ o f po e t s f rom t h <.: of th e S;rn rr a n c is co 1:ay r c a ,ls like a na t io n al co nv e nt i o n : Re cd , Yo un ~ ( 193 9- ) , Ha r p e r (] 938- ), Cru z (]9 4 9( 19 47- ~c n e r a1 ·a rea Co n c11 Jv es (.19 3 7- ) (no w a t Br uwn), Co ny u s (19 L12 ) , An [: clo J. c 11is ( 1 950- ) , Miller , 1.m,rl!ncc llcCau1~ h (19 L10- (Ha rvin X), Lcoua Welch ( 1 ) , El llulwj i r ) , J oyc e Ca ro l Th omas · (1.93 8- ) I ), L.V . Ma ck (1.9!14 --:- ) ) , Jos ep_h ) , Gl e n ! ly 1 cs ( 19 33- ) , D:iv id flen d crson , .Jon Ec kel s ( ) , llcnnnn Bro1m ( ), - ) ) U1uumba ) , Pa t Parker ( De Lenn 1! ,1 rr iso n (1 9L1 I - ) , S.:irali We b s t e r Fabi o ( 192 a- m,d Ma y a An;;e l o u ( 1928- ) • ) , HJ.llln m ,\n<lers o n . Ha y are.:i ;1c l i v it y in t h e ar ts h a s hP. c n h e i ;;l 1L c n r d n n<l e n li a n ccJ by th e S,1n Fra n cisc o Afro - Ameri c an Hi s tori c a l and Cu] t urnl Soc i e t y , b oo kstores s uclt a s Her c , Harcus .:i nd New Day ( Go n calv es ), n c tiv iti c s of l' ,111t h c1- s a n J s .i. l!l ilar :· r o u p s , t he Rai nb o.1,1 Sir,n cul tu r a l ce nt e r in llt:: r kc ley, ' �N;iirobi Colle;,e , and numerous other c ult ur : 1 :111d lite rar y pr ojec ts. b y many bard s are in c luded in llill e r' s l)j Po ems ce s of BL1ck P, onc.s (l<J70), Jo ur nal of Black Poetr y , Yar<lbird Kea dc.r (a semiannu a l ediL e<l by nee d , Yo un g , Cecil Brown, Youn ~ and Myles), --,-.Umbra ]}ln ckwork:s (H e nders o n, all issues, espccLtlly 1970-71), and otlwr nation.-1lly distrihut2d antholo r, ies a n ,! per i odicals . I: c cJ h n s puhlished thre e voluues : chur ch (1971), Conjure: an d severa 1 nove 1 s . critics : c ::i t e chi sm o[ <l ne o.:1merica n hoodoo Select:ed Poems, 1963-1970 (1972), Chnttanooga (1973), . wor, l l 1as J r.:1wn o. curious · . ✓ I. t.ive s [· rom ]I 1s misture o f cllJec " brill iant, 11 " c ute," "jumbl es anc.l puzzles, " comics " and so on. 11 11 i 1i1p ortant," b:1J Inc.'.eec! , Recd writes his poetry inLo lits nOVL' 1 s ::ind hi s nov e l s into hi s poems . In thi s service, he emp]nys dialects, Voodoo , the occult, whimsicality, wit, mysticism, sa tir e, which he obviousl y cn _jo ys, al l reinforc e d by ns sorted libra ry information and street-instinct s . He violates time b :1ri- iers, placin :~ an ancient Gr e e!~ figure in a contemporary poem, or vic e v e r sa . His verse forms are experimental, rou ghly recalling· th o Beats ·. a nd other recent or p.:1st stylistic irreverencies. Tl1ere .:1 re no s ac red _cows [or Reed who sometimes L11,1ha sts · BL:icl: nntionalists and white lib cr:1 1s in the same poem . Generally, hi s techniques work (some are astonishin:J; bu t lie often s pends t oo 1: uch time a tt ackin·r 1·enl or cr e at ed antn ;~ o nists and li avi nr; iun at tlt L! expens e of reauers. 11.i s titles nlone are enou~h to keep you slapping your t h i gh or scra tchin :; "O u r he.'.1 d: 11 "Report o f the Reed Conu,ti ssio n," 1 am a cowboy in the boat of R:1," " There I s n whal e in my thi. gh," "The fe ral pi.oneers ," "The I3lack Cock," "C: r i s C:ris," "And the nevil Sent Pinto, which She also Routed ." .:.1 ford In ]973 Reed became the f irst Bl n ck writer to be nominated for a National Book Award in two cate g o ri es . �Gu nc Rlv es ( Dln ga n e ), a n oc c a sion .J I po e t, i s u n i que i n his int e llect ualt yp o grn ph ica l t ap e s t r y of i dea s ( see Bl nc k fir e ), but h i s se rvice to Blac k poe tr y h n s be en more obv i ou s i n h is wo r k n s found c r -ed i tor of Jo nn w 1 n' BL1 cl. Po etry . He a l so s er ve d a s po etr y edi t o r of Blnck Di. a l og u e . A q11icl, b ut stea d y , in f l uence on t h e ,;cw Bl n ck Poetry , h e h a s writt e n s ome o f t he mos t in f orme r! c ri t ici s m t o cn1.:c out of t he per i. u d . Ne u !J.iy Boo ks t o r e in Sa he,idquar t er e J . Fran c i sco , wher e Tlt c .Tourn.1. l a n d it s p r es s :.ire Amo n r, po e t s puh l i sh e, ] liy t h e p re ss u r e Nc .J l ,md \/e l t o n S1:1 l tl1 (P e n et r .'. l t i o n , 1 971 ) , n virtuo s o poe t \vh o 11 Cu r ren t ly h e ru n s / ope r a t t! s \luS ho r n a n,I r ;.i i f;c d in San l'r...1nc i. sc o . U:1 lcolm 11 e n ds dis c ussi.n ~ t h e kinds of tr ...i cks t e:1rs ii1:ll ~P ,1ncl L0 ll f n:j· t li e read e r th.: t i n 1.1y l1 e:1 r t ther e ar e ma n y unmarked g r aves . Ther e a re a lso word- gif t s in "the dan g er zone," "If I could h o l d You fo r . Li ght, 11 " f or n sor c ere ss " (" y ou kee p chan~i n ~ me into air") a n d "IHac·k · Mo the r " ("an odd ecsta sy mov i n g "); the s e j o i n blues, e x cur sio n s thr o up;h ·ci t y streets , and thoughts on Africa. tf Yo un p, a n d Harper both teach writing) at St a n fo r d a nd,, Brown , You_n g h as published Dnnc i n p, (19o9) a n d Th e So n c ~-~rnin r, Ba ck f nto -I t self (1971) , as we ll as n ov e ls and a rticl e s. lli s r, o c t r y s at i rize s milit a nt s , sa lutes wh i te a nd Thir d Wo rl d poets, and in cor po r a te s le g end s int o a broad b ns e of l inguist i c kn ow le d ;\ e, t i tl es o r h is books . Th e r e i s a co n s istenc y of i nter es t n s seen in the In "Er o son g " he finds hims el f d nnc i n r "na ked" th ou g h I I ·I 1 I All my s hore s h a d been pull e d u p " Ye s , the Se cret ~!ind Hhi s per s , " dedi c a ted t o Knu fm n n , c a lls poetry a "tree" for ever a t yc, ur doo r .... �YounR ranges over the whol~ of the life experience, writin ~ about squirrels, jazz musicians, Spain, Stockholm, ni ~ht time and sorrow. His poetry is markedly different from that of Harper who left California in 197u. llar per's volumes are Dear John, Dear Coltrane (1::,7,.;;, History is Your O,.m Heartbeat (l::,711, Photo ~ra ;)hs: Hant a Witness (1973 1 (1::,,4). Ne gatives: , History as Apple Tree ,19 /2;, Son ):L:.___!_ Debridement ,L. i3;, and Ni P,htmare Ber.ins Responsibility Praise for his poetry has come from a wide spectrum o f eminent critics and poets, primarily academicians, including Gwendolyn Brooks an<l Ha yden. Critic M.L. Rosenthal recently singled out Harper and Baraka as important examples of Black poets contributinr, to the new Ame rican poetr y s cene ,The New York Times Ma gazine, Movember 2.'.,, 197-.J. Laurence Lieberr.1an has also praised Har per who received nominations for the National Book Award as well as the Black Academy of Arts and Letters First Annual Poetry Award. Harper . has kept n consistency of tone which critics particularly enjo y and thou gh his poetry sometimes lacks metaphorical tension lfunk ? ) to ignite the important statements he makes about Black music, there is a firm intelli gince at work. His themes are i : lusion, pained creativity, war, racism, j nz~, _ nature, history, death, and the mythological evolution of mankind. Much of his poetry is personal, confessional, and he interweaves a medical vocabu. I lary into some of it. and musicians. He often inclu.cles ·chants, hums, and names of songs His musico-poetic concerns can be seen in these lines from "Dear .John, Dear Coltrane": Why you so black? cause I a m Why vou so funky? cause I a m �Why you so black? cause I am Why you so sweet? cause I am ~,Jhy y o u SQ black? cause I am a love supreme, a love supreme: ... El Muhajir (Marvin and adamantly Black: X1 is a different kind of poet, Islam-influenced -· Fl y to Allah (l~o~,, Black Man Listen ,l~u~,, Woman-- Man's Best Friend ,1 ~7 31, the latter obvi o u s l y a rejection of white America's· fetish for animals. Each book salutes Allah a nd cont ains irnme occasiona lly well-turned poetry intermingled with proverbs, parables and song s. He praises Eli jah Muhammad, Tommy Smith, and announces tha t "Bigg er·. Thomas Liv es !" In " The Ori gin s of nlackness" he says Black is not a color. bllt th a t / All colore come fro~ Black .•.• My l e s a nd Eckels are nlso at diff er ent e nds 11cNair is j n th e middle . of his drawin ~s a n ci po e ms. of th e p oe t ic s p~!c t n u1 ,1h.ile My les pu blish e d Down t Country in l 97 t; ~1,, a col l ri~~ e lie survey s. co nt empor a ry life, llis u pbrin13in g on " Bebop and blues in Phoenix," a n d his e xp eriences as an ,.irU st and art s tud ent . Ec kels lHrn 1.i oved from a p oet ry of :rne, er and protest to n "poetry \1ritten by n l mma n hei.n f'. , for hu m,:.rn h c inr;s." To morr o,;,.r, 111., ck lU f'. ht On, ! lli s boots inclucll! Bl nc k ll m m, This Time ome is hlh c r e th e Soul Is (1969) , Our Business i s in the Streets ( 1 970) , and Fire Si !~ n (1 973), which ;; ives its n.:1me to his press . In his earl y phn s e Eckels wrote ·about "!Hack Is," "ll ell, Mar y ," �"In Memory of Marcus, " "A Responsible t,Jeegrm1 Lcn,ler, " a nd other poems a lso coinin~ an interesting term: Western Syphilization Fire Sir;n "for the free and will be," shows a thematic and cultural h r ea dth 1/ as he writ<:s lov e po e ms and salutes freedom in ;;;eneral. NcNair, a cosmic poet 11ho bridges African spirituality and his o,-m psychic revelations, has published Earthbook (1972) -and J11bn Girl (1973). Cert:iinly tlic world \1ill hear more fro m this ~iftcd young writer. Amon g northern California women poets, Haya An ge lou is primarily a prose and script uriter, but has pµblished a book of pocr,1s: Drink of Water 'For I Die (1971). Pat Parker's 1>oetry Just Civo l!c A Coo 1 It wa s nomina t e d for th e Pulitzer Pr ize. can be found in a n excellent little volu me called Child of Myself (1972) and Dices. She uses her own wonw.n-feeling s t o assess landscape of the c urrent upheaval. "Brother " reveuls contradictions in the love-but-hurt app ro ach some Black men take towards their wonen . The "system " she has just been struck with, she says, is called a fist. 0tl1c1: poems deal with humor and tra gedy in husband-wif e relations. In "A Hornent Left behin9 11 she asks Have you ever tried to catch a tear? "F rom Deep Within" says the way of a woman is turbulent \Jith many forces and colors of feelings, but A ,JOman' s body must be tau ght to spcnk-- ... Pat Parker's work searches behind the cosmetics and the vo g ue to tl1 e truth and the disturbance. So cloes th e uork of Joyce Carol Thomas whose two books, �llitt~rs,,c c t (1973) a nd Crystal llreezes (1974), were pub lished by Fi r e Si ~n Press . Ile r poe1'1s are about ,1omei1' s mo ods, church, Black mus i c , children, a nd love. There i s a modern feel a nd te xture in her lines whicl1 e conomize and without d is playing abruptness or un decipherable co de . Ye t he r s treng th is unmistakable a s in "I r now a Lady": I kno11 a L 1d y /\ caref ul queen She bows to no one lier will is a Fine thread of s t eel .... In the s e poems, and the works of Pat Parker and Leona \lelc h , one sees a strong hea ]th nn d future in Bay a rea ,,omen poets. Welch's f ir s t boo k, wa s published in 1971. B1nck r.1-braltar, Leona He re and th e re, one fin ds sub- dued rage and impatience befor e racis m and i gnorance ; but her poetry also exalts th e Bla ck woma n and s pea ks in l ow t one s to men. f rom f olk ex pres sions to forma l exnminations of love. lie r lanB ua ~e ran t es "St n tus qu.o" 1.::; t lte stud y of a Bl ac k with "c las s" and d i 2nit y: Got my white poodle by the leash. Less able than the o ther women, h0r poet·r y s a lutes a number of heroines includin~ women in !er family and Ni ~k i Giovann· Finally ther e is the much-trave] ed Sarnh Fabio, instrumental in Black s tudies devel opmen t in nort hern Ca lifornia, but who noH lives in Iown . published two vo]umes, A ~ irror: She A Soul (1969) and Black Ts a Pa nth e r Ca :• ed (1972), and th en without notice, br ough t out s even volumes (!) all in 1973: Soul Is: Soul Ai n't, Boss Soul (also the name of her Lp), Black Back: Ba ck Bla ck, Juius & Jubilees, My Own Thing, Ju;us/Alchemy of the Blues, �and To gether/to the Tune of Coltrane's Equinox. /? (•' -. Her later work is more formal than the l a ter whic 11 shows that she has j oined the new poe try movement completely . One of her more memorable earlier pieces is "Evil is No Black Thin~•• in which she takes all dark thinp, s traditionally asso cia ted with evil and reverses them; or, allows them to be seen in a lar p,er cont.e xt wherein they invariabl y embrace somethin~ that is li ~ht. lier later volumi- nous efforts deal with experimental blues, ra p- styles, folk narratives, and the reconstruction of a general Black oral history. This she does quite well on her album but much of the writing in the new books is too conversational. Cruz has published Snaps (19~9) and Mainland (1~7JJ• A Puerto Rican now livin g in the Bay, he writes with brevity about other poe ts, New York City and other lar ge northern cities, and Spanish mythology, often interpolatinK bi-lingual phrases in lines. Barlow tGabriel, 1~7,; has done ~npressive things with languar,e and history. B. Rap published llevolution Is and Metamorphis of SupernigGer (1973 1 • \17~7 1 lfaile an inmate at Vacaville, Brown ,Muumba) published Some Poems and Thin3s (1~71). In Sacramento, the young po et Clarence MKie Wi gf all has shown promise in The Other Side ~19701, while I-Jes Young published Life Today (b10 1 and Ramblinp, and Thinp,s ,197:l;. Grant High School young Black poets ~ere included in Omnibus (1973,. At A number o f younger and older poets are studying with Redmond, who has tau ~ht at California State University since 1970. His workshops are located on the campus as well as in community sites like the Oak Park School of Afro-American Thou ght. Meanwhile, in Seattle, Black Arts West is attracting many poets; and across state at Washington State University po et Primus St. John writes and works with other w~iters. '.,! � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Eugene B. Redmond Digital Collection Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context EBRWritings_07_50 Title A name given to the resource Copy of Drumvoices: The Mission of Afro-American Poetry: A Critical History, typed partial manuscript, p. 1-36 Relation A related resource Eugene B. Redmond Digital Collection Language A language of the resource English Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource For digital rights and permissions, see <a href="https://www.siue.edu/lovejoy-library/about/policies.shtml">https://www.siue.edu/lovejoy-library/about/policies.shtml</a> or contact <a href="mailto:library@siue.edu">library@siue.edu</a> for direct inquiries. In copyright. <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Redmond, Eugene B. https://digitallis.isg.siue.edu/files/original/28c28e356426f4836d7dee58048862ae.pdf 5e4c6424adbabbba6933a35b6477faca PDF Text Text Black publishing houses (Broadside Pr e ss, Third \JorlJ Press, The Third Press, etc.) and hundreds of new news or gans and literary journals. During the contemporary period a number of important an t l1ologies have also been published. Some of the more notable ones include Be yond The Blues, Pool, 1962; Sixes and Sevens, Breman, 1962; Ame rican Negro Poetry, Bont eu1ps , 1963; Soon One tforning: New Writinr; by American Ne r; r oe s, 191+0 - 1962, Hill, 1963; New Negro Poets, Hughes, 1964; Kale i doscope, Hayden, 1967; Black Voices, Abrahams, 1968; Black Fire, Jones and Neal, 1968; The New Bla ck Poetry, Hajor, 1969; Soulscript, Jordan, 1970; 3000 Years of Black Po e trv, Raoul and Lomax, 1970; New Black Voices, Abrahams, 1972; Tl1 e D] nck Poe t s , Ra nd a ll, 1971 ; Black Spirits, Kin g , 1972; and The Poetry of Black America, Adoff, 1973. In --- addition t o these and other nationally distributed antl1olo gi e s, ma ny collections of Black Literature were compiled and published in various re ~ion s : Watts~ Watts Poets and Writers (Troupe, 1966) and From the Ashes (Schulberg, 1?69); South, Fress Southern Theater by the Free Southern Theater (De nt, et al, 1969); A :·~ew Chica p, o Antltolo r> (Brooks, 1971); Eas t St. Lou i s-: St. Louis, Sides of th e Rive r (RedmonJ, 1970); New York, Thre e IlundreJ ,.md Sixty Def'. r ees of Blackn e ss Coming at You (Sanchez, 1971) and ll 2irlem .: Vo.i ces from th e Soul of Bla ck Am e rica (Clarke , 1970); PhiL1delphia , Bl ac k Poets lfr it e On (Black Hist ory lluseum Committ ee ); Newark, Soul Session (1972); Detroit, Te n: Anthol ogy of De troit Poe ts (South and We st, 1968). In many regions s eve ral components have me rged to form cultural and performing arts _ conglomerates. It is often at these centers tha t white movie and theater moguls find new t a l e nt for the current wa ve of Black movies. At this writing, the cont empor.:iry poetry scene is embroil ed in vi gorous debates a n<l confer e nce s dealin f, with "directions" for Black writers, consolidatin g publi s hin g houses, �I and r,ettinz published materials into schools (especially into BJcick schools). Caught (sometimes unknowingly) in tl1e miJst of these issues Dnd questions +k-- o{- are the older Black poets --some .I\ whom have remained silent in face of rhetorical provocation. Others, however, have been quite vocal as in the case of Gwendolyn Brooks and Dudley Randall. ~[iss Brooks gives active support to th e youn ger writers by way of financial and moral encouru~ement. She sup e rvises writers workshops, estnblishes poetry prizes with her own money and travels to read before conferences and classes. Recently she withdrew her affiliation with Harper and Row and began publishing thr ough Broadside Press. Randall estnblished Broadside Press in Detroit in 1966 .and also has set up poetry awards with his own funds. Hayden, who often shuns public displays of his allegiances, admonishes tl1e young poets to keep high writing standard s . Ile is recognized as a brilliant teacher as well as po..:!t, and is knO\,n to work quietl y with young writers and scholars. llayden played a mu jor rol~ in gainin~ recognition for Lucille Clifton (Good Times, 1969; Good Uci,, s Al.lout the Earth, 1972; and An Ordinary lfoman, 1974), one of the most splendid -of the ~ew poets. Some new and ol~er names closely linked to the curtent period are Pinkie Cordon Lane (Hind Thou phts), Nichael lbrper (Dear John, Dear v Coltrane, Hi s tory is Your Own lleartb e.-i t,° etc.), \faring Cuney (Pu z,z les), Troupe (Embryo) , Sterlinp; Plump (Half BL1ck ·llu] f Blacker), Jayne Cortez (Pisstained Stairs ancl the Hankey Nan's \fares;' J<es tivals und Funer;:ils, etc.) , Dumas (Poetry For My People and Piay Ebonv Plav Ivory), Rivers (The Still Voice of Harlem, etc .), Uikki Giovanni (Black. Jud~ement, Black Feelin g , Black Thought, Re: Creation), Reed (Catechism of A neoamerican hoodoo church , etc.), / David Henderson (De Mayor of Ha,rlem, etc.), Arthur Pfister (Bullets, Beer ./\ ) ·' I Cans & Things), Ilaraka (Black Na i~ i c ~ ) , John Echol s (llome is l·J here th e v' Soul Is), Arna Bontemps (Personals), Hayden (Selected Poems , \fords in the . .. ; �v Ho ur nlnf Time), Lee (Think Black, Illack Pride, etc.), Sonia San c he z I ) (Home coming , etc.), Randall (Citi e s Durning and Mo r e t o Remembe r), Stanl ey Crouch (Ain ' t No Amb ul a nc es for No Ni r, r,a hs Toni ght), Hughes (Th e Pa nther c1 nd th e Las h, et c .), At k ins (lleretofor e ), Hay Hill e r (Into th e Cl ea r in ° ), Austin Bla ck · (Th c Torna do in Hy Hauth), Tolson (llarl em Galle ry), Youn g (The Song Turning Back Unto Itself), J ames A. Emanuel (P a nthe r Ma n), Ves ey (I vo ry Tusk s ), Ma ri Eva ns (I Arn A Bl ack Woma n), Julia Fie ld s (Poems), Stepha ny (}~ving Deep), Etherid ge Kni ght (Poems fr om Prison), Gwe ndo l yn Bro oks ., ) / (In th e lle cc a ,v Riot, v Family Picture s, etc . ), Roy Hill (49 Po ems, etc.), Ray I Durem (Take No Prisoners). Far fro m be ing exhaq st i ve , thi s list i s me r e ly representative of the gr ea t poetic output during the curr e nt period . Many of th e s e poets--Reed, Troup e , Young , Crouch, Dumas,-- ar e a lso pros e writ e rs or antholo g is $. Certainly th e list grows and changes con- stantly, esp e cially in view of th e continual unfoldin g of surprises . Suffice it to say that the contemporary mood of Black poetry is multi- leve led a nd complex. There are generaliti e s; one is that most of th e poets unres ~rv edly saturat e their work with obvious Black references and cultural mot i fs. is also an anti-intell e ctual flavor as many po e t s turn th e ir backs o or Western forms . acndemic This has brought a general disre gard· for th e e sot e ric, . lit~rary and sometimes secret whit e poetry . The r e allusi.9 n✓."mployed in much of ~ _current ,l,\.uL There a re e xceptions , of course--notably in 1 special r _ s~nbolism ' rsi I o f Muslim poets (Marvin X, Askia Toure, Baraka, Sonia Sanche z, and others). Tl1e se excep tions c an al s o be seen in works of poe ts who exp lor e Afr ica n Ancestor Cults , Vood oo , mys ti c i sm a nd Afric a n l a nguages . Evid e nc e &±' t1ti s ca n be seen I in t he poetry o f I s hmael Re ed,. As k ia Toure, He nr y Dumas , }:or ma n J o r da n, Sun Rq , K. Curt is Lyle , Bob Ka u fma n anJ oth e rs, Gene r ally , tliough, Blac k poe ts are \ a. ~ ~;i #A(. . :. �framing ~ i r allusions, images and symbols in the more concrete cultural motifs, as indicated in a line from Eur.;ene nedmond's "Tune for a Teenage Neice" where he vie~,s the neice as being "spiced as pot-liquor." TIIE POETS i\1W TIIEIR TOTEMS: A. 'Soon, On e J[o rnin ,~ : Threshhold of the New Black Po ~try Hy Blackness is the beauty of this lam.I. ---- Lance Jeffers Richard \fright called the Blacks "Arnerica ' s metaphor" and Lance Jeffers referred to "the beauty of this land." AnJ both of these definite stances were taken well in advance of "Black Pride" poetry of the sixties and seventie c;. Margaret Walker's discussion of her playmates in the Alabama "dust " (1937) is II \ // not self-deprecating; and Gwendolyn nrooks's portrait Satin Legs Smith (1945) is far from being unhappy . These are only four randomly scl e cLeJ poetic affidavits of Blacks viewing themselves "ppsitively" before th e o.<lvent of the New Black Poetry. We could, of course , bring up hundreds of examples from the ,poetry of Phyllis Wheatley ~hrough that of Langston Hughes. But the point , already made, is simply that one is seriously remiss in loo~inz at recent Black poetry without considering its history. • The poets who wrote and published between 1945 and 1965, for example; did not work in sealed chambers of turincled vision, Each group, eacl1 cluster of concern, evolved from what had l> een written or said before. Some of these poets were heavily influenced by white writers, teachers, and critics. lloweve r, the best of them applied their knowledge and tools to the service of tl1e Black literary tradition . Others were under the direct tutelage of Blacks (Paul Vesey studied with J . H. Johnson, Joyce Yeldell with Hayden) and became part �- I I of a continuing line of Rlack-d~ped thour,ltt and writing (Ves ey in turn taught Arthur Pfister) . Whatever their make-up, or their mission, the poets as a group shm, great facility with language , depth of insi ght ancl passionate concern for their collective and individual hurts: ~s Blacks and as humans. The work of the se poets, .:rnd that of their older pen-fellows, can be found in several antholo e ies: Poetry of the Negro (1949, 1970); tl1e bilingual lk zag hoe Zwart Ik Was (I Saw How Black I Was , 1958); Beyond th e Blues (1962); American Negro Poetry (1963); Burning Spear (1963); Sixes and Sevens (1963); Negro Verse (1964); New Negro Poets : USA (1964 , 1966); Po e ts of Today (1964); th e bilin r', ual Ik Be n De ~liem~e Neger (I Am the New Negro , 1965); and Kaleidoscope (1967). Bontemps ancl llughes edited Poetry of th~ Neg ro in 1949. Tlic first major collection since Cullen ' s Carolin g Dusk, it was revised by Bontemps in 1970 after llu r;:.e s ' s death . Interestingly, some of th e 1949 er~tries are deleted while the table of contents has been doctored to make' nc.w ent,ries (like Dudley Randall, Mari Evans and nay Durem) coincide with their age-line. Bonte_n1ps, a Renaissance also edited American poet who did not publish a volume until 1963 (Personals), Negro Poetry, a task which gave him the opportunity_to pick th e best from the past as well as the present. The.two bi-lingual anthol- · ogies ' were published in llolland and Eng l anJ and edited by Rosey Fool, with · the assistance of Paul Bremen. Dr. Pool (1905-1973), a Hollander, came across Cullen when she was preparin~ a pa per on American poetr y in 19 25 . covery led to a life-long interest in Bl a ck culture and poetry. This disDuring 1959/60 she tour ed th e United States on a Fulbright travel gr an t, spending several months visiting and lecturing at 27 Black colleges and universities. Dr. Pool's work in BL1ck poetry has drawn mixed reQctions fro 1,1 ca utious Black writers and critics. But her importance in helping to bring a tt en tion to Black poet s , ) �d e spit e cr i es of " e xploit a tion," is undeniable. Even mor e contro versial is Bremen, who ap pears to fa ncy l1imself a s a n Eng lish J e an-P a ul Sarte; he originated the Heri t a ge Seri e s--"devotecl e ntirely to the works of Afro-Ame ric a n authors"--with Ila yd e n ' s A Bn ll a d of T'.('mcmhr n n ce in 1963 . Since. th a t time Dr emen, who edited Six es nnd Sevens and You De tt er Beli e v e I t: lll a ck Verse in Eng lish (1973), has rele a sed ~ e than 20 volu mes f'.1-f.··S o f ,\fr o-Americnn poetry. randall ' s Broadside Press servi c es as the American distributor of the slim books which have included t h e aesthetical and historical rang e of Jaack poe try : Frank llorne (llaverstraw , 1963), Bontemps, Rivers (The Still Voice of Harlem , 1968; Th e 11right Poems, 1972), M.: iri Ev ans (\ih c re is all the Music .? , 1968 but withdrawn "at the author ' s requ e st"), Ru s s e l l At kin s (Heretofore , 1968), Lloyd Addison (The Aura & the Umb rn, 1970), Aud r e Larde (Cables to Ra g e , 1970) , Dudley Randall , (Love You, 1970), Ishma e l Reed, whom Bremen calls "the best Black poet writing today" (C a techi s m of cl n e oa me ri c an hoodoo church, 1970), James W. Thompson (First Fire: Po ems 1 9 57-19 60 ·, .1970), Dodson, Harold Cnrrin z ton (Drive Suite, 1972), Clarence Major (Privat e Line , 197li, the "first non-American c~rntributor" Mukhtarr Nustapha (Thorns a nd Thistl e s, 1971), Dur c m (T ake No Prisoners, 1971), and Hay den (Th e Ni ght-Blooming Cereus, 1972). Bremen notes that both Mari Evans and Raymond Pat.terson ordered · their b o oks withdrmm b e cause they " we r e s uspicious of the contract terms." In addition to suc h "suspicion, 11 fel.t ·a lso by other Blnck poets, there is great resentme nt of Breme n ' ~ fast- d raw critical evaluntions of th e p oetry--which are oft e n cau s tic, ridiculous, and narrow, and r e flect a l a c k o f ge n e rnl knowled ge of Blac k poe try . poets. Il e c a lls Durem, for example, one of~ His stateme nt about Ree.cl, cominp, as it did in 1970, d~ first "Bla ck" vi o lence to both th e auth o r and the critical at~osph e re in which Black poets grapple e veryda y . Ile says Du ma s wa s born in th e "incredibly n~1me cl tmm" o f Swee t \ �Home , Ar ka nsas. Nev e rthe le s s (a l a s!), one wonders whe r e these Dl acl~ poe t s ,r / may huve go tt e n publi s hed if such "hea lthy d i s..:;ases " as Breme n did no t exist. Nep; r o Verse , edite d uy ,\nse l111 Hol l o, has nu introdu c ti on o r f on,ard, but does in cl ude a dozen blu e s a nd Go spe l song-poems. edit ed by llu ~hL:.s . wi th a Fo n ,a rd by Gwendolyn. New Ne~ro Poet s \las I:> 1 Use of the word " ne1/ exe1,1p l if i e::; the kind of spirit Lha t wai i n ascen s ion a t the time . Hi s s Brooks, t e rse as a l ways , is also he r usu a l definitive se l f : At the pres ent time , poets who hap pen also to be Ne groes ar e twci. ce-tri ed. They have to writ e po e try, a nd th ey have to remember that they ar e Nep,roes. Often they wish th a t th ey could solv e the Ne gro question once an<l for all, and go on fro m s uc h s ucces s to the composition of tex tur ed son ne ts or btuy.:rnt vill a nell e s a bout the tran s cienc e of a raindrop, or ,1 · t he go ld- s tu f f of th e sun. They are likely to find signi- ficanc e s in those s ubjects not instantly obvious to th e ir fairer fellows. The raindrop may seem to them to represent . r a cia l t ears-- a nd tho s e might seem, indeed, other than transient . The golden sun mi ght r emind them tht they ar e burning . There i s an att rej ec·t: "po e ts de in this statement that the Gwendolyn Brooks of 1968 will · ho ha ppen a lso to b e Neg roes . 11 But she refl e ct s Cullen in th e 11 da rk t owe r" and his ruminatin!: .on t he "curious t h ing" o f the !3 l a ck po et. She als o pr esage s the twistin ~s a nd t urnings in J ay ne Co rtez' s 11 Fe s ti va ls & Fun e r a ls . 11 Yet, in introducing the " New Neg ro Po e ts, 11 she infor ms the r ea de r t ha t 11 here a r e s ome of the prevailing st a r s of an ea rl y to mo r row. 11 \!al ter Lowe nf e ls ' s clecisio.n to include 11 20 Ne gr oe s" in Poe t s of Tod ay wa s s pu rred in pa rt by his reco i nition (a l ong with Shapiro) that "most gene ral �antho l or, i e s of Ameri can poe try e xclud e l/egroes." An authorit y on \vhitman, L01-1en fc ls sha red an awa rd with E. E. Cununings i n the thirti es , an J has helped a numb e r of Bla ck po e ts ma ke it into print: Dumas, Troup e , Pa tterson, Redmond, Ca rrin g t on, Ma jor, Reed, Harper, Hayden, and many others. Lowenfel s ' was th e f ir s t new whit e - edit ed a ntholo gy to includ e such a subst a ntia l number of Bla cks. There \ve r e - 85 poets in a ll. One of th e mo st i mpo rt a nt of th ese an t ho l o~ies is Burnin g Spear which contains the Hork of th e Howa rd Po e ts: Wa lt e r DeLegall (1936Govan ( ), Je f fer s ( ) , Al Fra se r ), Percy Johnston (1930- LeRoy Stone (1936- ( ), Os wa ld ), Nathan Ri c hards ( ) , and Joseph White. ), Hurnin r, Sp ea r, subtitl e An Antho lo 0y of Afro-Saxo n Poe t.ry, was a n out growth of t h e ll.:is ' i n Lit e ra r y So ciety, locat ed at ll owaru University , which a l s o pub l ished Da sein: Qua rterly J ourna l of tl1 e Arts (1961-1969). as publisher while DeLegall was editor . A Johnston, its founder, served Their connection with tli e older group of poets and scholars is evident in the advisory board list: _ Sterling A. Brown, Arthur P. Davi s , Owen Dodson and Eu!_jene C. Holmes. Jeff e rs, Stone and Wl1itc served as contributing editors . Fr.:is c r , Gov.:i n, Po e ts in the ina ugur a l i ss ue of Dasein, which doubled as a memorial to Richa rd \fr i ght, were De l o r es Kendrick, Cl~d e R. Taylor, _Jeffers, William J a c ks on , Ve r non A. Butl ~r , nobcr t Sl a ught er, Laura A. lk1 t kins, Govan, Fra se r, De l ores F. llenr:y, R. Orland o Ja ckson, DcLcga ll, J ohn stcin a nd Stone . The r e i s no s in r, le uni,fyin r, thr ead runnin g th r ou e, h either Dase• in o r Rurnln i'. Sp ear but Black influence s and subjects are cl earl y i mbcd cJ. Burning• Spe a r , fo r examp l e , is published by Ju pit e r Hammon Pr e ss, ,moth e r c onnection-in name--t o th e tradi.tion o f Black po e try. In a back-cov e r not e , th e e i ght contribut ors arc c a lled "a new bree d of youn g poets who ar e to AJnc ri can poetry wha t Cha rli e Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Theloniou s Monk a nd Hil e s Davis ----------- ------ - --- I �are to American jazz." After this important analogy, the statement continues: These eip;ht Afro-Saxon poets are not members of a literary movement in the traditional sense of the w0rd, because they do not have in c01runon any monist view about creativity or aesthetics.. Collectively, however, they are indifferent to most critics a!lJ r12vidkrs--since criticism in A1:1erica is controlled anJ written in the main by I:uro-Americans. There is no preface or introduction or statement about poetics; these poems th~nselves fill the pages. Poellls by DeLegull, Jeffers, Johnston and Stone also appe::i.r Ln Beyond the Blues and in nu)nerous "little" magazines. But all of the poets participateJ in reading-lecture prosrams leading up to the wider interests in poetry in the later sixties and seventies. DeLegall (Philadelphia) a mathematician and electronic data processing specialist, published in many antl10J ogies and . quarterlies, and had read his poetry and lectured at various eustern i1nd southern colleges. Fraser (Charleston) is a political scientist with a specialization in African Affairs. Alon8 witl1 DeLegall, Stone, Go~an, Johnston and Richards, he has been recorded reading his poetry at the Library of Congress. Fraser cultivated a coffee~shop audience for his readings and appedred before college groups. He ' is a philosopher-mathematician. One of tl1e older members of the troup , Jeffers (San Francisco) is credited with having "influence" on the Howard Poets. He has tnught English and writing at half a dozen American colleges and universities . Ills first volume of poetry was}~ Blackness is the Beauty of This Land (1970) and second, When I Know the Power of !-ly Black lland, \·Jill be out in 1975 . Broadside Press. Both are published by Jeffers l1as also written novels, short stories and criticism. / �Johnston (New York) currently ieaches at a college in New Jersey and with Stone ''co-authored the revolutionary verse pamphlet Continental Streamlets ( Also a playwright, Jolmst , n published a pamphlet of his poetry, Concerto for Girl and Convertible in 1960 and was considered the leader of the Iloward Poets. White is a native Phila<lelphian whose work appeared in Liberator, Poets of Tot.lay, and other places. He is a technician for FAA and has uritten short stories as well as successful prose-poems. As a group, the Howard Poets represent one of the toughest intellectual strains in contemporary Black poetry. Maybe the fact of their having such diverse interests, backgrounds, and training aided in their vitality, virtuosity and powe_r . To be sure , these are "conscious' ' poets; but--avoi<ling slogans and sentimental hero-worship--they present precise analyses and interpretations of their world. Most of them grew up in tl1e Be Bop era and so their subjects quite naturally include Hiles Davis , Lester Young , Charles "Yardbird" Parker, Clifford ·Brown, Sonny Rollins , Thelonious Honk , and other makers and· contributors to that period . And a preoccupation with Civil Rights and the Dlack stn,iggle is merged with their awareness of the " bomb," middle clas.s pretensions , history, mythology, religion, and the various trends in poetry: Be.:it poetry, jazz poetry • nd folk lyrics. modernity, DeLesall cel~brates the Blaclt · presence ("lly Brownskin Business") · and satirizes a pretentious lloward coed ("Requiem for A Iloward Lady") who is .i'cultured" and performs every social amenity perfectly. She wectrs "Jiir, h-heeled tennis shoes'; but he hopes, near the poem's end, that the president of The Universal Institute of Eu~enics will send a NeH species of female who will be robed in clothes of "sincerity" and who can be called "A Woman . " - - - - - - - -- - - -- - - - - - - - ). �In "Ps.:ilm for Sonn)'.,Rollins" he announced that he is AbsorbeJ into the womb of the sound . I am i n the sound The sound is in me. I ·am t he sound . Ro llins, the Hnrlo.31,1 pied plpo.3r , will lead li i. s listeners to "truth," "Zen , " "Poetry," and "Cod . 11 1/- .\fter "The BL.1st" (nuclear bombing ) there wlll be . . . no I , no 1Jorld , no you. Govan also writes convincinr;ly as in 11 Tl1e Lynchin~" : He was soaked in oll and Lhe nwtch thro1m. Ile scrernncd, lie crlecl , he moaned, he crackled ln his fiery inhuman dcrnce . Govan ' s interests span the turbulence in "llun~ary , " spnce exploration (-"The Ang .r y Skies Arc Calling"), and "Prayer " wherein he asks "Chr ls_t" for a new dawn's light ! Jeffers ls a living example of the 1,1 0re helpless pl igh t o f many a Black writer . Although he ha<l been writi1g for several dcca<les , his wor.k was white-listed by anthologists and his poetry did not appear in book form until the seventies. "My Blackness is the Deauty of tlu.s Lan<l" st.:in<ls as a rebuff to those who say " Bl ack" poetry was "invented " recently . Jeffers ' s poem, written in the fif t ies , is at once defiant and proud: Hy blackness is the beauty of this land , my hL1ckILess , tender and strong, wounded and wlse, The narrator , after tlw fashion of t-largar ,· L \folk.er, chronicles the hu r t s , the happinesses , and the hungers of !,lacks . These he st.:inds against his �"whiten es s" and th e perversions of laq• r America. mines tl1e same vein: past . " nlack Soul o f the Land" rich reliance on Lh c. u ell-c.l e cp s tr e n g th o f the Black The "olc.l black man" in r.eoq;ia i s "leathereJ, lean, anJ strong . " And thc.se arc s e crets that "crackers c o1 1lc.l n o t kill" : a secret s pine unbent within a spine, a secret source of steel, a secret sturdy rugged lov e , a secret crouchin3 hate, a ;ecret knife uithin hi s lwnJ, a .c.cret bullet in hi s eye . The poet ·asks L 1e olll man to pass on his sou i :e of strength so that he, ;incl h is fellows , will bt: anc.l kne1 hle ro " t urn black" Lhe soul of the nation ~a shall cease to be its name . Jeffers f athers up a fury of love, an:-;uish and commitment in other of his poems : "lier !Hack nnd African Face I Love , " "The M:111 with A Furna ce _in His Hanc.l," "U0g ro Freedo111 Rider , 11 " Her D~irk Body l Clus t er , 11 11 Black Nan in A New Day," und "Prophecy. " Johnston echoes Jeffe.rs , t hou r, h in a different voice and style, in many of his po e ms . But Johnston ' s concern is wit ! Black music anc.l mµsicians . "To Paul 1~obe s,in, Opus l\ o. 3" cele!J r.:.1 tes the 11Ulti-f.:1ceted talents of the· mnn whos, son i "stood Brooklyn on iLs f eet." nw ;~nifi c e n t ti ibute to the President of jazz : tinues t:o "i; lite the h e trt." wonders \lhy L Prez" is a Lester Young whose music con- In "Fitchett's Basement !Hues, Opus 13" Johnston •e rytime I want Coltrane or· Sonny nll ! "In Mc1,1 0riarn : r,ct is l~rul>eck, . • • �"De11e y Square," with its "Beat" repertoi. rLi a n d interests in contemporary everyman , is a poetic summary of the c o llective history of Johnston's genera t ion. \fords for "unkinking 1,ai r , " recol] ec tions o [ r a dio shows , reminders cf Relief and HPA , and IJ uk e Ellington, n ll leave Johnslon with the knm-,1l cJgc tk1t notld~ Has chan, ;c:d l>• :: my p( s tal z , :1e . In other pieces he surveys the cur i" l.!nt an ! past Blac k musi cal scene: '"Round ' Dout Midnight , Opus 17 ," "Varia t i on on ,; Theme l>y Johnston,'' and " To Bobb y Timmons ." "Bl ack is Hy Re\vard " Ril hard :-, s ays, notin g that Sorrow came, and I l t f t the world ... And e : perimen talist, hi , "Do and a n "inLerlud e . 11 lot rorget to Remember" · includes a t1pr e Jude 11 - Li zc the oth e r poets , he writes primarily in free verse ( almost no rhyme) and i I the fore p oin 0 poem h e repeats "A petal falls . 11 _The J lloward Poets all touch ;;rief and ,mr,uish , as does Richards in "Cod IHess This Child and Other Cl il<lren ... r e qu.i l!m. 11 In syntax and voc.::ibulary, 2:,S f_avv ~ II 1,1-tit c. / 4, bears resemblence esp c · ially t o t ! e beats and to Bou Ka ufma n and Russell Atkins. Words anJ phr.ises li l. e t1 r1at ronymic diva ," "s epiacenic mA.rtyr,t1 t1 albumcnic hawk, t1 "womb - priz e , ti a nd "b lack ae : is " convey. the mystical and eerie· sense impl:iecl i n the r e petition · of t1sl( ·p " and the innovative t ypo 0 graphy of the poem. 11 Miles Davi s ' s c ,1 n11ons, l /1 lso e x ., rim e ntal · and u i.ginal is Stone . Fl :.1111e nco Siu c ·10 s" i :, sep a r a t e d into five parts: 1a rt an I bi 11. Ne ouvcrt, selim, York .is "r(' Ll in we eping" and Chicago is "13lack- drapcd" a :; Hiles 11tL e rs .in " 11tes. 11 Dis :.;u nnnL nosL llis study of The music captun:s the , i ~1 o f on e k .i s s of a Sp a 11i. s h lacly .:is it He, ; in and Lu t o f Lr.:i nscontin~nt a l experienc e s .:ind loca l ions . ,I k no1vl e, :, ~ of ,,o rlcl 1,1usir is r c verell. Dnvis ' s u s" Finally , ' · .· �t hL.: 1t1usic is askec.l t o Com.incnt 0 11 a cl o u c.l of o rient a l n i n t h:-; comment ! In " No t es fro•ri t he Cu bicle o[ A di sg r u ntl e d J nzzman " S ton e b e c o me s a v e rl,a J maestro ri.p p in['., i n " chanf:L!.; ; " r attl ine, up " thirte en t hs , " stor111in2; the " mino r mode , 11 a nc.l \, hippin ~ up " p as s ing ton '"s "--all " with i 111punit y ." Wltite ' :; ".Bl ac k i s A So11l 11 r e p0-1 t s ''tl01m 11 ..1 s t l1 e: p~ r so n i.l c.lrop s int o " depth s ," "th e aby ss ," a nd th e " inf in ite " \ /h e r e bl ack- eye d pe n s [ g r e en ::; .:i re s tor e <l ... . This p o i :, nau t rev c l.'.l ti on i.s i:1a de i n Lh c e nd : I r a i s e my d 01m bent L i nky h e;i c.l t o clwrl i c. & sh o i _ I ' m b ln c k . 1 ' m b lack _ 1~· & I ' m fro m L lz back. He t hink i rnme Ji a t e l y of t i L 1 c s li ke Thin k Blad~ (Lee) a nd " S.:iy It Lo ud-- . I ' m n ta c k a nd I ' m Proud " (J:J 1 1e s l3r mm) e v e n th o u c h t hi s po e m preced ed th e m by sever a l yea rs--to sa y no t l,ing o( Jo s' ph Co tt e r , Jr. ' s " Is it Because 1 1 111 Bla ck. 11 Bu t \lhit e c a n ;1 " Day is Done " Hhich pl ac ls o 1' 0 lig ht and touchin ~ th in gs i:1s in " Picnic " and !S " r us ic in th e a lr " a s he p r e pa r e s for be d and h is '\ wm;i n" se t s h e r lw i · . I. i s i ro ni c ; -sa tiri c .1 1 " Inquisi t ive " d isp l ays the r an~<.! 01 t he s e po et c, . Th e n arca Lor wa nd e r s 11he r e " God s " .:i nd " bud d h a s " hid e i f th e 1:a rth and sk , ar e both visihl l' t o ma n. - - - - - - - - - - - -- - -- - - - - - - - - - �LiLtl e critical attention has b c~1, i ven the Howard Poet s or an y of the other poets who are appearing iluri.n '~ this time. includin g old as well a s unfamiliar names: Johnson Ackerson, Charles ), Cu g enc Redmond (1937- Anderson (1.93 B- John Henrik Clarke (191 ) , Le slie c_ But they are le g ion, ), Julian Bond (1940- ·r . Collins (19] 11- ) ' ), Knth e rin e ) , Mnq• .:iret Danner, Gloria Dnvis, Dulh is, Durem, Mari Evans , Micki Crnnt, Julia Fields (1938Joans (1928- ), Naomi Had ;·,~tt . Jmn,• s C. Hor r is, O'lli ~g ins, Patter s on, James Randall (1938- ), Pe ter T . Ro~ ers, Jolm Sherma.1 Scott, Carmell Simmons, J a1,1es W. Thompson (1935- ), Vesey, Sarah Wright (1929- ) , Ro bert Ear l. Fitz g er a ld (1935- Joyce Yeldell (1 944- ) , Lula Low e \Je edcn (191 0- il ern t:u n ( L'J .12 Carl llolr.w n (1919 Lerorie I!e1 1ne tt, Jr. Fuller (1 ~:.'. 7- ), Co rdon lle 1th, Horne, Ted ), Alfr e d Duc k ~ _t (192 8- Zack CilL1 r t (1925- ), (1919- 111 rbcr t CL1rt Johnso 1 (1911- ), frank Yer by (191. b- ) , Ernest .J. 1-li. l s on, Jr. J a mes P. Vau g hn (1929 - (1 930- (] 94 2- ) ), lloy t n2- . ) , ), Bette Darcie ), Rivers, McM. Wrt Bht, ), nnia Alba (1915-:1968), F r.i.lnk Lond1H1 ) , CaLherine C:1r ter (1917- (1 92 0- ), Mary Cilrter Smith (1 924- ) ', Rober t J. Abrams (1924- ), William t ro w c (1930- I s hmael Re cd (193 8- ) ) , Roy llill, Sam Cornish (193 8- Brow!I' (19 l 7-J 'J 62), l:;,u e l li.l !li1r L .1 llro,m (1917- ), Jam e s Ema nuel (l 'J21- ) , , 't;slc Davis (l ) , Oliver La Crone (1915Pauli Murray 1910- ' ), C;1 lvin ) , Sarah l~el>ster F, b.io (192 J - - ) ) , Clu r ia C. O<l e n, Ho se . (1 910- ), Carl Gardener (l 'JJl- · ) , !Jun Jolt11 .on (] 1 ) /12 - ), Roscoe Lee Brown e ) , Oliv e r Pit c her (1923- ) , ,\d. 1m Da vid Miller (1922- ) ' ), Dav.id Henderson ), Thur mond SnyJcr, A.ll. Spellman (1935- Mance \/illiw i1., , Torn 1Je11L, Lc;J: u i .Jo11ei, (]9]4- ), ), Vi.vi.an Ayers, llel c n ) ' �l-1or;;:1n n rnoks, Solomon Edwards (1932Polite (1932- ) , Vihia lloll< rd, George Love, Allen ), Lloyd Addison (1 9J l- ), Durwood Collins (1937- Bobb Hamilt o n, ~lay Hiller, Stanle :i .';ur r is, Jr. This non-exhaustive list \,J.1S (1944 ) , ),. oft e n intermingled with earl y pllC ts (as far back a s Phyllis Hh ca t:l·e y) and olJ cr ones (Johnson, McKay , Dunbar, etc.), and spiced with a g ood o ff ~ring of pos t-Renaissance poets (Walker , Drooks, Tolson, llayden). Hames like Fulh · , DenneLL, Jr . , Holman, Yerby , Davis, and Clarke , fall in the category of " , c c :s ional " poets--most of whom undertook full-time duties as novelists , editors , ] . .~ers or teachers . Other important movements paralles to this phase were the emergence of literur y. rna g a~ines ( Free Lance, Phylon , Ee t •) , especL1l ly on Black colle~e campuses; Black newspapers I renewed int l'r est in ve sc establishment ·of poets-in residences for thL~ poets at southe i n Black c , Ue g es; the flowering of regional "movements" or writing collectives--.3uch as L o sc in New York's Greenwich Village (Yu µ, en , ? I Umbra , etc . ), Clevr •lands s Kara mu House 1 an I are, (Free Lance with Casp·er Leroy J ordan, and Atkin s ), IJowarJ ' s ~ n Croup, the Detroit poets , and Geor [j ia Dougiass Johnson I s home-chased workshops at her home in Washington, .D. C . Not all of thes e developme nt s ~ccurre<l only among Black poets, however, titer~ also were r , c ially mixc, writing communes and eJitorial .staffs • for exampl e, was in r e s ' ence at the ·llre ::1 d Loa[ llriters Conferen c e in Engl. a nd and studi ed [or a while ~n Scotla1 J. .Julia Fields ·, ·Redmond, who won writing awards and published in little magn : ines bet 1c; cn 1960 :rncl 1965, worked with the staffs of the Three Penny Broad lde (SOL thern Illinois University) and Fr e e Lance (Washin g ton Univer s ity). Other Antholo!~ ist), Pattt:rson, Jones ~ts and their outlets were Dumas (Trace, (.!:l'. .1 tim1 Dear,Yimsen), Gloria C. Oden (Urbanit e , Tbe Pol t ry Digest, The 11. lf Hoon), .avers (Kenyon Review, Antioch Review , �Ohio PuL•Lry nevie1✓), Spell man (Kul ·J1U r, l·Ietronon1e, Umbr;i), Ho.ne e \-lilliarns ( Blue a nd Gold), and Audn~ Lord e :c 1ture) . Marguret Dan.wr published ..1 in 195 2 .nd in 1956 b ecame an assistant series of poems in Po e try ~1gazi1 editor. Of th C'S( ' par,.1llc.>l movements an d c.lev ' loprnents , one oLher deserved specia] not i ce. Though not on p, r with th(: lloward Poets, the Umbra Work shop parti- cipanls aided in the productioi sixties . and distribution of Black poetry in the e a rly Ce11 t c red in New York ' s Gree nwich Villa ge , t he Umbra poets were founded by Tom Dent t'New Orlean s ) , Calvin Hernton (Chattanoo ga) and David Hend erson (New York) Th e wor ksh op , whfrh also involved artists and ficLiun wri t ers, pub] i:.; he<l th L fj rst i : sue o f it ; Umbra quarterly in 196] . Ot her issues came out in 19611, 1967- iS (an etnt lwlogy) , 1970-71 (tabloid .'.lntholo~y) and 197 L1-75 (Latin Sou who now e c.lit r, the pub issue). Dent f'irn t served as editor nnd llenderson , cn tion f ro m Lc: rL , ley, took over i n 1907. OLl1ers Isl1.we l need, Rolland Sn elUn:,s (nO\•! attracLL·tl to Llie Urnl i~1 .or kshop wer ' , Uorm.:.111 Pritcl1ard , sin . -.: r 1.l! n Chanc.ller , dancer Asetman Byron-, Aski;.1 Tu1 , re) the Pet tl < 1·s on brothers (Charles and \/ ill i.am), painters Gerald Jetckso n etnd I Joe Ovc r :;t rcet, Lenn ox l~ap hael , Du111. s , J:1111cs Thomps n, Julian Bon<l , ·sun-R:._1 , Durem, S e v e Cannon, anc.l .Jr-e Johns o damag·cd ,y two ev ents . t. The promise of the Umbra g-ro up was One was a f..jl u re to µ ri ng a interview · (co nd u c t ed by R:1phaeJ ,lild others) with J~alph El l b.on . · The sc con <l, re s ultin13 in a sl'l·io us spl it a1,on1: m<.:mb er s , was :t co nt rover 1;ia l anti- '. c nnedy po em by Dure111. P r es i<l e1lt K,2 nncc.l y had just be en as: ,.tss in atc<l when the ). rcr,1 piec e was approved by the edi tor s . Las te. 11 kidna1 Hernton, Dent ind Hend e rson decide ,! t !1e: poem (letter) was in bad Ot h er :, , etccorclin . to llenderson , wanLec.l the poern printcc.l and subHeq uently l C<l Pri r ha rd, wl <> was t n •asurer , threatening ltim \Jith bodily h arm ," ~ - - - -- -- -- - -- - - - - - r/ \I l �Th e in c i dent is vie\1c d a s one of tile n c a r -- fa uil 1.Jl o1vs to th e Umh ra f rour. Later Sncllinr, s, the l'attersons, unJ ot l t·s 1w11t Uptown to 11ork with ke Jones' s nc11ly formed Black Arts ltepertor : u n<l Sch o ol. The \/orl ~ of Uml~ c ontributors ran ~,· from thl' occa s ional J.l\ d l1umorous verse of Juli n i.1 13ond Lo · th e serious cor.11 , ntaries Henderson, Hernton, Dent, and Thompson, alon ~ 1,ith work of oth r "Village" poeL (Newark), and Joans (Cairo, IJ 1inois). ,f Durem. Poems by Du rem, 1lso app e .irs in the early :mthologie s such as G.C. Oden, Spellman, Jones Some are also represented in two later anthol og ies: !~lack Though racia l cons c iusness is not b 1 n tantly evid e nt in the s e poets, th e protest ts t Le re, l Fj c ciall re (1968) ,lll d The Poetry o f Black America (1973). th e wor k s by Durem, llenJerson, and Hernton. Umbra r,w<le clear i ts t wofol d aim in an inaup,ural issue: Umbra e xists to p rovi<l 1.2 a vehicle for those outspoken and youthful writer ! who pr e s e nt aspects of social and racial realit y which m, y be called ' uncommercial' but cannot witli any honesty be ,· onsidered n on-essential to a whole and healthy socL e ty We will not print trash, no matter how relevantly it d ea ls with r tee, social issues, or anything els e . Dent viev1:., "Love" a s a "blue t um" lurking "icily" in the darkness. Henderson sees a "Downtown-no , Uptown" and a s k s : Am I i1 llis 11 Sketches th e wrong s lum.? of Ila 1 lcm" in'c lude the "GREAT WHITE HAY" .:incl a small Illack boy c o nfusing the m,J on a 1 \ the sun. 14, wa s horn j_n Seattle. Durem, who ran ,may from home at age lfuile still in his mid-teens he joined the Navy and b e came a member of t 11C International . Brigades clurin r, the Sµanish Civil Har. Hu ghes tried to fi1 I a publi . 1H~r for his hims c, l f Ourem saiJ: "1-n1 c•11 I was t , \✓ Orks ar, early as 19511. ye ars olJ I u s ed my fists. Of When I was �thirt y-five , I u sed the pen. I hope to liv e t o use th e rnncltine gun .... The white North-American has been drunk for four hundrC'd years." His work does not have th e finish of a Hayden , r Drook.s , but he provides an exciting shot in the arm for this period of Black poetry (thou nh Bremen's reference to him as th e ·11 first bla ck poet" is unwnrranted). (1971) contains many of Dl• Take No Prisone rs ·cm ' s me1.1orabl1• poems and a "Posthumous preface," . sir,ned in 1962 althou z h he died in 1963. "Hhite People got Trouble, Too" surveys the plight of whites following t 1c Depression, recession and war, and notes t], t such an intrusion i.n the dI"fai rs of whites does not equal slavery . A te r all, life (or history) calls for One tooth for one to Most of Dur rm 's poems ,re short, h. atirical, ironical and musical as in "Broadmindc~ d" : Some of 1y best friends are white boys . \lhen I i.eet 'em I treat 'em just tlt same as if they was people. lie writ es of Illuck h s tory , slavery, social inequities, prison life ·, and ·••pale poets " to 1!1om 11e co . r esi; ·s 1lis i ,· no t critica l sta nd ards . S tra1 0 ely, T. , "A Gold \foLch to tho FH I l· ,m .L! 11 · · 1 y o 11s.cure " to -lilce t vJ 111.te ·· su r E1.c1.ent :lo Priso n e rs does not include "Award"·- - ,, (who .1as followed me) for 25 years--w!tich traces the agent's surveiJJ rnce or• the narrator t:hrough the "blind alleys" o[ Hexico, the hi f~ h Sierras, t lr violen ce and mayhem. ~ Philharmonic , L . A., Mississippi, anJ other places of nut it is not ...ill over, th e ;:q~ent is told, for in the end I may be fo 1 LmJing y1,u ! �Tiw work o[ Village poets \·JaS hir~h.Li~hted by the versc1t .Lle .ind prolific Jones (l.:1ter Immnu Amiri Baraka) , Spcl.lm:rn, anJ Teu Joans . Before his new " Black " stance of the mid and late sixties, Jones published in little avant garde ma;;:.iz i nes (editing several hi1.iself) and was iuentif ied as the 1:1ost talentcu l.\lr1ct . a1,1onr, the Deats . Suicide Note (19ol) anJ · T]1i.; liis two volumes , Preface to a THenty Volume D~ad Lecturer (1964) , show him as a hip , ar r ogant, mu sically-involved cat \ti t h a toup,h in t elligence . llis influences at the time, as h e noted , were Lorca , l.Jill i am C..irlus Wil l iams , l'ound, and Charles Olson . He is an auventurer in style with ,in el l iptical and sometimes sacrilig i ous pos tu re . poets : Such an aesthetical phi1 ;ophy was shared by - the lllack !!ountc1iri George Oppen , Robert Cree l , Uobert Duncan , Denise Levertov , Paul Blackburn , fal\1:1rd Dorn , Ginzbcrr,, Corso , G.:1ry Snyder and t\ichael i'lcClure . · A music critic for such magazines as D01mbeat , Jazz anu Metronome, with an interisc interest in Black music, Jones nurtured a careful ear for music in his ver~;e . fe nsible . Hence , the belief that Jones "sudden l y became Black" is · i nJe.,.. In "Lines to Carcia Lorca " --the g r ea t Spanish poet-- he uses a sect:{.on of a " Negro Sp i ritual " as an inscription . The poem is typical of Jones I s ability to 111erge nume r ous ideas , symbols and images in one poem. Lorca • ~ Jeatl 1 is lamen t ed as J ones u ses ~xcerp ts fr om t he Ca t ho l ic mass , r ef l <dcts on his childhood , explo res . mythology , gathers bits of poetic confctti frori1 nature and hears Lorca " lnu.r,hin~ , laughing"--maybe mocking his killers-Like a Spanish ~uitar . In "Epi s trophe" he finds peering out the window "such a static- reference . " So he wj i,hes "some weird lookinµ animal " woudl come by . In the ti.tle poeu1 from hi ., firsL volume--Preface--he ai.ljusts to the wa 21 " r,round opens up" �anJ takes him in whenever he g·oes out to "walk the Jo~ ." Life is as monotonous as the "static reference" of \1inc.l t)\v watching : Nobody si.ngs anymore. Joans, another Villa~e poet closely identified with the 13eats, published Beat, All of Ted Joans (19G1), and The llipsters (1 961 ). poem fror:1 this peci.ocl i s "The . 38 " with its ledgcd), Whitman and the Beats . His most widely known ebts to Hughes (whom he acknO\v- llc:!g innin 6 every line with the phrase "I hear , " Joans nar r:i tes the murder of an 11 11 faithful wife and lover by her husband: I h ear i t comin;-~ f:isLer tlrnn sound the . 38 I hear it cumin :~ cl nser LO my sweaty forehead the . JB I hear its \ c.!itc.l whistle the . 38 I hear it ~lve off a stc;1mlike noise \.'.hc~n it cuts throu r;h my swea t the . 38 I hear it P lnge my skin :is it enters my head t he . 38 I hear cleat 1 saying , l.'_· llo, I ' m here ! As a group, Joans , Jone~: and Spe 1 l man can be ..: .1refully compared to the llow:inl Poets. They are in the s.:ime age ranze and the:lr themes and interests are ~ < similar. y tJ) o-r.lu.J. Spellman, like Jones stuc.l-Led at Howard University and lrns a~cd as (f'vV disc jo ,·key ~ Fl r.:1dio stati o ns. have ap ·, c.!ared in .!S_ iJ chur, The l His hook reviews articles on jazz which_ e pubi i c ;rnd The Nation . I n ] 96(1 his fi r st volume of poems, T 11e Beautiful lays, was published . a book-lenr:th stu t y of Black ;ic (Four L tves in the Be Bop euslness , 1966) l !H lie has also published In " Zapata & the l.nndlord 11 tlw "Lllief," th ,· spe:iker, is running in "circles:•·• The poem js a country. ln humorous Lreatm e1 ': of revo]u i on.:.iry stru;:gle in u Latin American 11 \/l1aL j i; IV Spel inn applies a similar Lechnique . This time a cat "Ii .id es in your f .:t CL! , " in _J ,e corners of the mouth and in " tl1.:.it :.;tr.:.inge canyoll" uellind the eye :, . 11 /\ T: • [L of \!islics" is expccimental Ln its use �of ja:3;,, e J lines nnd shifts between the tan~ible and surreal 110rlds . In Lhe end we are tolJ that home is where 11e make our noise. Another po e t who j o li'ts this "irrevent ' 1 generation is the BL!at inno v,tt:or Bob Kaufman of the San Francisco nay area. sid L!;~ f rom ferlinr,het:ti ' s City Li 2, hts nooks: Hi s first 1.;orks came out as broaJ"The abominist Vianifcsto, " "Second April " ancl " Docs the Secret Hind Whisper . " Knufman ' s poetry , con- veyinE'., protest throur,:h understat .:;m ent a 11d iron y , is marked by unusual and surreal i 1;1ag c:;. His books arc So] itu ,vs Cro\!(l e J 1v i.th Lm1 0 .l i1w:,s (1965) and Golden SnrJine ( 1967). Solitudes \·!il S publislll'J in Fr e nch, "i.111111eJL1t e l y " achicvinr, " a notoriety rare amonr, hooks of poetry hy fo r eign pot·t s . " Sardine) . (j 1 ck c t, Leading French magazines r e viewed tl1e book, publishers noteJ, aJ<ling that "Today in Frar:e Kaufman is considered amon13 the greatest · Negro-Americo.n poets alive in spite of his continuing exclusion from.American anthologi t•,,, both hip & a cademic." l:aufotan ' s themes are racial memory . ("African Ur e am") , jazz ("Walking Parker Home, " " West Coast Sounds--1956 . ") other poets and writers ("Hart . .. Crane, " "Ginsberg , " "Camus: I wa·nt to· Knm./'), incarceration (a series of 34 in .J.:lil Poems), history, rnytholo~y- an<l religion. In "The Eye :.; too" he says Hy eyes too h~vc souls tha t r ag e .. .. A "Cincophrenicpoet" meets \vith "a.l 1 five" of himself where a vote is taken to "expel" the "weakest" o ne who resents it and soars over all limits to cross, spiral, and whirl . Some\1lwt typical of Ko.ufman ' s elliptical constructions and wacky imaGery is / "Beavy \later lllues": _______________________- -- .__ - �The r.:idio ls te .:i chin g r,1y g oldfi s h Jujitsu I am in love with a sk inJlver \Jh o sJ C'e ps undenn.1ter, l ly nei g hbors are drunl:en linguists, & I speak butt 0 rfly, Consol i d:ited Edison is ti n e atening to cut off my brain, The postman keeps puttlnF s ex in my mailbox, I put my eyes on a diet, tears are gaining 1 too 111uch wei .1t. In this [orm nnd sl ·le, Kau , cm is not nly rel n t c> J to the Jl e :1t s but to Jones, Joans, Spellman, At dns, and the {!J'V: ec young Los An g eles poet I~. Curtis Lyl e . Among the old , · poets wh 1 did not ..: ome into prominence until the 196Os were Ve sey (Columbus, Ohio), llolman (I-linter City, Mississippi), Mc!!. \fri ght (Princeton, new Jersey), O'Hi g gins (Chicngo), Duckett (Brooklyn), Atkins (CleveJ.:ind), Emanuel (Nebrask.J.), l{and a ll (Washin g ton, D.C.). The s e po e ts, . and others of their generation, are no 1 similar enough to be labeled a "school" or ' 1movement" but they came of .:ige dud ng the integration push when words Black "identj ty" m l "humanity" e n gendered more philosophical discussion . tlrnn they do toda , . Th es e nre the men who went to Worl<l War·II, oppo_s ed lynching; attende <l nor .l1ern white g rndu.:ite sch ~ols. academic or [>rofessional careers. Most were occasional poets pursuin ~ Ve s ey ns a poet and professional, bridges middle passa : e bet ween African and Afro-America. At Fisk Univ e rsity he studied creal ive writin g under James lfol<lon Johnson, then went on to law scho ol at Ilarvnrd. I Thi le studying at the Sarbonne in Paris some of his poems were publi f· hed, through the inLercession of Richard \ 'ri ght, in the Fr e nch ma gazine . Pr~ser. ce Africaine. Vesey has h , lpetl :;reatly i 11 the interpretntion and �and di ssemination of Ne c ritude. Paul Vesey (birth n a me Samuel All e n) is the name un cl 0 r which h e published hi s bilin ~ual volume of poems: Zahne (Ivor__: Tusks, 195G, Germany). "The Stairc , :l.! 11 is a poe1,1 on whic h Elfenbein Ves e y wor k s with s k i ll an d precision. Ve s ey s ays, "I 1-lOul<l rest my c a se, I think, nn<l l ha t_ o f t;lw :re ~c o in t l i.s l a nd ." (Blues) th e poem studies th e Black pr e di cnment t hrnu.: h Ll1e pl i h t of n man for whom the "st .:i irs mount to hi s eternity." Perh a ps since the rotten floor, remain. Th e 1;1~111 like : isyphus, the :, tnir is , purpos e fully "unending " the "<lrip 1 i. ng fau c et" :111<l th e " c racked ceiling " also is .ioi.n e d by a" 1vin" who lnt r·r goe s " e x.:ilte<l to his worms." Vesey al s o wri : e s an e l eg y for Dyl:rn Thomas (" .l ylan, l-Jh o i:3 Dea J"), i1 pr a i se for Black bas e h..111 1 eg en<l Satchel P<1i g e ("Ame r i. c<1n r.othic"), :mJ a p0\·1c rful piece intcn,ea vin g two differ e nt d eas and tl1e.,1es: one viewin g Lli e univ e rs e anti tl1e mort a lity of man; the oth e r knowing the reality of being Black and called "nigg er" by t\JO adolsecent 1: irls. tribute to Louis An1 s trong . "To Sa tch" is reminisc e nt of To lson' s Speaking in the po l!ln , Sntchel Pni g e s<1ys o ne / morning he is g oinr, to brab a "hand f ulla stnrs, ' throw three strikes to b urn <lown the " he nvens," And look ov er at God <1n<l say li ow about th a t! llolma n's \vork is amo n ;; the f e w entri e s for poetry in Soon, One Morning. But lt e i s .:il so found in other a ntholo ::; i ..:: s. Ile .ias leJ an .:ictive life as a Civil Rights fi g hter (Inf o rn~tio n Of ficer of the Unit e d S t a t es Con~ission on 1 Civil P.i ~hts) editor (AtL n ta Inrp 1irer), writer, nnd teacher. at Chic a g o Univ e r s ity h e I o n sev e ·<11 awards for writing. subject s r a n1;e from compl e x psych c ind e ed hut much ov e rlook eJ . mcdit □ tions \Jhile a stud e nt llolm,111, whose poetic to racial pride, is very good The l e i s ure cl n ss finds clocks "intrude too �early" in "And on This Shore." ·The gene ral indiffer ence .Ls also captured : Across the cups we yawn " Picnic: .:it prival e murders. The Liber a t ed " examines the s hifting unc e rtain.Lti es with leisured southerners must liv e:! . The tensi o n or e veryday southern life lie . underneath the merriment . o f th e picnic grounds wh ·r e me1 rotate the liquor in "dlxle cups" an<l "absently" discuss 1 'civil rights , money and r, oods ." Yet as the "country dark" comes in and they return to sprin'(ered y.'.lrds and " mo rq.\ age<l houses " they do not know they are Privileecd prisoners in a haunted land. Yet this same poet c;in !w ar "Three Brm-m Girls Sin r, inr, " thr oui..;l1 th e "rib s of an u~l y s c hool building ." Celebrating the Black musical past, 1Iol1nan sees them Fuse on pur so und in a shaf t of April light: . . . McM . Wright, now a Federal Di.strict Jud ge in New York , was a Lincoln University poet anJ with Hughes and Cuney edited Lincoln Univ ersity Poets (1954). Il e served overseas in World \for II , later receivinz. law tr a ining at Fprdham. \n1lle h e wa s in th e Arm ; in Wales , he publish ed a v olume of hi s poetr y , From the Shaken Tm-1er (1 '144 ). Ur L13ht on a in the 11 "Th e African Affair " finJs HcH. ;a fari to find out what "Black is . " lie disc.overs it in "prisons,-" devi. 1 s dance ," where " de sc r·t s burn," the Middle Passage, and areas to which "co nsc i e nce cannot 20 . " llis · searc h carries hir.1 deep into Africa where " trad t!rs shaped my father r; pain . " In "Four Odd Dodk.ins for My An 1lyst" one finds that ''o utra r:~d flesh of secret i:;uilt " h:-is come from th e pr ess ures o( " cj rcurns t on,: e " and "n eed . " C Finally, "Wh en You hnve go ne from ✓ rJ Frooms" th e re arc "n e v er blooi:1i ng petals" and "n eve r burnin ~ suns ." Bontemps cnlls O ' lli ~ins a member of the " tribe of wa n<l e rinr, poets ." �J\fter i,t udying with Sterling Brmm at Ilo1vanl, O' Higgins won Lucy Hoten and Julius l~osenwald Fellowships in wriL n .:. Ile l .:ite r served in Hor ld War II, af t er which he co-authored, with llay ,len, Tho Lion nncl The Arch e r 0 ' llicp,ins ' s style is less formal th:1 i e j ( 1 943 ). ther ll olm.:in ' s or Met! . \/right ' s . Ile is closer to Ve.soy, vspecially in poems li ke " Young Poet " ~nd " Two Le :111 Cats " in which ti 10 r :1 -Ln fe l l l ike " rag ~cJ je t s" and made a " grave aloni.;" tho street . The l ean ca t s , runnin~ in "checkered terror " in t o a pool r:- oom , f ln J that a " pu r ple ]Ji lliarcl 1 a ll " 111aLes t ho color scheme explode . Tho much antltolo s i ze cl "V ~.Li.c id e ( 'For l lol :1nc.L.; Glwndhi" ) sees Gandhi. " murdered uprli:;ht in tlte day" and left 11ith h j ,; flesh "openeJ ,mJ d.isplayeJ . 11 llut , li kening CandltL ' s deatl. to J _c-.; us CL i:; t ' s , th ,· n.:cr~1Lor says ~,uch ,1 pcr~;on wh o cr(~atcd tlw " act ul love " knOI ✓: , Lhc Gt 1il.Ly c.: a rry _ his Gandhi ' s "111,1rveluus 11o u11d i; 11 cunta.iu tl1 e s un nnd the seas . 11 d o:1 tlt tn 1: l!oi r r urn.1:; ," Jliff l·LL: 11t , yd: similar , t hese poets sr ,u:~ ht through tl1 c. ir individual voices to Je.11 with man ' s c urrent nnd past hurts . rise Ii i ghcr as he 11 At kins, for example , sm, the " ~; oollcn deep" \J eni 1.;,alkinr, 11 in St!Ction two of " Fan t asie . " A "re s tless exper i 1,L~ntallst wi th a ve ry hi ~h r cr;a rcl for craftEianship , 11 At kins 1✓.'.1S .:i found<-: · of F1·ee l ,nnq:. (1950 ) which !Zivers called the " oldes t bL.1ck-bossetl magazi .1 c around. " 13etween 194 7 and 1962 , Atkins ' s poetry appeared i.n n uniero u s journa l ., a nd other outlets . A few arc Vlc.·w, noloit Poetry .Journal, Minnesota Quarterly, 1/aLed Ear, Calley Sall l'evic.:11 . Hi:.; volu111cs of poetry ..ire Phcn6menr1 ( 1961 ), Psychuvisual Pe rspe~tive for i;usical Composition ( 195 8 ), 'l\10 by Atkins (The Abortionist <1 ,J Tl,c Corpse : Object s (1963 ), and lleret:ofore ( 1968) . as complex as tl 1c poetry itsel f . Two Po e tic Drarnas set to t!usic , 196 3) , ,\tLins ' s ncsthctical ideas nre often An e , r ly trainin r; in music and li t e r a t ure , he s.:iicl in Sixes an, \ Seven:;, tl1 :1 t · he wa s Lrying for " egocentrical phenomenali s m: an ol>jL: c tiv c con ~,t ruct ()f prop c·r:- tic~. to· subs t antia t e effect as object. " He �se.:irchL!S after the "Jesigncd imul1i11i.ll J ll. 11 In " Ni gh t and a Distant Church " he moves " Forwarc.1 abrupt" then "up" L, ro ui~h a se ries of interminiling "mmm" and " ells" with worJs like "wind" anLI "rain." of Tolson' s ability t u mennder amonr, in Atkin s ' s poe:try. 1 There is more tli a n ~e ¥ r,:wco-n.omanf .Jnd Afro-Amer i. ca n traditions l\ut lie is u11iqu c . "AL War" inform s the re.:iJcr tiwt l,eyond the " turninG sea's far foam " th e "epltemera" of a "momen t's dawn" sudden ' d its appe a r . ... 'y' Later , in the same poem , aft " r allusions to lle 1ingway, the silence sp lits: Listen a moment--!Sh! Listen--! that hurry as of a s hore of fugitives. Once A.tki11s's teclmique i. s un dL: rstooc.l , lto1-1ever , his · poetry can be enjoye:J for its witty, wacky, off-be .tt, philosophical musings . In " Irritable Sonr," he inverts , r e verses and c o _volutes regular s y ntnx: Or sa y upo1 1 return Coron.:iry f a c!well Leav c!S me J e . Dare, sir? Ugh! Ile nay'd Tomorrm,, t )lito rrow in tod ay? Atkins writes of the fi 1. e arts, Jolin Brown's raid on Harper ' s Ferry, Black heroes ("Christophe"), - ------- he "Trainyard at Nir,ht," the Cleveland lake front , and otlter subjects wli i. t , fit his style and int '-' rests. At another e,1d of the stylistic nnJ thein, tic pole is Randall, a libraria11 b y trainin g and tn.1 tlc who, as we shall sec in our discussion of poets of the late sixties , fip,ures proi..inently in the c.lcvclopment of an audience for the �Hew BL.1ck Poetry . RanJall also serveJ in \fo r] d War II a n<l wr lt es pucms about the war, love, violence, nrt and th~ Dlack presence. liis \✓ ell known " llooker T. and W. E.B.,'' digesting the Washing-DuLois controversy, was seen by DuBois The poem fir st appeared in Midwes t Journnl, 1952. and this pleased Randall . Randall h as also 1-. .rit: t en about and t ra nslated Hussian poetry . With Hargar e t Danner he co-authored Poem Counter plic•m (19Gfi) and his Citi e s Burnin g appeared in 196 8 . (19 71) pulls together Ra ndall ' s poems from " four More to Rem emhc· decades. " llis work has been pubJished in Llmura , lleloit Poetry Journal , and oth er places . Ile initiated the BroadsiJe Series (posters) ln 1965 with h i s own "Dall a d of Ilirmingh ..im , " !'he series p, rew qt1icklv, l nying t:hc fau n - dation for his Broadside Press, t ,1e most sig nifi can t Black press in Amc.ri cn . Randall ' s work of this period h a: . the st:,:unp of formality . lle 1vr ites in ballads and fr ee vers e form:. bul he has n tightness that will be relaxeJ in the late sixties anJ seventies. mental, of a land " Lit by ;:i "Lega c y " chronicles the hurt, physical and bloody moon . " Bu t the on e who is " mo ul<l.e<l .fro1i1 this clay" vows that My tears redeem my'tears . "Persp ect iv es " r e casts the t ime- immemorial th Pme of "we only p:1ss t his uay once . " There is no need t o complain a b ou t discomfort, the poem s:i ys, becDus e even th o mountains--in their hughe ne ss --nre dissolved " away" by the seas. Ra ndall ,~ Pacific Ep Ltaphs a re r ecollec tions of the wa r. are epi.:\rammatic and haiku-like. The shor t pieces t,ere is a poignant one ( " Iwo Jima" ): I Like oil of ~exas My hlood [_;ushe<l here . Prominen t in a gro up of Detroit poe t s (tta r ga ret Danner, Oliver La Crone, Naomi Lonr. Nadgett, James Thomp son anJ o thers), l~an<l a ll often e urnesh es himself �in .::i sem;e of personal injury ov er his peo pl e ' s history. This t e nd e n cy , and a debt to the Black poetic traditi. 011 (especially S t erU.n:; l\rOl-111) , can be seen in "Th e Southern Road " 1vl1erp tlt~ "L L1cL river' ' serv,'. ;:; <1s a " bo undar y to hell." The country is "l1a ug ht y as , star" i\,1_J I set fur lh upon the southern ro ..id . Tbt2 vai:ie t y of sLy l es i.!nd th emes found in these poets i s found also in yo un g~i: po et s of th e i r- ze n0r a tion : Patterson , Addison , Browne , Re Jmo 11<l, Of these Jay \fright, Anderson , Hernton, and Poli t e co1ae readily to rninJ . poets, Pat t e rson is particularly int eres tin g . !!is " Black all Day " yielded from it s second line tile title for T Sau How Bl ack 1 lbs. Patt e rson , a n oti1er· Lincoln University poet, 110n an award for his poetry whil12 still eraduate. ,ll1 under- A na tive New Yorker , h e studied political sc i ~nc e and Englislr, and has \-/Orked as a counse lor for delinquent boys and an English Instructor . Patterson sa id in Six es and Sevens that his first poem was written during World War II as the "o u t- growth of a Cain-and-Abel conflict without .the. dire consequ e nc<:! s ." "Thr ee Vi ews of D,l\,JI " includes the " silken shawl of ni gli.t ," t he qisappearance of "cor ner specters " and the " splittin~" of " stillness ." The musical " Tla Tla" presents free verse spiced with alliterative l a n gua i~e of landscape , season and na ture. Sit tin g " Alone •' ' the protagonist of the poem "" keeps poems warm" as he watch es over the sleeping lovers as well as t he "numb " 1-1ho wake and 11eep . Patters o n did not publi sh ,. lJOok until 1969; and its titl e , 26 Hays of Lookin p_ .:i t A LL.1ck Man, shO\·JS th e influence of inwg ist s and modernists (see \./all.ace Stevens' s J J lh1ys of Lookin13 a t A Black llird) . It also r eveals much abo ut th e Black po e t ' s ability to for ge and merge his academic tr a ining �\•lith his O\m in<ligenism . The sp eaker in "Bl ac.k a ll Day " i s " luoke<l " into "rage and sh.:ime " by a wh it e passerby; but he VO\lS th a t "tomorrow " I'll do as muc h for hi m. Patterson constructs a solid poetic foundation, " s tone on stone," as he pa ints preci.sc portra.i,ts of "the brave who do not br eak" when provoked ( "You Are the Drave"), or the "lost, the "tireles s and r.:i~ing soul, " ("Envoi"), In the Hork of Patterson, and the younger group of th e period, one finds anger 'l? or protest, though the genera l tendence is toward experimental verse Hhich pinpoints th e surest and richest human feelings . jects more of ten than not r ~f l ec t thi s fact. As Bl a ck poets, their sub- BuL v:1riety is certainly not shunn ed by them. Neither is variety avoided by th e ir sisters of the pen and im.:ige : Black wo1nen who have been an identifi ab le aspect of the long tradition of Afro-American Poetry . Phyllis Wheatley was th e most well kno\m female poet until the mid-ninet eenth century when Fr.:inces Harper took up th e· bonncr of fame though not of skill . A later new mood was evidenced in th e work of An ge lina Grimke, Georgia Douglais Johnson (the most famous poet after Frances Harper), Gwendolyn Bennett , Ann Spencer, Alice Nelson Dunbar, Helene Johi1son (a young spark in th e Renaissance), .Marg-a ret Walker , nm! Gwend ol yn Brooks, -<"'" Between th e forties and sixties, the n4ber of publi s hin s women poets incr~ase<l. Poetry in America has remain ed unde>r the domai n of whites (men); and since women in general have no t had th e ran ge of opportunities open to 1,1en , certainly· th e Hlack woman went the worse way of that flesh! poets of the period still remains impressive: But th e li s t of Black women Gloria C. Oden (Y onkers, New York) , Nanina Alba (}~nt z omery), Margaret Danner (Pryorsburg, Ken tucky), Mari Ev,rns (Tol edo) , Julia Field s (Uniontm-m, Alabama), Vivian Ayers ,'J) \ \' �(Chester, South Carolina), Audr~ Larde (New York) , Naon1i Lon~ Mad gett (No rfolk), Pauli Murray (Baltimore), Sarah Wright (l!itipquin, Har yland ), Nay Hill er (\-Jashint;ton , D. C. ), and Yvonne Grc;io ry ( Nashvill e ), amon;:; the dozens of occasional -1n<l re8ional names. In 1952--two years .1[ l e r llr-0-oks won the Pulit ze r Prize--G . C. O<len, who uses her initiuls " as C:,1en<lolyn .1 Hay of beins anonymous," n :: c<Jivcd a John Hay Whitney Opportunity Fellm,sh ip for The Naked frame: A Love Poem and Sonnets . She lws worked as a senior editor of a major publ i shing house and currently teaches Engli sh in Baltimore . In the fifties, she joined the Village poets in llew York where she r ead her poetry in coffee shops, reviewed books and wor ked on a novel. Iler poetry has also appea red in The Saturdav Rev i e1, and The Poetry Diges t. tlo tin g that she appeals "primarily to the intellect," Hayden (l:-1lei.doscope) compared lier to Cullen, adding that she "is concerned with poetry as an ar t expressing what is meaningful t o everyone, not just a vehicle for protest a11d special · pleading." Although G. C. Oden uses a variety of forms, her poems are usually crisp and intellectually tart . "The Carousel" in an empty park rides me rou1,d and roun l, and the <lark drops for her as she gleans her surroundings with explicit word-choices: "sight focusses shadow." In "Review front Staten Island " a n ti it em ·. in the view is "spewed up froni wa t er. Luter we are tol<l th at "One ge·. ts us ed to dying living" and "even the . rose disposes of summe r." He hear the dislocated woman in " ... As ,~hen emotion too far exceeds its cause " (phrase from Elizebeth Bishop). Re tr ea ting from hvartbreak, she a <l mits th a t she to o knew "love's celestial venturing . ": I, t oo , once trusted nir thnt plunged me down. Yes, I! �J·!anina Alba is simil.:1rly t erse and poir,nant . The Parchments (1963) and The Parchments II were published before her death in 1968 . She taught English, Husic and French in puulic schools and was for a l ong time a member of the Eng,lish Department at Tuskegee L,stitute. "Be Daed~1lus 11 makes use of r.r eek Hy.thol ogy to draw a subtle and analogy between Black and Icarus's "unwise" actions. Death ·cor,1es as a II t ax " for "parching" the sun: Suns can be hrutal thinr~s. "For Malcolm X' ' recalls "History's stoning." Mar ga ret Danner is similarly sensitive. 13orn in Detroi t, she has spent the greater part of her life in Chicago where she was one t.i111e edit o r of Poetry. )!er poems in that publication in 1952 prompted th e J oh n llay \,/h itney Fellowships Committee to offer her a trip to Africa. And in 1962 · th e literary group with which she identified in Detroit was the subject of a special issue of the Ilulletin of Nep,ro History. She has published four volumes : Impressions ~f African Art Forms in Poetry (1962), To Flower (1962), Poem Counter~oem (with Dudley Randall, 1966) and Iron Lace (196 8). A former poet-in-residence at Wayne State University, she f_o unJ ed Boone House, a lively center for the arts in Detroit, and a similar cultural program in Chica go: Nologoriya 's. She employs African t enninology and theme; but she can also writ e deli ghtfully in other veins as in "The Elevator M:.rn Adheres to Form." wings" the elevator reminds her of "l~cicQ co art ." The "tan ma n who · Struck by his ele ~a nce--and "Godspeedings"--the~he wonders wh y so intelligent and artful a "tan" man ha s to run elevators . It is a meticulous poem, subtlety exposing th e li e that education gualifies you. She finally wishes the elev~tor man '.s services cound be employed - -- - - - -- - - - toward liftin n them above their crippling storm. - - �Far From Africa: Four Poens is .::i sheet of sir,hts , sounds and suggestions car r ying the reader across "mo ult ing days " l n "t h eir twilig h t ," ( " G:1rnishinr; the Aviary"), "lines " of " classic tutu ," ( " Dance oE the Ab.:ikweta"), "eyes lowered" from " c.!espair, " (''The Visit of the Professor of .t\cstl c tics") and a bee.I of ;: rL'.cn moss , spurklini:; as a beetle, tfori 1wans ls an o ti1 <: r kind of transitionalist--shiftinr, from Civil !Ugh Ls poetry of the enrly phase to, finnlly, a more obv i.ous " Bluel:" stance of the lnter period . lier I Am A Clack \Joman Has not publis h ed until 1970 . She has worked as a civil service en ployee, tv sh01v hostess .'.lnd producer , nn<l instructor of v1rltin13 . Sometimes referred to as a spiritual, if 110L · t echnical, heir to Gwenc.loly1i' Brooks , M.'.lr i Evnns employs irony , suspension, a n <l rich folk idioms in a free verse s t yle . " Th e lZebel , " pondering liis death and funeral, wonders i f ,.rt~/ / Curiosity seekers want to know uhether she has really clie<l or just uants to cnuse " Trouble: . . . . " Tiler~ ir; humor and satire in ' \nicn in r,ome " as t he poe t i n t er] aces .(in the manner of Vesey ' s "A Homent , Please " ) t wo <liffcrent conversations . · The ti 13lack ma i d " Hnrrie cl cur ," is allo~1ecl to ·cat "whatever " she l:Lkes .. Alterna tin£; the 1Haid ' s silen t response , with t:lie •reci t:.::ition of a me nu of the 111idJle class environment ( " Rome " ), the poem incid,•ntally records th e traditional soul food items which the uaicl craves. "The Emancipntion of Gcorge-llcctor" ( " the colo r ed turtle" ) shmvs a growing impatience with one-step-at-a-time social chanr,e policy . The t urtle used to stay in his " shell" but n oH he pecks out, extends his arms and legs , and talks . an<l senti1ncntal. Bu t this s;:ime poet can wnx phLlosophical " If there be Sorro1/ ' it should be for the Lhin ;:s not yet dreamed , re:alized or done . Ad<l to these the 1Jithholding of love, love �"restrained." In "Shrine to wh.:it should De" an audience is asked to "sing" songs to "nobility," .:ind "Rightousness." The children should bring "Trust," the women "Dreams," tlt e old men "c onstancy ." Ironic.:illy the: a udience i s tolJ to i gnore tears that fall like a "crescendo," and constantly as "a · so ft black rain." Iler tribute to Gospel singers is telling in " ... And the Ole! Women Gathered." One cannot - (despite "Rome") escape one's self, the poet says, as s he notices that the "fierce" and "not melodic " music lin ge r ed on · ven as "we ran. 11 Julia FielJs, truly sensitive spirits , studied at Knox Colle ge in Tennessee, in En~lanJ and Scotland, and has to.ught in hi gh school and . c olle ge . Her work appeareJ in Umbra, }Gssachusetts Review and other journals. Alon g with M:ir ga ret Halk.er, Tom Dent, Alice Walker, Pinkie Gord on Lane, and Spcillmm1 she is among the few good Black poets who now voluntarily live in tl1e South. Her first book, Poems, was brou~ht out by Poets Press in 1968, tl1e same year · she received a National Council on the Arts grant . She is substm1tially represented in R. Baird Shurnan's Nine Black Poets (196 8) and her East of Moonlight was published in 1973. . She also writes short stories and plays. Iler main poetic subjects are racism, death, love, violence and history . "The Generations" come and zo and in bet1vcen there are "The wars. 11 · i\nd in bet~,een them are the seasons, flowers, "lavender skies, 11 dawns, " Sombre seas, 11 and the "embryonic calm. 11 "Arrdv a rk" has achieved 11 fame " since "Malcolm died and the po e t muses: Looks like Malcolm helped Bring attention to a lot of thin gs We never thou ght about before. She a Gain salutes this martyr in our ar;ony. 11 11 for Malcolm X11 whose 1 ' eyes we re mirrors of In "No Time for Poetry 11 the reader is advised that midni ght is �not time to bes e0ch on e 's muse: t oo much " calm." th e "spirit" is "too l agr, inz. " a nd there is But the morning is id eal sinc e it carrie s "vibra tions of laughter" and ha s no "oranr,e -white mists." As a "woman," l .i. st e nin g near the "broken-hin ged door" at a man talk o f wa r ("I Heard A Young Nan Snyi ng"), the narrator " somehow pl a nn ed on living ." And th e "bright ~l a r e of th e 11 eon world" s e nds " t.•;;1s - words burs tin g fr e e" in "Madness One Monda y Ev enin f~ •" Pa uli Murr ay and Sa rah Wright are sometimes poets who also write other things. Pa uli Murr ay pur s ued tra ining fo r law \,Jhi J e s ite \va n academic awards and fell011 s hip s f or h e r wr ·_tin g . A Civil IU:,:hts pi oneer , she publi s hed one volu me of v erse (Da r k Tes til:1ent, 1969 ) a nd a f am il y hi story (P r oud ~,hoes ; 195G ). In "Without Narne," she i s rev ealed a s a fo rma l but exc e ll ent cr af t sma n. Ther2 are no names f or tru e feeling; but let the "flesh s i ng nn th ems t o .i t s ::i r r i val. " Sarah \lrl ght, known as a novelist (This ChilJ 1 s Go nn a Li ve ), co- a ut hored Gi ve Me A chllJ in 1955 with Lucy Smith. Ab out P,l ac k writ e r s s he said , ln 19 .(1 1, ·"Ny mott o i s tell it like it damn sure is. 11 "black outlines in living flesh." and ~raffle l i ghts. In 11 \./indow Pictu res " s h e s ees "Urgency" views relationship between .driv e r s " God " is "thanked" th a t th e c a r s tops so th e pa s senge r can " g lory " a whil e in th e "time-bitt e n pun c tu a ti on." Of th e " pa usi.:! ." Vivi a n Ayers, th e <l aught e r of a blricksmitl1, attend ed Bar ber~ Scotia Coll ~ge (Concord) a nd Bennett Coll ege (Green sboro) ,,here he r maj o r int e rest s wer e dr ama , music a nd da nce. She pu bl is hed a volume o f poems ( Spi ce o[ Dawns ) and an allegorical drama of'f r ee<l on a nd the s pace ai;e (ll awk), pe rf o r med a t th e Univ e rsity of llouston' s Educationa l Te l ev ision St a tion . Curren Ll y , s he live s ln llous ton where s he ecl-Lt s . " I nsum ta neous " .::i quarterly j ourn a l, ,\de pt . feature s a man being " s tt1r ried" by the bolt of "cr os s -firing ene r gies " an d g r a bbed up jn a blaze r eso na nt as a million ha ll e lujas-- ... ,.· �A r.1an inhabits another nwn who , <lyin z , r,as ps f a intl y : " Ny god - -this is God ... 11 Similar and differ en t is N.:10mi Lon;~ l-!a d13e Lt , who mo v eJ to Detroit f ro1.1 Vir g inia in 19!16 to teach at a hi gh school. from Wayne St~ te Universi t y . She holds a Master's Jegree Associa ted with th e Detroit e roup of poets, she h as published four volumes : Son~2s to a Phantom Nir,htin 0alc (1941), On e in th e ttany (1956) , Sta r by Star (1965 , 1970), and Pink Ladi es in the Af t ernoon (1972) . Currently she teoches English at !:astern Nichigan Un i versity and runs the newly established Lotus Press. projects 1•1 as Deep ltivers: A Portfolio : One of its first 20 Conter•lJh)L1i:-v 13lnck America n Poet~; (19 7L1), Hhich includes a te.ichcrs ' guide prepared by the poet . Ed itor s for Deep lUv ers include Leonard P . Andrews , Eunice L . Howard, and Gladys l-1. Rogers . The 20 poster poets are Paulette Childress White, Jill \iitherspoon , William Shelley , G. C . Oden , Naomi Nadgett , P.itter son , La Crone, Pamela Cobb , Pinkie Gordon Lane , Etheridg e !~nig ht, R,rnd a ll , Hayden , Thomps on, 11a·r;pr_ct Walk.er , June Jordan , Gera l d W. Barrax, Audre Larde , Redmond, Michaels . · Harper and l~aufman . .. Naom i Hadgett 1 s " Simple" ("For Langs t on l!Lq~h c~ ) is reali s tic a lly humorous. ~imp le sits in a bar, \vi!n tin g to tal k t o someone, when h e is approached by a hand - out scqker who n eeJs to·change his c loth es " but my l a n ' lady ' bolted the door . " Joyce will tap "impa tientl y " o.nJ leave th e bat· and Simple woncler~ng 1Jhat " he \lante d to say. learn tlwt o[ 11 " a ll the de.iths " thi s one is th e "sur es t. In "Mortality " ue 11 Some deaths .1re merely " pc.ice " but vultur es " re cor, niz e " th e "sini: l e mo rt.:il thin g " that hold s on to lif e nnd th ey wai t huu ga ril y for the time ~1en hope s tarts staggering . Han must come to gri ps with th e thln zs of this wo rld, we arc told in �" The r.ccl :oning ": And why and how and wh at, and som('timcs even i.f . Poems f r ont Trinity : women and humans . 11 ( On e cha r ac t e r has been bese i ged by " d r eam and · dream ni:;ai n" 4 11 ) a nd a n:1ked day "cor~o d es th e silv e r dream " bu t the mu si c will not "c ease to shiver . 11 1 A Dream Sequence convey uncertainties and fears of ( 11 18 11 ) . "Af t er " is a lamentntion for " mortals " \-Jitltout \1iu g s 11 to fly awny f r o1,t th e " p u rp l e sadness " of night . is 11 ,\nd " Poor lzcnaldo 1 1 deaJ and gone 1-1\terever people go 1 ' wit en they "never loved a song . 11 e v en " hell " 1,1ust !tave " music of u sort . 11 But Finally sculpted , like the otltcrs , the poet,1 turns to more sorrmv near the end . Ren;iJdo, t ·h o.u r,h de ad, is "still unrest in:: ." AuJrc Lorde ' s vt0rk reflects skill and control. ln the early ~.ixtics she wrote : I am a Negro 1·Jo1aan and a p oe t- -a l l my realm of choice . t hree things stand uuLsiJe Hy eyes have a part in my seein~ , my breath in by breathing , al l that 1 am i n Hho I am . -love are of my people . All who 1 w,:is not born on a farm or in a forest , but in the cen t re of the largest city in the world-a me111ber of tlte ltuman race he1.trnecl in by stone , m-1ay ·from earth ~md sunlight . l~ut what is in my ·_ blood and sldn of richness , comes the roundabout jo u rney fr on i\ frica throurh sun islands to a stony co;:ist , and these ar c the gifts through \lhich I sing, t hrough which I see . This is the kno1,1 ledgc of the sun , and of hm1 to love even where there is no sunlight . This is the knowle<li;c and the richness 1 shal.L r; ivc my children proudly , as a strenr; th a g ainst the less ol.lv:i,ous forms of narrmmess �, ~ // Audr e Ln r cl c thus 2, ivcs a balnn,ceJ account of hcr" self as a ,mm:in, Black a,·. anJ poet. '--"' '{-<-'. ,' i. And all these tb,;i,ngs she hanc.lles quite \lell in her poc•try-- on page anJ in the air. She has published thr.:.>. c volumes: The First Cities (1968), Cal>lcs to Rn ge (1970) and From a Land where other Peopk tivc (1973), which was nominated for a :fational Book Award. reflects Oi1 In her early poetry she "Oaxaca" (in Hex ico) where the "land moves slow ly" under the ''carvint drag of wood." The drudging fielc.l work goes on while the hills .:ire "l>rcwing thunder" and one can observe All a man's strength in his sons.' young arms .... "To a Girl who knew what side Iler Brend \vas Buttered on" dcs c r il>es the girl as a "catch of bright thunc.ler" apparently guarded l>y (and guardian of) bones. Ordered to leave the bones, she watches as they ris e like "an ocea n of straH"an<l trample the one who orders her "into the earth." "forth in the moonpit of a virgin . " The "N,;1mph 11 is brought In "How can I Love You" the unwanted lover "comes like a thin binl"--unlike th e magnificent Phoenix bir,l of mytholo~y--later to become "great ash." No wonder, the speaker confirms.; that your sun went dO\vn. The "Ho on-ninded the Sun ... " decrees that The light that makes us fertile shall make us sane. And we hear that the "year has fnllen"in 11 Fathcr 1 the Year •.. " Audre Lorde's . work cuts sharp paths of in~ight and light across the stealtl1ing ignorance and diffusion around her. "AnJ Fall shall sit in Judgment" examines love, concluding that "in all seasons" it is false, but the same. A much-ncr,lectcd poet is May Hiller, of \fashin ~ton, D.C., ay-d \,horn Cwcnclolyn Brooks ackno\1 lc<l r,cs as " excellent and long-cclcbratc<l" (Introduction, ----- - - - - -- - - - -- -- - - - -- �Th e Po Ltry of Dl acl ~ America ). Jliss Brooks al s o l.:rn1ents llay Miller ' s a bsence amo n ~ t hose an t ho l ogized . Her work c a n be fo und in t hree volume s : I nt o t he Clear in g (1 959 ), Poems (] 962) , a n d she ls on e o( tl1rC' c roe t s r ep r esen t e d i n Lyri cs o f Th ree Women (1964). Curr ently a memb er of t l1c Comm i ssion on the Arts of th e Di s trict o f Columbia , s h e h as b ee n a t ea cher , l e c t u r e r , dramatist and h a s publishe tl he r poe t ry in a number of ma r.; azines : Co1:1c1o n r. r o un<l , The Ant i o ch Revi ew , Th e Cri s i s , Ph y l on, a nd Th e Nation . "Ca lv a r y \.-lay " s h ows a Ch ri s ti a n in f lu e nce Hith a t wi s t of irony and gor e·. Ha r y i s asked hO\v she fe lt, " womb -he avy with Chri st Ch i l d , 11 n s she tasted t he 11 du st 11 of a n 11 uncer t a in _journey . 11 f ina ll y asks Ma r y : 11 \-Je r e yo u a f r a i d? " Recalling th e c ru c ifi):io n , the po e m The " roaches are winni nf, 11 i n 11 Th e l as t Wareh ouse " wh e r e huma ns s ee k to " a bneg at e survival l aws 11 anJ kill roa ches until they are "saturated with th e i r decr ease . 11 11 Th e l'.hil r ac t ers in · The wron r, side of Mo r n i ng " we r e shaken from a " n i [;ht1nare of ,,in g s " and . " mushrooms o f hu ge d ea t h " as t he po ~t powerfully coll e ct s imu g c; s and Li yer,, tl me a ning s . . 11 Pi:-ocession 11 e r.1p l oy s th e dr a matic techniqu e (made famou·s b y _l:lr m-,.n and o t h e rs) of in t crlacin~ t he forma l r:ng li s h of th e poem \Jit h itallciu,d ,, Bl ack reiterativ e exp l e t i v es and ref r ai n s such as " l{ ing , h amme r , r ii~g ! 11 I t is the procession of Ch ri s t b ut t hC! reader eas i ly unJerst a nd s , noting t he Black idioms , t hat i t is a l.llack · p ro cession throu gh t he l a byri n th s of sl a very a nd racism . There is a seric ~ of j ux t aposed con t radic t i o ns like " Time is today , yes t ercl.:i y , and t i1•1c t o come , " " movin g and motionless , " and " infinite take s f nmiliar fo r m," as all while " we se e k conviction . " Ch r is t ian mytholo gy pervaJes Hay Hiller ' s wo r k ( thou g h s he Bl a ck-ba ses i t). I n " Tnlly" the s ubjects "la y t here drained of time" and e mp ty like th e "bulge of hou r glass " while " Lucifer streaked to re a lity ." ( �The d<.;.'.lt hs of Dumas anJ Rivers Loft vuiJs ariJ crea t eJ still more anx ieties, comin~ as they JiJ (19G J) in th e nid st of racial turbul ence . However , by the miJ-sixti es both po e ts had writt e n a gr ea t J e;-11 of poetry and a great deal about themselves . Rivers died an unnecessary deulh in \·l hat has been called an " impulsive" act. white polic~nari in a Ne w York subway. o tl1er . Dumas was shot to death by a lloth deaths occureJ~,10nths of eac h Rivers was born in Atlantic City , New Jersey , and atten<leJ public s chools in Pennsylvania, Georgia and Ohio . His college days were spent at Wilberforce Univers .i ty , Chicago State Teachers Colle le and lndiau u University. In high school (1951) he won th e Savunnah State poetry pci~e . Rivers was s reatly influenced ·b y Hughes , \fri r; ht a nJ his uncle Ray lklvcr . llis five books , t,-10 of them published posthumously, are : Pe rchanc e· to Dr eam , Othello (1959) , Th e se Black IloJies and This Sunburnt Face (1962) , Dusk at Selma (1%5), Tlie Still Voice of llarlem ( 1963) , and The Wright Poems (197 2 , with an Introductio n by friend-nove l ist Ronald Fair ). Ohio Poetry RevieH , Kenyon Review , and Antioch Review were only a few magazines in which his work appeared. ,, Responding to a request (1962) to comment on hims e lf a s Black man and poet , lUvers said , among other things : I write about the Negro because I am a Negro,. and I am not at peace wit h myse lf or the world . I cannot divorce my thou &h t s from the absolute injustice of hate. I cannot recl~on witl1 my color . I am obsesseJ by the ludicrous and psychologic a l behavior of hated men. And I shall continue to write about race--in spite of many warnings-- �unb 1 I discover myself, 111y futur e , · my real race. I do not wish to capitali :~e on r~1ce, nor do l wish to begin a Crimean War: I am only interested in recording the truth s queezed froni my observations and experiences . 1 am tired o f bcin~ misrepresented . AdJin:~ to the statement, Rivers said "beauty and joy , which \,as in th e \·m rld before and has been buried so long, has got to come back." But Rivers saw little " beauty and joy " in his own mind ' s eye . His poetic landscape is often bleak and fiJle<l \·l ith deep psychic yenrnin;;s and wan<l er ings throu g h the ambivalences of Black-white relations . is also torment .:incl brooding . There In this way he bears sor:,' kinship "to Dum~1s. For both delve deeply into psycholo gy , but are at the same tinw ac cessil,le . Rivers spent much t.Lme researching his past and readin)~ from the g reat volumes of world literntu12 . Durin g the mid-sixties in Chica ~o he pirti- c ipated in discussion r,roups--invo1ving Fair, David Llor e ns and r.cralJ \ McWorter--out which this r,rew the now well-known Or ~anization of lllack ., American Culture (OBAC) which figures prominently im[lortantly in tlt e Black ar t s programs of that city . poems . ? Itivers talks about his own .death in . several "Postscript " is a poem v1hicl1 · "sli u uld not have beC:!n published . " The narrntor says lie \le.ls " livini; ,md dyin t•, ·,rnd dreaminr, " all at the sarne time in llarlem. And, toyin~ with his 01m fate in wake of \,Jright ' s " s udd e n Jl:!ath," he r ecal l s the elder 1Jriter ' s " prophecy" \,as that hL! too "soon would he dC:!ad." The tlieml.! of denth--often mo r:.il, spiritual or pltysica.l as in llayden-- can be (ound in pieces Jil:c "The Deuth of a l~e;:; ro Poet," "Prelud e for Di_xie," "Four ShcL!ts to the \/ind," "Thr ee Sons," 11 /\sylurn," an d ull of Tl1e \Jri g lit Poems. \ �In 11 \fotL s , 11 he capsules ge nerations of fear, horror, history anJ an guish into ep i gra1,11;1c1 tic fury--with a deceptively apparent ease : Nust I shoot tli e white man de11<l tu rr.__.c the nigger in his he.:t<l? In an in~ibly u ea k asses.sment of Riv e rs ' s poetry , llaki Ha<lhubuti (Lee) said this poem '' asks a rev olut ionary question~ (Dynamite Voices , Vol . I). Such a ( " question ," ) of co rse , continually t u rns or revolves . 1 nut , s man tics aside , the corunent is blinc.J to Rivers ' s 1:restl i.11:~ \tLth the deep fears and sores enienc!erec.J by America ' s ni fj htma r c . ]Jc> knew no simp l i:;tic answers or verbal jousting would make these hurts disappear . Anyway , su c h critici sm viol ates the poem , robbinr; the poet of his many-layered concerns anJ analytical powers . IUver i s not all somber ang Lleak, hov,e ver; in " The Still Voice of Harlem " h e announces : I am the hope and t on1orr0\·1 of your unborn . Even aQi<lst tl1e contradictions anJ un cer tainties of racial / politi c al ping-pong ( " In Defense of Black Poets " ) A black poet must remember the horrors . Especially since Some black kid is bound to read you . The "Note on Bl ac IC \V'o me Tl 11 <asks 1~tie I y tea C I1 tl1 e poet " l1onor ," " huiuor ," a11d "hm, to <l i e ," presumably t 11e reborning death . sheet . The \fri ght Poem s is an e l cga ic " To l~ichard \hight " exclaims alnost wit h defeat, that �To be born unnoti~ed is to be born black, an<l left out of the grand adventure . Ano ther "To Richard Wright" piece refers to the novelist ::is .youn~ J esus hf the black noun and verb. Other poen1s find the poet Hander in~ or searching throu i~h the f \/right . 11 spirits" or "b ones" In "A Mournint, Letter from Paris" Rivers recalls knowinp, and feelin g "Harlem ' s honeyed voice." Somc('times similar in feeling and theme, but almost never in voice and form, is the work of Dumas who " Ne 0 ritude ran ges acro ss time <:md space~ ." Dumas was born in Sweet llome, Arkansas, moved to New York Hhen he was 10 years old and completed public schools in that city . He attended City · college of · New York and Rutgers betHeen stints in the Air Force and other activities. Active on the little magazine circuit, he won a number of a1.rards and helped establish several publications. At the time of his death, he Wa'., tei1chin~j at Southern Illinois University ' s Experiment in Higher Education in E.::ist St. Louis. In 1970, SIU Press published two posthumously collect ed volumes: Poetry for My People and Chatfield and Redmond. aud-:.a-t:t,,:--i-e-s-fsame- it:1,.e-)- in 197-4- with Redmond as editor . Thou ~h there have been no full-len g th critical studie s of Dumas's poetry, Jay Wrigl1t and Baraka assessed him in the SIU editions nnd Wri zht's Introduction is retained in the ne11 releases. I Ark of Bone I and Other Stories' edised by llale ,I . bO .ti IN l <;. \It\ 1't / ;, '-- C ti J Random House re-issue~~he poetry (Play Ebony Play Tv6ry+ I Wright, himself a major poet of the e ra, r, leanecl the linguistic skill and the musical range of Dumas: None of this is perverse, intellectual play. of llumc1s' sense of history. It is indicative In "Emoyeni , Place of the Hinds," ------------------- -- -~-- - �he \·! rites II I sec ..iith my skin and henr with my tonr, uc . II • •• The line , I su:-;r;est, asserts some elementary truth about /' "-)_ Duma ', a nd not alone Dumas ', poe _tic techniq ues . is gro unded in that l i ne . This book ... What Dumas means in that there .'.lre racial and social de t erminants of per ception, i deas t ha t he was just beginning to develop . The mi nd a r ticulates wl1at the senses h:wc s c lecteJ fro m the field , and t h is articuL1tion is, in part, determined by what the perceiv er hns learned to select and articulate . There is certainly no consensus a111on~.; thinkers th..1t tl1i.s is wliat happens, but there is so me evidence for believing , as Dumas did, th.J.t it does h:tppen. In 'lI] h ear witli my t ongue , 11 Dumas asserts thctt Lhe langu.J. ge you speak is a way of def ining yo urself within a group . The language of the Black conununity , as Hith tlwt of any group , takes i t s f orm , i t s i mage r y , i t s v ocab ulary , because Black people want t], _m tb .'.lt way . Lang uage can protect , exclude , express value , as we l l as assert identity. is 1vhy DumD.s ' lan~uage is t he way it is. That In the rhytl1111 of jt , is the act , the unique manner . of pe r cep t ion of a Black . man . \Jritin~ with the removed passion o_f the friend that he 11as, Wright makes viti..ll statements not only about Dumas I.Jut abou t the whole area of Bla ck creativity , perception and stance in tl1e worlJ . Inclee<l Dumas jutted all these antennae f from his poetry 1vhich he wrote to nwintain 11 ou precious traµition . 11 Lin- guistically , ll umas 1 s base is formal English , a blend of Black African lan[;uagcs , Arabic, and r.ullah from the islands off the Carolinas and Georgia. His cosmos �is r;!t:1p1.;J by the rich t ext ures of lllack religjo us and spiri tu al life, expecially olc.l time church se rvic es and Voodoo. I/right notes: and gospel mus ic, particularly, were his life breath . "The blues Only Langston Hughes knev more , ar at l east as 11uch , . about gospel anc.l ;;ospcl singers .... Hu s ic seemed to Dwuas t o Le ~ble to carr y the burden of d irect participation ln the act of living , as no poem, thnL was not music,i ll y structu red, could .... " "Duma s Has searching for an analagous structure for poetry." As a poet , Durnas combines th e past, present and future , often insllparubly, as in "Play Ebony PL1y Ivory": for the so n~le~s , th e Jcac.l who rot th e earth all th ese <leaJ whose sour muted ton;;ues spea k broken chords, all the:;e ag ine; people poison the hl:Urt of earth . Curses and curdles , mysticism , blessings and warnings abound: ,, Vodu green clinching his waist, obi purple ringing his neck , Shan ~;o , God 0f the ~;piriLs, whispering in his ear, thunderli ght st a bbint~ th e island of bloo<l rising from his skull. Later, in this snme poem ("Rite"), the Hord tatcs precedent over all; \vliat must come , must come : �No power can stay the mojo when the obi ·.s purple an d the vodu is green and Sh.:rn go is whisp e rin g , ~athe me in blood . I mn not clean. ~ ' { 1V ... c:: • \ q, O r,. His intercontinental, intergalaxian soars employ nny and all devices at his conun.1nd. Dumns exp lor es the <lcn se rhythms ( " of pcrceirt'ion") as in "Ngoma" where he compares the belly of a pregn:m t woman to the drum hca <l. / The <loctor list e ns to the baby's heart; _ the dru1:u-:ie r listen s to rho voicei, c.>f Lil, ,incesLoc:, : alwa ;1 i.wa it is the chest-soun<l same that booms my chest a i.wa ai\.1a a strong sound runnine like feet of gazelle aiwa ai.wa The cresc cn<lo , with its b1 1l lt-in cnll-and-response pattern, merge s Goa t skin an<l woman ' s belly in the deathenin g r ear : the 80.'.lt -sk.in sings th e bo o1:1-sound louder lou<l e r sings the go:tt - skin loude r th e go:.i t-skin sings th e hoom-souncl louder sings the goa t - skin loud er louder loud e r boom th e 3oa t- s kin goom-sound louder louder louder Th e ri ch, experimen t ..il lan i3ua ge , couched in sever:11 "traditions," i s seen �everywh c 1 e in thi i; majo r voice ("fr om J.:icklwmmer "): The j a ckj a ck b::ickin~ b;1ck ::iml s t ack in g stone city-stone into cracl: ," d hydraulic echoes of <lust Or ("J!oot Sonrt ): Onct' 11h0n I w.:is tr ee flesh came nn<l wo rshi pp~d at my roots. Or (",\ f3on~ of flesh") love and ma c! lcned soar and n eec.l : l.fhen I awoke I took the sleepin8 ~o untains of you r breasts tenderly tenderly hC'tween my '1uivPri.ng l ips anJ I ~uillotine<l the stallions, drownec.l the eagles, a n d drove the tiger fish back into tl1 c~ s e a of y our hea rt. There a re aJ so " many" poets in Dumas. llere is a combination of Dunbar, .Hughes, \falkc r, coupl e d with the be st of the riminl_j poets of t he sixtie s t o. prod\lc:e . th e sanguin1 · and h umor o u s Black truth (" I Laur,h Talk Joke"): i lau~h t alk J oke smoke> dope sk i p rope, rnay t oke a coke j urnp up and dm-m, wa lk ,n'ound cir lnk mash :, nd · tciJ k L r. i sh bea t a blind b o y ovL, r the heod with a bricl: knoc k a no- L !g~ed m:rn t o his bended knee s �ca u s e I ' rn a muvL1~ fou l nev er been t o sc h oo l t;oJ r n i seJ iW a nJ t he devil pra i sed 1i1c> a nJ s lit h is thr oa t pn s s n c hurch , I mi ght: p ray but: Jo n ' t f u ck wi th me C:l U SC I UOI\ 1 t pl:1 y Th ere :ir e e pi c pCH!ms Ii. kc 11 Jfo s aic ll..ir l cm " ;:i nd " Ge n es i s ,rn a n En<l 1 ess Mo::;a{c, 11 a blues se r ies , ex perimen ts in African for ms (usin e spont a n e it y and ri t ua l ) , a n d mysti cal / e xpl o ratory poems li ke Th o u)>,l1ts /J mage s , Ke f , I ke f s und ~; ;1b.1, 'In on e " Saba " Duma s use s i.J i z a rre i1i1&ge ry to render t h e hard Lu d L'S(: ribe : sL reams s trikin g a oc ta " v · u rnphon es SX veinill f\S 11 o [ flage l l. r.i n <ls flucksin ~ r ite Dumns po ss esse d u s o u n d] ,ss lov e for t he a cou s t i c a l l en p n nd the J rama tic " implosion " ( as h e put l ) o f id ea s i n poe t ry . h a ve on Pi ]a c k poe t ry rc111~, i ns to h e see n . Wha t influ e nc e h i s i<leas will It 1Jould h;:iv e b ee n in dee d i1 1t e re s ting i f his o ork , mu c h o f it \•.tr ilt c n in t he c-1 rly nnd mi d - s i x ti e s , h a d b ee n �availabl e in r, ll cc t c <l (orm wh e n the first ri~oro u s ba tt le of the New Black Poetry was b e11g fou~ht . Th e Ame r ica n temperament (d i sfavorinc Black wr i te r s tellin g th eir tru ths ) kep t Dumas and Rivers running . Dwnas sought l1is peace in the <le ep \vell of his O\, n folk culture and in occasjonal exl'. ur ~i.0 11 s Lnto mystlcis1'1, Afri ·.:i , and \',rndo o . Riv,~rs buri e,I hius e lf in the "i<lentit y " issues ,111<l l>roo<led ovi:~1· Li~ plight as ci bri 1 iant Blacl~ in a country where the t1;0 adjec t ives to~e t her are neithc:r beli "'vable or lc~;itimnte. Yet th ey both left legacies . n. Griefs of Joy : The Poet r y of lhn :\s & Tile CL1ck Ar t s ifovernent No nuthin r, rema i ns the sa me . ,\ncl my spirit reaches out t o. yo tJ my love witho ut apolo g ies witlwu t emliarrassrnent \Jith only t 1e tliour,ht tha t t his is ri r;ht for us th a t moving towar<ls you is like . touch·ing leaves in autumn our minds and spirits interlocLe<l li b! eath . · ---- Pink i e Cordon Lane , "r;riefs of joy " O tt,! major diff erence bet1,een the cultural/political upsur ges of the t wenti es :incl the sixt.Les/seventies wns loc.:itiun : the ltennissancc wns centen,d literari Ly , if not ah1ays ?,eo~raphically , in llarlelll; but its �recent succ e ssors can be found in ev e r ;• ;:" r l1 Ame ric a n community Hith a substantial lllack popul.:1tio11. political interaction. Anoth e r differen c e was .in de g ree of ..irtist .i.c- To be sure, the culture and political <1 rms of the H.enaissance were, on occasions, interlocked . llut such 1-;,e<ldings never reached their curr e nt state of "wholc..'.ness" and "continuity." In the early <Ll y s o f this period there were C:ire) "su1rs" of the Ne11 Black Poetry; but the fitter often attended the a ...: tivitie s of poets "outside" their poetry. Or , put differently, the stars sometimes put "outside" topical and emotional stimuli "i n side" what was indefensible as "poetry . " This meant the star poets ha<l no connection whatc,v er with a BL:1ck liter..H )' or f olk poetic trc1dition as such. Tnstec1d theirs was a "tra<litiou" -of immediacy, political urgency, and newspaper headlines, coml.Jined with high-school type punch-lining. This ls not to s ,1y good "poetry" (of whatever definition) was (ls) not being written or that charlat.::ins 1vere always on "take." There is much evidence . to support the belief that Jozens of these soothsayers were sincere a11d honest--.::ind had cl 1osen what appeared to be the "simplest" and "fastest" vehicle for exp re : ~;inL; thoughts .:;bout "Revolution," and " or raising the 11 11 Bl:1ck Togetller" Collective·Consciousness 11 of their people. Such a situation was not helped by the learned p,iets-activists who sometimes advised youn Black writers to Jve up "weste ,· n" influe nces in a white lnnr,nage. advice (in J\.meric .. ! ) usual~y implied two things: This that an African lan~uage 1was e:asier to master and that !:iincere expression, no matter hO\v poorly arrange~ could carry the day fo . Black poetry. However, tl.e insincere versifiers more often than not fell by the wayside in a short time, pavinc the way, like the Phoenix bird, for still more soap box mounters. - - - - - -- - - - - - - -- AL the same time, a numbe·r of poets--\vhose wits and crafts were �no t abo u t them i n th e e a rly phas e --t oo k t o th e woo ,!s h e d to b e c om<c! mu c h be t ter h ,mdlers of th e word . a " pa n orama of vio l en c e ." All t i1is o c curreJ, Larry tr c al note s , a ;-;a i ns t Int.Ice d by t h 2 l.'.lt c s i x ties Bl a ck conununit i es a l l o ver Am eric a had b een tu r ned up side J n1-.'ll b y poli ce and sp okc s m.... n/s u p po rters Ptl-'\J 7 of t h e JH a c L RL'.-v o J uti on . Young shoe! ~ troopers li te Car micha e l , Bro \m, Charl es Koen , Ron l~a n ~n :.'.l , lluey Nc 1;ton, an d Eldrid g e Cleaver h ad al r ea d y for ccc d t h e " old time " Blac k l eader s hi p to t ake a s e a t. ll ow, wi th fa t he r l1av l ng d e stroyed so n (Williams , Ba l <lwi n ) , the poe t s wer e free to d eclaim , pro c l a ir.1 an d e xhor t. This tr e n d a l one w;i s a shock to t he poe ti c tradition-- s in ce i t cr e a t e<l a f l ood of po l emicis t s a nd pamp hl ;i t ee rs 11ho could/wo uld · not di. scqss poetry in histodc a l cont ex ts . It cn u s ed furth e r s ho ck b y ] a b elin ~ "i tse l f " Black " ,md r e n e ~;o t i..it Ln p, i ts own " root s . 11 (t h e 1Jo rd 11 BL1cl: 11 h a s appea r e d tl1r o u ~h o ut th e hi s t o r y o f Black p oe tr y , but b efore th e s i x ti es it wa s not used a s a ca t eg orical term for the po e try written b y Afro-Amer i c~ n s .) Henc e mu ch of t h e Hew BlaL.( Poetry l1as been v iewe<l as non- poetr y or . a·nti - poct ry ( i n a t r ad it ional l iterar y co nt e x t) !Jccau s c .:imo n g o th er t h in gs , it d i d no t dep en d priw 1r Uy on subtlety a nd r e condite r efe r e n ces . s e en wha t i.111p ~1 ct t his st ~111c e i n Black poetry wi l l have on t he l i.t e r ic y tren ds in Afro- Amc.:r .i.ca . b eg .Li1s hi s Ye t i t remains to be_ 01.n Blyd e u .Ta c kson ( l.l l n ck Poetry in Amc.: rica ) , for e x map]e , discussi o1 1 of t he Ue\o/ · BL 1ck Po e t ry by Luildin i.: a co nvin c in g_ an a l o gy bet\Je e n th e ri se i. n Bl ack ljtt.'r,1cy a nd the pop ul a rit y o f po e tr y . St e ph en He nder so n (Und e r .-. _al1Jin", Lh v i·Jew Dla cl~ Poetrv) as s ures h i s re a ders th a t Black re:id c rs o r li s e ner s cle:i r l y " unders t an<l " wha t t heir po e ts a r e sayin)j a nd are par t icip a L t n :_; mo re a n J mor,~ as jutl<; es qua l iti l!S i,, t l1L! poe tr y ;111d th e poe ti ; ' J c~li v ~ ri es . o ( .L;lack . ae sthct i.c a l llu t 11\iile t ii i s c h a p Ler 1, ill c o nc J.udc.: with a fe11 broad critical ob ~,e: r v at i ons , th e i 11u11e cliat e ::i i m i s to �conL i.n u,., the sketch of the poetry ' s dc Vl!lop ne nL, interpolat i.n ~ from t i.mc to time pertinent critical. and illu r.d nati n ~; JaL.1 . Th e re are Jozens of ways to .. ppro.:ic h the :ie\•I Hl.:1ck Puet r y . One could, for example , examine .i.t s th eme , sLructure a nJ sat ur.:i ti. on (llendcr s nn ), o r its several t ypLcS (C.:iroly1i Rodgers, see bibliogr.:iphy). Starti.ni_; 1-,i th i111portc1nt nan1es i s ano · 11 ~r 11ay ; th e Blnck Aesthetic (C. cty l e , Full e r) approach is a11otlier uay . Neal , Dum.:.is) . I Then there is the rn.:1 ;1; i c of Black poetry (Rar,1ke , Tou r e , The music i.s also a favorite path (Stanley Crouch , H.i. chae l Harper, J nyne Cortez) . One could go o n and on: but the poetry has been written a nd one pl.ice to start is w.i.tl. its emer gence . New _York c er t ainly played a key i· ole in the new 111o ve1 n<.:n t; but .i.L did not , we said earlier , play the key or only role . J\reas of the Ea s t delphia , nosto 1~B.1 ltimore, Washington, D. C.) e nhanced in the boon . (Phila- cen t ers were Clev eland, Chicago , Detroit , East St . Louis - St . Lquis , and Ka n sas City , ti n.:ime some . _? / Mid1-1est / :✓ Re l nt e J even t s al Fo t ook place in the So~th wh ere there w.:i ., another " rising " in Atlanta , Nashvil le , J ackson , Baton · Rou g~ , Tuskc gc· , llouston, and Too t~a loo . The Hest added richly f ro m Los Angeles, San F ·ancisco Bay area , Sacramento, and Seattle. Int crweav i.ng d c velop1nents r , lated to poetry were num~rous Black J\rts activities ( connected to CL1ltural or nationnlist programs) · lo ca t e d at settlement house s , conununi _ty c enters , mu seu, s, centers for th e d .j ssr>m inution of ideolo g ies, rmti-poverty c/ projects , n n d lJucational insti t uU o ns . The hip,h Enthusiasm and vi gorous { · spirit \Jere al.~o evident in t he plethora of tabloids/·.-../ !Hack-oriented , journal , flyers, poster ; , bo ok s, p amphlet s , and record s . And of g reat . importance were the new Black .i ookstores , Africa n curio shops, \1alls of " respec t" (Cleveland, J\kron, Chicago, St . Louis , New Yc1 rk, Newark , etc . ) , a r t exhibits, we ek l y festivals and jubilees, writers ' c o nferences , writin g workshops, th e flood �of li bt2r:1t ion f1 c1gs (bL1c k- :3 re e n-red), l lacl~- or ient cd tv t.-il k anJ variet shows, and other physical (pm,er si;>,ns dnd handshakes ) or cultur.:il (Afri can clothes, hairdos and j e welry) . new consciou s ness . New York was ,111 importclnt s hmv-pl ncc It had the resi due of the post-Renaissance VL':l rs (th e Shon1bur~ Lihrary and ~li.c:!tcaux ' s Bc-o kstore) in Harlem as well as numerou s s u rrounJin ~ communlt[c,i, \lhich p]u zg eJ into its sockets . such .:is New o r p,a nizations \ v...c. Jtfc Barbara Ann Teer ' s National Blnck Theater, New L1fa ye tte Theater, and the llnrlem Cu l t ural CounciJ flow e red in the amaz ed li ght of older instjt u t ions li.ke Pr eedomways r1a p,az i.ne ( Clarke nnd Earnest Knise r ) which has p ublished many of the new po r ts : Tour~ , (Snel1 ing s) lfadhubuU (l. ct2 ), ll e nd e r son, Clarenc e RccJ, \Jelton Smi t h; 1.19 yd T . Delaney, W. D. Wri r; ht, .Joann e r.onzalcs, Nari Evans and o th e rs . Preed omwa vs a l so offers lively• rev iews and commentaries on poetry, litera t ure and t h e lHack Ar ts scene . From the var l ega ted at1,10sp her e of llew Yori · p,ushed forth a tide of Black poets, some Hho h:.id made t he ir mar l. earlit2r: ( 1937- ), Reed, Pa tterson , Sun-Ra, Dumas , June .lore.Jan (1936- So ni.'.1 Sanchez (19 3'.i - . ( 1936- llenderson, Larry ·Ne..i l ) , S . E . Ander ~on (194 3- ,. ), Albert Haynes ), ) , Jloua rd Jones (19 1¼1 - ) , Hernto n , ()u .:,n tin Hill (1950- r~nraka , Aud re Lorde, John Major (194 8 - ) ), t! . H . Pritc_h.'.lrJ (1939- ) , Jolin /\ . . \Ji ll.lams , Levert Bethune (1 937- ) , ), Letlwni a Gee, Bobb Ham ilton , Q. R . Hand, Yu sef h1an , Ray Johnson , Odaro ( Barba r a Jones , 194 6- ) , Cla r enc e Reed, Yusef ltnhman (Ronal d Stone, Barb.'.lra Simmons , Lef t y Sims, \/elt on S111 itl1 (19l10CL:lrence ilaj or (19J 6(1 939- ) , Spellnan, Edwar d Spr i i:3s (1 9J4 - ) , Lorenzo Thomas (1 944- ) , Jay lfrig ltt: (1935- 19313- ' ) , Rlcl1arJ Thomas ) , Ted Wilson, Lloyd Addison (1931- J~uttie ll. Cu mbo , Janes Arlin~ton Jones (1936- ) ), ) , Jayne Cortez (via \!alts , ), [manuel , Calvin Forbes , Alexis De veau x (1950- ), Nikk i Giovanni �), Tom \l e atl1 e rl y (19 42), Ma c J ackson (1 94 6- Djangatolum (Lloyd N. Corbin, 19L•9- ), Eloui se Lofton (1 950- ), Julius Lester (19J9Simmons, Fe li pe Lucio.no (19 !17- (1947- ) ), Ch a rles Lynch (1943- ), J oe John s on ) , Judy ) , L. V . Na ck ) , i:l H)nd a tli ] Js , (~uuncJr a l' r e t tym.:m, La rr y Thom ps on (1950- and K,\l, Prestwiclge. ' ' ) Th e: Neu York r.lack Arts sc0 ne (po e try speci.fically) ~a s a ll-a-whir with the excitement of publishing and reading poetry alo ud at the infinite number of ~athering s. older, often revived one s . his death in 19G7. JoininE these y ounge r \lrit e r s we re llu ~hes ov e rsaw much of the pro c eedings until And there were old, as well a s ne 1v, out le t s fo r th u poetry \•1!iic h \, as b e in g rea r[ at the Apollo, Carne13ie Hall, Nc1-1 L1 L . 1 y ett e Theater, Sl ugs Eu st, /\a unt l bris Pu rk, anJ in c o unt les::; communit y cen l ers and churches. l!ost of these poeLs were not native New Yorkers; and a g reat number. · were not perpetual 1.y there dU' Lng the hei ght of the 1.11.uc:k Art s nov ,~1J1ent:-but often in outl y in g a rea s . i ke Brid ge port, (Youth Brid~e) Yale, Fcedonia, Broc~port, Rutgers, Br o oklyn, Boston (El.ma Lewis's Center for Afro~~nerican Culture), and Bedfo rd Stuyve f;a nt. But, while th e y lwd separate Blutk Arts " pro grams, most lo ok.e el to the mo vement iii New York. Wor ks l1op there v1e re: Umb r u In 3.<ld it i o n t o th e -- Harlen, \/riters Cuj 1J (Clarke, Killens), Fr e derick Dou g lass Creative Ar ts Center, Poetr y ·\Jo rkshop, the Afro-Hispanic 1/orkshop, Workshop for Young l. r iters, · th e Col umbia Writin3 pro~ram (Killcns), BJ ac k Arts Re pertory .:1 ncl 'lli eatre/Scho o l (Barak.1., Sn e llings ). Among the new journal s were Urnlna (19 (i'l ), :,o ulb o ok (1. 9 ( 4 ), J;Lick Di .:1 ]0 1•ue (19G5), .J o urna l of Bl a ck Poetry (19GG) (lr o ni c a lly, the Ja~;t tlir e 0 were be g un o n th e! west co:1s t), Pri de , Bl. 1c k Th ra tr l'. (1969), Cricket (1 96 9), Bla ck Cr e alion (1969), Af'ro i\r.1 e ri c an: �~ A Th i r d \.'orlcl LiLerary Journal (1973, Brown University, 1964), ContinuiU <.! S : .• r..1cuse), l,OP (Blacks on Papl~r, IJorJs f rom the Co111111unitle [; of Pan-Africa, Clty Colleg e New York, 1974), Imprcssi.ons (1974), Cosmic CoJors, (Fredonia, 1975). Durin e a speech at Howard University's First 1,.iti o n a l Conference o f Afr o - ,\1~ r rican Hritcrs (November, 1974) I Toure, rccountin p, th,, tumultuous years anJ c.J c vt·lopmcnts, ~;a id those responsible for t he "lllack arts and aesthetic movement" were "activists as wclJ as artists." Tt seemed so, for this particular pattern was most obvious as Baraka returnec.J to Newark (renaminr, it "New ." .rk") nnJ chang,cd his name (Imamu Amiri Ri"lraka), refleclin g the great influence of the Nation of lslam and hi s interests in African "----k I culture . . llavin g/\ BART/S "Lo re-educate the nearly lwlf a million llarl .:>111 tfo g roes to fiuJ a new pric.Je in the color, 11 he moved to cs tablisl1 ~pi.rit !louse (Nt!Wilrk), ,111d such spin-outs as SpirlL llouse Players anc.1 t-loveL· s , ti 1c> Afr.ica ,1 Free Scl w u1 (1-1 lth .its 1:m,alJa doctrin 0 ), Jihad Publications, Co1,ualttcc f o r a Unlfh:J l' e1va ck, and to he lp launch s everal national Black po l.Ltlc a l _ convention: , . l!c was a (ounc.ler (1970) uf the currently stri.fe-ri.dde11 Cu ll,\ l"l''.,~; o[ i\[ric ct u l' l! oples. Du 1 i11:~ tl1,~ L9 G7 riots (insurr e ctl ns) ln ll c\J:1rl, , Baraka w<1 s :.irr C!s tcJ with sevc.: r a l c o111pa 11iun :-i anc.l chaq~e<l 1, it ii po s se s sion of two hanc.l1~1111 s ,in,! anununitin11. lh.'. l\1ecn hi s arrest an J tl~c trial "Black Poeple!" was publ.islieJ · !'he poem openl y ccn courar,eu loot in,~, theft, murdeL· of whites, and i;eneral in:.; urr e ction: 11 \J hat about that hau short you s..iw last \le e k"; " You knoH how t u get it, y ou can get it, no money down, no money never"; "li e m-1cs , ou a n ythln:_; you \1.1nt, even his life"; "Up a g ainst the wall mothcrfucLer thi s is a s tick up!."; together nntl kill him my man": "Sn.1s h the winJm1 .:1t ni,>; ht"; "Let's r;et �... let I s r,e t t o~e t he r th e fr ui.t of the sun, let ' s make n wor l d we wa nt bl ack c hildr en t o r, r ow ,'.llld l ~.:--.r n in d o not l e t your ch l l l:re n HlH~n th e y gr m,1 l o ok v ,... t \).t tV q~ V i n y o ur rare and curse you b y pit y in c.: y our t o ,nl s h wa ys . It wu s th e kind of nuJ BC a n<l ra ge th a t c ha r a ct e r i z e d Bu r a k~ 1 s (and otl1er Bl a c k poets ') out p ut b e twe e n 1965-1969 , t s l gnific a nt d e ve lopme nt s occurred . Durin 6 this pe r ioJ , l1 owe vl!r , cl numb e r of Impr e ss e d uy th e US ~~rcH1p of !to n Kar e u ga (wh i le t eac h Ln g briefly at San Francisc o S t a te Col l er, c in 19 67) , J,:,r.·1 k a r c t urnec.l .t o !J ewa rk and or ga nized th e Dl ac k Cor,nnunity Developmen t un<l D.:ef ' ll SL'. L, Or g a n ization ( BCll). llis efforts e v entually aided in th e e l e ctio n of &e<J-<-'.«t Black mayor (Ke nn e th (;ib son) . iJ ,:_..,.:f'!: Thes e t ~ s were havin g i r eo. t i 1,1 pact on region.Jl a n ,1 nationa l l\ l ac lc polit i cal/poetry s c e n e s . Baraka I s p ictur e s · (with b anc.l .1g es fr om th e 196 7 scuff l e with l~ ewark po l ice ) b egan appea ri n g on wal l s of cu ltural cen t er s , Jormitories and home s, Ha ny oLse r v e rs , howeve r, wer e , so111e \1hat wa r y of Ba rake , h a_vin r, seen him go thr o ugh th e " chang e s " from Bea t poe t with a wh i te wife , t o Har l em and !Hack Arts, into Newa rk anJ roli t ica l 1Jo rk (f o r g reat ins i ght into all this , see The0 Jore Hu ds on ' s From 'LeRo.L J o ne s to Am iri ~aral~a , 197 3) . Ye t Barab1 ' s influenc es were felt i n mo ~t c e n te rs o f th e t~ew Black Poetry-- and e v e n in places wh ere !tis poe try h ad no t ac t ually Le en r e a d; 'or , if r e ad , not fully understood and di g ~s teJ . I t was no t unusua l to h e ar a Black yo u th quote a few lines from a poster-poem o r fro m a live r eadin g , but wl10 , \/h e n questioned a bou t Bar nka ' s wo r k s, did not know th e n am e o f n s in g le one . Aft e r Th e Dea d Lect ur e r , Ba r a ka (also pla ywri );ht ) published Bl n ck Hag i e : ' I �Poetry ]% 1.-1 % 7 (1 %9 ), I n Ou r Terr i. hloncss (19 70) , Spjri t , i~i2acl.:i_ (l'J7'2) , as wl.! 11 as 11ume rou s es~ a ys an<l stories. \J itli ,lea l li e co --'2 <lit cJ EL .icl, f in~ (1 9Ci 3 ) 1vhich, a] on~ with Ha j o r ' s Th e }f~w fi l ac! Poe try (1 9(1'.j, s l oH-c a sed the 111 th e Fon1anl to Blu et Fir e , Baraka call eJ Bla ck ~1n i. s t ~ "the new poetr y[ . foundin p, Fc1thc_rs and >kiti1ers, of our na tion . He ri s e , as we ris e (a gin; . Gy the pow ~r of our L>eli. efs , by th e purity and streng th of our actions ." The L>l.:ick r,1an . hol y ri1an. Tile black artist . The man you s ee k . make r of peace. you se e k . speu l:er. The lov e r. Look in. The climber the striv e r. \✓ e The wa rior . Fi nJ yr self . Is you . o r minus, you vehicle ! Go on . The The are tlw y whom Find th e b eing , Ll k Til e vo i c e , th l.! b ad~ Ju s t hover in your soft eyeclosin g s . s e lves . Th e black man . [ s t h e crea tor . Is not h inr; . i/e are pre :,cnting . Plu s Your various We ar e pr e s e nting , from God , a ton e , your own . Now . He thu s sets the " t one " for poets/philo s ophers , reiteratin r, at the sm,1e· ti me mucl) of 1~hat hucl b el' n exclaimed in other wri t i n gs. !Je al , a perce p tive critic .:rnd balanc e d theoret ici.:111 , has publ.i s lwJ two volum es : Bl a ck Bo o).; .Jloo: !otes on !,la ck I. Lbl!ra t ion (J 9 G~, Journal o f llL.~c k · PoeL'ry Pres s , Forwa n l by Jon e s) d lld l1uod0 0 Holler in ' BeJ;op Gho sts (1. 9 / 5 ) . II.L s Aft e rword to n1n ck Fire is t.:rnt µrnu 1111t to flu ghes ' famous decl a ration of the tHcnties. Prc :,c11tin;_~ "'arti s ti c n nd pol itical wo r k " t k 1t 111 u s t b e "c a lled · a radi ca l perspectiv e " Bl a ck Fire should b e re a d " a s if lt were a critic a l re-ex::imination of li es tern politic::il, s o ci a l and c1rtisti c v alu es . " Chall e n g in g an<l exhorting other writers , N~a l continued: We have been, for the most part , talkin g about cont e mporar y 'l' IC \ . ;, V_J ' , �re :1 l iti e s. Ho h a ve not been talki ng abo u t a r e turn t o some g lorious Af rican past. tot a l pa s t . But \,c rec ogniz e t lit:: pas t -- th e l:lany of u s refuse t o accept a trunc a t ed llc',; r o histor y which cuts us off co mpl e t e ly from our Afric a n anc es t ory . To d o so is to accept the very racist assumptions whh:h we abhor . l<.:ither , we wa nt to c ompreh e nd hi s tory totally , and umlerstand the ma ni f old 1,1a ys in \,1hi c h c o nt emp o r a ry problems ar e a ff e ct e d by it. Spe.:ikin g a g ainst th e hind s i ght of ps yc holo gy and turbul e n ce , Neal adJ e d : There is a tension within Bl ack Ameri ca . its .r o ots in the g en e ral hi s to ry of race. And i t h...ts The mann e r in w11ich we see this histo r y dct erm i.nes how we act . should \, e s ee this history? it? How \ /k1 t s h o uld \Je feel about This is import a nt to knm, , because the sense of hO\., that hist o ry sho uld be felt is what either unites or sep: trates u:-; . Finally , h e sums u p what ca n be .c a lled th e cr ed o or mo du s op e r a n d j o f th e Ne1J Black Poe try and tl ,e Black Arts Movement: Th e a rtist a nd the political activist ar e on e . both shaper s of t h e future reali .t y. They a r e Both unde rstand and ma ni pulate th e co llectiv e myth s of the r ace . war rior s , p ri ests , lover s and des troy e rs . Both ar c For th e first v io len c e will be int c rnal--th e de struction of a weak s p iritual s e lf fo r a more perf e ct self . h~ a n ec ess a r y v iole n ce . nut it 1-1ill .It is the only thi n f'. that will d e stroy th e douh l e-consciou s ness--th e t ens i on tl1 n t i s in the souls of b l a ck f o lk . �It was t he kind of c hallenr.;e t h a t sent nw n y n new l y Dl ac k e n ed po e t o r a ctiv ist in t o th e lon ~ ni r,h t of t he so u l to pur r, c hims elf o f re a 1 or irrm g jnC',I e nemies of hi s people . Poetically speaking , howev e r, it wci. s Ba r a k.a ' s " Bla c k Ar t" that se t much of th e pace, form and v iole nt t o n e i n t he Ne w ll l ack Poetry . Poems arc bullshi t unle s s they ar e t eet h or trees or l e mon s pil e d on a step . Or black l a dies dyinr.; of me n l e avin g nickel hearts !;ea tin g th em do1m . Fuck poems and th e y .:ire useful , wd th ey sho o t com e at yuu, l ove what you ~ ru , breathe like wrestlers , or sh udd e r stran:_;cl y aft e r pi :.; sin r, . '..' e want l ive \vonl s of tl1e !tip \ ·o rld l ive f l esh & cour s in r, h l ol>d . ;1c:,.1 rts Bra i ns Sou l s splint e rin i; f ire . Ile \Jane poems like fi s ts h ea tinG ni gt; er s out o f j oc k s or da gg er p oe:.ts in th e s ] i11y b e ] lies o f ow11e r-j c 1v::-, . .CL1c k po,·111s Lo s me ar on girdlrnnanmm mu luLtn bitche s \Jho se brains are red j e lly stuck betwc e11 ' li zah eth t ny l o r ' s to e s . I/hare s ! \:e \ 1, nt 11 S ti_n k in g p,>vms tl1a t kill. 11 Ass as sin poc1;1s , Poen1s tli a t shoot 1_; uns. Poems t l1at 1-.i: e stlc c_ops into .:, ll e ys �and take t he l r t,,ieapo n s l eavin,: thc·rn d eci J with t ont.;cs p- l l cd o uL Qnd s en t to Ir l and . ::nockof f poems f or dop e sc l l i n ~ ,10 ps o r sllck l1.1 l f1 1h ite po l i ti c i .:1 11 s Al rpla ne poems rrrrrrrrr r rrrrrr r r LTrrrrrrrrr rr ... tu ht uhtuhtuhtuhtuh tuhtuh tuh . . . r rr r rrrrrrrrr rr .. . Se tti ne fir es and dea t h t o whiti es .:is ~; . Ile w<1 nt a black poem . And Let the wo r l d be a Bl acl: Poem And l e t All Ulack Peo p l e Sp eak Thi s Po~n Sil e ntl y o r LOUD " Bl a c k Art " was often cit e d a s Lh c sa n ~ uine e1nbo dl1,1en t of the T\ ] ack Aes t h etic am.I a rej e ction of ,Jhite culture and life s t y l e . Po e ms , lln r aka st a t e; s , mu s t n o t o nly have r, u ts a nd e a rt h in e ss (like ll l a c ks ) but tl i'cy mu s t al s o be weap on s and shi e ld ' at;a ins t racism, polic e , merchants , hu s tl er s , " croo k ed po ] i t i ci.a ns and s tatus- c limb i ni: Ill a ck bour g eosie . Abov e a ll , they sh o ul°d exa lt Bl a cb1ess ( " sons ," " lovers ," · " wa rr i ors ," " poets ,' ' :i nd " a ll th e l ove lin e s s h ere in t h i s wor l d ." ) Th ese the n a r e th e domin a nt th emes i n much of the tlew Poetry and the philoso ph ie s stated (with radical div e r g enci es ) fr om co a st t o c oas t . l\araka ' s pur g e ext e nd s thr o u gh po e ms like "P oem fo r lla l f ln1i te Co ll ege Stu den t s ," "Th e R:1c .i. s t," "Lit tle nrow n Ju r, " ("Wr: ARE GODS "), 11 \-l . H . 11 ( a t ta ck on wig - 1-1ea rin [_\ wome n) , " CIVIL RIG!IT S POEI I" ( " lloywill:in s is an et er n a l far,eo t"), " Ka ' l:l n ," a nd f in a ll y , _ in "l e r oy ," h is la s t w.Lll <1 nd t e st amen t: �When I die, the consciousness I ca rry I 11ill to black people. Hay they pick me np art and take the useful parts, the sweet meat of my feelin c; s . And leave the bitter bullshit rotten white p.::irts o. .1,onc. Hu t there are also sensitive love poems in the l.::iter perioJ, poems caught up in the stressed life of EL1ckness (" Sterlin3 Street September" ): "the beautiful black m.::in , and you, girl , child ni ghtlovc, . . . : We are s t range in a way beca 1se we know who we are . Bl ack beings p::issing throu,;:1 a tortured pnssage of flesh . In his Foruard to Black Boogaloo, Bar::ika s::iys of the world : poe t s will change i t." "the sold ; What Nea l' s volume changed has not yet been ascertaine but i t certainly contnins amb i tious anJ successful poetry . His deb t to the older gencrntion of poets, a rt ists and thinkers, can be seen in poems like " Queen !!other ' s Sermon ," "The Hiddle Passar,e and J\fter, " " Love Son~ . in the Hiddl,e Passage, " "Garvey ' s Ghos t," " Lady Day, " "llarlcm Gallery : Inside, " " Malcolm X--An Autobiography ." musicoBraphic interpolations . Neal (re : Frcim the Mal~in~ use of mysticism, clwnt and Dumas) is effe~tive--movinB,scnsin g , and f~eling : Olorum Olorum Olorum ... The horror o[ " The Middle Passage After " is seen i n the "Decked, stacked , pillaged" slaves . "Long Sonr3 i~ Middle Passa ge " vic1;s thl:' RcJ ::; low of sea-death r.1orninr,s . �Other r oems ("Song," "Jihad," "Kuntu," "Orishas") rovenl Neal ' s inter e sts in supernaturalism, African pl1ilosophy an<l th e nlluslve, mysticnl powe rs inherent in the "word." Ile seeks poetically to impl e ment the idens h e stated in Black Fire and a special Black issue of TnR (The Drama Review) in summe r of 1968. The jssue, e d it e d L y Trn~ •s .:ontributin ~ editor Bullins, c ompil~d ideas and plays rooted in \vhaL ,,,as then · called the "new" cons ciou snes s also featured work by Sonia Sanchez and Adam David Hill.er . of the c ll uc e rns of tite New lHack Poetr y . The special issue projecL e J mnny 1!enl' s "The Glack /.rts ifoveme nt" uns a blue-print for i: 1.:-;c k. Art s nnd politicnl chan ~e . l~cltoing state1.tents in fro1c1 l1i s comii1unity," c1nJ noted: Glack Art is tl1e aesthetic and spjrltual sister . of t!ie Black Power con c ept. As such, it envisions nn art tliat speaks directly to the lieeds and /unericn. s pirations of Bl a ck In order to per form this t;isk, tl1e Black Arts Hov e111ent proposes .:i radical reorderin'.~ of the western cultural aesthetic. lt propose s a separate symbolism , mythology, cril iqul.'!, and iconology. The 13lack Arts :m<l JHack Power con c ept both relate broadly to the AfroAmerican ' s desire for self-Jctert!iin,1tion and nationhood. T\oth concepts arc nat_onalistic. (me is concerned with the relation bet ween art and pt1 Li tics; th e other with th e art of politics . But his idea of a "separate" aesthetic 1Jas not e mbraced by all · Illack poets, artist s , or intellectuals . i'eit:her \las there a co1i1plet e H[; reemcnt (or unJerstandin'.~) a mon~ jt::; own proponents. For ex am p le, Spri r;r, s, a v e rs n tlle �.1rtist iind thinke r, led a boycott of l !ajor's Tlic :iew Cl.ack Poetry on th e grounds that j_t was being brought out l, y n 1vhite pub li :; hcr (International Publish e rs) . Dut Spriggs had not objected enrlier to use of liis work in !Hack Fi r e , a lso publishcJ by ,1liltc s (Mor row). J:is pos ition st..1tv1ncn l appeared in TI1~ Journal u( Hlack Poetry (Fall, 196 3): how in the hell ,He tl1e black publishers ever goin~ to ge t o(f into it if not by the assistance of the \-Jriters . how arc distributor s liips ever i;oing tu m.::iture wi.th th e publishers if the hi ghly marketable \10rk s of wrn kelly, j. killens, j c1 wms , 1 neal, e bullins, leroi j, or the like never conics the;ir 11ay? doe s the concept of bl ac k power and bl ack arts extend that far? i say yen, i sily yeil, yea. Spri~gs joined a l a i-ge numb 2r of cd tics and practiuncrs of the BL.1ck Arts--Tour~, 1leal, Crouch , Bullins , Cioncal ves--in the cont rov·ersy over µlack writers ' roles _and respon~ibilitics . Despite the controversy, however., Major ' s .:rntl10logy appeared as a kaleidoscopic offerinr, o[ the New lllack- PoLe t ry . Majer incJ.udeJ a perceptive and fittin ~ Introduction: 'l'llC nNJ:I{ crisis of Llack r ea lity is often studded in th ese poems by the swift, vividly c rucial facts of social realit y ; 1vliich consists in part, any1,ay, · of :1 11 the implications ariJ forces of 111ass me di a , the socia 1 pat terns, the bur ea ucratic ant.! medwnical mediums· of hu 1.1n n perceptions, even of the quickly evolving nature of the huraan psyche in this hi r,hly homo g eniz e d culture, ln all of its electric processes ant.! specia li st fragmentation. IH.::ic.:k reality, in other words, is like any other re ci l Jty profoundly effected by technolo[',y , The �eris Ls and drama of the late 1960s overwlwlms JnJ threiltens eve r y crevice o f human life on earth . Thc.se poems are bor11 ou t of this tension . I n his own poetry , Hajor ensconces Vie t nam , a l ien .:i ti on , impendi1 0 1-1orld destruction, Black l1istory , music , myt h ology, anJ pe r sonal excursions i~to d r eams . lle publis heJ The: Dictionary of Af ro-American Slang (1970) , Sw,i]Jow the Lake ( 1 97 0 ), Symp t oms and Madness (1 97 1), Private Linc ( 1971), The Cotton r.l ub ( 1972) and Th e Syncopated Cnkewa l l~ (l 9 7L1), as \Jell ns novels ~rnd e s says . lie has nlso directed t he ll a rl em Write r s ivorkshor . In the acknow- l ed~ements to Poe t ry , Tbjo r ind e bt s t he antholory to P1<1ny influences : Lowe n fels, Ishmael RecJ, Raph ae l , Art Berger , We lt o n Smi t h , l~yt Fuller , Nat llencltoff , Duclley Randa l l , P..u ssell At ki n s , Bremen, /\1 Young , nml David He n de r son. Major 's " Down Wind Aga i ns t t he Highest Peaks" i s typ ica l o f his st y l e : s h a rp and a n g l e d t wi sted l angu age , spac in gs t l1at ~cplace punctu~tion , tidbits of wor l d knowle<li~ app l ied to tl1e racial s t a t eMe n t (satlr~ or exhort a t ion) , and experilllental typoE;raphy . Reca ll ing hi s " passaee " he :,ces · " Tonto SumlJo l'illic"--notinE th.it even llexico - - " an asskissin!1 nation " --now has the "super-blunde " units 11 hillboarJs. 11 ln the 111idst of nll these cvcnts , the poets vii;oroui,ly pro111ot:ed pro;_;ram:.;' whlclt extended their concept::; anJ vli;iow, . currL!spo11di11;_; edlturs u[ ~,prif~l'.ti ~rnd J\l1111c•d All1rnuli;i \,ere: the Journ~1J; · nariJka , J;iJjor , Nuzzam Al Sudan (now El Huliaj ir) anJ t!eal ueciJ11e contrll ,utin~ editors . was later joined by Tour~ . EJitor-at-large BullLns In the s~vent:iei, ErnLe l!kalimoto was .:1cldeJ as a contributini editor witl1 Ma j or ' s name disappear ing . lfajor , lt,md:111 , Neal , Spri::ms , Bullins , Bar aka , and ,\lhiJmisi have all served .is g ues t ::;peclal eJltors . An lii1portant influence on (and outlet f.or) the ncH poetry , t he Journal \✓iJS �" in 1nw1v ed it or) . 1-n.1y s born o[ Sou l book anJ Di :.1 l op ue 11 ( Co ncalv c s , n o\/ Din gan e , Journal Th e ma gazi n e con tin ues to pr i nt the ne\✓ e s t po e tr y , 7.ercl i n~ in o n oth e r ilr ea s like th e West In d i es ( Sumlil e r, 19 7]) , p l."i ntin 1~ U v L~ l y ne\JS anJ anno un c ements , as we ll as rev i ews ilnd cri ti cism . It s Spr i ng , 19GG , isst1e , f or examr l e , \,,:is d c J i ca t L:cl t o J osep h T . Jo h nso n, Los An ge l es po e t wh o h a.d re centl y bee n k ill e d . ALJt1l l~a rim eJ it eJ Dlac l: Di o. l oi; u e with Spd r; ~s, Tour~, · a n d Go nc a l ve s se rving a s asso ci a t e eu itors . Re l oca tin ~ i.n ~1 e\1 Yo rk in t he late six ti es , l) i n l u3 u e ' s n ew edi t or i a l boa r d wa s r epr~s c n t ed b y Spr igg s, Nikk i Giovanni, Ja ci Ea r] y , El a in e Jon es , S. E . And e rson :m d J ames Hint on. Alham i s i and Ca rol y n Ro dg er s h e c ame Nidwest editors; Spell1:ia n, J11 li a Fi e ld s ;111J Akinsh i ju b e c ame e dit o r s for the So ut h; nn<l Jo a ns an d Kgos it s il e t oot ov e r as Afric a a nd a t-la r ge ed it o r s . So11lhook ' s e ditori a l board nm, inc lud e s : Hamilto n, Alh::uni s i, Car ol Homes , Baba Lamumb a , Zolili, Ng qon d i Mas i iui n i a nd Sh a ni; o Umo j a . Arno n g the a dministrativ e s taff is Don a ld Sterne (Ra hma n) Hhose work app ea r s in Bla c k Fi re a nd ull t he J o urnal s . I Al o ng \~i th Spri ;~:;s , To u re , and L,wry Hil ler (Knt il>u), Rahuan a i de d Bara lrn at Spirit !lo use . Hi s "Tr a ns c:.e nd n l Blue~ ," full of ch a nt/son g a nd line - e xp e riment a tion, fu s e s the worl d o f Bl a ck mu s ic ( a n<l musi cia ns) with the '' strif e riddl e d c onc r ete bo tt oms of sk y scrape r s eas . " Rahma n's influence s, obviou s in his name , ar e seen in h is · stat e ment tha t a "ri ff " so hi gh and g rand "Coul l] b e Allah ." Finall y wi nd i n p, th e poems into a tribut e to th e Bl uc k woman (" flii: t e r bit her bittern e ss humming "), he rej e cts Christians and whit e's and wo.r ns th a t My spea r s s h a l l r a in .... Th e I sla1~ in flu e n ce i s a l so see n in o th e r po e ts o f t he p eriod: · :ip ri ggs , Tour~, na rak a , Ima n, Ne a l, Alha rni s i, Dumas , Ha r v in ~~ . Son i a Sa n c h ez , wh o alon g with ll i kk i f:i ov a nni e me q ~e d a s on e of th e most we ll-known poets of th e �era. These \/01,1en poets nn<l others--.'\udn! Lord o, June Jordan, Mac Jackson, Kattie M. Cumbo, Jayn2 Cor ez , Alexis Deveaux, £olise Loftin, Odaro llarbara Jones in the 8eneral area of Hew York--have cr1.:a tecl n new wave of excitement about th e possib ilities and potentials of Black woman poetry . J\ddin Lj t o thi s flurry of active and int~rest are tl1e new Blnck wom en ' s ma~azines like [ncorc and Essence . The mo s t f rn :10.us of th ese poets is Nikki Giovanni, who is a profound thinke r and provoca tive speaker, but th ese skills and insi 3hts do not come thr ou~l1 to her poetry. Her route to New York was by way of Te nn es s ee and Fisk University where she was a member of Killens ' Writers Workshop . Fame came in the late sixties aft e r she penned a series of vol ,1 t ·ile p r ose- lib~ statement s which were startling : a nd e ven more so, cornin g from a woman. In the sixties she privately published her poetry and wi1s later brou i',ht out b y Broadside Press anct lnr :::,e> r puhlishers . lier volumes includ e Black Feel in ,'. , Black Tnlk, Blacl: Jud 0 e ment (1970), Re-Creation appeared (1 970), My House (1972 and a b ook of poems for childr en , Spin a Sof t Black Sonp (1971). lier antho]of~Y of !Hack women poe t s , fli Pht Comes Softlv , w.1s publisltL·J in · 1970 _and s he has r econlcd albums, written an autobrography , and pub°J.i ::;hed a series of 11 conversations 1 · with tfar 3a ret \Jalker. th e new poets, she h as b een accordeJ acco l ades : Hi~hly controversial aii~ong recipient of Wo11an of the Year J\1-Jard ; featured in ma,;az ines li k.'.! J:l)C)ny, anJ Essence; appear12d on th e . Johnn y Carson Sliow; constantly sou r,ht-nfte r as a speaker o n th e college Y circuit; awarde d an honor;.iry doctorate dczree by 1-/"Llh erforcc University and lab e l e d the "Prince ss of Black Poetr y " by p{e' Itl.> LeHls, l' ncure editor DenounceJ as an "individua list" by MaJ hubuti (Lee) and pr,li.sed by tfa r garc t \Jalker ;ind Addison Gayle, , 1ikki . Giovanni deni ed (Car son show hosted by Flip \Jilson) \Jc.,ing a "ltevo lutionary . 11 lier sinr,in~ of "God llless J\merica" on �naLional television, after receiving tho 11 \lorn:rn o[ the Yc.1r A1-1arJ, 11 prompted letters to lllack publications questionin c her sincerity . Durine the sixties she wrote "Of Liheratlon": Dykes of th e 1mrld are united Fuggots not ~h~ir thine together (Everyone is oigan ized) Black peopl12 these are facts lfuere's your power .... Honkies rule the world ... The most vital commodity in America Is 13lnck people Ask any circurncized ltonkie ... The fin.:il stanza of this poem warns: Our choice noH ls war or death Our option is survival Listen to your own Black hearts "Conc c rnin~ one Res pons-Lb] e Negr~ \•lith too much Power" echoes other · .thclfles in th e Hev, ~Jack Poetry. The 11 r12sponsiblc negros" arc "scareJ" and on tlil! ruu. Site tells them that your ton g ue must be rrnno~ed since you have no brain to keep it in check In "RefJections on April 4, 1968," she calls Dr. Jan~'s assassin;ition "an ncl of war." In "The Great Pax l-n1ite" she paraphrases a section fro:11 Genesis in the IlibJ.e , noting that the word_ ~,ns "Dea th"; "d ea th to all niggers." Occc.1sionally a line of inte1·est jutted throu~h th e otherwise pole1:1ical concerns. The punts �of 11 1.l~autiful 131.ick Men" "hur,~ H \at i like to huz ." There is tl1e charc1cteristic repelition anJ e1.1otion-freiglite.J languar,e as in "The True lmport of the Present Dia lo Gue, !;lack vs Negro ": c~in you Lill Can you kiJ l Can a nir, gc r ki ll Can a nig,_:er kill a honkie C,:lll n niG~er kill the flan . .. Can you stah-a-jew ... Can you run a protestant down wi t h your ' 68 El dorado ... Ca n yo u piss o n a blo nd head .... The poem continues , reciting names of t he " enemy " anJ catalo e ing crimes .-ind · wro n g-doincs visi t ed on Blacks , finally askinB : Learn t o kill ni eg ers Learn to be Black men Mu c h of what Nikk j_ Giov anni was sayinr, in the sixties moved BJ;ick youtll--_il was not always safe or chic to disa g r0e even if you wan t ed t o - -and so1ne of it· was ~Jmirc1ble. But these things do rio t 11ake her wo r k defensible ns poe t ry . " 11y Poem" ,::rnd " Poem for Ar tha" are .certa inly worthy , even noble, subjects but they fall lei c; urely down t h e page , -anglinB here anJ t here but revealin3 notlt :in :~ of the in s i r, ht into hunnn beini:;s or poetic power thnt one finds in a poem by llelene Johnson , tbrr,aret Halker , C\/1:~nc.lolyn nrooks, or Ja yne Cortez . 11 Nikki-Rosc1," her most often quotecl poem from_ the early period , is a hi gh point in her work. It ll.:1s a believable flow in the conversation-like lan ?, u age> (chnract'2ristic of �hc'r poclry) nnd th ~ details pull on the inner reachL'S of th.:: collective Black experience as she unfolds the story of [nmily fun nnd misfortune: your bio ;; raphers never understand your father ' s p.Jin ns he sells his stock anJ nnothcr dream goes And though you ' re poor it isn ' t poverty that concerns you Hy House is n n e Her Nil:ld l,iovanni. The venom h.Js lessene<l, thoup;h some of the ranipa ~e is evident in a poem like " On Seeing Black Journal and Hatchinr, Nine Negro Leaders r.ive Aid and Comfort to the Enemy to n uot e l{ich a rd Nixon." Again theie appears to be no viflorous interest in stylistic or lin B11i st ic develop men t. The poems deal with love, the city, childhood (nhmy s her rites of woman-passa r,c ), Africa and Afro-American culture . can be glimpsed in 11 Iler promise· ontl potcnt.ial .\fr i.ca I" : on the bite of a kola nut i was so high the clouds blanketin~ africa in the mid uorning fJ i3l1t were pushed away in an angry flick e r. of the sun's tongue . . .. N Lkk i Giovanni's irnportance lies 1.10rv i :1 her personal influence (especially her ~reat Jrama on albums u.nJ in pul ili.c) wh.Lch has inspi.rcd many young Black wo1 ncn to 1-trite auout the1:1selves ancl their world . But some of tliem, like Hae Jackson who won Blacl : llorL, ' s Conrad Kent Rivers Award, h~1v e yet to show the "r;tuff" of r,oetry in their Hritings. 1969 by ll la ck Dialo i; u12 Publishers. Can I poet uith You 0,1s publi.sl1~d in r: iJ,_ki Giov;:rnni \/rot0 tl1e I n trotluction and �H:h' .Ltcl . .:; ,m, in turn, cleclicated tl e book to her. Po<2t ls full of th<.! "com plaints " that quickly became monotonous in the poetry of the sixties. ln themes ancl usages, tl1e poems resemble tlikki C:iovnnni I s \.'urk . Reactionary," "To the ile~ro Intellectunl , 11 and " Note from .i " To u F iL,lcl lHgi.;er," are familiar to the confus.ed and disturbeu ann:11s of the new poetry . Sonic1 Sanchez , clo ::, (;ly iJentified uith the ne\1 poetry and the new consciousness, alternat~s between terse, explici t verse, and the sprawling , prosaic meanderings tl1at often serves the auuitory der.1.:incls of the ne\, auJienc:es . Formerly 1narriccl to the poet EtheriJ!;C. Knight, she lws actively worked as a playwright, po2t and teacher. People (J.970), It's a Neu Day: Iler books are Homc.cominr (1969), hll! a eridddcld · Poems for Youn~ Drotlias and Sistus (1971), Love Poems (1973) an<l an anthology from her youni \frit ers \Jorkshop :it the Countee Cullen Library in New York, Three llundred and Sixty De,recs of Iaackness Comin r, at You (1972). "Malcolm" is a la111ent and a nlght-fillc,d memory for her: Yet this man • thi s dreamer, tliick-lippec.l with words will never speak again and in each winter when the colc.l air cracks uith frost, I'll breD.the his breath D.n<l mourn my g un-fill ed nights. Her "for unborn nwlcolms ," however is another approach. Constrictin)j \1ords, v' structure, anJ sttemptin g to achieve a Black street speech, she tells Blacks �to 11 ;•.iL the 1mrk out " to the "man/boy " mur der e r who is tnl:in1>; a 11 l10lida y . " Jaacks are " hip to his sh it " ancl \·1hen " blk/princes ' die ap;ain white '' fa ggots " "will <lie t oo. " An experimentalist, Sonia Sanchez added her voice to the flood of angry , cynical ancl clcrisi.ve lnnt ua ge in the new verst ("denition for blk/childr cn"); a polic emnn is a pig ancl shd be in a zoo with the other piggy an .rna l s . and until he s t ops ki l ling bl k / people crackin8 open their heads reme1:1ber . the policeman is a pig . (oink / oink .) She a lso joined the poetry of Black love .:ind man- woman unity , seeking throu gh her particular style and voice to heal 1munJs of doubt , mi s t rus t and lonel iness . . In " to all sisters " she says " hurt" is not the " bar," women " shd be in ." are advised to love the Bl ack man who makes them " turn in/side out ." They Her journey has carried lier from th e fire of the blatant revolutionary to the quieten ed turbulence of Love Poems--being , maybe, amon g the first of th e new poets to fullfill Randall ' s prediction that Black poetry would "move from the �dc:!c l ,tma t o r y to the subj e ctive mod e ." Jun e J o re.Ian published \n10 Look at Me (196 9), Some Chan '.; es (1971), an antl1olo gy, Soulscript (1970), and a volume of po e try by stuc.l ~nt s in h e r Brooklyn creative writin g work s h o p, The Voic es of th e Chil<lrnn (1970). li e r last v o lume of poe Lry is This is R New DRy (1974). Co ncise, anal y tical, nnd h oo l:- folk based, h e r poetry is also a free verse style characteristic of pr a ctically all the recent ·B lack peotr y . "Un c le Uull-b oy " r e l a t es t h<2 J ca th of a man Hhose ey e s "1•1 cre pink with alcohol." Th e liroth e r (un c l e ) r ,~1 1l 11 j s e es , in the 1nan n c, r o f Bl ack me n, a bout th0j r si1a ri11 ~ o f s tr ee t-talk, e xp e nsiv e sho es , a nd alc: oh o l. i\n,I f .i_n;,1lly: ll i s brothe r d ea J fro m drin Li n,~ Bullu oy dr an k to cle a r hi s thinkins s av1 the roach inside the riddle. Soon the bubbles from his glass were the only bits of charm which overcame his fold ed an1s. Audre Lo re.l e ' s "Rit e s of Pa ssa g e"· (for J!LK Jr) eulo g iz e s Dr. tang : Now rock th e boat to fare-the-w e ll. and r eme mbers hirn this 11C1.y Quick c h ilc.lre n kiss u s we u r c ~~ rowin/j throui_', h <lre an. L! ucli o f Au d r e Lorc.l e 's r e cent work conc e rn s y oun g peo ple; eve n th e titl e o f ,, h e r late s t book, From a La11 \Jhere other People Live (1973), carrie s the a1-1e and dr eam of the child's wor] d. She \ffites now al.Jou t t eac h e r s , rncn-1vo111e n relutio n ~, , s e a sons , dr eums , " As I Groll up Again," and " Bl..ict !!oth e r \fomun " �u h o t l1i 11 1-. s of li er 01m 1,10 th e r I s s·t reni_; th 1-.rhen 11 !3 t:rnn2, ers coue t o coup li111cn t" he r : I l e arne<l from you -to den y 1:1y., cl f t hrou;il! yo ur d cni.::il s . Am on~ th e yo unzer :1e11 1.rrn:1e n poe t s , Ju<ly Simm on s , Al exis Devt.:a ux a nd Yt) t'I'. El o u is , Lof tin s in[; o ut . Jud ith ' s Blu es ( l.\ ro.::i<lside) 1,as pu b lish ed in 197J . The po e ms s ubme q ;e thems elves in the tr o ub l e <l huma n ps ych e (" Sch izo ph r e n i a) , :.i nd ex plore th e " Youth Cult," "llom en , " a nd " Daf fodils " --altho u ,•, li th e title s <lo not reveul th e poe t ' s pithy s c ~1rch ini.;s . ltef l ec tin r; J lllly S L1111'1ons ' St)S t:1 i nc<l study of psyc h oloi;y , th e po e try yi e l<l s its me.::min ~ as the multipl e l .::iyers of t e n s ion s a nd in s i [;h t s a r e ,n c overcd . In "Schi2op hre 11.i.a " th e " anil!1al sq uats " nex t t o th e " piano" in a "c o rn e r" wit h a n ab no r ma l number of l eGs , .::inns , · a nd a mouth th a t s tr e tche s fr om "forehea <l to :1b d omen ." nut th e poe t ass ur es h e rs e lf tl1 a t if sh e do e s not lose control it 1mn ' t come back insid e of me Elouise Lo f tin ' s po e try (Ju1,1 bish, 1 9 72 , Eme rson ll a ll) has y outl1ful , · z esty irn.:i i:;e ry, indicativ e p e rha ps of tl1 e s e n e w· t e chnician s ' e .:i :, e . " Ra i n Sp r e a d 11 inf orms t ha t L.:i s t ni Eht threw her l e e s o pe n to me .. • . Sh e has th e new woma n s e n s ibility , a Go od know l edge of soc i a l la nJsca p e , a nd the c y nici sm often found a mong tod a y ' s youn g , Eifted a nd !H ac k . c a ug ht" di sp la ys h e r l1u mor and \.Jit: i f th ey c a t c h you "eettin �\Jit h your pan ts down Offin G your ~ua rJ or pee ing f o r f ree if the y catch you Jo i ng suuc Lhing crazy with qu otes a r ound it and try t o 1m1!-e you feel lite you been catched you must be doing so~e thin g ok . / Spirits in tl1e Str e ets (1973) is Alexis Deve aux ' s s trane e but f as cina tin g pro se-p oe tr y account o f Growing up in Harlem . ~- .t/ : A Hest InJian mo ther, d J.spa1.rs c.., over a hu s band ' s misuse o f his wife and children , complains : lord why he beat tha t woman so? ..md them children god only know wha t ' s gonna h;ippen to them. eatin po ison. jesus have mercy . children. has lye . eat you up insid e you can ' t be too careful \•J ith you got to w~ t ch them ev e ry s cconJ . The Horl<l is so evil honey you know what i 1Hean? merciful j e su s s hame th em with th e l as t word. Thes e exampl e s r e pre s e nt onl y a fr ,1c tion o f the new po e try be ing \ffitt en by youn ~e r (a nd older) New Yor~ ar e a poets . Sooc o thers arc Catl1c rin c Cuesta s , Phillip So l o1,10n, Gay l e Jone s , St ep he n Kwa rtlcr , Va nessa llown rd, Rh ond:.i Hill s , �£1nd Clen Tho1:1pso1,, to n: 1.1c just a hnncl[ul. the carli.er period also ruhlishe<l n12w ite1:1s . Forest (1967) \v;is i.ntroducc ,l by Jon's. br.ars no do.te. Po e ts who ;~ot their starts in llenJe r son ' s Fe] Lx of the Silent The mcn eogrnph,~J TliL: PL1 e lry of Soul Il e also publis h e<l De trayor of 1-Lirlcm in 1970, tli L' s ,, me year h e re - locatctl . to Berkeley . Essentio.lly a Har l em poet, llcnclerson survey~ everythin ~ from the "ll,frl et;1 r~ehellion, Summer 1964 " to " Har l em Anthropology." The tr::insitions and outreaciiin~s of these poets are also evident in a poet I like Toure who in 1968 wen t to teach lllack Stullies nt S::in l'ranc.isco SL1te Colle;:;e . liis \vorks are J~(l97 0, Third \forlJ Press) and Sonr,hai ! (1972 ), the latter publ.isheJ by Sone;h;ii Press and introduced by Kille.ns . 'l'ot1r; ' s · "Soul-;:;if ts" ;ire amply spic eel 11itli philosophy, ~lo.ck history , iHack mu s ic:, IsL:un.ic .influ e 11Cl:!S , nnd " Juju" which s oys Coltri1nc ' s lw l" n j s "c:1 ~;c,1,l in~'. fount.:1.ins u[ blooJ nncl Lones ." Son;;hai ran~es fro n1 satire~, of Di:rna noss unJ Dionn e 1/arwLck to insincere activ Lsts; tl1C:! magicnl power t)f 1vords to . 0 the structure fideal Rlack society. Tour~ ' s list of influence s (s cc· Forward) expl.:iins much about some c,.: the Dl.:ick poetry eman.:iting from t he Ne1·1 York are.:i; t!e.:il, Dum.::is, Dar aka , Goncalves , Coltrane , Pharoah Snnders , C·ecil HcBce--all called " Poets o[ a lfation-in-Format.ion. " Relutec.l develop1:ll.!nts of th e New York movement c,rn Ii<.: seen ill such projecls as the Gh e tto ' GS ( Sol BotLJ ~ ) ~rntholor,y or Lhe lforksl10i' for Youn;; \fritc.rs in !Iarlem; \lakr.:1, o. neu llo s to 11-l,ased journal devoted to the examination " of events , the arts~ iJeas"; I\etch Ain ' t (1974) , Celes Tlsdale ' s antliolu;:y (llroac.l s iJe) of "Poems from Attic a " ; a new nntho]o~y of youn ~: poets, \l e Be Pocti.11 1 (1974), Tisd:ile; anJ llriters \!orkslwp .\nthu l o ~•.v . t:o unifying threaJ runs through the work of. New York area poets, except that of a relentless acceptance anJ pursuit of thei r Blackness . One n o t es , however , -;: �t hat 1,1y:-;L i.clsm , e: ..:11n l 11.:1t i on of t he occult , cos1aic-1.,uslc.:1 l fon1s ~mJ sub j ec t s , . .rn J the l n fl u e n ce of I s l am a r e 1,1or e ev lcl en t th ere t h.:in in t he poe try o f o th e r re g ions . Du t th es e arc , o f cours e , gen e r a l i t ies .1hi ch a \1a i t 1:1ore h-Ln d s i ~~ ht 1 anJ r e s ea r ch b efo r e the y can fe fii.1 .:1 li zeJ a nd pr ese nt e d as s i gn i f ic . mt p h e - nomena in the l µr:;cr l,'.[ll'S tr y of th e poe try . Fin.::ill y , f or th e ilcw York .'.1r('~l, the fir e o f th e or a l t radl ti o11 wa s i e nit e d b y th e dr.:1matic inca ntor y (Jrum:1ccomp:111i ed) J e clamat:lo ns of "the La s t Poets" and "the Orig inal La st Poets." i\l o n g with Gil Scott-Ileron, th e lr i r:ip ::ict on the Gl a d '- mn s ses have b ee n obvious, if temporary. Th e re were boome r a n g i.n g eve n t s wh i c h provid ed ::e1, YorL 111 tli ,1 cont i 1\u;, ] flow o f li fe blood whil e it r ep a i d o th e r ar e a s throuz h e xch a n ge pro gr .::ims ;:imon g poets and teach e rs. Ne a l, for e xample, is a Phil aJe l r hl a n 1v h o a tt e n ded Lin c oln, but has end ed uµ in Harl em , with occasional short s t ays a l Ya l e , lI01-1 ard, So uthern Univ e r s it y , and l~e nt St a te Univer s it y . Simil ar pn ttern s can be s eQ n in dozens of other poets wh o cri s s-cross th e c o untr y anJ tl1 '. u o rld, some time s y e a rly , t e aching and writin ~ . Duri ng th e N2w York r e surgence a nu mber of things wer e go in g Hell for Black Poetry in Penns y lvsni.:1: Lin_c oln (? ... Univ e r s i ty --which produc ed To lson, Hu gh e s, e t a l-...:delive red :m othe r d iver se of p o e ts d urin g this pe riod: Carl Gre e n e , Mary-Louis e llo"rt o n, Ev e r ~tt Hoa g land, S.E. An de rs on, Ke lly Benjamin, Gil Sc ci t-ll c ron, ll e rnadine Tinner, l'"!. it a Wh i teh ead, and othe rs. Hoa g land is a Broadsid e-poe t (Black Velv e t, 1970) a nd Sc o tt-H ero n (Fr ee Will, Pi ece s of a l ~ n, etc.) ts a recording po e t-sin ge r. Co nv e r g ing a t point s like the Muntu Bl .::i ck a rti s t r, roup-- f ounded b y Nea l, C.11. f ull e r, th eo r e tician Jimmy Steua rt, and Mar yb e ll e lfo or e --Phih1d e l phia poe t s fo und variou s kinds of ass i s tance. Ot he r Phila d e l phia poe t s are Gre e n e (19 45- Smlth fr om the old e r sch oo l, F. J. Br ya nt . (194 3- ), Lu c y ), Cla r e n ce Ma l o n ey (1940- )' �Pat rord, Joseph Bevans Bush, J.:m12t M. llrooks, Doughtry Lon g (19 42Caro] Jenif e r, Don Ni3zcll. Black Poets \/rite On: Hor ks by some of .these you thful poets nre in An Antholo ~y of Bl~ck Philado l n hi a Poe ts (1970), published by the lllack History Huseum Conunittce . duction s ta tcs: ), Harold Franklin's Intro- " A BL\CI~. POET IS A KIND OF HARIOR" --thus link in ~ Phila~cl1 1 hia s e ntim c-n ts to those in !:cw York and Boston . The Rlack Butterfly, Inc . , Has one o f the sev e r al cross-road s f o r vario u s cultural/political activities in "\ P!1iladelpliia . Its founder was lio.loncy (noH Clwb:i T:1) wl10se Di.1.1e11sio11 '., of Horninu Hi.lS pul>lisliecl in 1 964 ill Puplona, Sp.:iin. " CooJ Fri d:.iy : celebrntes a " sultry brO\vn iji rl ' h'lio " seems a supe ri o r aniu:11 ." "s e pia siren " also holds the "s emell" of a "viviJ passion ." poets exp lor e city life, Africn, and exalt Blackness. 2 i'L!l ." 'l'hi.s Ph.iL1Jcl ;, h.i ~: 'there .is, ton, tl1e ro. ge and vehemence often f ound in New· York anJ Chic a :~o poetry. A sense of \~ha t hapj1ens on "Cool Blac.k Ni z hts" (Traylor) a lso c ap tures drivin g strGet · rhythms anc.l thyme s : th em hord-loving ha rel-talking harc.l-lovin"., Cool black eludes and th em fine-looking finC- WiJllc in i.; fine-talking fine-loving them fin e soul sisters .. . . '7 In P.itt s l>urgh th e rel\ born the s ho rt-lived Black Lines : StuJies (1970). /\ Journal o[ TI La ck It puLllsheJ Pittsburgh 3rea poets like EJ Eolie r son , Au gu s t �\i.Ll~;o,1, .Joanne Drax ton, as well as poets from Lhe !-!id1.;est like .\1 Crover An1stron,; and H.e<lmond . The university of Pitt:~burgh Press openeJ up to Black poets that saae year , publishin:_; Hichael llarpcr (Dl:';_ir John, Dl'.!nr Coltrane , 1970; Song : C:rn I ?,et n h'itne:ss , 1973), ftoberson (I/hen Thy J:ing is a Boy, 1970), ,md C:cralcl Barr ax (Another kinJ of Rain , 1970). ltoberspn ' s poetry runs the gamut of ·u;emes ,:1nd styles--from neat dr:1111:1 to slan t ed spncings and slashes. In "mayday " there is an "und erside of hcnven" anJ the warnini?; from one misunderstood that he is "armeJ" to fingt the fin::il kinJling of your <lrearning. " Othello Jones Dresses for Dinner " ls a satirical look corning to . Dinner " theme. :1 t the "Cue,,s \!hu ' s After <l::itin~-; a white wom::in , the narrator assures her par en ts that he is ' \.;ell 1:1annerc<l. " Roberson a<lds his voice group of Pittsburg poets which includes Kirk Hall (194!f- Lo a 8 rowin g ) . Poetic talent was being sired southward in Washing t on, D.C . 11here Sterling Brown continued to teach into tlie late sixties. II01:ard, by 110\, l ea<ling all lilack universities in tl1e new conscio usn ess , was the scene of a number of significant disturba~ces . toward th e new trends. The <listurbances nudged the scl1ool While Howard's poetic history can be traced throu:3h the early days of S tcrling Bro1.;rn (and into tlie 1-loward Poets) , the· school l1as ~ro<luccd a number of youn~er wril~rs: Clay Goss, Richnrd Wesley , E . Ethelbert Miller (Andromeda, 1974), .'.ln·d . Paula Giddings. The school ' s new image atmosphere was deepened anJ broa<lened by the appointments o f the Guianese poet D.:J.111~s an<l Stephen llen<lerson ( En~lish Chairman at rlorchouse ) who heads the Institute for the Arts an,l Humanities. However, Howard <lrama was played out against a series. of <levelopnents in tl1e surrounding communities~ Federal City College (Scott-l!eron), Center for Black E<luc::ition (Garrett), �llcw Thini; in Art :rnd /\rchitectur e (Top p.)e r Care-!\·/ , Caston N12al) , The Nc\7 School of Afro-,\.merican Tlwught (G :isto n Heal ), · a nJ Dru111 & Spea r Books core (and Pre ss ), the D.C. Black Repertory (Hooks ). In addi tion t o Da:nas anJ llend12rson, the Institut e k,s aJJL!J ~Ltdhub uti (L ee) , Kill 0n:-, , Goss, trm-in , Arthur P. D.::ivis and J\ hr,1os ZuDolton . the pro 1•,ra1a ' s servic e t ,, poe ts has he e n inv.:1luable. Alre.1dy Selec tcd for honoring so far , have b een Baral~J , Gwendoly n Brooks, Joans, .:1nJ Dodson . poets were nlso featured in the First .\nnunl Synposiurn: A nu~bcr of Lucille Cli[t o n, Coss, Scot t-llcron, Adesnnya Alnkoye, Hiller , and Mari Ew1ns . I Toure, Johnston a nd Kgo si t si le were gu ests for a pror,rar.1 ex:i!:i inin :'. th e :\friciln Cultur ul Presence in the Americas. Several poets have been invited to read and be recorded for tl1e permanent audio/video library: Jayn e Cortez, Crouch, Davis, Sarah Webster Fabio, Harper, Jeffers, Joans, Redmond , Sonia Sanchez, Scott-Heron, Bruce St . Jolm , Margaret \·l.'.llker, and Jay Hr i ght. In 196 8 G.:iston Neal said iis "philosophy" \vas "to purg e myse l f- of · the whiteness within 1:1e am! link cor:1p letely \.'ith my Black brothers in the struz 0 le to destroy t:12 enemy and rebuild a DLtck :,:.;1 tion. 11 Ile ap p2ar ctl t u at that task for a while before the Afro-American school close ~l . te wor k in i;. li1 "Tuc.i_ay " he so.id the tone of his life resc1:tbled a " g rowled minr,le<l" the g roan of the po.st .. :. and he lamented the j un ;;les \•J!lich ha.I ii ..2 en -- def l0\1ereJ by napal:n ... ) Lul Carter , another D. C. poet , nppears in llndcrst,mdin~. the Ne\1 BL1ck Poetry. lie evokes tlie spirits of the "Hero es" of Orangebur~ , J,1ckso11, Her.1plt is, i~ew York, anJ na shville, recalling _tlut d uring il riot i n ~:.1shviJlc he \Jas l~idln~ some\J here in uy r,1i nJ \vich LlJridie Cle aver ... q;0 \ �"lto o u ; " i s an un s uccessful atte1.1 pt to fuse the:: J r:.1Lt,1 o f co ll o( u L.1 1 el.1cl, Lm 0 u'1 ~'-' \1itl1 :.1 fon.1al tn ::, li.sh narr a tiVl~ a Lo ut h i s r: rand1aoth c r. poets liv in 6 or publi s hi1 2, Other in the D. C . .1 rea <lu r in g the sixc · 2 s a !lll st~vcntiL,s ), c11h.l Be atrice we re llerna<lettc Golden (1949r ) , \!ho ov.e r the yeot· s has contributed [; n .!a tly to the z rm , th Hurphy (190 8of Uln c k po etry . Sh e cd it c::J t!1ree i m1rn rt.:rnt anthologies: :Cbony 1'.liythm (194 7) onJ To<lny ' s Nei> ro Voices (1970). n c1: ro Voices (19J o ), · llcr mm v o lu1aes of poetry ure Love is a Terrible Thini> (19lf5) an<l, with i1ance Arnez, The Rocks Crv Out (19 6 9, nrond ~ i.<l e ) . Iler mm poet r y h ns n,ov e J fron1 ::i traditional meter to n tr odi.tional free verse dealin13, in th e new pk1s c , with tensioris caused by overemph.:isi2in?, "white" and "131:.ick , " anJ \-: ar . She is currently director o( the Negro Bibliographic ,:rn<l lles'-'arch Center .:i nJ serv c s :.is m:.10:.1,; in ;_; editor of its publication Bibliographic Survey: The l~egro in Print . Poetry by other D. C. area poets can be found in Transition, a journnl .of llmJarJ .'s ·Afro-American Studies Dep::irtment. Editors are Hiller , Iris Ilolid, y, °rlln Ilnnlin r; nnJ Veronica Lowe . Adjacent to D.C., in Baltimore more strength is added to tltc t-otem . ' Lucille Clifton (1936), Sau Cornish nn<l Yvette John son (1943) h::ive produced poetry tltat holds them in good stead . Good Times (1969) , Good News About th e E.-:irth (1972) and An Ordinn rv l!omc1n (1974) are volumes produced by Lucille Clifton who also writes many children Is bool~s . : .. She currently teaches at Coppin State College in llaltimore where she lives with her husband and six children . temperament . Ev~n her title~ su g~ est somethinc nhout lier spirit a nd In the swamp of depression and bleakness, it is in<lce<l warming to sec someone proclaim Good News! which \-, ill not "rus t or break. " "Eldridge" i s compared to a meat "cleaver" And th_e re is humor, irony anJ truth in l r1\ \. , �"La t c'. l ev ": Hh erc th e " nlHay s dru nk " ct c 1 i v ery man s.:i ys : 'I' m 25 y 0~ rs o l d and a l 1 tl1t · whit e boys ar c yo un ge r than me. But whlJ c c,; ome sinl_; ;;oot! times in t h e ki.:: c h e n, t h e r e a r e a l s o o th e r ack no11l cd gemen u: "Ma lc o lm," "Eldri df;e ," "Bob )Y Seal ~; ," an d th e stu tlent-p a rtici pants at J a c!: s on .i ncl 1:e nt States . Good r:ews tempo r a r y sc' Lt jnr, t o Biblicnl stori es . f )Out th e Car t h g iv e s a Bl a ck or c on' !os t a r c un iq u e , li ke "Mary ": this kiss sof t as c ott on ov e r my b 1 ,' n:, t s al l s hiny hri .' ·1 t some thin [', i_s i n thi s n j ght o h Lord h a v e me rcy on me i fee l a , 1r ct c . in my mou th · b e t\leen ff\l l e gs i s e e a t r ee /1.n Or d j nn r y \lomc1 n i s c ns cio u s l y 1m rna n a ntl th e poems, like thos e in other vo ] umeE" , dea l 1, i th cv r ·yday thin ~s--"ord inary '' thin p, s. Howeve r, she has become mo r e of the myf i c, usin g surrea] and n llusory ima ~e r y as in " Ka li," "The C min g o f Kali," " !!e r LOV!= Poem," a nd " Sa lt." "God's Hood" is: \ V �i t breaks. is tir l'J 0 01 1<l:.1111 1 s 11h i 11i. n Cori i s lt i. ;; ; ,mys . poL' l, t e.cc hcr an <l e <l itor . I/inters (1% 3 ) , Your ll.111c1 llis b ,JO k ::; LncluJ e .\n !~les n 9u 7), i n Nin t~ (1 9 70) , r: e ncrations (1971), o.nd l'eople Bene :1Lh tl1c h'indO\v (n.d.). from the BLtc: ' eve ' s f ancy c1m: \Ht!. l·l . Luci ~rn, he e<litcd Chicory: Youn!' Voices Gh e tto (1969) wh j -.: h <lcvelo pe <l into a series still b2in3 pub- lished by tl1l l'. noch PraLt Free I ibrary (Co11u11unity Action Pro g r;1111) . ediL o r o r Chi .i.s ML' lvin 1:J w, r <l Brown. ,~ ni.tion and is d Cornish h .J s Et u c h i, t y li s ti c ammu- preci se navicat , r of lan:::, llcl.c\ C. HIT!l CRIPPL Ei.J FINGERS \!i\ITINC. F( your (in g l.!rs folded in your lap control the sc· rpenl in your e yes " your L.1c e never st a rin ;; wi.th a s 11 il c; in yo ur rnffleJ color your ey e: populat e th e 1,rick 1~ Current Ile t e ll s " l llLJ JJL E CL,\~~s r. r m . s Nf, TO LICHT 'fllEIR CIC:,\ il ETTS ": �Tltt.:!SC l'. t1ti.mor 2 .oe ts, anJ ot hc:rs , conti outp ut that e i:1Lraces t he South wher e. 1:1.::iny pol l UL'. Ls th e vast line of poetr y nm1 live : Spell:a.:111 , .Tef f ers , ) , P i nld c Lrnc , tlw 1'. Ll ~i\ l~TSOUTII poets (Nl.!h' Or lea 1s), the f -Ullllira po-2 ts (North Car () 1ina Central Univer s it y ), Betty ) , Ladclc X (LesH c Powell), Le o J. lb so n (.Hl cnit :, ), Lor <! nzo Tho mas . The South ha s received ant! g Lven new Lloocl to poetr y thr ou~;h cx c h:111 1: •' p ro ~ ra1 .. s uhich, sinc e tLe 1 d te fifties , h:1v,~ allowed for a fl ,)'vl of po e t '., an cl tec1chcrs to ancl from the So uth. Pl) d .. Some well knO\.Jn o 1J c r names arc ! Johns ,Jn (J.:une s) , Br::iithwnit c , Tolson, ll.:lyclen, Jeff e rs and Ve s ev . ' )m e youn ' Redmond (S o uthern), and K'.;ositsile ( Nortl c r poets Sou t h are ,\udr c Lo nl e. (To o ? a]oo), · i ght ( 'I )u 0 aloo and T:iJ l a der,a) , Spellman (Mor e hous e ), C::1rolin, A & T). The South, too, has exp e ri e n c(•,1 tremendous a nd Jrarn:it i c chem:,• •s a s n result of the Black Consciousness Movemen t. Some! symbols , re ever: •her e : in New Orleans, SUDA' Soutn 1 \. The Free Southern and the Da.,hi.ld theat e rs 2s t poetry-music theater g roup in Housto n·, -th e Theater of Afro-Art s i n Miam i , ant! Atlnnta I s I: lac.:k Image. org;.ini.zed the Cenu· fu r llla t ln Atl:mte , Spellman Art \/!ii.ch publ i s hcs n11vth:n (1970) . S tone bcca11ie edjLor , Ll,o n (Slt:l.!11t ,n<le l~har] i s \!l rn berli) poclry c clitor .:rnd Sp c Jlman · cd:i t or o( L! Ssay s, 1d features . to Donald Ji re clor oJ The :;urn1:1L!r (1971) issue of lU1ythrn \/i.l'.i al :10 a 111emorL.1 l· . Gralt;.1111 (1 '. J/14-1 9 I) , pu et -' Lltl·o re::L Lei.an \-1]10 succecd e J · 1, j 1 I.ens. i.ls th e \Jrl t ,•n; \fo r L ·1 up at l.'i:;L . C'r ;.ih:11'.1 , 1vho \·!.'.lS also a rnu:;ician , h:1 d publi. sl1 d t hr ee b uok s : r:I 1ytl1rn :} a i d lt e '\,,as runni.ni~ me of th e b:.1d<lest Hockshop:, in the South " ::incl 11 Lci.1clii11 ;: i.l t the n <•v olution:, y Peo p l e ' s colle~e in l-!ashville ." l·lissis ~;i.ppi , host cLl in 1 973 the bi - ·cntcnnial c c ] c liratio n of the publication - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - -- - - - �of Phy ll is \.'h ea tle y ' s Poc111s . lier r, ·. from the s t an c e sh e t ook i.1 fo r 11y ' a nd Octob c1 .Jo llr ney (197 3) Sh e turn cJ to the n ove l i:.! Ce 1 poe tr y , ho\lev c r , h as c h::i n t',ecl so1:1d1ha t o plc . Yet Pronl iets For a ~~ew lby ( 19 70 ) cli ff 1-.: u lt t o ju cl ge aga in s t h e r other \JO rL i11 the fift Lvs a n,l c-, i :: Li es b ut sev e r.:.11 pocw; i n Octobe r we r e publi s )1 '-' J in j our an l s lie t\veen 1 9 30 am! 19 60 . l'r on he t:, i s a c hr o ni c l e of th e C i. v i. l l~ i g ht s ~lov ement up to i ts allL1 1c c with Black Pm .. e r. ,1bo ut 11 She write s Bi n 1in 13hnr.1," " S tre e t ·ne mo ns trnti ou , " " J a ckso n , Missis s ippi, " on Ha s hi n: .: o n , and the 1. c \1 prophe ts : th e lla rch " Jer er,1 i.J h , 11 " Jsa i~11i , 11 " Amo s ," .:.111J " Joel ." In " Ofor d is .:i Le g end " >' 1e sa ys ~wme " fo u ght th e c ivil \•m r a ll ov e r ag ai1L " Ne w pro phe t s are Malc oJ 1 , 1led-)3a r Ev e r s , AnJy Goodma n, tl ich a e l Scltwc rnc r , a nd Jame s Cha n e y , who fou gl11 " oppr ess i.o n " in Louis i an;'l, Mi ss is s i ppi a nd C.:!or;; i a . OcLober is .:.1 qui e t e r , 1:10, emp l oying a va r i e t y of v e r se for ms i11 c] udinr, Lb e balla d in " il a rrL.: t Tubu:.i1 ." lier own unique s onnet~ i s see n i n "for Ma ry McLeod Dethu ne " and " For P.::i ul Law r enc e Dunba r ." The earlier poe t i s s u gges t ed i n " I want t o \/rite " w t h th e poe ts te l li ng us : I \Jant t o \T rite son g 5 o f my pe opl e . Alic e \fa l te r , nov Lli s t and poe t, sh<, res th e st a te of ~: i s sissip pi (ltoc kdal e ) 1vith Har gard Wa l ker . He r volumes of poe tr y ar e On c e· ( 1968 ) and Re vol u tionary Pe tu ni::i s ( 19 73 ) the titl e of Hh i ch , j ud g in g fr om ot h e r st a t e 1·1ents sh e has mad ! , i s prob 11l y a l so a pun. Her poems cove r h e r own civil ri ~hts a ctiviti c. 5 , g e n r- r a l e xp e rie n ces , a nd s ome s.:iti r e . A poem in On ce r e l ates t he s tor y of t h e youn~ Black man who wa nted t o inte grate a whit e . beach i11 Al a hama- - in tli e t o Pe t uni11 s : 11 1 udc ." She ann o unces h e r d e bts in the: d e dication Ge oq~e Jac ks on , "h e r oes and h eroines, a n d friends o f ea rl y SNCC ," Bob Mo ses , and Fanni e Lou !l.::imc r. Th e se poems (wri tt e n in p e r s onal t ones ) d e al �rocms l,y .\lvin J\u!Jer t, a s_ uthern nlu1,11:us who 1101v r esidi2s i n NcH Yor k and ed its Obsidian: Black Literature in Aube rt' s ,\;,a in s t the Bl ues (1971) surveys blues , love anJ his L uis l.an:i hc:rit.1;;;c . Pinkie Lane, 11t:1J English De:p;:irt1.1cnt he:ad u t So uth ern, publish~d Hind Thou·::>,hts (1 972) as 1-1e ll as several ~roaJs id es: T,-, o Poer.is (1 72 ), Poems to }Iy F:.it her (1972), a nd SonGs to t11 c Dialy sis Machine (1 972), all brou ght out by South and 1-Jcs t, Inc., of 1\rkan~1as . South and Hest is al s,. the publisher of t he annual Poems by ll lacks (1970, 1971, 1972) for whic h Pi nkie Lane has beco me permanent editor . Butler in,,ugurate<l the annual IH..1ck Poetry Festival in 1972. pro gram or In the th e " irst festivcil, he• st.:1ted : Th e lH.:1ck , 0e tr y Fes tiv al provid-.!s n rare opportunity to brinz to ge th er professional ,::mu apprentice poe.ts in an effo rt to define and ler;itimize all fonns of Blac k poetic talent as a prelude anJ postl ude to definin g and legitimiz ing the reality of Black . people. Hop efully, the resul _s of our efforts will be a better unders t anding ~in,! a g re at , r apprecL1tion of th e lives, aspirntions and achievements of ' ,: 1ck peopl e . . For the festivals, South ern has attracted a numb er of poets : llaJhub~ti , Sonia Sanchez·, Randall, R .: dmon<l (writ e r-in-r es idence, summers 1971-72), Zu-1.\olton, Kni ght, Aubert, Lucille C t. if ton, J~ ;1 ln1:1u Salnam, ti eal, J\u<lre Lor<le, and Irma NcLnurin. The festivals, which in L·h)decl stuJent poets and musicians, have inspired a Poetry Writ:in2 Horkshop under the sup ervision of Rowell, au Enr,lish in! ; true tor . The first t\JO volur,1e~; of Poems by Blacks cont a in u rich lode of southern poets: Leon E. \Ji les (P h Llan<ler Smith Co ll eGe ), Elij a h Sabb (Little RoL:k), Booker T . Ji1ckson (Little f- >c k), Eddie Scott (lli2m phis), Otis \fooclar<l (Memphi s) , 1\rthur Pfister (Tuskegee Institute, Bee r Cans Bullets Things & Pieces, �1972), lJp ton Penr so n (J a cks on, llississi p pi ), Jdcquel v n Drynnt (HeriJi.rn), Lois Hiller (B a t on Rou~e ), narbnra Jenn Kn i:; hL (Ee1.1phis) ,mJ 1::.ithelcc c n lteed (Shr eveport ). .'\lthough Pinl~ie La ne cl i J not edit the first t1-1n issues of Poems, she ac t eLl ns :1dv i sor anJ her Olm \Jorl · ' •-m s s uhst a nti .:.11.ly. re p res e nted . n 0 ift ccl Sh~ is 1-m rd-m,mi pu ·l a tor with s6µ, c 11 r:111:1tL~ sk ill a nd passio n. t!nrth of 11 n ton Rou:-i e i.n Ne\l Orle n n s , the Fre e?. Soutlwrn Tl!L: .-tt c r hall burneJ out by the late six1:ies but out of its Horkshops cnm P 1'H:ombo Hhich carries the work of BLKARTSOUTll writers. Tom Dent, one of the founders of FST, and J(~ila1n11 n011 jointly edit th e publication . to;~ethl!r-·-except the " n1uv ,'ment" ln th e Sou t l • Some 13LKJ\RTSOUTll poets arc n ut th eir concern s fo r the movemcut arl.! often expressed b~tt er outsiJ e of the poe tr y titan in. BLKJ\RT SOU'l'il publ i slwd lnd.i.vidu<.11 v,1l uL1es of poe111s Ly ~:.1la.:1m (T !1c 1\luc~ t·il' t:-Clt,rnt_), Fernandez (The frtpatj t ·nl ~el>el) , .. 1yo (T 1-Jan t i ' e a llo1~1e) , :1110 l!a s li i.n::ton 1 ( Visi.ons From tl1e CIH' Lto). Af r-o-Amcr .ic;iu salval ion . " Raci ~, t Psychotherapy" is Black ' s ulue-pri,1L for lie .:idv'.i :..; cs Blacks to spend l ess t.i1ae rappj ng ai,J Jr.ink in g and !!tore t ,1 1c \1or.!~lug for t!te cnusc . State" Dent In 1%9 In " P,ay Cl1...1rles u l Hlss.isslpp i ,.:iys L heat tl 1L' L!upl<.: IJ,ij tl r . fl ,1- L'.,L rio t to be:gin i. 11 hear t s . ... Of " The Blues ,'' S.1 l .11.1 siJys : :i.t i~; nol s11Lm i. ssion ... . But too 1,1t1cl 1 of hi ,, \Jork i~, speechy. Salaam has a l so p ubli shed llofu Hi KHenu : tly Fcnr ls For Yc u (1973) \lhich· rcct:lve<l n mL~cd rcvi-211 fro111 l~m.,rcll in Lile �l! 12w Orl e.:ins-l>ase-d B1 nck Cn1 l e'"'.Lrn . 11 Bedti1,1c S t L) ry": F..;l]o,.' l~U-:..\H'ISOUTl!erner :lctyu \1r it e~. u an cxclu.rn~e bet\1 ec:11 1,10 Ll1L!r :rnd son ubo ut " revolution." i\ns\1erin;~ tl1c, son ' s qu es tion , " wh en WL! [_',onna have th e revolutL on? ", th e mo th er says 11 soo,1 :;011.. " The· othe r poets castL '. :, clte whit ey r111cl pr n i se Blacks . ironlr .::i ]l y th ey wrile V ' l'Y little aLout sout hern life . the Conzo Squ.::ire Hritin;~ Horkshop . But , Dent currently l ead s Thc1·c a re nlso \ffitini3 workshops n t Dillard a nd X.1vier Universities . Julia Fi.2l<ls , !:itill livin<j in North Caro lina, brougltl out Eas t of Hoonli gh t in 0 73 , but one of her r,10s t eloquent t cst i Don i e:3 i s Ho g " whi ch ei;t 1l> lisl1e s her ri ght to h ave " gut " or 11 J0\•1, . 11 11 11 Hii~h 011 ·the • 11 or "SI1r1.mp . caviar soul- [ 1e' 11 over Some mer us . , 1cl political stances arc uver-exoL Lci:~ecl uy revoluLlon.::iri Ls , s lr L: says, ancl she has " c.'.1rned " th e ri ght to do \·ih_.Jt s h e likes . She lws even heard 11 J-l. 1us Ha u s" scre~1m ing nnd " Romnntlcizing 1;.1in . " But. she has p a id he r dues, and hacl e n rngh pre ssure s from both sides of thl:! -color line . \""- The subtle n11J g e, but Jirect [1 0\-ler of Julia Fiellls ·c u ggests that Black ·poetry -, in goo<l kmds in t h e Sout h . No,·Lh of Nortli Carolin.i came Joh n Oliver Kil] e nfi iwport ,111 t IJrLters _ Confer ,-nces at Fi !3k Universi. t y, the most impor t a nt one t aking place in Sprint; of 1967. l!ayd t:n , who had be L! n :.1t Fi sk s ince the fo r ties l eft in 1968 after a s e ries of brushes with proponents of the Blnck Aesthetic . The ]967 con- fL,rence (prol;nb ly ti ,e s tra\v th at bro ke the ca mel I s back for Hayden ) is seen by some as a major 'unc ture in the tlew Black \ffi ting . Goendolyn Br ooks t;:ill ~eJ abJut it i n her autnbrography , Ha r garet \folker Jis cu ssed it \Jith '!ikki Giov.:m n i. in thc: i r ]'llb lis h cd "conv e rsati.ons, " a nd lloyt F11 Ller v:rote ;; lm,in g l y of it in Bl 1ck h'or1 d . l!r lt e rs a t tc.ndin 1: t '.1c conference :vere D;:ivid Llorens , Fuller , �Ron Hilner, Clnrke, Bennett, tlar,~are t Danner, :: iLki. Ciovauni, Ramlall, Lee, Margaret \lalkcr, SoniiJ Sanchez , Jones , and Har ::n ret Burrouihs . Probably held in tile South for symbo l ic reasons , the conference prov id e d t h e fi rst renl nRtionJl dramatic ar c nn for old and youn r, wr iters . Gwendolyn Brooks (a " Net'.ro " t hen , she h ns· said) r ec::i l l s b e i n :; " colJly respected " nfter ju8t havin 2, flo\Jn to Mashvi.lle from " whit e lihite So11tli Dakota . " Hm,eve r, she was mnong the fir sl (\,iith Randnll and Ful l er ) to take up the banner of the Black Aesthetic a n d th e causes of t he yo unr:; wri t ers . Such action, of cou r se, was d ispleasin i1 t o a numb er of wh ite anJ Black poe ts, no t t h e J east rn:ionr, them ll,iydcn \Jh o r ef u sed to acknoH1ed ;;c the existence of n " s epa rnte " nesth c tic for Elacks (Ka] c id oscop0, J a nuary , ] 968, JHack \for_~ poll) . A]tho u~h the Fisk c onfe re n ce l1as bee n fo l lowed by doze ns of .Bla ck c o lle ges a ll ov e r th e South, Midwest a n d East , th e r e is s t i ll no monolithic s tilnJ on " d i rections" bu t some wrlLe r s keep t ryini_; t o give tl1e1:i anyu.:iy . One i11di..:. cation uf th e healthy Ji vers ity rn:1011~ Elil ck Hritcrs ls the journ:al · 1~oot,,, publish e d at 'l'ex:is Southern Universit y . Tu rner \ilwrton, an<l Hanc e 1:il l im,1s. [di tors ilre To1cn:1Y. Guy, Jl! f Cree J rn,1e s , Volur,1c I , number l contains essays , .art · and th e l•JO rks of several p iets , most of the1:1 southerners . of n1onuto11ouH tbt::111e or SL ) I.e. , repre sents a bro a d ran~e of int:er c::; ts in lin-. gu.i.stics, s ubjects and for,:1s . gaze::d fon.:Vcor Li.icbmr J:; ." The ppo etry , devoid m' lo in " .:.i Jove supreme" says " all my eyes ln ' she 1 11 11\..'.ver know " l[ickcy Leland \,rites of var lous aspe cts of th e social and physical landsc ape , inc l uding the "l~inky lwireJ boys" wlio build ''<irsenals of straw . " On" thilt the rent has );one up , L:\ Clarence \lard notes in "llanging ict~on is ii:rn1~ent , there is no food for tlle La Ly , cinJ 11.:.m g i.ng on .i.i.nt ea:,\' . .. . � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Eugene B. Redmond Digital Collection Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. 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R VI FE STIVALS & FU HERALS: BLACK I'O ETRY (JF TH[ 1 96 0 s & 1970 :; Th e y v.1 in g e d h .i !~ sp irit & wound ed l i s ton g ue but death was slow comin;>, · 1"1110 kill e d Lumu mba Wh a t ldll c J Jlal colm festivals & funeral s festivals & funeral s festivals & funer a ls & f e stiv als & fun eral s ---- Jayne Cortez Ov e i:-vi c \·.': The space betwe en f0stiv a ls a nd fuu c rals c a n be infinite or it: d e :ith] y s hort. her pol:111 . ,::m<l tr j ,, t' , 111 · he So Jayn e Cort ez s ay s thr o ugh the twistin gs a n d Lurnin g s . 1n But wh a t e ver the s pace, or th e pace, we a ll slip, slide, s o..1r ·, as we mak e o ur way b e tween th e pol a ril ie s (a ss l ~ n e <l c ,ic-lt at· lilrt l_t ) of life we live and the kind of d e ath 1✓ e die. 1970s o f t e n faces life and d e ath "stra i g ht up": Tilack po e tr y o f th e· 1960s a nd th o u gh, ns we have s e en, Bla ck po e t s in oth er time s did not cring e from th e br e ach es of racial nightmar e s, violence, sexua lity, u11bca u t i f ul lan Bu ag e, wickc J o r reli g ious folkis ru s, an d - th e~ Jc1 nands o f mu sic vihich e a ch of them seemed to h e ar--albeit from "Jiffer e nt drununers." To attempt a discussion of c ontempor a ry BL 1ck poetry is to turn others' t o n g ues into· flam e s: 11 b] .:1sph emy ! ," 11 1 wa s th e first!," �"We started it!," "That anthology was incornplele since it didn't inl'.lude me!," "It all started in this place or that pl~1ce! ," "llis/her poetry is not Black enough!," and so on. Nevertheless, the "smoke" from the sixties is beginning to cl~ar and, while more hingsir,ht is · neeJed, there arc important observations that should be made. llence in tlii s ch:1pter, the format will follow preceding ones-- will1 a notlceable dc-emrhasis in biographical-critical n ~ on individual ~ poets. Most serious poets who began writing in the late 1ifties--;- sixties and seventies, still !1ave much growing and threshing to do. volumes really contain earlier poetry. Also many recent So it i n not easy to evaluate (or even list) Black poetry produced over this peri id. Yet, historically speaking , certain undeniabl(' trends have occurred, and t li ,·y look roughly like this:· Black Poetry since the Harlem Renaissance (see Brown, Redding, Henderson, Jackson) has had cycling currents of "rage and "fire" though not the sustained gush witnessed in the mid and late sjxties; Black poetry after 194 '> expressed a belief (see Ray Dure111) that white liberals were no ; really interested in mounting the "final" chariots of fjre on behalf of Blacks (despite CommunistSocialist pronounceme1 t s); Black poetry of the J '1 50s and e arly 1960s provided a Civjl Rights groundswell for the volcanic burst of the later sixties; In Black poetry of th ,· early sixties ther ~ was planted the anvil Hhich shared the styl j stic., attitudinal and linguistic character �o f what is known as the New Black Poetry ; Current Black po e try , despi te " evolu t ion s " and "chan ges, " has not radically altered or laid to rest the best work of Hu ghes , Johnson (both), Davis, Toor1e · , Halker, Hayden, Brooks, Tol s on and Dods on: Exce pt for what Stephen ll encle rs on call s "tent a tiv e" ;inswers, Black poetry de fies all definitions (like Hari Evans ' s " Black Woman" )--splintering of f into ennumb e rble directions, s tyles , for ms , th eme s, cons i de r..itions nnd icll!as. This ch;:ipt e r, al l ab ove co nside red ( !) will. brjefly ske tch the of poetry from tile fiftie :-:; int o the mid-s i xties . co ntinuit y · Again , chronolo ~y wil.). be related since man y of th e po et s list ed we r ~ writing in the forti es and fif~ie s ; but most d ld not receive atten t ion until the sixtie s. µ The sk e tch will inclu<le general look at transitional poets (ol<ler and younger) a s th e i r \:Or k ·app e ars primarily ln about a half dozen anthologies ( from I Sm, l!0\1 lHack -1 Wa s., 19.58 , to Kal e i dosc ope, 1967) and wha t ' f ew volum0s were being brou ght out a t the time. Fr om this j uncture ·, th e exn1,1ination (see Locke I S anJ Bontemps I S di.v ision of the lle1w is s anc e ) takes up the po e t s wl1u came to recor,nit i on unde r the banner o f t he Black Arts Movement and Hho loo s ly fall into the category of New Black Po e t ry . Ol der poet s --ll ay den, Brook s , Randall, Walker , and others--will be briefly re-visit ed to see if the " new" mood wrou ght any significant chang e s in their vie1vs and/or their poetry . Thou gh also a critical history , this book is prima rily a historical guide--Jesigned to a id stud e nts, Le ac hers, and l a y re ade rs i n t he ir LXploration of Black poetry . Only a na iv e person 1 �would a ttempt, at this sta ge, a f ull critique o f th e poetry of the 1960s and 1970s. However, there are styli s tic patt e rns, similaritie s, and th ematic clusters which will be pinpointed and assessed from time to time. Some of the most provocative of recent stud ies of contemporary Black poetry a re Henderson' s The llilir an t !Hack Writ -: r in Af ric a and th e United States (1969, with Merc er Cook); Joy Flasch's l!elv in Tolson (1972); ,m Ne w Black Poetry (1973); Shirley Williams' s Giv e Birth to Hrichtn e ss (1972); Gibson's Moc rn Modern Black Poets (1973) and J a ckson's an d Rubi~'s Black Poetry in America (1974) (also see !J i. bliography). Lit e rary an d Social Land s cape: Assassinations, high political corruptio1 1, uph eava l, violenc e , c ha nge, · t en t i·ct eo 1 ogies, · fl amin~ · · --- 1 persis r h etoric ~ e tern1s used to de s c r1·b,.,~ t·l1e 1 ' ~t t,{;cfo,,1,,J.µ.JL. i:-. --, contemporary pe riod. Revolutions (of all kinds) mock and mold the world. _, From Cuba to Vie tnam, Har lem to Chile, Pakistan to Watts, Nigeria tu . Indonesia, Kenya to Berke ley, Jackson State to Kent State--the facts · and symbols of change have been dramat ic and violent. Meanwhile in th e Black spher e , Ile Bop w:1s declining (by the micl-fifties) and J a zz's great e st livin{ interpr e ter, .Charlie P~rker, was de ad . Musicians and vocalists began probing new for ms unJ c r the leadership of Mile s Davis, John Coltr a ne, the Mode rn Jazz Qu a rt et , Wes :tfonL gomery, Duke ElliugtOfl, Ray Charle s , ~ . Orn ett e Co l emn n, Billy Eckstine, ~ . Ella Fit zgerald and Billie Holiday, who died in 1959. Miss Holiday's name and ,. fam~ a Rain r e ach ed a worldwide audi e nce when, in 1972, Diana Ross, formerly of the Supr emes, starred jn the controversia l movi e , Lad y Sin gs th e Blues. Saxophonist Coltrane, a m:. jor influ e nc e on the current e en c ration of musicians and poe ts, d ied in 1967. An innova t o r, he sparked new interest in music with .l \..X �his " s h ee ts of sound" .:ipproach to pl.:1 yi. n g , influencing poets as well as musicians . The Fifties also witnessed th e maturation of Rhytl1m and Blues, popularized primarily by IH.ick radio disc jocb~ys \;ho developed lar g e followin gs . Inter- weaving with lively Black ·social n e1-rn nnd commentaries with the news, th ey anticipated the new oral poetry of the Sixties. Spin-offs from these broad- casting s tyles were pro ;; rams like 1\a nd s Land (started in the late Fifties). Young white America watched BJnc ks c.lanct, listened t o Little 1ii c hard ,:rnd Ch ub b y Checker, and trieJ to imitate it ~111 on TV and in their homes . This perio<l r,ave birth to th e first white su 1 c rstar Soul artis t-- Elv.i.s Prei,lcy . Black critics and social histo c.i.a ns not t that the new Black social 1:1usic, and the dances acco10panyi1 ; ; ii , fre ed 1li 1ite Arner lean you11~s tcrs fnw1 the prudish and self-righteous inhll>itions ,i [ their forep are nt!:>. Generally , America n science and i.n,l ustry developed more rapidly tha_n in previous periods. Russia launcl1e<l Sp utnick, a feat which was followe<l ~ by Arnerican-Russian science an<l space-exploration race which still co11ti11ues. I\ Tele;:,tar paved the way for televis ed covera ge of g lobal activities .while biochemical warfare and atomic res earch became th e ni gh tmar es people lived daily. · The Ar aer ican literary scene was ·swamped with political novels, sa tire, writin)jS on the war and experi1nental j ou rn a listic prose . The "underground" nc1vspaper eme rged ;:is a major v ehi cle for this new writing. psycho] o n ~ nploycd in ea rlier writing , is s till pr esent. The s ymbolism anc.l However, the influenc e of the writers from the Depression and war years is giving w-ay to ga d)jetry and a new wave. of existential concern. I Black, Jewish, Chicano, Iwlian anJ Asian writers are g rabbin g more of the lit e rary stage. �Contemporar y wl1ite anJ third worJ , writ e r s of influence in c lu de : John Cheever , H. Scott Homa J ay , Ralph Ellis r,n, Be rn c..1 rd Ma l amud , Fr a nk Chi n , John Hersey, Saul Bellow, Norman Mail e r, Ch i u a Ache be, Erne s t c ~i in es , J ame s Baldwin , Paul Chan, Flannery O' Connor, .\lbert Hurray , Ishmael Rc~ d, Hillia m Styron, J ames tjg ug i, \·/il l i am Demby, Shn -m llsu \fon g , J ohn Da rth , William _Me lvin Kell e y, a nd Irvin Wa ll ace . Dlack writ er s are includ ed in th e genera l listin g b eca us e during tlie cont e mporary pe riod . many of them achieved reco gnition on par with the b e st writ e rs everywhe re . ( Reed, for exampl e_,, was nomina ted in two categories for The National Bo ok Awa rd in 197L, . ) tempor a ry poets are: Some important con- Stanle y Ku r it z , Cyn Zarco, Robert Hayde n, Ri chard Eberhart , Robert Penn Warren, J os e }!onto ya , Gwendolyn Brooks, Laws on I na <l a , Theodor e Ra ethke, Karl Shapiro , i:obert Var gas , Melvin Tolson , John Berryman, Henry Dumas, Victor llernan<lez Cruz , Robert Lowe ll , Daniel Halp e rn, Rich a rd Wilbur, Paul Ve sey, James Jickey, Imamu Bar aka , Sylvia Plat It, Willia m Be.1 1 and Jame s \-!right. Hayden received a ational Book AwarJ nomina tion in . 1972 . 1 Many of the Black prose writers a nd poe ts (some from the pre- and post-war schopls) <lied durin g the contem~or a ry pe riod (Tolson, Bontemps, Hu ghes, \Jright, Durem, Dumas , DuBois, Horne, Rivers, To omer, Malcolm X, etc.). Ind·e ed de.:i th, in one wa y or another , not only preoccupied writers (white and Black) , but w.i s often r omantically pursu e d. Bea t poe t Kenneth Rexroth asked "Why have JC 1 Ame ric a n po e ts committed s uicid e . s i n ce 1900? " Those poets not concerned wi tl1 death we r e investigatirig deca de nce or the deathne ss of society. The development of contemporary poetry cannot be viewed prop e rly witl1out understanding the 11 Be at 11 per iod. As a partial product of th e Be Bop era in Black music, Beat poets emulated t!te hip mannerisms a nd aped the "man alone" (drop-out ) image) associated with musicians . us ed to f i ght the comme rcialization of .his Be Bop 11as one way the Blackman ar( He al s o us ed it in playing I �"Somethin;~ ," in th e words of Thelonious Monk, "they can't play." meaning whites). (They, Important among Beat poets were Lawren ce Ferhlinghetti, Rexroth, Allan Ginsberg, ancl Gregory Corso, amon~ the whit e s; and Bob Kaufman, Leroi Jones and T d Joans among the Blacks. Anotl1er Black poet writing c:it the time and loosely aligned with the Beat image was Russell Atkins who founded Fre el;ince in 1950. The neat Movement, which nurtured I occultism, rejection of the Establishment and an existential view of life, I was centered in Ne\/ York's Greenwich Village and the San Francisco Bay area. I The movement died in the early Sixties. I Kaufman is viewed by many as the unsuni: patriarch of the neat era . '-. JHac k cri_tics say major white poets of the movement entliusinstica lly t oo k their cues fro111 Kaufmnn ' s innovations, but were not so passionate in re- . cognizin8 l1is influence. his two volumes: Sardine (1967). Kaufman's poetry is found in c:inthologies and in SolituJes Crowded with Loneliness (1965) nnd GolJen As a kind of spir i.tual heir to Toomer, Kaufmtln is a ·complex, sometimes fra gmented, but brilliantly original poet. Ilis work, like tlint of m~ny of l1is contemporaries, ~s influenc e by Eastern religious thought and the occult. Stylistically, Kaufman has the "sweep" of Whitman coupled wi_th the best techniques of modern po~try . Ile passionately experiments 1vith jazz rhythms in poetry and often invokes jazz themes, moods c:ind musicians . Hany Beat poets and cnthusi.Jsts later joined or were spawned by the . ~ vVA-tS Civil Ri ghts str uggle whlc1t·wc1s int ens lfi~d by several things: Martin Luther King's Montgomery bus boycott ·in 1955-56; sit-ins and other dramatizations of segre ga t:ipn and discrimina tion; the challenges of Jim Crow in travel in 1961 (CORE); th e widening activities in '. ;NCC (1%1-64) and the tlarch on \-Jashing ton (196 3 ). Other significant act Lvi ties enflamed and ..j �inspireJ the hearts and imaginntion of Black Arn,~rican youth especially. The l'luslims' (tlation of Islam) growth to 50,000 members by 1963 and the Congressional action on Civil Rights Legislation were two seemingly unrelated but strategically important events. The growing influenc e of the Huslims s ugg<2s tcd tli il t many Black : no longer believed America was )(~ sincere in its pledges to implement c en when they be.::ame law. Abetting their Jistrust were the continued kiJ ings, night-ridings in the south and harrassment of Blacks in public p l aces and their homes. \Jith the bitter taste of Enunitt Till's murder still on their tongues , Blacks reeled under the killings of Chaney, Goodman and Schwerner, Malcolm X, Med gar I Evers, King, the Kennedy brothers, and the three Black Panthers (gunned down by police in their sleep in a Chicago apartment) . By 1966, however, - lllack Power signs and slogans began to replace the "We shall overcome-lllack and White Together" exclamations. Young Dlack America, adorning Afro hairdos and African jewelry, attended cultural festivals, back-t~Africa rallies, poetry readings, and began reading community news published ·n revolutionary broadsides and tabloids. Rhetorical forays by H. Rap Brown and Stokely Carmichael, youn g SHCC officers, set off a flurry of state and national laws against inciting to riot and the- transportation of weapons across state boundaries. 1.arc e and small cities ignited in flames that set the stage for gun batil~s between police and the often "imagined" snipers. These C:onfla13rations were repeated in scores of cities after Dr. King was assassinated in 1968. Watts poet Quincy Troupe captured the shock and horror, and chronicled the official reaction, in his poem 11 \.Jhite \.JeekenJ ": �The deployed military troo ps surrounded the llhite House an<l on the steps of the S, 11n te bu LJdin,; a soldier behind a machi1H gun 12,000 in.Washington & Ch ca go 1,900 in Baltimore }bryla 1d 76 cities in flames on th ~ lan<lscape and the bearer of peace still lying in Atlanta ... / In the last stanza, Troupe nptes with curdling irony : Lamentations! Lamentations! T.ament.:itions! lforldwide ! But in New York, on Wall Street the stock market went up 18 points At this writing, fallout from the Black Revolution reverberates a rounJ tl1e · globe. Black journalist Thomas Johnston reports Irish revolutionaries sinr, "He Shall Overcome." Posters and emblems commercialize everything from African hairstyles to the raised clenched fist--the initial sy~bol of Blac~ unity and defiance. A wave of . Black movies-- called Blaxploitation-- beginninr, with "white" experimental f licks like Putney SHope (1969) is capturing a multi-million dollar theater patronage. Dlack movies retrieved the crippled movie industry from tlie 'brink of disaster. Heanwhile, the murder, incarceration an<l political harra s swenl of Black ~en and women made them heroes and heroines in Blacl~ conu,1unities-- yct ironic:1lly symbolized the toriilenl an<l what some BLtck journalists cal led the " genocidal schemes" of ~ uerica (sec Samuel Yette 's The Choice). �Cri s s-crossed by paradoxes, politi cal c on.t ra<lictions, s ocial r evolts and relig ious and ambivalences, th e DL:1ck com1,1unit y i s nev<~r th e l ess r egene rated by it s singer s and pe rforme r s . Bl a ck popular mu s i c l1as not only r eached unpr e cedented aud ~nc es , but unprecedented money-making cap ab ilitie s. Rhy thm and l\ l ues , s.:.i i d t o have died ab out 1965, gav e way t o "Soul"-"I' m a So ul Nan," Sam a nd Dave announc ed in the lat e Sixtie s. The Impressions t o lJ lovers that you " gotta have soul" and Bo bby Womack r eminded listeners v that the 11 \foman' s Got ta llg.ve it"--presumably "Soul." Dl~k re cordin G cor,1 panies are in a boo1r, the two' largest on es be in g Mo Town (Detroit) nnJ \fa tts-St ax (Memphis). The current pe ri,od ha s also seen the np pea rance o f th e Bl ac k sup e rs tar--of ten called "super Nlgg er"--in e ver y th i ng from sport s to t!1ovi es . Curtis Hayfield's soundtr ac k album Superfly (1972) sold more th a n 22,000,000 copies and Marv Ln Gay's Hlw t 's Goin g On (1 971) set records for album sales: Recently, however, Stevie Wond e r has surpa ssed th em all. Lit e rally dozens of singing groups--mo<leled on the quartets a nd ensembles of th e fi fti es -are releasing albums re gularly. These folk or "soul" poets have be come. · more "conscious" in recent years and many now imbibe their songs with po1itical message s and exaltations of Blackness. Much of this new wave came on the heels of s e vere criticism by Barak/40 .::i dmonished the sin ge rs f or doting on unrequit e d love. Too ma n,. a re preoccl!pied with "my baby's gone, gone" themes, he said. Black consciousness activity--anJ cr e ativity in c eneral--now flourish e s. · Rela ted involvement includes: develop ment of Black acting ensembl e s; opening of fre e schools and Black universities; es t a bli s hmen t of Bl a ck Nationalist/ cultura l communes; increase in the numher of Black bookstores and African boutiques; establi s ~ nent of Black Stu<l{es programs on white and Black �campu ses and, in some cases, quota systems for enrolling Black stud ents; the escalation of Black demand f or "cream of t he c r op" job s s uc h ns tv announcing and the hos tin g of va ri e t y shows; expansion an d c r ea tion of new roles for Black newspap e rs, maga zin es .: :i nd r a dio s tations; for mat i on of ~ nat-i-ena~l - a-nct~s t-a-t e Hlncl~ Con gressi ona l caucu es and simil a r unit s in cw.-&.. l-eq ;d . ., . ;;c o~b H!G-5+- boo. t-e ( profe ss i ona l a-s -soelatie1. ·and , fin a lly and impo rt ~mtly, new enga ~ement with Afr ica a nd he r problems and possibilities. Ind eed, futur e trips to Africa-- to the "Moth e r country" or "llomelancl"--are discuss ed a t a ll a ge and s ocia l \ levels. Much of this renewed interest is understandable in li ght of the emergence during tl1 e contemporary period of sev e ral Afri ca n na tion stat e~ and the increased fraternization amon ~ Afr i cans and Afro-Ame ri can s . H.:1 l c olm X, , cannonized today by g r eat numb e rs of young Blacks and Bl a ck int el l ec tu a l s , did much t o foster this current int e rest in Africa. Shot to death at a · rally in Ha rlem in 1965, Malcolm (El Hajj Nalik El Sha bazz) had alr eady _be en expell e d fr om th e Nation of Islam, and had formed a splinter gr oup known as the Or ganiz a tion of Afro-American Unity. llis Autobiograph y of Ma l c olm X (wit.h Alex Haley, 1965), which (a s he pr edicted) he did not get to . see in print, chronicl e s his odyssey as Ha lcolm Little , hustler "De tr oit Re d," 'Malcolm X, and El-Hajj Malik El Shabazz. Halcolm w.:1s lioniz ed by Carmicha el; ll. lfop Brown , Oss ie Davis, lk1raka and v a rio us oth e r shc ol a rs, a c t .i vists and ar t i s ts . Bl ack po e t s , es pec i a lly, ha ve fo und Ma lcolm (aml Coltrane) a limitl es s s ourc e o f i nsp ira 't ion. c a n be see n in For lfa l colm : A pa rti nl in<l 1cu t ion of hi s i mpac t O ll I ·! :. peel s Po ems on tlie Life on d Dea th o f Ma lcolm X (1967) ,' e dit e d by Dudley Rand a ll and Mar gar e t G. Burroughs . Shaba zz " Rob e rt Hayd e n noted that: In " El-lfa jj Malik El .. �lie X1 d his name, became his peopl e 's anger, exhorte<l tl1em to vengence for their pi.1st; rebuked, .'.ldmonished them, The.i.r sc ouq_; er who \vOul(l shame Lhe111 , drive thern from the lush ice gardens of their servitu<le. At the First World ?estival of Negro Arts, held in Dakar, Senegal, in 1966, Hayden was awarded the Grand Prize for Poetry. ,\ major event, the festival was attended by experts, scholars, art.i.sts and enthusi.asts of the l, L1cl ~ Arts who gathered f:or 24 days to hcnr papers and J.i.scussions, view art exh.i.bits an<l cultural performances, and give prelimanary direction to the lllack Arts Movement. I 1 I 1 Presiding over the festival was Leopold Sedar Senghor, Senegalese I President, and one o[ the architects (with Aim~ Ccsair~ anJ L~on ]);_unas) of He~ritudc. I Negritude is a pl1ilosophy of Black Humanism which ensconces, according to its originators, the Black mystique or religiosity. .I The term grew~ut of tl1e associations of Black African intellectuals, French writers an<l artists, and Black American expatriates. I African-oriented publicatio~s ·. I such as Prtfoence Africaine and Black Orpheus have renewed their interests in Bi'ack Arncrican writers. ·I Likewise, · l'>L., ck American journals and popular ma~azincs (Il lack World, Journal of BlDck Poetry, Tl1e Black Scholar, Essence, ·1 Encore, Ebony, Jet, etc.) ha·v e be gun to publ.i.sh r.10re mater.i.als by and about I Africans. I The revolution in the Black Arts was signaled by many cvc11ts including the F.i.rst Cunferenct! of Negro Writers in March of 1959. Langston Hughes was I an important ilgure there--as he was at the D.:ikar gathering seven years later . I The First A,1 ~r.i.can FesUval o[ Negro Art was lk ld in 19 65 ilnd the Second AFNA I °'.lo r· ' ·11 \Y �took place in Nov12mber of 1969 in Buffalo, N.Y. Interlacing Lhcse and other conferences, symposi.:1 and conventions, were exc i.ting developments and experirnents in tlew York, Chicar,o, l.Jatts, Philadelphia, Atlanta, B,1ton Rou g e, St. Louis, Cleveland, Detroit and llashin :~ton, D. C . Durinr, thes e periods of social turn oil and artistic upsurge 1,riters and poets often ali8ncd themselves wit! movements. ideological positions and reg i onal Consequently , Black Ar t s coJmunes and regional brands of Black consciousness grew concurrently. Split s between older Civil Rights workers a nd ll]ack Nationalists were paralleled liy splits between older writers and yo unger prnctioners of "Black Arts ." Tlie splits were not always clear- cut, h owever , for many older activ ists and poets joined the new mood in spirit, thematic concern and personal life styJc, while some of Lhe youn ;:,e r wri.ters retained the influence of the earlier uwods. Complicatin~ things even more were the variants on the domil n ant themes of each camp. GwendoJ yn Brooks ., Duc.lley Randall, MarL'.,arct Danner, H.:iq;aret 1/alker and John Oliver !~.ill.ens are amont the older group of writers who vigorously took up the banner the new mood. o( Younf,er ,,riters \~ho :;e \.JOrks imbibe some "tradition" · include Henry Dumas (Poetry For My People, 1970 and Play !•: bony Play lv, l ry, 1974), Conrad Kent Rivers ('l'li 0 Still Voice of llarlem , 1963 , etc-. ) , Julia Fields (Poems , 1968), Al Young (Da11cin1! , 1960, L!tC . ) , and Jay \frir,ht ('l'l1c llomecorning_ Sing er, 1972) to name just cl few. Tl1e crent i.ve prolilise of this perioc.l was dealt a severe bl0\,,1 by the untimely deaths of Dumas and Rivers in 1963 . These poets are deeply influenced by the moods and preoccupations of the period (self-love, racial injustice, violence, war, Black Consciousness Gnd History) hut they \vork alone, test e d Jines and e xperi11ent within careful and tliou i~ht-out frames of referencer; . l!ost of the writers of the JlL~riod ·• o.' \ /J._ \7 �(th e ir s Lyles and id c ol.01.;i e s notwithstanding ) ha ve found thems e lves engulfed at one tir.1e or another in heated debates ov e r questions related Lo the "Black Aesthetic," the relationship of writer to reader , Bl ack vs white audiences, a nd the part politic s should play in their lif e and work. At this writi n3 , Lhc se cU sc ussions continue in most section s of the Black 1-lorlJ. The flurry of ideoloBical and aesthetical debate amonB the poets (and 0Ll1er writers) has often been precipitated or attended by critical writings, historical s~clies, social essays and public politica] s t .-i teml.!nts. Some of the individuals associated with initiating the plethora of rhetoric on the questLon of a "Black" ilt: sthetic (and re]ated i ss 11 e:-5 ) a re l~on Kar c n~a , Gwendolyn Brooks, llarak.:1, Addison Gayle , Jr., lloyt H. Fuller (Black World), l~dward Spriggs, J. Saunders Reddin ~ , Ralph Ellison, Larry Neal, Ernest Kaiser, r!el \fatkins, Ron Welburn, Dudley Ran<lall, Lerone Bennett, .Jr., Nathan Scott, James Ema nuel, Toni Cade-B<.1mbara, John llenrik Clarke, Don _L. Lee, E<l Bullins, and Stanley Crouch. A number of important studLes, liter~ry -1 and cultural, by Black and white writers, aided in wl1etting or prolongin~ the criticnl thirsts. are: Some of ·t he important and/or controversial vtritin gs The Militant Black Writer: in Africa and the Unite<l States (1969)~ - Cook and Henderson; Blacl: Expression (1969) and The Black Aesthclic (1971) Gayle Jr., ed,; Muntu: Literature: The New African Culture (1961) and Nee-African /\. History of Black Hritin,; (1968), Jahn; Lan ~ston Hughes: Black ~enius (1971), O'Daniel, ed.; Hlnck Poets of the United States: Paul J,a0ren ce Dunbar to Langston Hughes (1963, Fren c h edition; 1973 Enclish trans., Dougla s), Wa gner; Before the ~~yflower (1962), Bennett, Jr.; Shadow and Act (1966, Ellison; Unders tm1Jing th e New Black Poetry (197 3), Hend e rson; Collo quim on Ne gro Art: I First World Festival of Ne ~·. rn Arts, 1966 (] 968), .. ' �Editions Presence Africaine; The Nc P, ro Novel in America (] 965), Bone; Mother is Cold: A Study in West African Literature (1971), Rosco e ; The _C_r_i_s_i_s_o_f--t--h-e_N_e_p_,r_o_I_ . n_t_,__e_l_l_e_c_t_u_a_l__(_l_9_6_7_)_,_C_r_u_s_e_;_N_a_ti ve So,J A Crit-;c~l- { Study of T1-1enticth-Ccntury tlcgro 1\.rnerican Authors (196 8 ), Hargoll cs ; Dyna1:llle Voi cos : eL1cl~ J'oe ts of th e 1 9 60 1 s, vol. I People (1%J), IHacL 1'lu s l c (1967), llo,~ie: (1971), Lee; lllut2s Social Essays (1966), am! l~ai se l{ace Rays J~aze (1971), lfaraka; and Give Birth to Brightness (1972), 1-lilliams. A number of Black critics, artists, and activists heatedly de- nounce Hhites who re s earch or criticize Black liter.:iture, saying tlw t only those who have lived the Black Experience can write a b o ut it. Another group holds that whites can report on Black writin cj if they are sl.ncere and sylllpathetic. The Bl.J.ck Arts Hove1aent, as the contemporary period is sometimes called, took place in the sh.:idows of what many Black social critics hav e called the "second Reconstruction." Hence, much of the writing is a revolt a g ainst politicc1l hypocrisy and social alienation. In the angriest poetry, authors showGred disdain ancl obscenities on the "system" and whites in general. llefusing "integration" even if offered, younger poets derided Americc1n values and attitudes. I "Unlike the Harlem group," llnydcn noted,-"they rejected entri into the mainstream of American· lit e rature as a desirable g oal. 11 Of course, more than a f ew of the older poets \Je re writing in the Sixties and are writing today. Mnni of them, however, were sometimes laid aside by youn g readers who were unable to separate "poetry" from the fiery declamations of Cnrrnichael, Brown and innumerable local spokesmen and. versifiers. Of ten Ll1 e poets exchan g ed super _f icial indictments, indul ~eJ in name-calling and, as groups or individuals, began ratinr; each other on their "levels of Dlackn c ss'' e ven thou g h no criteria existed then and none exists tod a y for ~--- . \ .i �such ju<lgin~. Huch uf the <li.spute centered arournl tlle question of who "started" tlte IHack Arts or New Black Poetry movements. 1971, issue of Confrontation: In an article in the Spring , A Journal of Third \Jorl<l LiteraLure, Eugene Redmond stated: While it i s t.rue thut there are lea<li.ng lights of tlle Dlack Arts Hove1. ent , it is rtn emphatic lie to say one geogr;iphica1 region of the country is solely responsible for either the 1&ain (an<l Major ) writing outpu t or kicking off any tradition of Blacks \ffitlnr, about themselves . To · take such a contemp- tuously arrogant stand would be to write off the Black musical past . Aggression has been the rone in much of the contemporary poetry. This is partially <lue to tl1e presence of some who selec t ed poetry as a medium j of expression because of its deceptive simplicity nn<l briefness . HanU of .-::-(._ the new "poets" obviously have no genui ne i n terest in becoming good or . excellent craftsmen . On the other hand , the current period continues to witness a growing and wide-ranging concern for poetic craft and knowl6J ~e . During the sixties and into the seventies, literally hunLlreds of Black poets starte<l \ffiting and publishlni;--in ta.bloicls , mag.:nincs, bt·oadsides, antholoriies and indivi<lual collections . 1vere the ne\J publications: of Black Poetry. regions . Also showcasing tl1e new poetry Umbra, Black Dialogue, Soulhook, and The Journal Si gnificant ~lusters of poets develope<l in geographical And the atmosphere was enhanced by a number of African thinkers, ,"rt urtists , poets ;:ind novelists who arrived to America to teach, lecture, perform and travel . Tlte importance of this interaction amon g Blacks from vnri.ous parts of the ~lobe cannot be overemphasized . Black writers and students now read African, West Indian and Afro-Latin writers . Langston �llughes ncCJuainted American audiences with Afric..in literc1ture in his nnthologies: An African Trensury : Essays , Stories, Poems by Black Africans (19 60) ancl Poems from !Hnck Africa (1963). Whisners from a Continent: In 1969, Trinidadfon l!ilfreJ Cortey edited The Literature of Contemporary Black Africa. Narie Collin s c01,1pile<l Llnck Poets in Frencl, (1972) und Keorepetse Kgositslle eulteJ The \Jord is !Jere (1973). Other scho] ars and writers also wrotr critical studies or editcd ·antholog ies of A[ricnn and Caribl1ean literature. Black writing received a significant boost when in 1971 Senghor nnJ Afro-Cuban I poet Nicl1olas Guillen were nominnteJ for the Nobel Prize for literature--thus I I fulfilling James Weldon Johnson's 1922 prophecy that tl1~ first Black writer I to achieve substantial international fame would not come from America. ·1 Heightening the feeling 01. th e period was Charles GorJone's winning of the Pulitzer Prize [or drama (t!o Place to Be Somebody, 1970). Hany non-American Black writers now publishing or living in tl1e U.S. are Nigerinn novelist-poet Achebe, exiled South African poet Kgositsile, Nigerian poet-playwright Wole Soyinku, Ghanaian poet Kwesi Brew, South African critic Ezekiel Hphahlele, ., Nigerian poet-play11rir,ht Ifeanyi Henkiti, Martinique poet-playwright Aime I I Cesaire and Cuianese poet~scholar Leon Damas. chanBe ideas and compare styles. The writers fraternize, ex~ tl~hahlele, for example , has written criiical studies of Black American writing (Voices in the IJhirlwind, 1972) while Hiss Brooks has praised African r1ritini:; (Introduction, Kgositsile's Hy Name is Afrika, 1971). South African poet, Hazisi Kunene, wrote the Introduction I foi Cesaire's Return to•~ Native Land (1969 translation). Several Afro-American expatriate artists and writers returned to America during the current period for eithe r temporary or permanent residency. Added to this flurry o[ activities ancl changes were the establishment of � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Eugene B. Redmond Digital Collection Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context EBRWritings_07_51 Title A name given to the resource Copy of Drumvoices: The Mission of Afro-American Poetry: A Critical History, typed partial manuscript, p. 85-101 Relation A related resource Eugene B. Redmond Digital Collection Language A language of the resource English Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource For digital rights and permissions, see <a href="https://www.siue.edu/lovejoy-library/about/policies.shtml">https://www.siue.edu/lovejoy-library/about/policies.shtml</a> or contact <a href="mailto:library@siue.edu">library@siue.edu</a> for direct inquiries. In copyright. <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Redmond, Eugene B.