https://digitallis.isg.siue.edu/files/original/e4eec4d0d314b40e9a48aeb44c15344b.pdf a0fbf1b49d8bb1faca52f47fd90374b3 PDF Text Text s & The Black arts Movement One ajor difference between the cu ltural/ polit c Fl '-' ~==-•, of the twenties and the sixties/seventies was location: the Renaissance I· rips literarily, if not always geo~ &r ~~i;f can graphically, in Harlem; but ••m111•-•••..,.mf\.successor~ North__, be found in ~ve~merican communlty with a substantial .._' • ~ r (.),Jt>.. l \ a.A,t;. ~ A,t Ld,~ If • B1ack , _ ' population.~To be sure, the cll'lture arrl political arms weddings interlocked. But suchA_ifl@e~,a~ieR of t h e Renaissance were, on 71 ha tJ6li.~ntered =~•-~ 1 . never r ... ~J'e) Black Poetry; but often "stars" of the New -1;~;;:::·it',;,... the J ilil!!III poets "outside II fl# their poetry. itllliillli"a?S.•-Iiiiimlr 0r, of "continpi ty,." "wholenes§" and ..-e,i' :Iii& 'iO' > ~t """',,,n.l:J'l,',,.H1c.c; the sta~"outside" topical and emotional stimuli "inside" what was indefensible as "poetry. 11 , 1, This AsnuJ meant t ~ t s had no connection whatever with a~literary &,~folk poetic tradition~ such. Instead f'theirs t' 0 •' JJ . Ju~~ /,.,t,. ~ was a tradition of immediacy, political urgency,,-rewspaper~i--ea±i~y, combined with high-shcool type punch-lining. 11 ~ This is not \is) not being written 4lllllil poetry"(of whatev er definition) was or that charlatans wer 0 always on the "take." There is much evidence to support the beli~f that dozens of these soothsayers were sinc e re and honest--~had 11 i1 y chosen what appeared to b e ~ " simp1;.sJ 11 and fastest II vehicle for expressing thoughts about " Revolution, 11 ,\ 11 Black llejti ve Go7sciousness" of their 1ilili~iji.'1~~",t';,. A\tiate.ls:am.,..~:s;~~:i:b~~oets-activists J:M,f.J µJ ~ ..!.. - -.. oj !,v,.C.~.tl giv )J. :'fiip.]l["ed two things: sometimes 1§~ r 1 ck vj,riters to~1 " /.,,.,,,., r,1,,,~,,. langtuage. · ·~ ~,.._liil-,i.;1;&..-@fll~t-i!"I~ ...,;,,, language was easier to ma ster \tniiti!!!ih that sincere expression, no; matter h ow poorly arranged, carry the d a ~ o e t r y . - c o uld / �insert pg 1 No , nothing remains the same . And my spirit~ reaches out to you my love without apologies without embarra s sment with only the thought that this is right for us that moving towards you is like touching leaves in autumn •••• .............. our minds and spirits interlocked like death . �2 the insi.. ncere versi ~iers more often than paving the way~not fell by the wayside in a short time, · rj~ke the Phoen:lx bir . mounters • more soa .r.-.awtl...iillil1191!1!111111!'!!!!~, a number the early phase-- ~~d. woodshe4,~~ became much better handler~ of 1the 'OAN,1 1UJIL~ t./J-44', (a._ f I late{/sixties Blzk lomrnunities all over America • 11 had bem abll Jhi,g turned up side down by police and I.Ws,~okesmet(~7Z.., of the Black nevolution . ,.j RM Young shock troopers like Carmichael, Brown, Charles ~oen, Ron Karenga, Huey Newton and ~ldridge Cleaver 1 II had al ready forced the "old time Black leadership to take a seat. Now, with father having destroyed son(Williams, Baldwin), the poets were free to declaim, proclaim and exhort . This trend alone was aqa1R0~ a shock to th~dition 2 t ·.,,--since it created a f~ood of polemicists and pamphlateers who ia JMnr;r ina+.ta£1sss would not discuss poetry in historical contexts. It ~ (J,{f(,fl-lfAJ,'t w ~ - by labeling i tsel~ .~'Bla~~_.:_./HiJ".,._,. L -d..l~ . ~d)/l,Udl.P5 '7U-' ~~o.~:~·,o·~ .J.,_ and renegoti1tin~ i s own 11 roots. "i;-n ~aaat sent~c."ft of the • • • f ~ J~ ~ ~ l ! \ ~ j.u~ , u ~I ~~ ; ~ew Black Poetry I\ 7a .___non-poetry or anti-poetry( in a ,J.i tera;1y c»":'TM~ ~ ~ conte.llrt) because)~ t tli d primarily on subtlety and k Ji I 8 ''c401 ii): references. Yet it remains to be seen what impact this stance in Ela.ck poetry 'Wi. 11 have on t/iiiiii' the literacy trends in Afro-Americ8'-• fBlyden Jackson ( Black Poetry in Americru,:, for example, beginA hms own discussion of the New Black Poetry by ;::{'analogy between the ~ buildinga+RPJ?;J~i:Siifi C:sii -~t-- ;;t. rise in ~ 1 eracy and the popularity of ag poetry. Stephen Henderson (Understanding the New Black Poetry) assures his readers that Black readers or listeners clearly 11 understand'P what their poets are saying as judges of Black aevthetical and are participating more and mora4"l?wi,bil. t Jg·r41 sf t J • qualities in the poetry and the poets• d e l i v e r i e s . - - - - - - - - - - - - - . J . �3 ~ i l e this cha pter will conclude with a few broad critical •• s observations, the,........, immediate aim is to continue the II t!),{:3 po~try • s developmen'l ~~/M "~~~ • oach• e r e are dozens o ~~ l.x/l~},114,1,(.JC.,J ffi .._ ~--lllilll•~~examine • • _._...,,,..,.,.'" ' ,/4 1~ .// to the New Black Poetry. One theme, structure and saturat j on(Henderson)' ,-.... or its several typestGarolyn .Hodgers, eee bibliography). a 0 tarting \Gayle, Fuller with important names is another way; the Black Aes e 1 preach al e AA tLi,,./~ ~ :tie mine.. 'l'hen there is the magic of Black poetry(Baraka, 'f oure, ~~ Neaf/:)~ The music is also a favorite p:a.th\Stanley Crouch, Mi chael ~~ l,n"r' HerpeJN. One could go on and o~: but the poetry has been written and r one place to start is with ~ asts Jeno bieta11:gr M ~~ role in the new;;:;,;: · 2 31 ergence ,o, Qo..,;,"'"~"'lf•/New York.,.'11/1:#~ k,!;; : to 1 iOiitl"!tf'§iJJil bt 11 1 ua l y; but it did not, m @xv J:J... ?:i. iib played a key .. ~ as said e a rlier, play the key or only role.---CSI:eaiP.Ll:' 06h01 A,reas of the E a st(Phil a delphia, ~or~ b.... l.w..,r1 { Boston,~hing ton, D.c.) ~~ in the boon • .__ _ _ I Bl Midwest cent e rs were Cleveland, Chicago, lJetroit, l:!. a st and ~t. Louis, Kansas City, to name some. in the S o u t ~ ~ was :c·r.Mllllllllt ~ a 0 t. Louis- rtelated events also took place another "rising" in Atlanta, Nashville, Jackson, Baton Rouge, •r uskegee, Houston, and Toogaloo. The West added richly from Los Angeles, ~an Francisco i ay a r ea, 0acramento, and Seattle. Interweaving developmentsj!I/;{~ poetry were numerous Black Arts activities C:.-:~onnected to cultural or nationalist programs)looated a~settlement houses, community centers, •=-••y11 t.MA.AU,,, ~serr...l-nation of ideologies, centers for the~ · , ; IE Of anti-pc,verty projects~ and educatmonal institutions. The high knthusiasm and vogo~!f~ ~ ~--0""' ~ Black-orient~ evident in the plethora of tabloidl' jo po~ers, ¥] S31awulooks ,~ pample-ys., and recor t-1..~ ... ~~~¥-1;.e-...i.Ql..e were the MIik new Black bo o kstores, African curio shops, walls of respect" (Cleveland, Akron, Chicago, St. Louis, New York, Bewark , etc), W weekly festivals and jubilees, writers• conferences, writing work- 4 1 �4 shops, the fiood of liberation flags(Black-green-red), a. ~Black-oriente?tal~~ and other physical{power signs and handshakes) or culturaJ&lit ~frican clothe~, hairdos and jewelry). New Y~~k wasf\..9m&;g"0Pe of the aeet important show-paacel for the ..post~ \..Y_ears / new consciousness. It h a d the residue of the e n a i s ~ t h e ~h omburg ·n Harl,aa~ibrary and Micheaux 1 s Bookstor swell as ~urrounding communities which p lugg ed into its sockets. New orgF~~tions such as thei;;;;;R Barbara Cultural Council - Ann Teer 1 s Nati acii: Theate~d the Harlem flowered in the amazed light of olfer instituttions Jl-t like Freedomways 1Lnrtft {?1arke and .i....arnest Kaiser) ••._ xffi new poets: Tour~~~1Lee), Hande rson, published many of the - Clarence Head, Welton ~mith, Lloyd T, Delaney, W.D. Wright, Joanne Gonzales, Mari ,t;vans and others. l''reedomways also offers lively ..an..Q. commentarj es .on.reviews ,iii#poetry, lit erature and the Black Arts scene. From the variegated atmosphere of New York gushed forth a tide of Black poets#, some had~ w C)\made t h e i r - . mark earlier: Henderson, Larry Nea1(1937- need( Ii1Qffl8.8l ctnd 8!&fl8iiee), Patterson, ;:;un-Ra, Dumas, June Jordan ( 1936- Ji 1 Sonia ;:;anch ez{l935), S.E. Anderson(1943Len ), Victor Hernandez Cruz{l949Chanaler(1935- Hernton, Quintin Hill{l950- Jones, 1946- J, Q. R. Handt ~ rtay J ohnson( Barbara ~irnmons( J, Lefty ~ims{ J, ) , Lennox ), Jay Wright(l9 35- Lloyd Addisonitl931- ), I , Arlington Jones(l936- ), Lethonia ), Yusef Iman ), Odaro(Barbara tt~tone, \~ elton Smith(l940- Spellman, . l : ! . d w a r d ~ e n c e 1•1ajor(1936JRichard Thomas(l939- ) ), Lorenzo Thomas(1944- Kattie M. Cumbo ( ), ) , James ), Jayne Cortez(,r$.,.~Jatts, 1938- , ), ), Ted Wilson( . ), ) , Barak a, ,-.. J, Yusef Rahman{ Ronald ), Clarence heed{ , '1. J, John A. Williams, Lebert Bethune(l q37- ,, Kirk Hs71(19• ), ), Albert Haynes(~6- ), N.H. Pritchard(l939- ), Bobb Hamilton( ) ~d Bullins(l935- ), i~ oward Jones(l 941- Audre Lorde, John Major{l948Raphael(l940 - -'Si,.;,,=-1!:!:i~~~ ),.:.; ), ), �5 ' ,, 'I ) , .Nikki liiovanni (via ll'isk, 1943- hmanuel, C"'lvin Forbes( Tom Weatherly(l942M. Corbin, 1949- ), Ron Welburn(l944), Mae Jackson(l946- Julius Lester(l939(1947- ), Djangatolum(Llwyd ), ), Joe Johnson(l940- ), ~louise Lofton(l950- ), / Felipe Luciano ), L.V. Mack(l947- ), Charles Lynch(l943- )' ), Quandra Prettyman( ), Larry Thompson(l950), and K.W. Prestwidge. ~ew yqrJc Theplack Arts scene,. cm i I l c of ~etry specifically) was all-a-whir with the:. •:,a excitement of publishing and reading poetry aloud w-.JJ.id 3( were at the infinite number of gatherings. Joining these youngerf• d-'J•l older, often revived ones. Hughes :?'f-e"Sffl~t! of the proceeding• until the amc of •his deathA1967J. And there were old, as well as new, outletx for the poetry4 which was being read at the Apollo, Carnegi~_Hall, New ....._~),,,,,._ ~ Lafayette Theater, ~lugs ~ast, Mount Maris Park,~ountless com1m unity centers and churches. ~ " s t of these poets were not n a tive New Yorkers; i-+,=111:l!lat be ackna] @4i,i'd tbilo~a rreat number o&Ct:m were not er etuall ~ N-uring the height of the .black Arts Movement--but often in Youth Brid~e) , outlying areas like Bridgepo t, rt"e, f'redenonia, Brockport, Rutgers, Brooklyn, Boston(~lma Lewis's Genter for Afro-American Culture), and Bedfor~ ~tuyvesant. But, while they h a d separ~t.e Black Arts programs, " ms,ve~ in,... c:::J,.,..., a ., most loo ed to ew York•-••• .le Acrro wan ti an a elptthe Umbra Workshop 48ilii=~~... but there were •-=~: Harlem Writers Guild Clar ""' fouglass ~II-•e~•APoetry Workshop.,'\ :t., Killens), ~" 1 " the Columbia Writing pr:~am( Killens), 1 Black Arts rtepe~tory an (- chool Baraka, ~nellings), ~d tJ I \PEP> n ~ 3rJJt k l PM MM e,iri9f§iitg vp av• n~ N:38 aiJEtsice mui ae. 011il!lias Umbra(l963) /1tf{.vAmong the i1l1Jtee:s:iik-t1',journals were,.Soulbook(l9 64 ), Black Dialogue(l965), ~ Journal of Black Poetry(l9661), Pri'de, __ . -·····"··- .. ...... .... ~, . ...... .., Black TheatreJii (1969), Cricket(l969), Black Creation(l969), AfroAmerican:A Third Wor~d �b L@terary Journa1(1973, ~yracuse), BOP\ Bl a cks on Paper,, Brown UniversityJ, 1964), C0 ntinuitiest Words from the Cormnunities of Pan-Afric~City College 1~ew ~ York~1 19'(4),JObsidiar tB ~ ~ - - - -- J , 197.5). During a speech at Howard University's First Nat j onal Conference of Afro-American Writers ( .1.~ovember, 1974 ), TourJ, recounting the tumultuous years and develop- saia.r.t' ments, those responsible' for the '' Black artts and aesthety movement" were "activists as well as artists. ~ """,_._~was . _ most ~ e-i,;1:: 11 a _ -- ilKL t as Ba raka returned to .~ J this panticular f\ -. Newark ( relllaming it 11 New Ark") and chang~ his name~ {!;mamu Amiri Bar~ka), reflecting Tl ~ ;,:fl r~ti~· Av\.~ . the . . gre~J. influence of ~Isla.mt:,m • his new,-. 'Bid£ Wi cg Having a, . 4,c:; ,~tJ;Rff¥u~i!Wtrvojee-t "to re-educate the nearly half a million Ha rlem Negroes to find a new pride in the co l or," he movedtoes abl. h r--: - ·.-f t' '-5~ ~ L f: ~ r" _r- . ,j) J ~ewarlyjSpirit Haus-;;, and, ::=;uch spin-outs ail }fieAfrican I1ree Sc.nool(with .(J I (. ~ , /~ its Kawaida doctrine), ~ommittee for a Uni~ied Newark, and ~helpii launch several n ational Black ~olitical ~entions. 470} VJ..A. ... 74 He was""'-aa-s....~a;e.founder of the 19WN! rife-ridden Con gress of African f>eoples ' During truf~fots(insurrectionaQ(in Newar:atk, Baraka was arrested with several companions and charged with po s session of two handguns . and ~ ammunition. Between his arrest and the trial " Black People!J" was published in ~vergreen heview •• The poem openly encouraged looting, theft, murder of whites, and general insurrection: "What about ,____ that bad short you saw last Qeek 11 ; "You know how to get it, you can get it, no money down, no money never"; "/ne I owes you anything you want, even his life"; "Up against the wall motherfucker this is a ,,,--.. stick up!"; "Smash the window at ni-A,fght"; "Let's get to gether and kill him my man•": ••• let I s get together the fruit .s4ib Mau ... of the sun, let is mak e a world we want black chil dren to grow and learn in �do not let your children when they grow look in your face and curse you by Baraka returned to Newark and organized the Black Community LJevelopment and ~efense a'organization(BCD). ~ ~;:a:-;e,;;tia:A~!'Mtft!:!m::IC8l~•~•·.a.lloy.€efforts in t h e e 1 e ct ion of ~..,...!!!!!II&_ enne th Ui b s oI_;J.9'9'@8-tllllt ...~11"'m!P'jlP'lO!'Jlll£i-oo~i..,,lijJll~cr,iwn!&Pl!!~1PP:;~,l?J.::.:DiiP ~~P-~~!Ml~---~~..,.-•~J:aa"""'~~~~.,t;:i~ -a.t C having impact ,... , . 4' Dlkf:~pegional and national Black political/poetry see~ Baraka's pictures wLth bandages from the 1967 scuffl~ with Newark police) began appearing on walls of cultural centers, dormito llt and homes. O j. At, /; ,_?bservers, however, were somewhat wary of Baraka, having seen him go through the "changes 11 from Beat poet with a white wife, to Harlem and Black Arts, into Newark and political work(for great insight into all t h i s , . e Th~dore Hudson's # From LeRoi Jones to Amiri Baraka, l-973). · ~ ,J.r"., ( ;,cb~/S/J! d(. ~ L~ ~araka 1 s influencesMfS••l!!!!!!!!!!JI- in most centers of.,..ruetry---~places 1 ✓---" ~ where his poetry had not actually been read; or, if read, not fully understood and digested. It was not unusual to hear a Black youth quote a few lines from a poster-poem o~ from a live readi~~¢1Jlld,S. but who, when questioned about ~· ~ w rks, ~ di<) no. t kn<?1:i )the name of a sin~ one. Dead Lecturer#, I (_~ ~ , 'W .I ~~bsll!-fubii~he'd Black Magfec: Poetry 1961-1967(1968), In Our Terl,>A l'j ribleness(1970), ~pirit, 1ieachtl972), as well as numerous essays, stories. With ~ Neal he co-edited Black .l'iretl968) which, along with Ma.jor•s The ~ew Black Poetrytl9 69, snow-cased the new poetry. �8 ~ n the Forward to Black .!:''ire, Bar aka c a lled 1:1~Jr. •~ "the f<lrnnding Fathe rs and Mothers, of our n a t i on. We rise, a s we rand rise(agin). By the rower of our beliefs, by th 11 p ur,ity strength Using j,((J v-{J~ of our actions. 11 • t--a st a ccato grammar, .M"'1lil!l!l!ll""''N!~!lll!'I-.~ the poets and writers as: The bia ck man. ~he black artist. The black man. The h oly man. The man you seek. The climber the striver. The mak er of p e a ce. The lov e r. The warrior. We a re -chey wh om y ou seek. Look in. Find yr s elf. Find the b eing, the speake r. The voice, the back dVst hover in your soft eyeclosings. Is you. Is t h e creator. Is nothing. Plus or mimus, y ou vehicle1 We a re p resenting , Yourvarious selves. ~Je a re presenting, from God, a tone, your own. Go• on. Now. He thus sets t h e "tone 11 poets/philosophers, r much of what had al, a perceptive critic and b a lanced t h eoretician, h a s p ubli shed two v o lumes1: Black Boogaloo: Notes on Bl a c k Libera tion{l969, Jourhal of Black Poetry Press, l:''orward by Jones) and Ho odoo Hollerin' BeBop Ghosts(l975). His Afterword to Black Fire is tantamount to Hu gh es' resenting 11 artistic a nd political work" th a t mu s t be " called a r a dical p e rs p ective II Black Fire should be read 11 a s if political, social and of Western exhor ting oth e~ writ e rs, Neal continue: Wlt have been, for the most p a rt, tal k ing about co n temporary realities. "e have not been t a l k ing about a return to some g lorious African p a st • .but we r ecognize the p ast--the total pa s t. Many of us refuse to accep t a truncated ~e g ro history �9 which cuts us off completely from our dfrican ancestory. ro do / so is to a~ept the very racist assumptions which we abhor. Rather, we want to comprehend history totally, and unde rstand the manifold ways in which contemporary problems are affected by it . ~ C ,J.f) Speaking fmint;t;:1:r!~hindsight o Neal add: There is a tension within Black America . And it has its roots in the general history of race. The manner in which this we seewistory determines how we act. How should we see this history? What should we feel about it? This is important to know, because the sense of how that history should be felt unites or separates us. he sums of what can credo or modus operandi of the Bew Black Poetry and the Black Arts Movement: The artist and the political activist are one. They are both shapers of the future reality . Both understand and manipulate the colledtive myths of the race. Both are warriors, priests, lovers and destroyers . For the first violence will be int ernal- the destruction of a weak spritual self for a more perfect self. But it will be a necessary violence . +tit the only thing that will destroy the double-consciousness--t~e tension that is in the souls of Hlack folk . It was the kind of challange that sent many the long night of the soul to purge himself his enemies o f ~ people . ~ i c a l l y speaking, a~S.~~t;;;;' poetfinto r e al or imagined ~.-n.!lr, it was Baraka 1 s "Black Art 11 that set much of th: pace/rd'fll form :f: 'n the r ew Black Poetryt Poems are bullshit unless they are tee1ilh or trees or lemons piled on a step. Or black ladies dying of men leaving nickel hearts ~ �10 beating them down . Fuck poems and they are useful , wd they shoot come at you, love what you are, bre athe like wrestlers , or shudder 1 strangely after pissing. e want live words of the hip worl d live ~ flesh & coursing bloo d . Hearts Brains ~ouls splintering fire . We want p ~ems like fists be a ting niggers out of i oc ks or dagger poems in the slimy bell i es of owner-jews . Black poems to smear on girdlemamma mulatto bitches whose brains are red jelly stuc k be tween 1 li zabeth taylor 1 s toes . Stinking Whore ~! We want "poems that kill . " Assassin po ems , Poems t hat shoot guns . Poems that wrestle---t cops into alleys and take their weapons leaving them dead with tonges pulled out and sent to ~reland . Knockoff poems for dope selling wops or slick halfwhite politicians Airplane poems rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr rrrrrrrrrrrrrrr ••• tuhtuhtuhtuhtuhtuhtuhtuhtuh ••• rrrrrrrrrrrrrr r ••• Setting fires and death to whities ass . ••• •• •••• ••• • •• • • ••• ••• •• We want a black poem. And A :Bla ck World . Ji:et the world be a Black Poem And let Al l Black People Silently or LOUD 0 peak This Poem �.f• 11 ..._ sangtj.ine _ ~lrwi:!~1$JJ!MIBl&Glii~often sited as the_itembodiment of the Black Aesthetic and a rejection of white culture and life style. Poems, Baraka states, must not only have guts and earthiness(like Black5) but they must also be weapons and shields against racismt, f police, mer t hustlers , crooked politicians and status-climbing Above all exalte Blackness ( "sons " "lovers 11 "wa rriors 11 "poets 11 0,.if~tk P~Bla ck bour~eos1.e.1'These then are the dominant themes JHt-mu?~ of ~- ' ~ ~ " ) the New Poetry and the philosophies stated~ith radical ~v. from coast to coast. Baraka•s purge s ) xt-end~ through poems like " Poem for HalfWhi te College ::;tu dents," "The .hacist," "Little Brown Ju~ 11 ( 11 WE ARE GODS), "W.W. 11 \attack on wig-wearing women), "OIVIL RIGHTS ----POEM11( 11ROywilkins is an eternal faggot"), "Ka 1Ba, 11 and fi/nally, \.../ in 11 leroy 11 ') ~~~oa.li..-.P8'1~~ his l a st will and testament: vfu.en I die, the consmiousness I carry I will to black people. May they pick me apart and take the parts, the sweet meat of my feelings. And leave usellrul a th e,ii;(_ter bullshit rotten white parts ~ • I alone. j)} f .rA '(' - But there are also/\l9ve poem~ ip the later period, caught up in A e, 1~ the stressed life of irlackness: "the beautiful black man, and you, gtrl, child nightlove, ••• : We are strange in a way because we know w:ho we are. Black beings passing through a tortured passage of flesh. (rn"his ~1 l''orward to"1c. Black Boogaloo , Baraka says of the world: "the soldier poets will change it. 11 What Neal's volume chan ge d has not yet been ascertained but it certainly contains ambitious apq sµccessful ,, ~ (),JJ/-J;t-1r; ) oetry. His debt to,fhe older generation of poet~~an be veen in poems vJ-9 -.) 1 },,:-r' I • , / 11 11.kef\"The Middle Pa~sgge and After, "Love bong in the Middle Passage, '' "Garvey's Ghost , 11 "Lady Day," "Harlem Gallery: l''rom the Inside, 11 11 MaJ:. ,,-n· • ik.; ',,vw~J,./JU\.I,(.,('."(' ~ co lm X--An Auto biography'!) 11 Making use of mysticism, chant an · / �rr Olorwn ~ Olorwn • • • see~ ;rhe Ji iil',i,. Middle Pas sage II +-I. ~. pillaged• "A.Aa-.a "Love ~ong in ~I "cthe horror of "The Middle Passag€ After.,_ " 11 .uecked, stf!cked, ~ fl!:w ad Jlw the n. ~' M&;±@wof sea- death mornings . i ".t\.unt ti ~ _.,\poems ]9e~'Song, ~ "Jihad, 11 9 rishas 11) ~ reveal · "-..in-cerests a /l'l}A., in sypernaturali sm, f\rrican philosophy and~lusive,;mystic a l powers i n ~ ~ ~eticPll:JiF11 the "word.1• He 9Tf lilJ 5, seel?sff!o implement the ideas he stated in alll. ~ e c i a l Black issue of..-, Black Fir~ an~TDR( The Drama Review) Bll:ld!llll'~in . _ summer of 196e . The issue , edited by TDR s contributing edito b . . .Bullins , compiled ideas and plays rooted ~ ~eatured work by x 'irie special issue projected many of the concerns oft he New Black Poetry. Ne a l ' s "The Black arts Movement" was a blue-print for Blac~ts and political chang e . ~choing · ; i:ra. Black <1 lai l fl. r e ~4'1Ulb!ll8Rt · ,.,, alienates him from his comrnuni ty ) 11 ffl. "e:-rw ~~a# · concept of the artist that • Black Art is the aesthetic and spiritual sister of the Black Power concept . As such , it envisions an art that speaks directly to the needs and aspirat i ons of Black America . In order·· to perform this task , the Black Arts Movement proposes a radical reording o!k.he western cultural �13 ,_ aesthetic. It proposes a separate symbolism, mythology, critique, and iconology. The Black Arts r ---.. and &:'..!!!-ii!• Black Power concept both relate broadly to the ~fro-American 1 s desire for self-determination and nationhooa. Both concepts are nationalistic. One is concerned with the relation betx:,; art and politics; the other with the art of politics. ~-n~1J-£f"u:lln~tol,11 f-; · r was not wi ■ 11 ~aaparj/-te" aesthetic 1 g ~ a - 4J.' 33:g sac Ji&dJ.,..by all Black poets, artists,, rll a Vii or intellectuals. Neither was there a complete lMir.,&iiiii.•f(or under- standing) elllll;a..._among~~ponents.1iiiiW11111ic==t:::a:::ca••~-. .- -.• For a boycott of Major·s The New ·••.-ed being ..RP'. rou · was a whi tef ~~~'-'-•~~e'!'!~ffl"'1!P!llt,f!flel!l~ffl~!-,.•priggsfhad not objected eaJer to use of his work in Black !''ire, also published by ~ou 1121 s sea a fa! >p 1 ! ggs *°si tion statemen~: wJM~~ •t b 1'"'1dl'.0 tt' * ls fie h lMOIVl ,~~liahsd a ftob&~lo 'f ile Journal of black Poetry(fall, 1968)~ how in the hell are the black publishers ev er going to get off into it if not by the assistance of the writers. how ~ are distrub~qorships everi going to mature witn~publishers if the highly marketable works of wm keL ly, wms, 1 neal, ef bullins, j. killens, ja leroi j, or the like never comes their way? does the concept of black power and black arts extend that far? i say yea, i ~pri:ggs joined say yea, yea. a.,, large number of critics and practijoners ~ of the Black Arts--Toure, :eal, Crouch, Bul~ns, Goncalves-in the controversy over ~ri ter$ 1 • .,a 1 1 1 £~ m5£ ties ta 1!1m av.... Despite the controversy, howev e r, rn] J · ' apueared as,:_ kaleidoscopic offering~ the tf,w B l a c k ~ • �lij. Major included a perceptive and .fl. tting Introduction: • of black reality is often studded in these poems THE INN ER crisfs by the swift, vividly crucial facts of social reality; which fconsists in part, anyway, of all the implications and forces of mass me dia, the social patt e rns, the bureacratic and mechanfucal ~ nmdiums of human perceptions, even :iarof the quickly evolving nature of the human psyche in this highly homo genized cultur·e, in all of its electricl processes and specialist fragmentation. Black reality, in other words, is like any other reality profoundly effected by technology. Th e crisis and dr ama of the late 1960s overwhelms and thre a tens every c r evice of h uman life on earth. These poems are born out of this tension. ~ In his own po etry, Major ~ l D o a t Vietnam, a lienation, impending world destruction, B1ack history, music, mytholo gy, and personal excurs i ons into Urn ::s221!i. C. dreams. He published The Dictionary of Afro-American Slang(l970), Swallow the Lake(l970), ~yrnptons and Madness (1971), Private Line(l971), The Cotton Club.(1972) and The ~yncopa ted Cakewalk{l9741/ as well as novels and essays. He has also di fe ~te~he Harlem Writers Workshop. In the a c l m o w ~ a j o r ~ ow~ JLr' lrlAJ() . mfny ;J • Lowenfels, Ishmael heed, ttaphael, Art Berger, velton Smit Hoyt l<'u er, Nat .tien- toff, Dudley Randall, Russell Atkins, Bremen, Al Young,~avid rtenderson. of his style: spacings shapp punctuation, tidbits of world the racial s tatement f!,atire or exhortat i on), and exp erirental tUPograp:\?;y. rtecalling l}is 11 passage 11 he sees "Tonto Sambo Willie 11 --noting that even Mexico-"an assk issing nation"--now has £he 11 sup e r-biionde 11 on its 11 billboards. 11 �In the midst of .,r-- ~vigorous 1 y promvt1,K ~ bpriggs f\.. Ahmed~ editors of N ournal; Baraka, Major, Nazzam Al tributing editors. Editor-at-large Bullins was later joined by TourJ. In the seventies brnie Mkalimoto was added as a contributing editor with Major's name disappearing. Major, Handall, Neal, Spriggs, Bullins , Baraka, and A l h ~ l l served as gues~ors • ianusic An im o • ant c(and outlet influenc'e'"i onr"5e new • • ~ poetry, the Journal was "in many ways born of Soulbook and n The Dialogue"(Goncalves, now D~ane,~editor). s~ the newest poetry, zeroing magazine continues to in ~ o n other areas like the West Indies(~ummer:n_zf73), printing lively news and announcements, as well as reviews~ticism. Its spring, l9 68 , issue, for examp le, was dedicated to Joseph T. Johnson, who had recentl7 been killed • . , - Abdul Karim Toure, edited Black Dialogue with Sprig~and Gonvalves serving as associate editors. rtelocating in New York in the late sixties, Dialogue 's new editorial board was represented by ~priggs, Nikki uiovanni, Jaci ~arly, Elaine Jones, S. E . Anderson and James Hinton c:Q · 1 A1hamisi and Garolyn Rodgers became Midwest '3~itors; Spellman, Julia Fields an d Akinshiju became editors for the South;~ /'iiiiiia' Joans and Kgosi t~le took over::t-,. Africa and a t - l a r ~ o o k I s ~ow incl editoriai board =-rls24mtn1 Hamilton, Alhamisi , Garol Homes , ude~::: Baba Lamumba, Zolili, Ngqondi Masimini and Shango Umoja . mong the . administrative staff is Donald Stone(Rahrnan ) whose work appearls#t. Spriggs, Tou:rJ , and Black Hi_y Larry Mille~(Katibu) , Blues , 11 at Spirit H o ~ 11 Transcendal full of chanyaat:J. song and l_in,:;,Xperimentation, fuses the world of Black music(and mucisians) ~ t h e "strife riddled concrete �16 bottoms of skyscraper se a s." Rahman•s influences, obvious in his ~ a re name, se en in his statement that a "riff 11 so hilgh and grand "Could be Al lah. 11 Fina].17- winding the poems into a tribute to the Black womanl "Bitter bit her bitterness hummingn J, he ~ rejects Christians a nd whit e s a nd warns that ~ s pea rs shal l rain •••• 'r he ~ i n f l u e n e is also seen in other po e ts oftre period: Spriggs, Toure, Baraka, Iman, Neal, Alhamisi, Dumas, flJllll mo along with poeta of the era . Ni k ki Giovanni Tre s e J •s women Lorde, June Alexis was by way of Tennessee and Fisk Universitl wh ere she wa s a of Killens' Writers Workshop. C <$A a series of volatile prose-like statements which were startling: J.M7..,..,,t ~coming from a woman. lack Feeling, Black Talk, Black Judg ement ( 191,0~ Re-Creation appe a r e d ~ 1 9 70) ~972 and •••lihl.a book Black Song(l971}. Comes 0 1 ~ My House of poems for children, Spin a uoft Her antholo gy of B~ack a women po e ts, Night oftly, was published in i970 and she has recorded albums/ �17 written an autobiography/nd series of "conve:_:;~tio~' ~;(/,/) 'N-e-01,1~ with Margaret controversial -iifil~~new poet ~, acoo.la,.d ~ l e of the Yea :a, :b~e :ein'l!e BR8 uo s _ ~ i n magazines like l:!:bony, 1 and Essence; app e a r ~ on the Johnnny Carson Show; tt.-4..0., sou ght-after~peaker on the college circuitj (j ' and labeled . i lberfo rce; the "Princess of Black Poetry" by the Ida Lewis, Encore editor. Denounced as an "individualist" by Madhubuti (Lee) and praised by Margaret Walker and Addison Gayle, Nikki Uiovanni denied Show,hosteO by Flip Wilson) ~ a "nevolutionary.' singing of "God Bless America II on nat i onal television, a~ter receiving the 11 Woman of the Year :W.ward, 11 prompted letters ,t o Black publica tions "Uf Liberation": Dykes of the world are united 1''ag gots got their thing to ge ther (~veryone is organi~ed) Black people these are illr facts Whe refa.1111 y our power •••• Honkies rule the world •••• The most vital commodity in America Is Black people Ask any circumeized hankie •••• ~ ~ j t i e fil::_al stanza of this p oem~ wa rns: / Our c h oice now is war or death Our option is s..... rvi val Listen to your own Black hearts 11 C0 nceming one nesponsible Negro 'With too much Power" echoes other themes in the l~ew Dlack Poetry . ·l'he "responsible ne g ros II are �18 "scared' and on the run. fsabM· tells he~ your tongue must be remoi.e d sinre you have no brain to keep it in check \~.h'.e flections on April ~' 1~68, 11 ~ a n act of war. 11 she Dr . King~ ~~~ In "fhe Great Pax \Vhi te II she paraphrases the a section from Genesis in the ~ible,cml!i noting thatt the word was '';D;3t9.}°; "S@iH½ ~g_ all nigg ers." Occasi~naJ} , A jutted throuep. thp otherwise polemical Jrlr~lli,,o!'I~. "Beautiful "hug what i like to hug ." There /(,,,()' emotion-freighted language as in "The True Import of the Present Dialogue, Black ve Negro 11 : Nigger 6an you kill Can you kill Can a nigger kill Can a nigger kill a hankie Can a nigger kill the Man ••• Can you stab-a-jew ••• .--::---,,... Can you run •Bllit. a protestant down with your 1 68 ..l!.,ldo rado ••• Can you piss on a blond head.... ~r~{Ji~ The poem continues) reciting names of the "enemy" a n ~vs a nd wrong-doings visited on Blacks, finally asking~ffiM~~ Learn to kill niggers Learn to be Black men Much of what Nikki Giovanni was saying in the sixties moved~ Blac k youth--it was not always safe or chic to disa gree even if you wanted to-and some of it was admirable. But these things do not make her work dedtensi ble as poetry. 11 My Poem" and II Poem for Aretha II are certainly worth~ �19 subjects but they fall leisurely down the page , angling here f?nd, ~ ) there but revealing nothing of the insight into human beinrs--~t one ~inds in - ru4 ~oem by Helene Johnson , Margaret ~alk er, Gwendolyn Brooks , or Jaynfe Cortes. V from the early pe riod, is a believable flow ~ i n the conversation-like language istic of €haracter- her poetry) and the details pull on the inner reaches o f ~ the collective Bla ck experience as she unfolds the storf of family fun and misfortune: your biographers never understand G . your fatherf's pain as he seils his stock "-- and another dream goes And though you're poor it isn't poverty that conc erns you •••• My a newer Nikki Giovanni. House The venom has lessened, though some of the rampage is evident in a poem like "on Seeing Black Journal and V~at ching Nine Negro Leaders IGi ve Aid and Comfort to i ,, the ~nemy~ to Quote Richard Nixon . Again therec4j~~Re~ 11!1!:lil'i~~~vi gorous interest in a stylisticf or linguistic d ·th • The poems~lid!amiM!il!BB love, the city, childhood ~ ites of woman-passage), Afri ca and Afro-ltrnerican culture. ~er promise and potential c an be glimpsed in 11 .n.frica I": on the bite of a kola nut i was so high the clouds blanketing africa in the mid morning flight were pum ed away in an angry flicker n of the sun's ton ue.... ~ ' {J;ri ~ infl~c 't<-~-- about themselves arrl their world . �20 like Mae Jackson who won Black World 1 s C0 nrad hent 1t3howf Rivers ~ward, have the "stuff ii of poetry in their writings. Can I ~oet with You was published,.. in 1969 by Black Dialogue Publishers. Nikkm Giovanni a II □- wrote t h e turn, dedicated the book to her. Nae Jackson, in is full of the "complaints" that quickly became monotonous in the poetry of the sixties. In themes and usages, the poems resemble Nikki U-iovanni s work. "To a rieactionary, ntellectua~Note from a E'ield Ni gger, 11 ~ are familair of the new poetry. S0 nia Sanchez, closely identified with the alternate terse, explicit vers 7 and between the sprawling, prosaic meanderinglthat serv~the auditory demands of the new a diences. Formerly Crried •1 to the poet ~theridge hnight, sh~A~~L2aj,e~8"d activ e ly as a omecomin playwright, poet and teacher. Her books are ea Baddddd People(l970), ~ 7 1 ), It 1 s a New Day:.Poems for Young Brothas a nd Sistu~,f..iii,i,ove Poems (1973) and an anthology from her yo~g Writers Worksh op at the Countee Cullen Library in New York, Three Hundred and Sixty Degrees of Blackness Coming at You(l972). 9"Malcolm" is ~ament and a night-fmlled memory for her: Yet this man this dreamer, thick-lipped with words ----- will never speakW again and in each winter when the cold air cracks with frost, I 1 11 breathe his breath and mourn my gun-filled nights. 11 ;:t;; �21 Her II for unborn malcoihms 11 , however is another approach. O:onstricting attempting to words, structure, and achieve a Black s'breet speech, she teihls Blacks to "git the word out, 11 to the "man/boy" who is taking a :ihd>liday. murderer 11 shit 11 11 " will die t o. An experimental· 11 Blacks are blk/princes 11 dief wbo80 OJ<pet ~onia Sanchez 1;$'11mi.•ni-. erisive la imeli~s e flood of t 'hip to his hite "faggots" "° n o ~1 4 ange!fJ~-~-..~·( 11 deni ti on for bl~/children"): a policeman is a pig and shd be in a zoo with ill the other piggy and animals. until he stops killing blk/people cracking open their heads remember. the policeman is a pig. (oink/ · oink.) -- joined the poetry of Black love and man~woman unity, seeking particular style and voice to heal wounds of doubt,.ai mistrust and loneliness.In "to al ~ s;.ste11'.'s 11 she sa'js "hµrt 11 is not the /' ' "shd be in. #. -;(}ht' Black m."'anAmg es them "turn in/side out." /~ journey ha ' c~ar~i~d her from the fire o~~the ,--Ill/' blatant revolutionary to the qui e't~ I /> -t::re:tt:, of Love Poems- -beln~ ) ong the first of the new poets to fullfill Handallls prediction th a t Blakk �22 poetry would 11 move from tr~larnatory to the subjective mode. 11 s r1.t~1Ji:~a j. publi:h edf( Who --~- June Jordan Look at Me ( 1969), ~---.;...__-::::_::--" ~"".--7"f<.•"'"7~•-.. Some Changes ( 1971), an anthology Soul~crip,.t(l970), and a volume of poetry ~y students in CJ'W'lt-f~·~ J' workshop i,p BraeJril!,n, The Voices o f the <h ildreb(l970). ast HerSJ••k volume of poetry his is a New Day(1974). Concise, analytical, her and book-folk based, her poetry is also a free verse style characteristic of practically all the r ecent Black poetry . "uncle Bull-1Joy 11 relates the death :tll~t,&&1tli!li!llil!t1N1111111tdbl!l!ilei'!ll!l-ll!l::i:t!iMtil......... lillii:ll~ of a man whose eyes "were pink with alcohol ." The manner of Black men, expensive shoes, and alcolhol. ~d fin al ly: His brother dead from drinking Bullboy drank to clear his thinking saw the roach insi d e the riddle. Soon the bubbles from his glass were the only bits of ch a rm which overcame his folded arms. Audre Lorde 1 s 11 Rites of Passage 11 (for MLK Jr) Now rock and remembers Quick children k iss us we are growing through dream. Much of Addre 1 s Lorde 1 s recent work r' a concerns young people; even the the title of her la,!t,book/;Erom a Lad Wh e re other People rnllLive(:}.973), carries the awe and dream of the child 1 s world. She writes now about �23 teachers, men-women relations, seasons, dreams, "As I Grow up Again, 11 - and "Bla ck Mothe r Woman" 'Who thinks of her own mother's strength when "strangers come to compliment" her: I learned from you to deny myself through your d enials. Alexis Deveaux Among the younger New York women poets , Judy Si and ~louis Loftin sing out. ¾Judith's Blues(~ published ·n 19(3 ;,fz ~l.iilil(llfjileMreteiiiLi!~~!fblr.-,. A/,/1 by Broadside Press. fill: E'.iii h.?JiHM 111Li1 Cult ' 11 ' ~'Schizophrenia"), "Women ' ,n ,.and~ 11 l the " Youth . JJaffodils"- -although the titles do not reveal I -1 - () tMflecting Judy ~immons• sustained study of psychology , poetry yields its mean~g as the multiple layers and ingigh.ts are In i;.,,- ~ »4Nl!I~""° • UI the "animal squats" next to the "piano" and a mouth that stretches from 11 forehead to abdomen 11 • But the poet assures herself that if she does not lose control ) it won't come back inside of me4 J C~ 1\ I l:l Elouise Loftin 's poetry indicative perhaps. of A'. hful, zesty imagery, ,-new technicians' ease. "ttain ::Spread" informs that L~t night threw her legs open to me •••• I She has the new woman ftl{nowledge of social I ., \I(J"W often found among tl\e r;fGl:mt!§ l?il.l:'1 bm gh),. I and the caught 11 if they ca tch you with your pants down and wit: "get t in /h t~k. �offing your guard or peeing for free if they catch you doing something crazy with quates around it and try to make ~ou feel like you been catched you must be doing 0 ~I ( ~.) Spirits in t h e Streets(l973) is Alexis DeveaUlt's strang e but fascinating -~-e,.~ VCCOunt of L,J growing up ili/J,w" I HR in lj rlem. A • est Indian mother/ dis- pairs over a husbandis~e ating him~-~..,.,,,A.:.Al't"o\...t','V~~ ~ lord why he be a t that woman so? an them children god only know' what's gonna haJpen to them. eatin poison. has lye. eat you up inside jesus have mercy. you aan 1 t be t~o careful with children. you got to watch them every second. The world is so evil honey you know what i mean? merciful jesus shame them with word. re present only a fraction younger(and older) New York area poets. S 0 me others are Eath erine ~olomon, Gayle Jones, Stephen Kwartler, Vanes~a to name just a handful. Poets who got their star puplished new . items. ( I> J_. intro ducedV y Jones. in the the e a rlier period also s Felix of the Silent Forestll967) was J. published De Mayor of Harlem in 1970, the same year he re-looated to Berkeley. ~ssentially a Harlem poet, �25 Henderron Surveys everything from the "Harlem rt.ebellion, Summer 1964" to "Harlem Anth r op ology. 11 The transitions and outreachings of these ~,. f 1 1 ; in l q {-,8 poets are also evident inwu ,QP8Ml of Toure who s.;puRt a ~erie& e.£.. WE!nt . . to teach B+ayk 0 udies at ~an l<'rancisco ut a t~ fl~ Vi f d!.)llh1 College . His works are Juju(l970~ and Son~ail(l972),t,Published by Songhai Press and introduced by Kil lens. Toure 1 s "Soul-gifts II are arnp1yJ,jiSMj1, with philosophy , Black history, Black music, Ismamic influences, ,;VJ §.nd " Juju" which w.:i'8Jerl!J,ei'B Coltrane I s hornA ncascading fountains of blood and bones." Songhai ranges from'~Nilillfii•-- of Diana Ross and magical power s · ncere acti vistsjillr thPll:ila@,eze:f ideal Black society. Tourt~liiiiiM~~ _,,_.,,,,,... /I d -iihe ~ ;;,,, I uences ~e../ Blackfoetry emanating frorl!)\flew York area: Neal , Dumas, Baraka , Goncalves , Coltrane, Pharoah ~anders, Cecil McBee --all • J called "Poets of a Nation-in-Formation. 6:ai';-~ .;$'\Y8~f~ll!,/1.\,N~ - such proje~Wakra, a ne Boston-base 11 mo;:m~ t 1oua:.i can be seen in . ,,,..,..~..·j dev!foted to the examinatiQn a(# "of events, the arts, ideas"; _B_e_t_c_h_A_i_n_1 t_(l 974), Celes Tisdale's anthology(Broadside) of "Poems from AJica 11 ; a new anthology of young poets, We Be Poetin 1 ll974), Tisdale~riters Workshop Anthplogy, No unifying thread runs through the work of New York area poets, except that of a relentless acceptance and pursuit of therr /71Al·-i., __ exarrrl,,natjon.Blackness. One 1'298 ob n Q:'e,however, th a t -;g~••IIIQit." mystici ,)tthe occult, cosmic-musical forms and-- • and the infl unee of Islam are more eviden~ in the poetry of other regions. But these are, of course, generalities which await more hindsight and research before they can be finalized �26 di'· life blood while it repaid other eal, for example, w..all is a Philadelphian ed up.,.lllllll&iiii•lialllllliiliili~~ in Harlem, who attended Lincoln, b with occasiona+ short stays at Yale, Howard, ~outhern University, and Kent State University. . .• ~~. &a ~ pattern\ ~ ..,~~~==~::mam.'!a.-•-,.i~..fimilar .c:111-lllliiiiilll• ~ dozens of other poets who criss-cross " ~ ylvania,:tll!!lft University--lllh-ich produced Tolson, diverse_,. othb-JVt'roup of· Hughes, et --- l\ ~ • ~verett Hoagland, . Converging at points like the by Neal, I ller, tlh.eoretician Jirym ~tvwart, and Ma rybelle various JW""'W of assi s tan c e. Philadelphia poets found 1(1'3 adj p~ and ;pJJbl j shii.iAg gntlit:i I Ah• .rb:.i ~ Other Phil a delphia poets · 1 / from the older school, F. J. t:>~ L~...\aet~2: ) ~ ~ .q,.,.., a. Gre j n ev..P-- ~umith Clarence Ma)oney, Pat Janet M. Bro~ks, Garo:a. J en~fer, Don Mizzell• youthful po ets i;;;;;aa 45 /f!l4;..i-..1111111.-ial!t 8ft& ll½Sl±J liIOIG\ \1/orks by in Black Poets ~rite On: An Anthology of Bl a ck Philade l phia Poets(l97O) publi shed by the lee&l B1ack History Museum Committee. • • • Harold Franklin:'....,1itFi:l;ee Introduction :i... ,rhicl:i lffl s t a tes: 11 ilR A BLA CK PO~T IS A KIND OF WARR IOR"-- �27 Philad!.bphia sentiments to those in New York and Bos thus linking i~ tJ',4.1 Bla ck Butterfly, Inc., was ~c various cultural/political a ctivities in Philadelphia . n. ~ ss-roads for ~A:.4"'JJ'V"lil<~v~ ••blii@.-id•·•••••~o~2~211111!10~£ Maloney(now .Chaka Ta~~- Dimensions of Morning 11 was published in 1964» in Paplona, ~pain• Friday: 2 A.M. 11 Good celebrates a "sultry brown girl" who ·'seems a superior a. C". 11: .-;_._. > ~ rhyme rhytbrn~nd ma,a them hard-loving hard-talking hard-loving cfol black dudes Ana:t them fine-looking fine-tr~lking fine-talking fine-loving them fine soulf sisters •••• x ~ "llbl V "\;t_he short-] j ved oaJ '('iiM:G&~ -e!1e ttills e J!! .Pitt sburg'ril\was. born ~mack Lines: A Journal of Black ~ ,Studies ( 1970,. 7P +a· a e J area ~ p ublished Pi t t s b u ~ e t s like .llid Robefl!on , - August ~vilson, Joanne Braxton , as well as po e ts from the Midwest like Al G~over Armst~g an d Redmond. The university of Pittsburgh Pref.ss opened up to Black poets tha t same yearf, publishing 1'1ichael Harper(Dear John, Dear Coltrane,1970; Song: ~anl I ~et a Witnes ~ 1973), R0 berson(When Thy King is a Boy, 1970), and Gerald B~rrax(~other king of rlainf., 1970) • .ti.oberson•s poetry runs the gamu~ of themes and styles-- �28 ~ -·-~ from neat Jal• ~ is t fl to slanted spacf ings and slashes . In "mayday" there u.,, ~ "underside of heaven" and the warning from one ., .!1! 141& --. ,f misunderstood that he is "armed" to fight the final kindling of your dreaming . 11 0thellol Jones Dresses for Dinne r " is a satirical look at the "Guess Wrio•s coming to Dinner" theme . After dating t~, ~ ae,f;;'* Cc white woman , the n a rrator "w~ 11~ rw-nnered . ~ 11 l<AA D. C. where • • • - - _ .~ Brown the late six ies . Howard, by now' i continued to teach&i to I 1 e le adini-:ilack ,. in the new • a d 9o;npla -d :ane poetic h istory hile Howard I s the early days of ~terling Brownland into the Howard Poets) , the school has- number of younger writers rt° iddings . atmosphe re was of the @@l■ lil•u-MP-t Guianese p oet d eepened and broadened by t,b;e a ppointment~ T~Gi~ sand Stephen Hend:e:e,eon~who heads• LJ the Institute for the Arts and Humanitiefu~~ward u.A\.4 ~ . . .\ ~ 1ttt·1V,,,-a~ ,t.,L played out against a series of developments in the surrounding �29 lthe Institute In addition 'to-15"amas and ttenderso~ .ilRMos A h as be en ~ It lilt! 9!1111 Madhublll.ti(tee), Killens invaluable. so f a r , ~ r a ka, Gwendolyn Brooks, in the First Annual Symposium ~ .uoans~dson_\Jfitcr:f!:;fa ctiis.{~ Lucile (.;lifton, Goss, cott-he ron, Adesanya Alakoye, Miller, and Hari .c.vans. Tour:, Johnston and Kgositsile were guests for :BIik a pro g ram exam~ th e African 6ultu r al Pres ence in the Ame r icas. ei::c•~ets h ave r eco ~~ ~ been invited to re a d and bE... ~A"ene.d r or,A p e rmanent audio/video library: Jayne Corte z, (.;rouch, Davis, ~lllllit Sarah Webst e r .tt'ablbo, , Har p er, J e f fe rs, J o ans, .Redmond, Sonia Sanchez, Scot x - Heron, Brucs ~t. J ohn, Marga ret Walk er, a nd Jay i·; ri ght. ,.-- 1 - (1- • -~~n 1968~ eal said his ,......M "' "plh.ilosophy" was "to purge myself of the whiteness within me and link completely with my Bla ck brothers in the stru ggle to de stroy the enemy and rebuild a Bl a ck Nation. 11 He ap p e a r ed to be working a t tha t t a sk for a while before the Afro-beric an school clo se d. In "Today " he said t h e tone of his life r esembled a " growled minglegjt" the groan of the past •.• x and he lamented the jungles wh ich had been deflowered by nap a lm •••• ~arl Carter, another D. c. po e t, .8r;pears in Under s tanding t h e ~ew Black Poetri. He evokes the s pirits ol-::__~heroes 11 ~of Memphis, New York, and l~a shville, 1 Or 8 n geburg, Jac k son, recalling tha t during a riot in Nashville he was Hiding somewh e re i n my mind with Eldridge Cl eav e r •••• "Roots" is an unsuccessful attempt to fuse the drama. of colchloquial Black langua ge with a f ormal ~ glish na rrative about his gr andmoth e r. �30 Other poets living or publishing in the the sixties and seventies 1-' were D.c. area during Bernadette G-olden(l9~-9- Henlen Quigless(l945over the years con ributed · to the g rowth of Black poetry. She edited three important anthologies: Negro V6ices(l938), ~bony ..kb.ythm(l947) and Today 1 s Negro Voices(l970). Her own volumes of poetry are Love is a Terrible Thing(l945) and, with Nancy Arnez, iae nocks Cry out(l969, Broadside). He r ~ poetry has moved from a traditional meter to a tra ditional free verse dealing, in the new pha se, with tensions 01.r¼- caus e d by u i3 9 white" and 9 11 Blacko/,) and war. She is currently di rector of t he Ne e- ro Bibliographic and nesearch Center and s e rve s as managing editor of its ,C,. Clifton(l936Sa.m:x Cornish a nd Yvette Johnson(l943- )iJ, ) h a ve produced poetry tha t holds them in good st e ad. Good Tfmes(l969), Good News About the ~arth(l97a) and An OrdinaI'J' lvo ~volillJles produced by Lucille C1ifton who also writes many children's booki. She currently t e aches at Coppin °tate Coll~~e ip Baltimore wh e re she lives with ~NA ~ her husband and six children.~itles ~·•IIJ!!l~iiiii.i~llllii-M,a-lilliilli~.-"""-i!!i"llfi,,_--........_ ~ about her s p iri,,.t a n d ~ temperament. ~ • • • • • of d pre ssion and bleakness, it ~~ndeed warming to see someone proclaim Good ,............._ News! 11 .l:!.ldridge" is comp a red to a meat "cleaver" which wi ll not "rust or break. 11 And th e re is humor, irony and truth in " Lateley 11 : where the "always drunk" d e live ry man says: 111m 25 years old and all the white boys my age are younger than me.I i- �31 But while a 1s 0 ~ .1::9:?;;;f Ckn O ',r ledg sing ~ ·. t ~il ,,_, ~ ilill i go od times in the kitchen , ~eille '-11 !ton •rh •t M __ v "hal colm," nb.ldri· dge , n "Bobby Seale , " and the studeent-participants a t Jackson and h.ent states . gives a Black •11111!1.b• or contemporary~ a l'Aaozen~ Good News Abo-wt the Eavth, r'.biblical stories . Host are unique , like " /tt this kiss soft as cotton over my bre asts all shiny bright something is in this night oh Lord have mercy on me i feel a @:arden in my mouth between my legs i see a tree G An Ordinat-iry Woman is oo nsciously woman and the poems , like those in other volumes , deal with e v ryday thing s- - "ordinary '' things . become ~ "H owe'ver, she has,._,a.~~a::~:=• more"mystic. , N rre;}J and allusoryt4 7 as in "Kali", "The Coming of Kali, • Mood. n AA ! 11 He is tireyd of bone , it breaks. He is ti red of eve I s fancy and Adarn 1 s whining ways . ".tier Love Poem, "l{"i::>alt." "God's �32 Corfnish is a poet, teacher and editor. His books include Angles(l967), Winters(l968) , Your Hand in Mind(l97O), Generations (1971~), and People Beneath the Window(n .d.). ~~ith w. Lucian , ::.&., edited Chicory: Young Voices from the Black Hhetto(l969) which developed into a series still being p~blished by the bnoch Pratt Feee Library j n cavjunctj on uiie:l;;ft 1'fte~ommuni ty Action Program Current editor of Chicory is Melvin l.!,dward Brown . Cornish • P'ei•-•iw;i-b~ stylistic language. ~ @!O~dr ammunition a n d ~ r e t c i s ~ ~ s l of he tells "MIDDLE CLASS GIRLS WITH CRIPPLED FINGERS WAITI NG FOR ME TO iIGHT THERR CIGARETTS": your fingers 4 2 l hsi&&EJHiftlJtW f folded in your lap control the serpent in your eyes your face never staring with a smile in your ruffled color your eyes pmpulate the brick with restless stares. r.-These Baltimore poets, and others,. continue the vast line of poetry output ths t embraces the ~outh •ra=-,."'" many �33 \1944I • ~ (New Orleans) Margaret Walker, Alice Wai'lt~fl,t±Iilit'1e Lane, iii BLK.8.R1·SOUTH . poet , ~ (I < , tJ, 71.(~ fl l,.~t ~ p the Ix-umbra poets( North Carolina ventral University),~ etty Gates{Miles ,, J C I • 1 Col1 ege, Alabama), Gerald 1JJ+~~J~LaAe le X(Leslie Powe ll), Leo Ja. Mason ~tlantaJ, Lorenzo Thom he iliil: :_~~':t!!i. ; g<1 o•• The pe s bi J s rf? 111 ~x~h;~~ pro grams which, since ~outh h a s ~ rec ei the late fifties, have flow of = poets and teach ers older ef paibi&aj to and from the ;::,outh. Some wel,l lmownjn~es -•a• Tolson , Jef f ers Johnson(Hames), Braithwaite, Hayden,r_nd ••P.i:D•Vesey. poets iP?l de ivv0' ounger South are ~udre Lorde(Toogaloo), Redmond( Southern), Wright (T oogaloo i=md Talladega), Spellman (: Io rehouse), and ~ ~sile(North Garoli~a A?:T ). The ;::,outh, too, has exp e rienced ••tllllllll!lili• 7 iK dramatic changes as a result of the he Free South(ffi ~ _j ymbols are everyw"here: e Dashikm Jheater~n tremendou,_..,~4kg (_; ,..,_ ~ , Black N ~~ovement. - · New Urleans,.SUDAN South/West poetry-musica.theatbr group in Houston, the Theater of Afro-Arts in Miami, a nd Atlanta's Black Image. In Atlanta, ~pellman organized the Genter for Black Art which publishes Rhythm(l970). Stone became editor, ~bon(~igemonde Kharlos Wimb erli) poetry editor and 8pellman editor of essays and features. The summer issue of Rhythm was 197. also a memorial to Donald# L. Graham (1944-1971), poet-theoretician who succeeded KilHms as di rector of the Writers Workshop at .B'isk. ~raham,~rr:snsmiwisama xaax M.. who was also a musician, h a d publis~ed three books: Black ~ong , 8oul Motion, and ~oul Mot on I I . hhythm said he "was running one of the baddest worksho n s in the Soutb.J" People's co ·1 le ge in Nashville Margar e t Walker in Mississipi/ a1as1 j.,w s and "teaching at the hevolutionary 11 . at Jackson °t a te Colle ge !l:973- hoste4.~~7f bi-centennial celebr • tion of the publication of Phyllis \fueatley • s Poems. XXXJlft ilhc celetn abion somewhat from the stance -- �she took in For My People. Yet Prophets for a New Day(l970) and Octob e r ,_1--,_,., ·u ..L<., ~ ~ ,u.u_:1.,..~i~ , a11d,,,. (,'p,:ti,. Ri ghts Movement A_~ its She writes about 11 Birmingham," "Street Demonstrat i on," "Jack son, Mississippi, 11 'fihe March on Wa ~ g ton, and the new pro ~ 11 "Jeremiah, 11 a Legend" she says "Isaiah, "Amos," 11 .joel~' a.Rei erl;:k@P9, In 11 ts: 0 ford is Andy Goodman, -~~ Michael Schwerner, and James Chane y , who 8!11~ "opp r e ssion" in Louisiana, M~ssissippi andbeorg ia. October~I fl b® a quieter riety of••~verse iorms incl~ding the ball a d .ner own unique in "tlarriet Tubman.'' .:::>1,,e sti 11 ;r,?Jre112 a drlu . sonnet t in "For Mary McLeod Bethune 11 a nd ~ earlier 11 1''or Paul Lawrence Dunbar." poet is suggested in with the p oets telling us f 11 .1 want to Write " ,--..., • I want to w rite son.jg s of my people. '-""' 01ice Wal k er, novelist a nd poet, sha res the st a te of Missi sippi~ ~ 19 68µ Petunias with Ma rgaret Wal k er. Her volumes of p oetry are Once~ana. RevolutionarYA the title of , is probably ~,.....,.1,4(,~ (1973)f,.which, judging from othe r st at ements she has made, mi~t be o • ' • Her p oems some s a t ir e. A poem in Once r e lates t h e story of the y oung Black man who wanted to inte grate a wh ite be a ch s in Alabama--in the "nude. n She k t lieorge · Ahistory an~ folk-strength �35 is made of : ~"romance" that 11 blossomed 11 and t he in ~ pews at funerals; women with fists that • • • "battered II doors; ~ "Sunday ~chool , 0 irca 1950"; a "backwoods woman" wh ~ killef to water the petunias/JI ind of " Hage 11 : also writes The silence between your words rl:¥lls into me like a sword. Yet an~ther Mississipian and poet is Julius Bric Thompson , a history Hopes tied up in Promises was pµblished in teacher at Toogaloo . ~970 and aims at li ing the new consciousness above mere "hopes . Thompson writes about being a Black man in Mississi p pi , Martin ~uther King, and "Black ~over..11 I series~ poems "Delta Children , " 1 o~~ In Louisiana much new poetry has been arriving from the pens of young and, old poets alike . ~u-Bolton, now in D. C. , edits -.....:---- Hoodoo I through bngrgy Blacksouth Fr ~ss ) in DeRidder . co-edited The Last Cookie.lJ based in DeRidder, .:1an Francisco , a nd Geneva , New York . Hoodoo I, dedicated to two Bla ck students killed by policemen on the campus .....-, of ::;outhern University in Nov 8mb er of 19 ·121 contained work by Lorenzo Thomas, May Miller, Pinkie Lane Kalamu Ya ::Salaam, Jerry War d , and other southern- based poets . Hfodoo 2. & issuel published in l975 , contains work of< • ii 11 3 , a double more southern poets: �36 ""'-~~:..w;~~~~~a~n~ :\ .<"\ Arthenia Bates Millica Uharles Rowell,as well as selection• from t~nJ the braader ~ an:e world of Black writing. Press will also publis ~ volume of poems. t'diiWii iiiiiiiiiPIIIK bnegery Black~outh A Nig, erer Ament, Zu-Bolton 1 s first ►~ \!ider the g ud~ ·ce of the late English $. ~ short-live I/ ■ C I /'nairrnan, Melvin A. Butler , ~s ablished t e ac .1!.xperience) C several £Oems by Alvin Apbert , the first issue of' which contairie<l]lpbems, a 'Southern alumnus who now rL resides in New Yo rk and edits Obsidian: Black Literature in rteview. Aubert s Against the Bluestl971) . I ; surveys blues, love and his Louisiana heritage. Pink@. Lane , n~w ~nglish Department .;;:'-head at uouthern, published Wind Thoughts(l972) as well as sev eral Broad- sides: Two Poems(l972 ), Poem~ather(l9I2), and Songs to the Dialysis Ma chine(l972), all ~ f s : & - - ' - > o u t h and est, Inc., of Arkansas. ~outh& and West is also the publisher of the annual ( 19~9, 1971, 1972-l} rwhich Poems by Bla ck Pinkie Lan C ~ / ermanent editor. inaugura ted the annual Black Poetry Festival In the program of the first festival, l,Dx he stateciJ: in The Bla ck Poetry Festival provides a rare opportunity to bring together profeS"S"ional a nd apprentice poets in an effort to define a nd legitimize all forms of Black poetic talent as a prelude and postlude to defining-and legitimizing the reality of Black people . Hopefully, t he results of our efforts will be a bett er understanding and a grea ter apurecia tion of the lives, aspirations and achievements of Black peop~e . TI I j.l"°frre •-• festivals, "- ( c~ ..,.;..~ Southern has attractive a number of poets; 1 ~lq 7t-1l) _, Madhubiti , Sonia Sanchez,~ Randall ,'rre'a:mori~ Bolton , Fnigfit , ~alamu S a l a ~ ~ Aubert, Luc~ ""ITlifton,v eal, ,'\.udre Lorde }I .Lrma JJTcLaurin. The festivals, which included student poets and mus ici ans , have inspired a Poetry Workshop under the supervision of Howell , an ~nglish instructor. The first two volumes of Poems by Blacks contain a rich lode of oouthern riting �37 poets : Leon~ . Wiles( Philander .::>mith College), blijah Sabb(Little Rock) , Booker T . Jackson( Little Rock), Eddie Scott(l"1emphis) , Otis Woodard Tuske gee Institute (MeJD,phis) , Arthlil.r Pfister (Mbllfhi,,, Beer Cans Bullets .;.,-Things & Pieces , 1972) , Upton Pearson(Jac k son , Mississippi) , Jacquelyn Bryant( h eridian) ., Lois Miller (Baton Houge) , Barbara J-ean hnight (iviemphis) and h.atheleen rteed (Shreveport) . Although Pinkie Lane Lane did not edit the first two ~ issues of Poems , she acted as aavisor ana~ was subst antially r epre s ented . :::;he is a gifted, ,,: skill and 7 3 gr.di I 7 7 ·:uzb. word-manipul a tor with consummate passion .~:ll■b~i--~l•~k North of Baton Rouge in .New Orleans, the .t< 'ree .::>out h e rn Th eater haA burned out by the late sixties , but~5'€ttt1;iw9~0aff?E1lfl!I~ ~ Nkombo which 4lllll the work of BLKARTSOUTH writ e rs . Tom Vent , one of the founders of FST, and ~alamu now jointly edit the publica t i on . Some BLKA RTSO UTH poets are Isaac Black, Dent, r.iiiii_- 0alaam, ~ lienaldo .B'ernande z, Na y o (Barbara Malcolm,, Raymond Washingto4, and J ohn O .r eal . Again, no single thread ties these poets together- - except the o r "movement'' in the outh • ~ h e ir con- cerns for the movement are o f ten expressed bett er outside of the poe try than in . I n 19 69 BLKARTSOUTH published i n dividual volumes of poems by Salaam( The Blues h er ch ant) , Fernandez (The I mpati ent hebel), Nayo (I Want Me a Home ) , and Washington(Visions From the Ghetto) . " Racist ~ Psychotherapy" is Black 1 s blue - print for i l A Afro-American salvation . He advises Blac k s to spend less time r a pping and drinking and more time w o ~ ha rles at Mississipp i State" Dent says I h ear p eople wa iting for the riot to be gin in t heir hearts • ••• Of ..-..."The ~ Blues , 11 Salaam says: it is not sumbission •• • • of his work is speechy . Salaam has al so published Hofu Ni h.wenu: My Fear Is l<'or You:t( 1973) which received a mixed review from Rowell in the 0 ep tember , 1974, issue of Black World . Salaam i s ~ editor �38 of the New Orleans-based Blac k - - -----,=--- Na yo writes a 11 -~ dtime "h question , ' when we gonna h a ve the revoluti o~ "cW the moth e r I! . castigate whitey and prais e Blacks . But , Jdlh I •ot"'"'F Y}1,-m4:l!~!b ~ · - . · ~f!"""K'• they wrgbout south e rn life , le d Congo Writing 'or~op . There are also writing workshops 0 quare Dillard and Xav i e r Univ ersities ~ A Julia• Fields, still living in ~o rth Garolina , c111• •-- brought oug l!.ast of Moonli ght ,--_ in 19(3 , but testimonies is "High on the Hog 11 one of h ~ q u e n t which ~ est a blishes herfigp_t • to h a ve "caviar 11 or "Shrimp souffle" over ~ L Ja )_i,. stances-t• a~ A"'-n7of-r,ic J I revol u tionaries, she says;lf.e h a s E: 11 "gut b a II or "Jowl . " ~c over-exotici zed b'y rt<t I/MA. ,, A 1 ,. ~~ ,,,!:,,. I,../,,.. ea rend 11 the right to enb lrt(sh • She has e v en heard "Maus Maus" scr e aming and ~Romanti c izing 0 i pain . 11 from both But The i"@/3/ x/o~ le'f.-t in po~ts of lJt!f<1. ~~YJ,8jil-c. Fl'7 Thet(con- s s!en by somra;~jor juncture in the New • Gwendolyn Broo k s talk 4Jabout it in her auto - b iogra phy , Margare t v~alker discussed it with Nikk i Giovanni in their published " conversations , 11 Blac k Worl d. a r g \¥,i t e rs ~u 7 l er wrote glowingly of it in e c onfe renc e were David Llorens , ~ Fuller ~ Milne r , Clarke , ~ennett , Maggaret ~anner , Nikki Giovanni , Randal l , Lee , Margaret \-Jalker , t>onia Sanchez , Jones , and Marg aret Bur r oughs . �39 . ., 1; il provided the first writer s. ~wendolyn coHl..ly res p ected" afte r ,,,. I"'"' just h a ving f l own Ja to Nas h vi l le from 11 whi te -whit e ~outh Daij:ota. 11 P-owever, she was amon g t h e first (with Handall a nd .1:'' u l l e r u p t h e babner of the <ii? of to take J the Black Aesthetic 2nd the causes of ,,,.l the young writers . t!i.S; + Such action, of course, was dis n leasing to a numeber of whi , e and Black poets, not the le a st among them Hayden -who rmfi:Dses e~o acknowlege the exist~nce of a ~'' who expre~red l:Jj s feelAngsaboPt i "1u!,'&.<Pf!ti@ A.aesthetic + tr for Blacks md bie :moe J io ;pee,i:::tiisa p?eiett 12n~aleidos~ope • • • Janua ry, Bl ack World po11)af BJaolc mibcrs wrd er!i:tics • Although the Fisk conference has been followed by dozens E. ~ no 1968 , ollifJOfs Black colleges all over the South, Midwest and st, ;,here is still but Cf"'\. monolithic st a nd *""dire ctions" 771 a g'r: some writers keep trying ; to give them anyway . One indicationg of t h e healthy diversity among Black writers is the journal Roots, published at Texas Southern University • .C.ditors are Tommy Guy, Jeffree James , ·.1,·urne r Whorton, and Nance \rJi lliams . Volume I, number I contains es s ays, art and ( the works of ~PA trt.er i ~emsn poets , most of them southerners. The poetry, d evoid of monotonous theme or style, represents a broad rang e ~ of interests in supreme" says 11 ,# • ai@~lfllm!~~ subjects and forms. ?m 1 lo in 11 a love all my eyes gazed forever backwards ." In 'she 1 11 never knxow" :Mick ey Leland writes of various a s pects of the social and pl;tysical l an dscape, including the "Kinky haired boys" -who build 11 arsen~ls of s traw." ~ la rence ~ard notes in "nanging On' " that ~ the rent h a s gone up , eviction is Ao 1 ..g, t h ere is no food for r the baby, and Han ging on aint easy •••• j ahmad j . 1 s title "rtard He ad 1v1akes a ~oft .1:-iss" i mp lies t h e poem's statement . ~taszy: eternalizes, "like a good high, '1 for Tommy Guy in 11 Brother . 11 � 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_26 Title A name given to the resource Draft of Drumvoices: The Mission of Afro-American Poetry: A Critical History, B. Griefs of Joy: The Poetry of Wings, p. 1-39, 1975 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. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1975 Description An account of the resource Draft of Drumvoices: The Mission of Afro-American Poetry: A Critical History, B. Griefs of Joy: The Poetry of Wings, p. 1-39 with additional page 1a.