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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_38 Title A name given to the resource Handwritten list of anthologies, literary history and criticism, and language 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/e805d1ecd06af74b322ce090a8f40141.pdf becdd4dc12a4ddff48c5fd74c5e07623 PDF Text Text t./2 :nr �~ . ) 1 ~ <u~ , , -rb ~ ~ ±.Ju)~ u ..zz l/ �u ~ 9ce1/:nUxv 0 ~ ,I . ''" 1--A.v ll~ (1 i 4' 9- , 919) ~-V)~" ,,, ){$~ J.,, ~ ~ --MU., ~ ., , ,r �d~.u/ ? ) : ~ ,J/~-yJ ,, ~ an_~,, �- "+. A I A,; ~ . , • ', �~ / 9~ l9 / 9) "rT...Av ~ , , S £ - . , { , (J39S- #£,CA.~..,,,,4~~~•1 ~ --, 'I ���1"' ~,j , , -,. /. ~• ·-. - . ~ . ~ ~TT/-UV , , , - ~~ I I �~ ,I 9~ ~ , ,. ~ d ~ Cvui..., ' (18-7.5-- f) cJ.«1:J ', ~ v~ ~ ~ ~ ,\ U; . -ZJC. . • • ,, �MEMO FROM: ( ~ . 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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_40 Title A name given to the resource Note cards with citations from Drumvoices: The Mission of Afro-American Poetry: A Critical History 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/419d79b0ae0526a66e34f36b9d114777.pdf 8f8bad2da5afc32cad4f2d4fda417e3c PDF Text Text u �• II ��0 ����) , , �s , l , '' . t 3 � 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_42 Title A name given to the resource Five Spirituals for Drumvoices: The Mission of Afro-American Poetry: A Critical History, typed manuscript, p. 28-36 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. Description An account of the resource Five Spirituals for Drumvoices: The Mission of Afro-American Poetry: A Critical History, p. 28-36 https://digitallis.isg.siue.edu/files/original/1c779df79fbbb4f980e827c7f536fab7.pdf 963b676802bd7eff3564eebf47c24b44 PDF Text Text I ) 0 I 1 7 �• 1. 1Ula. 1 • ) ,. �• to ha.trona.liit1c. ) l t), l M. �b , II 1 / o. �,If. Sue.ha. a.n I\ rec.o_gn I z. es �" J t �( , �c.onten;pora.ry /l �Fo I\ • • �i �I �.f.vrthe.r 1 11 t �-the pm /} �the ba.lla.d 5pec1f1ca.lly, • �lt! . . (_ 16. I'. .- 0 1~ct:.di a. .n l.;,SS ndl ss 11 t 0 -· q e ~ r ~. a b ho p d 0 s n1n to n b C .n !:a:·. • .r ' OI· op l p le" n a : a a., 1 G ru , tr th C. ll ., th u l lo .,., i 1 a u 1."' 1,;, d k ,. g , , i, 1 co on... D 0 . he pee a ~· "" 0 . s ·.J.i.bli..,. , .bo · i Sttt �J ) ��a.. yet I\ I ���Sud, a.n excha.r.ge.. /\ �0 . • �r ...... - o~ ... , 97 -~ ¥YM.o ,1, ;then., -th4:'t ( · I\ "·· >.> to b !.'l 1 • � 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_43 Title A name given to the resource Drumvoices: The Mission of Afro-American Poetry: A Critical History, typed partial manuscript, p. 37-51 and p. 96-103 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/abd1685fc5394406f8d809b3de894257.pdf 0c824690b474d6fce2da8b36959f0075 PDF Text Text BLACK POETRY OF THE POST-RENAISSANCE AND CONTEMPORARY PERIODS The psychological, social, political and economic issues that conf'ronted Blacks after the Civil War and Reconstruction, p.ersi-sTed through the Harlem Awakening. The collapse of the American economy in 1929 signale~also,the collapse of white patronization of Black artists. However, several of the budding institutions)publications and social undertakings-begun before, during and after the Renaissance--have lasted up to this very day. And while the primary thrust of Black writing during the twenties was cultural reclamation and racial af'firmation, the literature since that time has been dominated by variants on the theme of sociaJ/IIA ,/i {..!!!9e~\~mos-r. l ~tnJ-tJI. m. writings of the Post-Renaissance and Contemporary period; protest is the most salient feature • .,......,...... 1,his factor, ~ ~ coupled with the appearance of new Black academic critics,~~~t off literary debates that still reverberate in Black letters. The two most vocal positions are l) or art remain free of overt 11 that Black literature protest 11 --thus avoiding "restrictions" which protest imposes on the creativity; and 2) that the Black artist's continuing responsibility is to engage in protest, to forge his work into weapons of liberation. These two views of the Black artist have always shadowed the developing Black literature. But it was not until the emergence of a Black critical "establishment" that the views received widespread attention or registered great inf'luence. 96 At this writing, �I ' I ; NEW TRENDS AND DEFIANCE: MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY BLACK POETS (1900-PRESENT) During the first three decades of the twentieth century, Black Americans underwent social, political and psychological changes that would leave indelible marks on both their's and the nation's futures. W.E.B. DuBois' "The Song of the Smoke" (1899) announced the Black man's uncompromising rejection of the plantation tradition and his defiant leap across the thresh-hold of the new century. Elsewhere DuBois prophetically noted that the biggest problem of the twentieth century would be the problem of the "color lineti.} Black writers and scholars had begun to record the Black experience in the nineteenth century. But it was during the first quarter of this century that Black scholarship, creativ\t$ and organized attacks against social injustice 7 reached their greatest intensity. Dunbar, who died in 1906, was the first Black poet to achieve international recognition. And the publication of his Complete Poems in 1913 was a si gnificant literary event in ~~ American letters. The publication also heralded the new mood of creativity and self-reliance, and spurred the embryonic Black national racial consciousness. During this period (1900-20), other Black poets were working in their respective spheres to hammer out individualistic as well as folk-influenced works. At the same time two major poetic developments were 72 �,• J : the issue of the writer's social responsibility constitutes one of the most vigorous on-going debates in the history of Black American l i t e r a t u r e . ~ , fhe two major living Black • poets, Gwendolyn Brooks and Robert Hayden, are at sharp and critical odds on this particular issue. Hayden has refused to place conscious racial concerns over the craft of poetry, holding that many of the new Black poets are minor versifiers with political ambitions. Miss Brooks, who stepped into the middle of the Black Poetry Movement of the late sixties, has shifted to the 11 Black first, poet second" position and holds the younger writers in high esteem. She noted that if she had died before she was fifty, she would have "died a Negro faction." In modern history, these debates have taken place in the midst, or on the heels, of tremendous successes on the parts of Black writers. tet while the important Renaissance writers were prize-winners, it was not until the publication of Richard WrightJs novel,Native Son, in 1940, that a Black writer received attention on par with the best white writers of his day. WrightJs achievement was followed two years later by Margaret Walker's (Yale Poetry Prize for For My People), ten years later by Gwendolyn Brooks' (Pulitzer Prize for Annie Allen, poetry), and twelve years later by Ralph Ellison's (National Book Award, Invisible Man). Many of the Black writers of the 1930-1945 period sustained themselves by working for the Federal Writers' Project of the WPA. Some of their own writings, as well as important 97 �taking place side-by-side: one white and one Black, although there were some exchanges between the two. White America was in the midst of poetry revival which was characterized by various "New Poetry movements. 11 The revival was signaled and given impetus by the establishment of Poetry: of Verse (edited by Harriet Monroe) in 1912. new poets were part of the 11 A Magazine Many of the Imagist" school and were greatly influenced by Greek, Roman and Oriental symbolism and imagery. ~g~tr~ provided an outlet for much of this new writing. At least two Black poets participated in the development of the 11 r,lew 11 poetry in America: and Fenton Johnson. William Stanley Braithwaite James Weldon Johnson, though usually iden- tified with the Harlem Renaissance, also was a contemporary of then~ wet~ and published his first volume of poetry, Fifty, Years and Other Poems, in 1917. Braithwaite was a critic, poet, and anthologist who helped to launch the careers of a number of important white poets. 1 He edited anthologies of Elizabethan, Georgian and Restoration verse and a series of yearly anthologies of magazine verse which he began in 1913. He also wrote criticism and reviews as a member of the literary editorial staff of the postQD ~~B.,q~qr,~.l}~. Judged against the poets of his time, Braithwaite comes off well. Like Phillis Wheatley, he conformed to the forms, styles and poetic conventions of his day. Hence, one rarely gets a hint, from reading Braithwaite's poetry, that he is Black. Fenton Johnson, James Weldon observed, wrote poetry expressing Black 73 �cultural and historical studies, resulted from this work. During the same period, Black literary activity flourished despite the fact that, at times, Black unemployment reached ~ up to fifty-six percent. Most of the Renaissance poets and fiction writers continued publishing, as did the historians and social critics (DuBois, Charles Johnson, Locke, Benjamin G. Brawley, and others). A new Black critic, J. Saunders Redding, had written a critical study in 1936. And in 1~41, poet-scholar Sterling Brown collaborated with Arthur P. Davis and Ulysses Lee on monumental work The Negro Caravan--the most ambitious 1 anthology of Black literature yet published. Another pub0... lishing landmark of the period was The Poetry of the American Negro (Hughes an,d Bontemps, 1949). Both works carried earlier In~~ yer as well as contemporary poets. ~ -ween 1930 and· 1960"another group of poets, many of them teenagers at the close of the Harlem Renaissance,~ began to publish. In addition to Margaret Walker, Hayden and Gwendolyn Brooks, new names included Melvin Tolson, Margaret Danner, Dudley Randall (publisher of Broadside Press), Samuel Allen (also Paul Vesey), Frank Marshall Davis, Ray Durem, Owen Dodson, James Emanuel, Bruce McM. Wright, Alfred Duckett, Myron O'Higgins (who colloborated with Hayden on a 1948 booklet of poems), M. Carl Holman, Russell Atkins (founder of Freelance in 1950), Donald Jeffrey Hayes, Richard Wright (who also wrote poetry), John Henrik Clarke (:- editor of Ereed2W1g:I,§.), Lance Jeffers, Naomi Long Madgett, Gloria c. 98 Oden, Zack Gilbert, Hoyt Fuller �"disillusionment and bitterness." His "note of fatalistic despair" was "so foreign to any philosophy of life the Negro in America. had ever preached or practiced." (The observation was not entirely correct; for an examination of Black folk literature [the spirituals and bluesJ will reveal shades of Fenton Johnson's philosophy.) Johnson, who was also a jour- nalist, published three volumes of poetry between 1912 and 1916. His work appeared in the anthology Others and in Poetry ·• · Other Black poets writing and publishing in the first two decades of this century were James David Corruthers, ' Leslie Pinckney Hill, Georgia Douglas Johnson, Alice Dunbar Nelson and Angelina Weld GrimkJ. Social and artistic revolt dominated the early years of this century--culminating in what has come to be known as the "Roaring Twenties" or the "Jazz Age." The white dialect writers of the nineteenth century had passed from the scene but there appeared yet another, more insidious, brand of stereotypical writing among whites: 1\ II that dealing with the • Black noble savage allegedly untainted by the decadent systems and machines of the \kstern world. This kind of writing (no doubt a continuation of some of the ideas in Jack London's work, e.g., The Call of the Wild, 1903) stemmed from the rediscovery of the Black man as a subject for realistic fiction and drama. Writers either sensationalized the under- neath of Black life or revived the latent white notions of 74 �(editor of Negro Digest/Black World) and Lerone Bennet Jr. (historian ). pre o.t1cl Many of these~post World War II poets were writing during the Renaissance but did not publish or achieve recognition at that time. Black poets writing before the sixties were recorded in Rosey Pool's Beyond the Blues (1962) -and Arna Bontemps• American Negro Poetry (1963). Some themes in Black Poetry of the post-Renaissance period are: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. Lynching Social injustice (discrimination, segregation, job bias) Paradoxes in Christianity The Black working-class man War Communism, Socialism, class struggle and other "le.ft II movements Black .Music (BeBop, Jazz, Blues, etc.) Black stamina and endurance Problems or the Black veteran Comparisons of Racism and bigotry abroad with similar situations in the u.s. Southern or rural Black life Black urban life Black women, especially mothers Patriotism Greek and Roman mythology and culture Racial slurs, stigmas and nicknames Black historical figures Academic pursuits Slavery Religion Poverty Status-climbing Many or these themes and preoccupations closely parallel political developments and pressures of the period. And. , Mt ove~o.LL ,are ltheyt.._too removed from the Ahistorical concerns of Black '• poets whom, Hayden notes, are "traditionally associated with protest." Nor are . these themes remote to the contemporary 99 �perspective. The bibliography provides more listing and direction for students wanting to study this period in depth. BLACK POETS OF THE HARLEM RENAISSANCE Although folk poetry had long been a spine of Black ' creative life and Black poets had endeavored in the English literary tradition since the middle of the eighteenth century, Black Poetry came officially and authentically of age during the Harlem Renaissance. Sometimes called the New Negro Movement, the Negro Awakening or the Black Renaissance, this period ran the length of the decade of the ·l92Ofs and er shed with the stock market. As was the case with their predecessors, Black poets of the Renaissance employed an exciting variety of styles, themes, techniques, and were arrayed along a diverse scale of ideologies ·with debatable achievements and successes. Students of the Renaissance usually concentrate on five figures--Claude McKay, Countee Cullen, Langston Hughes, James Weldon Johnson and Jean Toomer--although a number of lesser known writers showed great gifts and powers in their works. At least two of the lesser known writers--Arna Bontemps and Sterling Brown--deserve close attention. Other youthful voices who contributed to this exciting decade were Waring Cuney, Frank Horne, Gwendolyn B_e nnett and Helene Johnson. 77 �Black Poetry. For the student will note that while some of today's poets are not always well-read in either their own or the general literary tradition, they are usually politically-charged and often·relentlessly cynical in their appraisal of American society. Indeed, the contemporary poetry (which will only be alluded to here) ties all the loose ends of Black Poetry in to one amalgamating knot: A knot of stresses and twistings which constitute, in the words of Jane Cortez, Festivals and Funerals. For it is in the contemporary period that more poets than ever before are writing, publishing, and establishing unprecedented worldwide . recognition and distribution. , (\Y\l'tlS) If Alain Locke could observe~that the Renaissance movement saw Black poets working as a grouphood, then an updated observation of Locke's reaction would acknowledge that Black poets are influencing each other before our very eyesJ--·o n television, on recordings, tapes, through a proliferation of printed collections and anthologies, via correspondence, through literary competition, at conferences and workshops, and through numerous new journals and other periodicals. The New Black Poetry movement--and its related ideological and aesthetical spin~outs--is, Hayden notes, one of the most "significant" developments of the contemporary era. The poets are not in agreement on the questions related to the Black aesthetic, to whom they (should?) direct their works, the use of racial consciousness, or the criteria !'or a "Black" poem. But most of them 1re discussing and examining these 100 �~-- Of the sevenkwriters, only Cullen was ,born in New York City and(as the adopted son of a minister) he was raised "in the conservative atmosphere of a Methodist parsonage." The other writers came from various other parts of the southern, eastern and midwestern United States. Not only were the poets drawn to Harlem--the Black capitol of the world at the time-but so were the musicians, painters, dramatists, cinematographers , dancers, singers and scholars. Added to this atmosphere of creativity and scholarship--in New York and ' other urban areas--was the presence of World War I veterans. The veterans came home with a new sense of assurance and conf'idence after having been genuinely received by other nationalities and races abroad. So) r , like the works of their white counterparts, much of the writings of Black poets and fictionists were a reflection of the war and post-war optimism. This spirit--which did not anticipate the Great Depression of the thirties--was one of jubilance and indulgence. Tbo white population, especially the writers, rediscovered Blacks and Blacks rediscovered themselves. Critic James Emanuel. notes that many whites went to Harlem to forget the war and "engage their new Freudian awareness." Students will see that many Black Poets unwittingly aided in the etching of the "new" stereotype of the "pre-civilized" primordial Black American/African. In most of the poets there is a romanticization of African--a depiction of a mood quite foreign to the contemporary realities of Harlem, 78 �issues. James Baldwin (novelist, essayist, playwright), who succeeded Wright as the leading Black literary lion, has said that any Black man in the least perceptive "must be constantly on the verge of insanity." Indeed, LeRoi Jones (now Imamu Amiri Baraka, and an acknowledged leader of the New Black Poetry movement) appeared in the mid and late sixties as the embodiment of Baldwin's revelation. Like Baraka, many of the new Black poets "rage" in scalding lyrics that denounce American moral bankruptcy, send broadsides against "Uncle Toms" and the Black middleclass, and perform their poetry with a verbal vitality that rivals the old time preachers. More than ever before, Black poets are writing their poems to be read aloud--to move audiences to action. All contemporar Black poets, however, cannot be loosely lumped into the pattern ascribed to Baraka (who is an enigmatic, complex and multi-talented man). Indeed, many of the new poets align themselves with neutral writers, the "mainstream" of white poetry, "third world" activities 1 and other political, religious or ethnic co.M ·p-;s., ·· . One · t'lewt1nd important factor in the new poetry is the$Ttw,+,e of~emerging African nations. Black Americans and Black Africans now fraternize in great numbers. Svc;k <U1 ~.. VJ,~ ..' " · h~S provided both subject matter and energy for the new poetry. Like the Beat poets of the fifties, many Black poets submerge themselves in everything from the occult to Eastern mysticism to private imagery 101 �Washington, D.C., Philadelphia or Detroit. The formalist poets--McKay, Cullen (a great admirer of Keats) and, to some extent, Toomer-- worked in the traditional s forms and styles. All three wrote sonnets with McKay achieving the most force and notoriety in this form. A native of Jamaica, McKay published his first volume of poetry in the island dialect when he was 20 years old. In 1920 he published a volume in England (Spring in New Hampshire), and his first bqok in the U.S. was Harlem Shadows (1922). Johnson called McKay the "most powerf'ul voice" of the "post-war group." And critics have continued to agree with Johnson's 1922 assessment that McKay "was preeminently the poet of rebellion." Active in the general literary life of New York, McKay was an editor ' of Liberator magazine, rubbed shoulderi~amous persons of the day (W.E.B. DuBois, George Bernard Shaw, Isadora Duncan, H.G. Wells, etc.), and wrote novels. He also traveled widely as did most of the other poets. Cullen, a devout "formalist" in his personal life and writings, published his first volume of' poetry (Color) in 192.5 but resented the stigma of being called a "IJegro" poet. In doing so, he was anticipating the clash of ideology and aesthetics which would take place in the 1960's. During this later debate over the significance of race in the poet's life and work, Robert Hayden would take a stand similar to that of Cullen's. Cullen, a teacher observed, may have written the "first rime royals in f\.merica. 79 11 Indeed Cullen �and symbolism.. In general, however, the protest of earlier ~ulie,rt times continues to be ,.;. ; and the devices and referents are more often folk or cultural. Prevailing themes of con- temporary Black Poetry include: l. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. Black Music (including instruments and salutes to musicians themselves) Religion: Islam, Bahai, Voodoo, African ancestor cult, Christianity War Interracial dating and marriage Art (Black art, especially) Sensuality Violence Urban life Rural life Social injustice (denouncements of racism, colonialism, Imperialism, capitalism, etc.) Assessment of the "system," the "establishment, 11 etc. Love (especially among Black men .and women) Black pride (self-development, community development) Africa (names, places, dates, heroes) Christianity {support and satire) Whiteness as evil. Blackness· as good Attacks upon hypocrisy and artificial self-restraint: upon those who are not "for real 11 Forecast of doom (for the Western World; America especially) Astrology, numerology, ancient knowledge Black Nationalism, Pan-Africanism, Negritude, Soul, etc. Black History Rejection of drugs, alcohol and other so-called indications of Western 11 decadence 11 The list could go on ad infinitum. However, the student must respect the individuality of the poets and treat their works as separate flashes of power and creativity within the vast Web of the Black Experience. Much of the new poetry is avail- able in the numerous new anthologies, some of which are The New Black Poetry (Major, 1969), Black Fire {Jones and Neal, 1970), The Black Poets (R~nd.al~ 197J), New Black Voices 102 �of wrote in all4the most difficult--and outdated--\lestern forms: • heroic couplets, four-stress couplets, Spenserian stanzas, etc. Many critics, however, have consistently misjudged Cullen's achievement in that they are often too blinded by his formal style and techniques. In "Heritage," for e.xample, he employs all the conventions and stereotypical treatment of Africa and the Black past; but the student must look for deeper meanings and double entendres. He must see through the consciously formal style to the dilemma of the Black intellectual caught in the midst of the failures of Reconstruction, the frustrating promise of the period and his personal credo. Cullen's The Ballad of the Brown Girl (1927), an anthology he edited (Caroling Dusk, 1927) and Copper Sun (1929) are further indication of his discipline, power and variety. Like other Renaissance poets, he won numerous awards and citations for his poetry. Cullen also wrote The Black Christ (1929) while he was in Paris on a Guggenheim Fellowship. Toomer, a mixture of seven racial strands and a student of the occult and esoteric thought, is being revived today (in some quarters) as the towering genius of the Harlem Awakening. Robert Bone ( ~ We/i:J;!D lioJUlJ ~ .Aw.e.l!j ~) said Toomer was the only Black poet who participated on an "equal" plane with the major writers of the era. His repu- tation rests almost solely on a single book, Cane, published in 1923. It was met by a lukewarm reception among members of the critical establishment, but avant-garde writers and 80 �/ I) t I, (Chapman, 1972) and The Poetry of Black America (Adoff, 1973). Today's poets have inherited the psychosocial ambivalences and complexes of America, seen the almost constant economic depression among Black masses, witnessed America's persistent lynch-vogue and recurring riots, and felt the $a.Ma. alienation and rejection known to their forefathers. >1he»,~a.t ~any observers say A.the "break-away II strand in new Black America--and consequently in the New Black Poetry--was to be expected. Whatever the student's conclusions, it is evident Black Poetry is now an indelible part of man's literature. 103 �critics praised the book. Cane is a patchwork of poems, stories, and at least one play. The poems interlace the stories which are usually preceded b~ poetic epigrams. Toomer is concerned with Black religious zealousness, sexuality, agrarianism and oppression, primarily in the south (Georgia) but in urban centers as well. Toomer's work is complex and has to be read several times before it can . be fully understood and appreciated. Like most of the poetry of the Renaissance, his is the work of a brilliant intellect sometimes intimidated by white condescension and other times by Black indifference. Also, like the other writings, it sees Black hope in the strength of Black common folk. Hughes, Bontemps, Johnson, and Brown, all worked .more blatantly with folk themes and idioms. Toomer exploited the , Black mass mind in bis work; but be was essentially an observer. poets. Hughes, Bontemps, Johnson, and Brown are true folk But each of the three men also experimented with, and sustained an output of, diverse "literary forms" of poetry. Hughes, especially, will remain known--as will Dunbar-as the poet of Black folk life and language. Hughes recorded the Black mood and character like no writer before or after him. In "The Negro Speaks of Rivers~ Hughes signaled spiritual '- unity of the Black world. Coming as it did in 1919, the poem is often seen as the official opening of the Renaissance. Hughes wrote in every important literary genre and even invented some. His ltfeary Blues (1926) firmly established 81 �him as a poet of tremendous talent and potential. Con- sidered a major American writer, Hughes would be the only Renaissance figure to stay afloat and prominent up to the tumultous sixties. In his poetry, Hughes advances three primary concerns: the wedding of Black music and poetry, racial affirmation and pride, and social protest. His first volume, as well as Fine Clothes to the Jew (1927), vibrantly illustrate the three themes. Johnson's "Lift Every Voice and Sing" (1900, with music by his brother, J. Rosamond) was being "sung generally by the colored people throughout the country" by the time of the Renaissance. The song is widely regarded as the Black American national anthem. However, Johnson's work as NAACP field secretary, diplomat, lawyer and social historian, often , dwarfed his efforts as a poet. A great deal of his importance rests on The Book of American Negro Poetry (1922), the first such anthology, in which he not only introduced the poetry, but noted the most important Elack contributions to American culture. He published two volumes of poetry during the Renaissance: God's Trombones (1927) and St. Peter Relates an Incident (1930). In addition, he co-edited with his brother two collections of spirituals. Johnson also wrote lyrics for popular songs and musicals and has been called the true "renaissance" man. 'fh11J , the student will want ~ to look at the conposite man to understand the implications and motivations behind his poetry. Arna Bontemps, who did not publish a volume of poetry 82 �f/ during the Harlem Awakening, had individual poems appearing regularly in Crisis, Opportunity and other magazines of the period. He also won several prizes. As anthologis~, poet, critic, historian, librarian, and writer of children's books, his broad vision and endeavors inform his poetry with both colloquial and universal concerns. Brown also published in the magazines and periodicals of the period. involvement with seen in poems like His intense the folk idioms and themes can be 11 0dyssey of Big Boy," "Southern Road," "Memphis Blues" and "Long Gone." Though there is no single thematic or stylistic thread tying the poets of the Renaissance together, it is clear that they generally knew each other and were tremendously aware of the importance of their combi'ned and specific undertakings •. The student must recognize that there is no monolithic pattern in the works--and approach the diversity and achievements accordingly. � 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_46 Title A name given to the resource Drumvoices: The Mission of Afro-American Poetry: A Critical History, typed partial manuscript, p. 72-83 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. Description An account of the resource Drumvoices: The Mission of Afro-American Poetry: A Critical History, typed partial manuscript, p. 72-83. Pages 75-76 are missing. https://digitallis.isg.siue.edu/files/original/de2f56106a81ae4463b421983844115c.pdf aa3c9a7f05a4f4280b428f7aa8f2afae PDF Text Text .,. . BLACK POETRY OF THE POST-RENAISSANCE AND CONTEMPORARY PERIODS The psychological, social, political and economic issues that confronted Blacks after the Civil War and Reconstruction. persi-sTed through the Harlem Awakening. The collapse of the American economy in 1929 signaled, also 1 the collapse of white patronization of Black artists. However, several of the budding institutions)publications and social undertakings-begun before, during and after the Renaissance--have lasted up to this very day. And while the primary thrust of Black writing during the twenties was cultural reclamation and racial affirmation, the literature since that time has been dominated by variants on the theme of sociaJ/AA l1!9e~\hlflOS1; writings l~l 'inJ-uilu· . of the Post-Renaissance and Contemporary period~ protest is the most salient feature.~ 1,his factor, ~ ~ coupled with the appearance of new Black academic critics,~~~t off literary debates that still reverberate in Black letters. The two most vocal positions are l) or art remain free of overt 11 that Black literature protest 11 --thus avoiding "restrictions" which protest imposes on the creativity; and 2) that the Black artist's continuing responsibility is to engage in protest, to forge his work into weapons of liberation. These two views of the Black artist have always shadowed the developing Black literature. critical 11 But it was not until the emergence of a Black establishment 11 that the views received widespread attention or registered great influence. 96 At this writing, �I , • the issue of the writer's social responsibility constitutes one of the most vigorous on-going debates in the history of Black American literature.-----.... , fbe two major living Black • poets, Gwendolyn Brooks and Robert Hayden, are at sharp and critical odds on this particular issue. Hayden bas refused to place conscious racial concerns over the craft of poetry, holding that many of the new Black poets are minor versifiers with political ambitions. Miss Brooks, who stepped into the middle of the Black Poetry Movement of the late sixties, has shifted to the "Black first., poet second" position and holds the younger writers in high esteem. She noted that if she had died before she was fifty., she would have "died a Negro faction." In modern history., these debates have taken place in the midst., or on the heels, of treme~dous successes on the parts of Black writers. ¥et while the important Renaissance writers were prize-winners., it was not until the publication of Richard WrightJs novel.,Native Son., in 1940, that a Black writer received attention on par with the best white writers of his day. Wright's achievement was followed two years later by Margaret Walker's (Yale Poetry Prize for For My People), ten years later by Gwendolyn Brooks' (Pulitzer Prize for Annie Allen., poetry), and twelve years later by Ralph Ellison's (National Book Award, Invisible Man). Many of the Black writers of the 1930-1945 period sustained themselves by working for the Federal Writers' Project of the WPA. Some .:>f their own writings., as well as important 97 �cultural and historical studies, resulted from this work. During the same period, Black literary activity flourished despite the fact that, at times, ~lack unemployment reached up to fifty-six percent. Most of the Renaissance poets and fiction writers continued publishing, as did the historians and social critics (DuBois, Charles Johnson, Locke, Benjamin G. Brawley, and others). A new Black critic, J. Saunders Redding, had written a critical study in 1936. And in 1~41, poet-scholar Sterling Brown collaborated with Arthur P. Davis and Ulysses Lee on 0.:. monumental work, The Negro Caravan--the most ambitious anthology of Black literature yet published. Another pub- lishing landmark of the period was The Poetry of the American Negro (Hughes an.d Bontemps, 194 9). Both works carried earlie,r In-~ yer as well as contemporary poets. ~ween 1930 and· 1960Aanother group of poets, many of them teenagers at the close of the Harlem Renaissance, ~ , began to publish. In addition to Margaret Walker, Hayden and Gwendolyn Brooks, new names included Melvin Tolson, Margaret Danner, Dudley Randall (publisher of Broadside Press), Samuel Allen (also Paul Vesey), Frank :Marshall Davis, Ray Durem, Owen Dodson, James Emanuel, Bruce McM. Wright, Alfred Duckett, Myron O•Higgins (who colloborated with Hayden on a 1948 booklet of poems), M. Carl Holman, Russell Atkins (founder of Freelance in 1950), Donald Jef:frey Hayes, Richard Wright (who also wrote poetry), John Henrik Clarke(~ editor of ;EreeqQmk:!a~), Lance Je:ffers, Naomi Long Madgett , Gloria C. Oden, Zack Gilbert, Hoyt Fuller 98 �(editor of Negro Digest/Black World) and Lerone Bennet Jr. (historian ). pre o.rid. Many of these~post World War II poets were writing during the Renaissance but did not puhlish or achieve recognition at that time. Black poets writing before the sixties were recorded in Rosey Pool's Beyond the Blues (1962) -and Arna Bontemps• American Negro Poetry (1963). Some themes in Black Poetry of the post-Renaissance period are: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. ll. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20 .. 21. 22. Lynching Social injustice (discrimination, segregation, job bias) Paradoxes in Christianity The Black working-class man War Communism, Socialism, class struggle and other "left II movements Black ,Music (BeBop, Jazz, Blues, etc.) Black stamina and endurance Problems of the Black veteran Comparisons of Racism and bigotry abroad with similar situations in the U.S. Southern or rural Black life Black urban life Black women, especially mothers Patriotism Greek and Roman mythology and culture Racial slurs, stigmas and nicknames Black historical figures Academic pursuits Slavery Religion Poverty Status-climbing Many of these themes and preoccupations closely parallel political developments and pressures of the period. And. , Mt ove~atL ,are lthey};lioo removed from the "historical concerns of Black '• poets whom, Hayden notes, are "traditionally associated with protest." Nor are . these themes remote to the contemporary 99 �Black Poetry. For the student will note that while some of today's poets are not always well-read in either their own or the general literary tradition, they are usually politically-charged and often'relentlessly cynical in their appraisal of American society. Indeed, the contemporary poetry (which will only be alluded to here) ties all the loose ends of Black Poetry in to one amalgamating knot: A knot of stresses and twistings which constitute, in the words of Jane Cortez, Festivals and Funerals. For it is in the contemporary period that more poets than ever before are writing, publishing, and establishing unprecedented worldwide . recognition and distribution. . ('"r-tis) If Alain Locke could observe~that the Renaissance movement saw Black poets working as a grouphood, then an updated observation of Locke's reaction would acknowledge that Black poets are ini'luencing each other before our very eyes J--·o n television, on recordings, tapes, through a proliferation of printed collections and anthologies, via correspondence, through literary competition, at conferences and workshops, and through numerous new journals and other periodicals. The New Black Poetry movement--and its related ideological and aesthetical spin~outs--is, Hayden notes, one of the most "significant" developments of the contemporary era. The poets are not in agreement on the questions related to the Black aesthetic, to whom they (should?) direct their works, the use of racial consciousness, or the criteria for a "Black" poem. But most of them 1re discussing and examining these 100 �issues. James Baldwin (novelist, essayist, playwright), who succeeded Wright as the leading Black literary lion, has said that any Black man in the least perceptive "must be constantly on the verge of insanity." Indeed, LeRoi Jones (now Imamu Amiri Baraka, and an acknowledged leader of the New Black Poetry movement) appeared in the mid and late sixties as the embodiment of Baldwin's revelation. Like Baraka, many of the new Black poets "rage" in scalding lyrics that denounce American moral bankruptcy, send broadsides against "Uncle Toms" and the Black middleclass, and perform their poetry with a verbal vitality that rivals the old time preachers. More than ever before, Black poets are writing their poems to be read aloud--to move audiences to action. All contemporar Black poets, however, cannot be loosely lumped into the pattern ascribed to Baraka (who is an enigmatic, complex and multi-talented man). Indeed, many of the new poets align themselves with neutral writers, the "mainstream" of white poetry, "third world" acti vi ties 1 and other political, religious or ethnic co.Mp-;$•' · One · neiv and important factor in the new poetry is the sr..,-,,+e, of,.._ emerging ~African nations. Black Americans and Black Africans now fraternize in great numbers. S~k <U1 ~h1.11,~ . ' ,. . _ · hetS provided both subject matter and energy for the new poetry. Like the Beat poets of the fifties, many Black poets submerge themselves in everything from the occult to Eastern mysticism to private imagery 101 �and symbolism,. In general, however, the protest of earlier ~\llie,rt times continues to be /\ ; and the devices and referents are more often folk or cultural. Prevailing themes of con- temporary Black Poetry include: l. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. Black Music (including instruments and salutes to musicians themselves) Religion: Islam, Bahai, Voodoo, African ancestor cult, Christianity War Interracial dating and marriage Art (Black art, especially) Sensuality Violence Urban life Rural life Social injustice (denouncements of racism, colonialism, Imperialism, capitalism, etc.) Assessment of the "system, 11 the "establishment, 11 etc. Love (especially among Black men and women) Black pride (self-development, community development) Africa (names, places, dates, heroes) Christianity (support and satire) Whiteness as evil Blackness as good Attacks upon hypocrisy and artificial self-restraint: upon those who are not "for real" Forecast of doom (for the Western World; America especially) Astrology, numerology, ancient knowledge Black Nationalism, Pan-Africanism, Negritude, Soul, etc. Black History Rejection of drugs, alcohol and other so-called indications of Western "decadence" The list could go on ad infinitum. However, the student must respect the individuality of the poets and treat their works as separate flashes of power and creativity within the vast Web of the Black Experience. Much of the new poetry is avail- able in the numerous new anthologies, some of which are The New Black Poetry (Major, 1969), Black Fire (Jones and Neal, 1970), The Black Poets (RPndalL, 197J), New Black Voices 102 �I II , I, (Chapman, 1972) and The Poetry of Black America (Adoff, 1973). Today's poets have inherited the psychosocial ambivalences and complexes of America, seen the almost constant economic depression among Black masses, witnessed America's persistent lynch-vogue and recurring riots, and .felt the ~o.Me I '·· alienation and rejection known to their forefathers. >1hen,itttLt ~any observers sayAthe "break-away" strand in new Black America--and consequently in the New Black Poetry--was to be expected. Whatever the student's conclusions, it is evident Black Poetry is now an indelible part o.f man's literature. 103 � 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_47 Title A name given to the resource Drumvoices: The Mission of Afro-American Poetry: A Critical History, typed partial manuscript, p. 96-103 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/839134654590aa228d96d64ebb17ed52.pdf 1b88eb0395861cd3ee34f04d56678e0e PDF Text Text III EXPLORING BLACK POETRY: FORM AND MEANING There are many exciting and rewarding ways to pursue Black Poetry inside and outside of the classroom. However, the student must remember that he is studying "Black" Poetry and not simply a Black imitation of European or American poetry. This caution is given because students, steeped in the Western literary tradition, often recognize only those superficial similarities between the Black Poetry and the white writing traditions which dominate literature. The problem is aggravated by our knowledge that the Black poet is sometimes at odds with himself as he grapples with the very language of those whom he deems his oppressors. Then there is the anachronism of a Phillis Wheatley or a Jupiter Hammon--Black poets removed from the daily brutality of plantation slavery. Additionally, there is Paul Laurence Dunbar who resented his "curious" fame as a writer of dialect poetry. Equally complicating is the case of the brilliant Countee Cullen who did not want to be known as simply a "Negro" poet, or that of contemporary poet Robert Hayden who feels the Black poet should not be limited to "racial utterances" or haye . his work judged by standards other than those applied to other poets. Ironically, Cullen and Hayden (despite their pronouncements) write with a racial pitch and consciousness seldom seen in any Black poetry. So it appears that, with rare exceptions, the Black poet exhibits 104 �' I a racial consciousness regardless of what he "says." When he does not display this consciousness or predicament directly, he alludes to it in his fight and fire. For example, while Dunbar's "Sympathy" makes no definite reference to Blacks, slavery or social injustice, it is clear--after we know who wrote the poem--that the "caged bird" is symbolic of Black people. McKayJs two sonnets follow a similar pattern. Neither poem mentions race, but their titles ("The Lynching" and "If We Must Die") have much contextual relevance for us. The foregoing observations lead us naturally to a consideration of theme, structure and meanin5 in Black Poetry. In any poetry the three components are inseparable. But throughout history, discussions of them--which is most important, and so on--have sometimes occupied as much space as the poetry itself . But Black Poetry is not only a fludity of theme, structure and meaning; it is also interdependently associated with the psychological, social, political and religious attitudes, forms and manners ·or the Black Experience . Certain themes in Black Poetry are recurring because the plight of Blacks in America has not been radically altered over the past 350 years. Social alienation, physical and psychological aggression, cultural and physical rape, general exploitation and miscegnation--all continue to arouse, enrage, anger and embitter the Black poet. Running concurrent to themes caused by these stresses are those dealing with every- 105 �thing from Black invincibility to love and religious devotion. More often than not, the Black poet who sits down to write is not in the quiet, protected confines provided by grants-inaid. Though some of the poets receive financial assistance, most are without the funds that allow for what Hart Crane called "creative leisure." While there is much love and joy poetry, a great deal of contemplative and philosophical poetry, the dominant thrusts in Black Poetry are cultural reclamation and affirmation, indignation and protest The student will want to ask himself the following questions on Themes in Black Poetry: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8 .. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. When and how is anger a theme? How does violence appear as a theme? Why and in what way does pride become a theme? How is religion used thematically? When do the poems stem from "Blackness II or "Racial Consciousness 11 ? What are the dominant themes in the Spirituals? What are the dominant themes in the Folk Seculars? What are the dominant themes in the Black Poetry of the 18th and 19th centuries? What are the dominant themes in the Black Poetry of the Harlem Renaissance? How and when does slavery -become a theme? In what way does lynching become a theme? What are the important symbols that carry themes in Black Poetry? What are the secondary symbols? What are the differences between themes in Folk and Literary Poetry? What thematic differences exist among poets of the Harlem Renaissance? What themes dominate dialect poetry? Structure {physical organization of a poem) in Black Poetry is inextricably tied to theme and meaning and allows the student to sample the poets' rich diversity and experimentation. We observed earlier that Black poets have written 106 , �in practically every Western poetic form, discarded some, revived still others and invented a few (Gwendolyn Brooks, for example, invented the sonnet-ballad). Essentially, however, the early song form (which allowed for leader-audience exchange and intermingling) persists (in some variation) up to this very day. The student will want to consult handbooks to literature and poetry in order to become familiar with names of poetic devices and techniques. (For further dis- cussion of technique in Black Poetry, see bibliography.) Obviously, structure, since it carries the theme and the meaning, is very important . In fact, a failure to adhere to the demands and nuances of structure can often abort the oral reading and,ultimately, the meaning of the poem. Students should read the poems aloud to themselves, participate vigor- , ously in classroom readings and ask questions on structure at every opportunity . In this way, the demands of the structure (which in Black Poetry is often akin to that of a musical score or chart) can be met and explored. dialect poems, a ballad form or structure is used. In many The poets knew the ballad allowed them the flexibility to express themselves musically; but it was also familiar to the general American reading or listening public. In this case, a Western written art form and a Black oral art form were combined to form a new poetic vehicle . (The ballad in America is derived primarily from Irish and Scottish poetry via immigrants . ) We said earlier that the Spirituals and blues - 107 �are structural cousins in that they both employ the recurring leading line and iteration (response). Since the blues were written and sung by individuals and the Spirituals developed and rendered by groups, their structural differences reflect their particular needs or aims. for syncopation However, both forms allow (uneven rhythm) and spontaniety (beats between accents). Black dialect and literary poetry also absorbed these exciting forms and improved on them. For example, Dunbar's continual use of Jump back, honey, jump back, Campbell's refraining Ring, my bawnjer, ringl and DuBois' relentless I am the smoke king, I am black. --all aid in organizing and stabilizing sound (developing rhythm) but, like the spirituals and secular folk songs, they yield to added comment, shortened or lengthened sounds, additional beats or repetition and unexpected starts or stops. Fittingly, all three poems have the word 11 song 11 in their titles. Such a pattern prevails throughout Black Poetry, whether or not it is in dialect. That Pass in the Night, DunbarJs "We wear the Mask, 11 11 "Ships and "Sympathy" are built on the call .and response pattern--but each one allows for additional repetition and the rich spontaniety and surprises so akin to Black Music and speech. 108 �Even the earlier poets, deeply influenced in their writings by literary or hymn structure\ chose the chordal ~ pattern--the musical format. Wheatley's eulogy ~ This can be seen in Phillis "On the Death of the Rev. Mr. Whitefield, 1770, 11 wherein she builds power (incremental line power) to the crecendo by repeating the phrase "Take him, ••• ! 11 In examining structure in the poetry, the student will want to consider several questions. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. Some of them are: What are the dominant structures in Black Poetry? What dictates structure in Black Poetry? In what ways is structure related to theme and meaning? Does structure take precedent over theme and meaning in Black Poetry? How many different types- of structures can you find in Black Poetry? What are the structural differences between the Blues and the Spirituals? What are the structural differences between the folk poetry and the literary poetry? How does the structure affect or hinder understanding of the poem? What is "Black" or "African" about the structure of Black Poetry? -#le. What ingredients in~structure of Black Poetry are European or American? How does McKay's or Cullen's use of the sonnet make this Italian-English form 11 Black 11 ? How do structures operate to influence the graphic nature of the poem? How does structure in pre-twentieth Black Poetry differ from that of the Harlem Renaissance? What are the structural similarities between the written poetic tradition and the contemporary Black song? Meaning is locked into the other two components. For one cannot ascertain meaning in Black Poetry without first reading the poem carefully and coming to grip with its themes. Black Americans possess a double vision which allows them to 109 �~~ss themselves and whites--perhaps even to laugh or cry at the situation--while they go about their day-to-day chores. In the Black artist, this vision is amplified by his particular insights and the craft in which he expresses himself. The Black poet, writing in English, is oftentimes aware of his Black self and his white self. This is a complex pre- dicament which brings great strain to the poet and aggravates his on-going proble~ ~ But it is exciting--this almost con- stant state of limbo (p.f.)cullen, McKay, Toomer, Hayden)-because it gives him a view of himself and his white countrymen that is sometimes shocking both to whites and his own people. In the poem, the poet may exhibit his dilemma via anger, rage, love, accomadation, religious zealousness, hatred, violence, envy, coded language, sadism, iconoclasm, dreams, agnosticism, existentialism, hope, saturated Blackness, despair, metaphysicsor protest. Meaning, therefore, may be the most difficult of the three components. For while structure can be seen and the theme often appears in poem titles, meaning can be elusive, encoded, puzzling. Critics and students overlook profound meanings in Black Poetry because they expect meaning to be conveyed in the manner which traditional European or American written poetry has couched it (references to Greek and Roman mythology, etc.) It is true that Black Poetry uses arche- typal symbolism, allegory and narration. But these are usually set in the context of the general and specific Black Experiences. The student has to keep in mind the nature of 110 �the Black Experience. He ought to have a working knowledge of slavery, interracial vi~lence and fraternization, the problems Blacks confront in seeking employment, the negative images of Blacks in mass media, and Blacks' view, and modification, of Christianity. The student should also become acquainted with the various brands of English used by the Black poet and the linguistic interpretations the poets bring to their subjects. In folk poetry, the Black psyche expresses the love, joy and pain via the parables, aphorism{ fables, songs and t-- ditties in a phonological frame brought from Africa. African survivalismscan also be found in the wordings, idiomatic nuances, style and spirit. The student ought to be aware that spirituals often contained coded messages for leaders of the Underground Railroad; that folk songs often held calls for defiance, endurance and revolt--in such symbols and images as rainbows, rivers, lightening, howls, letters, trains, horses and other animals. Stories also carry morals-- but they are moral lessons for an enslaved or oppressed people: How does one "keep on keeping or/§0 Or "keep on gettin' up"? The ironies and paradoxes also come through in the written poetry where, for example, Benjamin Clark persistently asks A slave is what? and a ssails Christianity for enslaving a person who bas been ... bought, or stolen from himself, • • • Fot' so,-,,:Hd 1 pa.L-n-y pelf. 111 �One sees this double vision and cynicism in James M. Whitfield, who does not say America 1tis of thee, Sweet land of liberty ..... or 0 say can you see By the dawn's early light, •••• but America, it is to thee, Thou boasted land of liberty-It is to thee I raise my song, Thou land of blood, and crime, and wrong. Obviously, Whitfield was aware of American patriotism and the songs associated with it. But he chose to satirize a patriotic zealousness and a Democracy which overlooked and excluded large numbers of its citizens. Further indication of this dualism, this time with a Christian motif, is McKay's "The Lynching" in which the killing of a Black man is made analagous to the crucifixion of Christ. McKay, a converted Catholic, was well aware of the sentiment and guilt which this poem must have aroused in the consciences of Christians. As with theme and structure, then, the student will want to probe meaning in Black Poetry. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Some questions are: How does meaning work hand-in-hand with structure and theme in Black Poetry? What experiences contribute to meaning in specific poems? How does one know when one has gotten the meaning the poet intended? What are some of the broad keys to meaning in Black Poetry? Identify some double entendres in Black Poetry. What is the function and meaning of religion in Black P.oe.try? 112 �7"! 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14 . 1.5. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 2.5. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. How do sounds and rhythms convey meaning in Black Poetry? In your opinion, around what themes are the most meaningful poems written? What is the meaning of the Spirituals? What is the meaning of the Fo1k Seculars? How do Meanings differ among Black and other poets? What is the meaning of "Black" or "Blackness" in Black Poetry? What is the meaning of Africa in Black Poetry? What is the meaning of America in Black Poetry? What is the meaning of archetypal symbols (rivers, land, stars, etc.) in Black Poetry? What is the meaning of allegory ( le,ngthy storytelling) in Black Poetry? How is meaning hidden or -encoded in Black Poetry? Why is meaning hidden or encoded in Black Poetry?To/for whom does the Black poet write? Can the Black poet couch "Black" meaning in English? What is -t he nature of the Black poet 1 s language? Are there essential differences between the Black and white poets• languages? Does all Black Poetry contain both literal and figurative levels? Does Black Poetry demonstrate the inner-workings of the Black folk psyche? What is the Black world view? What is the Black poet's view of time, life and death? Does the Black poet believe in reincarnation? Is the Black poet an atheist? Is Black Poetry suicidal? D·oes despair play a big role in Black Poetry? What is the Black poet's view of love? Classroom and Research Activities Obviously, in asking and answering the preceding questions on theme, structure and meaning, the student will need to reinforce his inquiries and comments with in-class discussions and out-of-class research. We said earlier that students ought to pay close attention to Black popular culture. From course beginning to end, the student should avail himself of every opportunity to listen 113 �seriously to Black Music. of forms and concepts. This practice allows for saturation For music is the widest shared art form in the Black community and poetry is the written form closest to it. Therefore, the student must be prepared to look for musical implications and patterns in the poetry. This search will be made more rewarding and exciting if some of the following in-class activities are organized: l. 2. 3. 5. 6. 8 .. Ritual exercises--i.e., games utilizing voices, hand-clapping, foot-stomping, rhythmic instruments (tambourines, thumb pianos, triangles, rattles, maracas, harmonicas, etc.), gestures (dancing, etc.), and the call-and-response patterns. Use of the classroom as a listening laboratory where music is heard, discussed, imitated, etc. (this way students develop a 11f"eel" and "ear" for Black Music and phonology.) Dramatic readings from the dialect and literary poetry; this particular approach could involve all media--dance, music, slides, musical instruments, responding voices, etc. _ Also, other group projects involving panels, choruses, bands, classroom participation, films, tapes and records. One exciting kind of group or individual project is to study the written poetry in conjunction with the current Black popular song lyrics. The use of visual aids enhances most projects. There are numerous films and slide packages available through distributors of educational materials and other sources. Dance, Voice, ijusic or Social Science students taking ~lack Poetry classes can develop themes and projects that coincide with their on-going studies or interests: e.g., ''Dance in Black Poetry," "Black Poetry interpreted through Dance, 11 "Anger and Frustration in Black Poetry," "Black Poetry as an Extension of Black Music," . "The Black Poet's view of the Black Family," "Putting Black Poetry to Music," "The Singing of Black Poetry," "Black Poetry as .History," "Black Poetry and the Struggle for Freedom," etc • . Use of Black Poetry as a dramatic vehicle in which poems are organized around a larger idea or sequence 114 �of historical events. Here, interested students may want to put together a play from existing poetry. Countless other combinations and arrangements will open up for the student willing to think creatively and experiment . For example, many song writers and singers (notably Babs Gonzales, Isaac Hayes, Marvin Gaye, Roberta Flack, Curtis a.viJ Mayfield, Leon Thomas, Smokey "Bill" Robinson"- Nina Simone) possess a poetic versatility and richness which surpasses that of many literary poets. The student may want to tap this hitherto unexplored area for potential ~eseo.r,c,h pt' W\1'1ii'nj {>i"o..t~c.U• Additionally, there are numerous field language projects which will allow the student to pursue regional Black speech patterns,. using tape record~rs, notes, etc. Such material can be compared/contrasted to the written poetry and make for an exciting report which should be shared with the class. Collecting and contrasting of contemporary oral poetry IS and language~always good since researchers and classmates can make on-the-spot comparisons between the material being studied and that which is newly introduced. In conducting the out-of-class research, the student will find numerous resources (and some disappointments), depending on the library holdings, to guide him along the way. 1:h.e Back issues of A,;.--Crisis, 0 pp or tun it y, Black Orpheus and Negro Digest/Black World magazines (see bibliography for more listings) are often on microfilm or in their original forms. Reading of early Black �journals and newspapers help~one understand poetic temperament of the times. The student must remember that some ol:Jtiite newspapers and journals also published Black poetry. The out-of-class preparation should include an absorption of social history, literary criticism and biographies of the poets. We hinted above that students will often find their searches frustrated by unavailability of needed materials. In such cases; students may want to examine holdings of other libraries or archives in the area. Many state or local archives will have documented areas of Black literature. Although there may be problems at each turn, the persistent student can sometimes uncover a gold mine of information in the most unexpected places. One of these problems is that many libraries place Black literature in the same category as Social Sciences. Therefore, it is important to look beyond Humanities for the Poetry, criticism and commentary. But the student who is seriously bent on finding his materials and sources, may find, ~lso, that he has helped iron out some classification problems and "attitudes" at his campus or community library. As stated before, there are many ideas, topics and themes around which to organize a study of Black Poetry. for discussion and writing papers are: 1. 2. 3. 4* 5. Black Poetry of the Harlem Renaissance Black Poetry of the Post-Renaissance Black Women Poets The Black Poet as a Wanderer Blues influence in Black Poetry 116 Some topics �,l 1 I 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. Jazz influence in Black Poetry Black Poets of the Beat Movement Black Poetry and Pan-Africanism Black Poetry and Integration Black Poetry and Black History Church as a theme in Black Poetry Religion as a theme in Black Poetry The Verse Sermon as a Poetic Form The Ballad in Dialect Poetry Africa as an Image in Black Poetry Whiteness as a Symbol in Black Poetry Black Poetry of Colonial America Slavery as a theme in Black Poetry Lynching as a theme in Black Poetry Interracial association in Black Poetry Black Poet's view of America Love as a theme in Black Poetry Militancy in Black Poetry Violence in Black Poetry Freedom in Black Poetry Universal themes in Black Poetry Identity Crisis in Black Poetry Black Poetry as a galvanizing force for social action Black Dialect Poetry Black Speech in Black Poetry Structure in Modern Black Poetry Meaning in Black Poetry Pride in Black Poetry Soul in Modern Black Poetry Image of the Black Woman in Black Poetry Image of the Black Man in Black Poetry This list should bring about other associations for the student. For each topic contains several others, and the new ones call to mind still others, and so on. However, the student should involve himself deeply in Black creativity and thought so as · rl,e. l exi· t y, b readth and miss . i on of Bl ac k Poe t ry. t o perceive~comp 117 � 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_48 Title A name given to the resource Drumvoices: The Mission of Afro-American Poetry: A Critical History, typed partial manuscript, p. 104-117 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. 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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. 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. 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_52 Title A name given to the resource Copy of Drumvoices: The Mission of Afro-American Poetry: A Critical History, typed partial manuscript, p. 102-190 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.