https://digitallis.isg.siue.edu/files/original/76aae805eac8a7ad9e939902b2ec1b3e.pdf b5a47891b89423e6a2ffd984dcc1ce86 PDF Text Text ~ J CHAPTER ih: ~ FESTIVALS & FUNERALS: BlACK POETRY OF THE 1960s JIIII 1970s They winged his spirit & wou.t;1.ded his tongue but death was slow corning~ • • • • • • • • • • • • • 'Who killed Lurnurnba What killed Malcolm • • • • • • • • • • • festivals & funerals festivals/Z&: funerals festivals/Z&: funerals & festivals &IX funeralsx •••• -----Jayne Cortez I Overview: The space between festivals and funerals can be infinite or says throue?ti the twistings and it can be deathly short. So Jayne Cortez But s.in h er poem. f!'hatever the space, or the pace, we all slip, slide, soar, and between the polarities{assigned each rip as we make our way at birth) Mt:U88R :ene lEina of life we live and the kind of death we die. Black poetry of the 1960s have and 1970s often faces life and death "straight upf":a'hough, as we from seen, Black poet in other times not....__.. cring the breaches of racial nightmares, violence, sexuality, unbeautiful language, wicked or r eligious of them see each To attempt others' folkisms, and the demands of music which to hear--albeit 11 dift:tterent drummer-. 11 Black a discussion of contemporaryfi'oetry is to· tum tongues into flames: "Blasphemy!," "I was the first r," "We Started it!," "That anthology was incomplete since it didn't include me!," "It all started in this place or that place!," "His/her poetry is not Black enough!," and so on. JW..,.111a111:::.:1ua,1~_..,....,...., the "smoke 11 !6rom the sixties is beginning to clear �2 ~ - 1 1 \ , 1 '-" u•h mo r e and, whlhl :..Ji. .io!!!dtTJ=-:a-.1Nie'll!IMt9it:► is needed, there are '1 observations be made Hence in this chapter, the format receding · th a noticeabl~ de-emphasis that biographical-critical on individual poets. Most serious poets who began writing in the l a te tiIM!:iHJm fifties, sixties and muc seventies, still hav rowing and threshing to do. recent volumes to evaluate Black poetry produced over I ·able rends have occurred, and they look roughly like this: ~ ~ck poetry since the Harlem Henaissance(see Brown, Hedding, Henderson, Jackson) has had cyc}.$ng currents of "rage" and "fire " though not the sustained gush witnessed in the mid and late sixties; ~Black poetry after 1945 expressed a belief(see Ray Durem) th a t white liberals were not real ly interested , in mounting t h e chariots on behalf of Blacks(despite Communist-Socialist pronouncements); /Black poetry of the 1950s and early 1960s provided a Ci vi 1 Rights '-groundswell for the volcani Ju~st poetry of early sixties ttylistic, attitudinal and ~ Poetry; linguistic character ent B Black y, despite "evolutions" and "changes," has nota.1!1:~e-.-~m--ei11ta~iiiii.ii,,,a1-iWN~~ ii.1,,.-the bevt work of Hughes, Johnson (both), Davis, Toomer, Walker, Hayden, Brooks, Tolson a nd Dodson-~> i xcept for what ,,.--... ~ - illlR .::>tephen Hena erson calls "tentative II answer#s, Blaoc poetry defies all definit i ons (li k e Mari .l!ivans~ "Black Woman")--splintering off into ennumerable directions, st y les,~ ~es, considerati ons and ideas. his chapter, all above considered(!), ~M~~~1¢%2W o i F ties.~Thef sketch wi • • •'.....J -sS~ will <lli~~brief ~/ t ~ fropi t 1?-e .fi t; s i ,,...::::::c;r;:.iiii!- wt,# a~look at transitional poets(older and younger) as their work appears primarily in about �3 a half dozen anthologies(from I ~aw How Black I Was, 1958, to Kaleidoscope, Locke's and Bontemps 1 s divisions of the Henaissance) who came to recognition under the banner of the Black Arts Movement and who loosl~y fall into the c a tegory of New Black Poetry. Older Walke poets--Hayden, and others--will be briefly re-visited to see if••=- the ...... significant changes "new" mood wrought in their views an~eir poetry.• ThoufY:l.J-a critical history, this book is primarily a historical guide--designed to aid students, teachers,and , lay readersJ ?ll ■,in their explor'la-tion of Black p oetry. Only a naive person would attempt, at this stage, a full c¾itique of the poetry & J . r.f,e.. ~ . of the 196Os and 197Os. Howiver, th e re are ~ , similarities, a ~ \.thematl,9 clusters- wh i ch will be pinpointed and assessed from time to time. 1 the most provocative of recent studies of contemporary Bla ck poetry are Henderson's !iii "11he ill:Militant Black Writer in Alflrica and the united li11asch I s Helvin Tolson(l972); Dtates(l969, with Mercer Co~~~~ Un erstan ew ac'If ~e 4lb5 gn•s Modern Black Poets(l973)~ Shirley Williams ~ Give Birth to rightness ( 1972) ;I\ jg 71.i!J)] 11 Jackson I s and Rubin's Black Poetry in Arnerica(l974), lf1itdJ£11{ !'lnii;lalso s e e ~ bliography). d ·o �II Literary and ~ocial Landscape: ideolo~ porary period. world. ~ c • • • are - -· e contem- Revolutions ( of a.11 kinds) m'e>c:t-.,.(Vllaffli,ld the From Cuba to Vietnam, Harlem to Chile, Pakistan to Watts, Nigeria to Indonesia, Kenya to Berkeley, Jackson State to Kent State--t~e fac_..,U'P'l- """'-..t.' }:n~ kt. 1 d~ma~ic .~'). i...olent.i7V~ -;tJ, p,))i...,~ .~4'J ..,, ~e , was decli- ni gt-..and Jazl•s greatest living interpreter, Charlie Parker, was dead. Musicians and vocalists began probing new forms under the leadership of Coltrane, the Modern Jazz Quartet, Wes Montgomery, Duke Ellington, Ray Charles, Count Basie, Ornette Coleman, Billy Eckstine, Sarah Vaughn, Ella. Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday, who died in 1959. Miss Holiday's name and fame again reached a worldwide audience when, in 1972, Diana Ross, formerly of the Supremes, starred in the controversial movie, Lady Sings the Blues. Saxophonist Coltrane, a major influence on the current generation of musicians a.nd poets, died in 1967. An innovator, he sparked new interest in music with his "sheets of sound" approach to playing/ ~ :,µ,"fl f)~l'-4 IJ The Fifties also witnessed the matlration of Rhythm \"0-010 and Blues, popularized primarily by BlackAdisc jockeys who developed large followings. :tJhe-iJ2 iii&Bl!6~~ 'n".tc DJ' a emµ'!.ej@'n! e,n!'l! MJ effl', 1 'e!ffl l!!PW~!. Interweavi lively Black social news and comme 85 li&44MM ', p• ,Ji,''- �theySii!m anticipated the ~'.Ear lbj poetry of the :Sixties. 61P the oral new Spin-offs from these MSSISi.ff..l,-lt)t., . . . . . broadcasting styles were programs like Bandstand (started in the late atched Blacks dance, listened to Little Richard and Chubby Checker, and tried to imitate it all on ~V and in their homes. This period gave birth to the first white superstar Soul artist--Elvis ~ de»~ Black critics and social historians note that the ne~cial music, and the dances accompanying it, freed white American youngsters from the prudish and self-righteous inhibitions of their foreparent~ • . ··~ ' ~" ~- Generally, American science and industry developed more rapidly than in previous periods. Russia launched Sputnick, ""h r'c-h a feat~was followed by an American-Russian science and space~/ exploration race whic,i/fontinues,clC!~!:r · Telestar paved the way for televised coverage of global activities while biochemical warfare and atomic research became the nightme.res people lived daily. The American literary scene was swamped with political novels, satire, writings on the war and experimen listic prose. The "underground II a major vehicle for-..illl•~ this new writing. 86 journa- .... newspaper -•••=::~lallle"-:£,(1-;'2'.:' ~....,,,... ...,_. �,e(.l..._L1e"' employed in~writine; is still present. of the writer However, the influ- .f %'~.~n na...n. .d. . .....w.,.,a r years ~i ~1) ~ w • i • .. the /J /B~rard , I Y ' [~C-ni. Malam l .._.....,....... ohn Hersey, ~ ; llow, Norman ~ a , -~ er,A4½fest Gaines, James Baldwin,111anner~•Conq9r, Albert Murray,~~n1A t~'¥1J.A i'2 . .i - ~~) Willia~yro, i liam Demby, ohn Barth, Wi~Liam Melvin Kelley, and Irvin Wallace. :J Black writers are included in the general listing because during the contemporary period mani of them achieved recognition on par with the best (~eed j 60...- e't.o.mph21WG\.S n,c,,-,ui,c.i'ted (n ~ o c4ie e s ~ oV""'\1-\ ~ N<M°t 10.(.. llo/\&c writers everywhere.AMiliiiilliiM.~~ ~ome important contemporary~ 01 ~~,.~L.-' are: Stanley ~ e r t 71{ ~ Hayden,~Eberhart, Robert ~tJ.n Warren, ,..._Gw ndolyn Brooks,~' ,.:f. 14{ (A..........,..,,..J ; Theodor~~~oethke, Karl Shapiro e . vin Tolson, John Berryman, I 1.'.fok~ ~~ , ~ , T,1'1'~:v,-) H e ~ : P t Lowell,ARichard Wilbur, Paul Vesey, James } Dickey, Imamu Baraka, Sylvia Plath, William Bell and James Ho.yd r\ "e' \ved. CL rn~T,bnat. 8 00 Aw ... ~ n On'\t ~ii> • 'l Wright. (\ Many of the Black prose writers and poets ( some from the pre- and post-war schools) died during the contemporary period {Tolson, Bontemps, Hughes, Wri ght, Durem, Dumas, D u;) Rivers, Toomer, Malcolm X, etc.). Indeed death, in one way or another, not only preoccupied writers {White and Black), 87 . ~J f-\o"'ne> �1 ~ ?v 'rs. ued • but waskomantically nB!l!S!i&at~.•~·1~1~1~:-~3-••s~i•aa• Beat poet Kenneth Rexroth ~ - -,.1111•1111 • "Why have 30 American poets committed suicide since 1900?" Those poets not concerned with death were investigating decadence or the deathness 1 (U c 1• The development of contemporary poetry cannot be ;;JI:Jd properly without understanding the "Beat" period. As y- product of the Be Bop era in Black music, Beat poets emulated the hip mannerisms and aped the "man alone 11 1liJlf' @:_rop-out imag~ tMIIII•.-~ associated with ·;t¥ musicians. 2'iiiii' ~·:::ec::::c::.::i::po;a~ ~a::rkma~ot·;~ playing "Something," in the words of Thelonious Monk, "they can't play. 11 (They, meaning whites). Important~ poets ~~ Lawrence Ferhlinghetti, Re:xroth, Allan Ginsberg,~nd Gregory Corso, among the whites! and Bob Kaufman, LeRoi Jones and Ted a Jo/l1fs among the Blacks. Another Black poet writing at the time and loosely aligned with the Beat i ma ge was Russell Atkins who founded Freelance in 1950. The Beat Movement, which nurtured occultism, rejection of the Establishment and an existential view of life, was centered in New York's Greenwich Village and the San Francisco Bay area. The movement died in the early Sixties. Kaufman is viewed by many as the unsung patriarch of the Beat era. Black critics say major white poets of the movement enthusiastically took their ~ues from Kaufman's ~ innovation_s : bl::3 ~ ~ ~o .ri JI!~ ::,;ai- , c in tf!G.h reco~ his a.,.~ ~~a:Pde ,teP.ln- Kaufman's poetry is 88 J ·• �in anthologies and in his two volumes: Solitudes Crowded with Loneliness (1965) and Golden Sardine (1967). As a kind of spiritual heir to Toomer, Kaufman is a complex, sometimes fragmented, but brilliantly original poet. , His work, like that of many of his contemporaries, 'i"nr1uenced by Eastern religious thought and the occult. Stylistically, Kaufman has the nsweep II of 'ci'iii) Whitman coupled with the best techniques of modern poetry. He passionately experi- ments with jazz rhythms in poetry and often invokes jazz themes, moods and musicians. Many Beat poets and enthusiasts later joined or were Civil Rights struggle which was intensified I Luther King,f.Jil!ll!Jrlr,Montgomery bus boycott in 1955-56; sit-ins and other dramatizations of segregation and discrimination; the challenges of Jim Crow in travel in 1961 (CORE); the widening activities of SNCC (1961-64) and the March on Washington (1963). Other significant activities J en.flamed and inspired the hearts and imagination of American youth especially. The Muslims' (Nation 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 influence of the Muslims suggested that many Blacks no longer believed America was Bv-M sincere in its pledges to implemen~m•fl!MIP'li!m':\:• law. became Abetting their distrust were the continued killings, night-ridings in the south and harrassment of Blacks in public places and their homes. 89 With the bitter taste of , �Emmitt Till 1 s murder still on their tongues, Blacks reeled under the killings of Chaney, Goodman and Schwerner, Malcolm X, Medgar Evers, King, the Kennedy brothers;and the three ,.._....,,.,..:r""."" ' / Black Panthers ••&ltli po By 1966, however, Black apartment) Power signs and slogans overcome- ~ in their sleep in a Chicago be gd.n to replace the ''We shall lack and White Together" exclamations. Young Black America) adorniht Afro hairdos a.no. African jewelry, attended cultural festivals, back-to-Africa rallies)Jllllfi poetry readings/and began reading community news published in revolutionary broadsides and tabloids. Rhetorical forays by H. Rap Brown and Stokely Carmichael, young SNCC officers, set off a flurry of state and national laws against inciting to riot and the transportation of weapons across state boundaries. Large and small cities i gnited in flames that set the stage for gun battles between police and the often "imagined II snipers. These conft:~9t}~t'l.~ns were repeated~· n ~ so.s:.i'n«.Te.J scores of cities after Dr. King was iiiliiiiiiB• in 1968. W oet Quincy Troupe captured the shock and horror)and chronicled t. ' the official reaction in his poem ttWhite Weekend u: 1 The deployed military troops surrounded the White House and on the steps of the Senate building a soldier behind a machine gun . ., . 32,000 in Washington & Chicago 1,900 in Baltimore Maryland 76 cities in rlames on the landscape and the bearer of peace still lying in Atlanta ••• ln the last stanza, Troupe notes with curdling irony: 90 , �Lamentations! Lamentations! Lamentations! Worldwide! But in New York, on Wall Street the stock market went up 18 points ••• At this writing, fallout from the Black Revolution reverberates around the globe. Black journalist Thomas Johnston reports Irish revolutionaries sing t'We Shall Overcome." Posters and emblems commercialize everything from African hairstyles to the raised clenched fist--tbe initial ~- symbol of Black unity and defiance. A wave of Black 'WttJ' movies--called Blaxploitation--beginning withAexperimental ' flicks like Putney Swope (1969) multi-million dollar theater patronage. Black movies retrieved the crippled movie industry from the brink of disaster. Meanwhile, the murder, incarceration and poli- tical harrassment of Black men and women made them heroes and heroines in Black communities--yet ironically symbolized the torment and what some Black journalists called the "genocidal schemes" of Americal..ae.e..-.a.""'4<"</. ~ J:ht {_). Criss-crossed by paradoxes, political contradictions, social revolts and reli gious ambivalences, the Black community%evertheless ~p;t.iicocEB~cr regenerated by its singers and performers. ~tt:12ai_:s;r..:Piiii=:r not ~~ only reached unprecedented~mo capabilities. Rhythm Blues, said to have died about 196.5, gave way to nsoul"-- nr ' m a Soul Man, n ixties. Sam and Dave announced in the late The Impressions told lovers that you "gotta have soul" and Bobby Womack reminded listeners that the "Woman's Gotta Have it 11 --pre~umably ''Soul. 91 11 Black recording companies �are in a boon, the two largest ones being Mo Town (Detroit) and Watte,8tax (Memphis). The current period has £&the . Black superstar--a ~" called "super Nigger"--in everything from sports to movies. Curtis Mayfield's soundtract alb m Superfly (1972) sold more than 22,000,000 copies and Marvin Gaye's What's Going On (1971) Rec.eml'lJ h6we~e., ~~v,·etik,;;d vi~ svl-"p&. d ~ a.LL ' set records for album sales.A Literally dozens of singing groups--modeled on the quartets and ensembles of the fifties-are releasing albums regularly. These folk or "soul" poets "conscious" in recent years and have b .,. and exaltations of Blackness~ many Much of this new wave came on the heels of severe criticism by Baraka who admonished singers for doting on unrequited love. are preoccupied with 11 ~ many my baby's gone, gone" Black consciousness activity--and creativity in g neral-- howflourishia_•fllla•:t. Related involvement - includeS: J'evelopment of Black acting ensembles; opening of free scho and Black universities; establishment of Black Nationalist/JJ . . t he number of Back l a.riJAf rican . communes; increase in bookstores~ boutiques; establishment of Black Studies programs on white and Black campuses . and, in some cases, quota systems for enrolling Black students; the escalation of Black demand for "cream of' the crop" jobs such as W announcing and1'he hosting of'• variety shows; expansion and creation of new roles for Black newspapers, magazines and radio stations; 92 �formation of national and state Black Congressional /aucuses and similar units in most professional associations and, finally and importantly, new engagement with Africa and her problems and possibilities. to the 11 Mother country" or age and social levels. Indeed, future trips to Africa-11 Homeland 11 .:-are discussed at all Much of this renewed interest is understandable in light of the emergence during the contemporary period of several African nation states and the 0-mohq increased fraternization t!lfA~fricans and Afro-Americ ns. Malcolm X, cannonized today by great numbers of young Blacks . t and Black i nte much to f os t er11iiscurrent interes a rally in Harlem in 1965, Malcolm in Africa. (El Hajj Malik El S~z~~ad already been expelled from the Nation of Islam/ f'ormed~plinter group . . , known as the Organization of Afro-American Unity. His Auto- biography of Malcolm X {with Alex Haley, 1965~whicb (as he predicted) he did not get to see in print, chronicles as Malcolm Little, hustler bis "Detroit Red", Malcolm x and El-Hajj Malik El Shabazz. 1 Malcolm was lionized by Carmichael, H. Rap Brown, Ossie Davis, Baraka and various other scholars, activists and (o.nd, C.oL T?lo,l'\e) Black poets, especially, have found MalcolmAa source of inspiration. A partial indication of impact on poets can be seen in For Malcolm: Poems on the Life and Death of Malcolm X {1967), edited by Dudley Randall and Margaret G. Burroughs. Shabazz 11 Robert Hayden noted that: 93 In 11 El-Hajj Malik El �~ He X'd his name, became his people's anger, exhorted them to vengence for their past; rebuked, admonished them, Their scourger who woµld shame them, drive them from the lush ice gardens of their servitude. At the First World Festival of Negro Arts, held in Dakar, Senegal, in 1966, Hayden was awarded the Grand Prize for Poetry. A major event, the festival was attended by experts, scholars, artists and enthusiasts of the Black Arts who gathered for 24 days to hear papers and discussions, view art exhibits and cultural performances, and give preliminary direction to the Black Arts Movement. Presiding over the ' ' ' festival was Leopold Sedar Senghor, Senegalese President, and one of the architects (with Aim~ Cesair~ and L~on Damas) of Negritude. Negritude is a philosophy of Black humanism~,(' ensc.on e.s , according to its originators, the Black mystique or religiosity. The term grew out of the associations of Black African intellectuals, French writers and artists, and Black Ame_rican~xpatriates. ,.,. v) African-oriented publications such as Presence Africaine and Black Orpheus have renewed their interests in Black American writers. Likewise, Black American journals and popular magazines (Black World, Journal of Black Poetry, The Black h(l.ve Scholar, Essence, Encore, Ebony, Jet, etc.)Abegun to publish more materials by and about Africans. The revolution in the Bl ck Arts was signaled by many events including the First Conference of Negro Writers in March of 1959. Langston Hughes was an important figure at 94 �-MiaSR:ie!'e'!',e,e--as he was at the Dakar gathering seven years later. The First American Festival of Negro Art was held in 1965 and the Second AFNA took place in November of 1969 in Buffalo, N.Y. Interlacing these and other con- ferences, symposia and conventions were exciting developments 1 and experiments in New York, Chicago, Watts, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Baton Rouge, St. Louis, Cleveland, Detroit and Washington, D. C. During these periods of social turmoil and artistic upsurge writers and poets often aligned themselves with ideological positions and regional movements. Consequently, Black Arts communes and regional brands of Black /onsciousness grew concurrently. Splits between older Civil Rights workers and Black Nationalists were paralleled by splits between older writers and younger practioners of "Black Arts. 11 The splits were not always clear-cut, however, for many older activists and poets joined the new mood in spirit, thematic concern and personal life style, while some of the younger writers retained the influence of the earlier moods. Complicating things even more were the variants on the dominant themes of each camp. Gwendolyn Brooks, Dudley Randall, Margaret Danner, Margaret Walker and .John Oliver Killens are among the older group of writers who vigorously took up the banner of the new mood. works imbibe ~~ /2./.Av.£.b ti mG Younger writers whose "tradition" include Henry Dumas (Poetry fLo..yl')&:~\iiC,7'/- For My People, 1970K, Conrad Kent Rivers (The Still Voice of Harlem, 1968, etc.), Julia Fields (Poems, 1968) Al Young 95 �(Dancing, 1969, etc.) and Jay Wri ght (The Homecoming Singer , 1972) to name just a few . period was dealt a severe blow Dumas and Rivers in 1968 . promise of this The the untimely deat hs of These poets are deeply influenced by the moods and preoccupations of the period @elf- love , racial injustice, violence , war, Black Consciousness and History) but they work along tested lines and experiment within careful and thought - out frames of references . Most of the writers of the period (their styles and ide olo gies notwithstanding ) have found t hemselves engulfed at one time or another in heated debate s over questions related to the "Black Aesthetic", the relationship of writer to reader , Vi Black 8lllli and the part At this writing, these discussions continue in mos t s e ctions of the Black Worl d . The flurry of ideological and aesthetical debate among the poets (and other writers) has often been precipitated or attended by critical writings, historical studies, social essays and public political statements. Some of t he indi- viduals associated with initiating the pleth ora of rhetoric on the question of a 11 Black 11 aesthetic (and related issues) are Ro n Karenga, Gwendolyn Brooks, Baraka, Addison Gayle, Jr. , Hoyt W. Fuller (Black World), Edward Spri ggs, J. Saunders Redding, Ralph Ellison, Larry Neal, Ernest Kaiser, Mel Watkins, Ron Welburn, Dudley Randall, Lerone Bennett, Jr., ~ James Emanuel, Toni Cade John Henrik Clarke, Don L. Lee, - 96 N,~:~tlr\ ~u,1 �Ed Bullins, and Stanley Crouch. A number of important studies, literary and cultural, by Black and white writers, aided in whetting or prolonging the critical thirsts. Some of the important and/or controversial writings er' tne;/4t1@ ~ tea,.Pl!P.~=;,3=~t:l=im~: The Militant Black Writer: in Africa and the United States (1969), Cook and Henderson; Black Expression (1969) and The Black Aesthetic (197i} Gayle Jr., ed.; Muntu: The New African Culture (1961) and Neo-African Literature: A History of Black Writing (1968), Jahn; Langston Hughes: Black Genius (1971), O•Daniel, ed.; Black Poets of the United States: Paul Lawrence Dunbar to Langston Hughes (1963, French edition; !ins., Douglas), Wagner; Before the Mayflower and ~ (1966), ~ E l l i s o n ; Understanding the New Black Poetry (1973), Henderson; Colloquium on Negro Art: First World Festival of Negro Arts, 1966 {1968), Editions t Presence Africaine; The Negro Novel in America (1965), Bone; Mother is Gold: A Study in West African Literature {1971), Roscoe; The Crisis of the Negro Intellectual (1967), Cruse; Native Song: A Critical Study of Twentieth-Century Negro American Authors (1968), Margolies; Dynamite Voices: Black Poets of the 1960's, vol. I (1971), Lee; Blues People (1963), Black Music (1967), Home: Social Essays (1966), and Raise Race flays :R,aze {1971), Baraka; and Give Birth to Brightness (1972), Williams. A number of Black critics, artists, and activists heatedly denounce whites who research or criticize Black literature, saying that only those who have lived the 97 �Black Experience can write about it. Another group holds that whites can report on Black writing if they are sincere and sympathetic. The Black Arts Movement, as the contemporary period J.!i ome..17me.s • • called, took place in the shadows of what many Black social critics have called the "second Reconstruction." Hence, much of the writing is a revolt against , political hypocrisy and social alienat·on. In the . ·"4 I?.& :poetry >tib:... pawa ca,. 11'1'1!n, w1 l"+Je~ shower* disdain and 1 1 obscenities on the "system" and whites in general. ~ "integration ",(if 1:l;llliD..e offered, younger poets derided American values and attitudes. "Unlike the Harlem group," Hayden noted, "they rejected entry into the mainstream of American literature as a desirable goal." Of course, more than a few of the older poets were writing in the Sixties and are writing today. Many of them, however, were sometimes laid aside by youni readers who were unable to separate 0 poetry" from the fiery declamations of Carmichael, Brown and ennumerable local spokesmen and versifiers. Often the poets exchanged superficial indictments, indulged in name-calling and, as groups or individuals, began rating eacb other on their 11 levels of Blackness" even though no criteria existed then and none exists today for such judging. Much of the dispute centered around the question of who "started" the Black Arts or New Black Poetry movements. in the Spring, 1971, issue of Confrontation: E~-tr'le llcdmo d. Third World Literature, A stated: 98 In an article A Journal of �l \ While it is true that there are leading li ghts of the Black Arts Movement, it is an emphatic lie to say one geographical region of the country is solely responsible for either the main (and Major) writing output or kicking off any tradition of Blacks writing about themselves . To take such a contemptuously arrogant stand would be to write off the Black musical past., Aggression has been the tone in much of the contemporary poetry. This is partially due to the presence of some who selected poetry as a medium of expression because of its deceptive simplicity and briefness. ~ Many of the ;tpoets II obviously have no genuine interest in --'--,,,..; craftsml_nam-,. ~ i , m..$1.,~ / ,. ~ On the other hand, the current period con- tinues to witness a growing and wide-ranging concern for - poetic craft and knowled ge . During t he $ixties and into the ¢eventies, literally hundreds of Black poets started writing and publishing--in J tabloids, magazines, broadsides, anthologies and individual · A.Lso ~ /u,wrosin..9tl.t. /l\.t.w'fva;:.),.~~11\.14-V'~>'l,(I: ~;l?LCA£.k Pi'a.~vt1 ~wl.ho11~ 4..v1J fu collections • I\ S ignificant r, clusters of poets aevelop€.d in hv1-11\1~~~ ~. ?o:ey-~y. geographical regions . l('[lhe atmosphere was enhanced by a number of African thinkers, artist s, poets and novelists who arrived to America to teach, lecture, perform and travel. The importance of this interaction among Blac ks from various parts of the globe cannot be overemphasized. ~ Black writers and students h'e:l=:a'l~read l African, 101 ( �West Indian and Afro-Latin writers. Langston Hughes acquainted American audiences with African literature in his anthologies: An African Treasury: Essnys, Stories, Poems By Black Africans (1960) and Poems from Bl ck Africa (1963). In 1969, Trinidadian Wilfred Cartey edited Whispers the Literature of ' ) ~~iw- I ~~~o~a~r=s~a~n~d~w -~riters also wrote critical studies or edited anthologies of Afric~~it:r~ture. Black writing received a significant boost when in 1971 Senghor o.nd A{:'t"o-Cvb~V\ Po t N,chclas 0viUen we"e --~nominated for the Nobel Prize for literature--thus fulfilling James Weldon Johnsonts 1922 prophecy that the ' fi f . r to B~ck u' d i! , · · · · e fr writers now publishing or living in novelist-poet Nigerian eiilei Oi!II•• Achebe,h3outh African poet Kgositsile, Nigerian poet-playwright Wole Soyinka, Ghanaian poet Kwesi Brew, South African critic Ezekiel Mphahlele, Nigerian poet-playwright Ifeanyi Menkiti, Martinique poett playwright Aime Cesaire and Guianese poet-scholar L~on D ms. The writers fraternize, exchange ideas and compare styles. Mphahlele, for example, has written critical studies of Black American writing (Voices in the Whirlwind, 1972) while Miss Brooks has praised African writing (•Introduction•, Kgositsile's My Name is Afrika, 1971). Mazisi South African poe~ f Kunene,t wrote the J:ntroduction for Cesaire's Return to My · ~merican expatriate artists and writers returned to America during the current period for either 102 �temporary or permanent residency. Added to this flurry of activities and changes were the establishment of :;i ; publishing houses (Broadside Press, Third World Press,~tc.) and hundreds of and literary journals. During the contemporary period a number of important <1Lso anthologies haveAbeen published. Some of the more notable ones include Beyond Tbe Blues, Pool, 1962; Sixes and Sevens, Breman, 1962; American Negro Poetry, Bontemps, 1963; Soon -) One Morning: New Writing by American Negroes, 1940 - 1962, Hill, 1963; New Negro Poets, Hughes, 1964; Kaleidoscope, Hayden, 1967; Black Voices, Abrahams, 1968; Black Fire, Jones and Neal, 1968; The New Black Poetry, Major, 1969; Soulscript, Jordan, 1970; 3000 Years of Black Poetry, Raoul tz B~P.,. J L(.1 \<17 ~ and Lomax, 1970; _New Blas,k Vo;i.cee, Abrahams, 1972;.l\~,~,,.;'fl) Kii-i~JIOlj Black America, Adoff, 1973. In addition to these and other nationally distributed anthologies, collections of Black Literature were compiled and published ~ vario s r gions: 19 ~ Watts, Watts Poets and Writers (Troupe, chulberg, 1969); South, Fress Southern Theater by the Free Southern Theater (Dent, et al, 1969); Chicago, Jump Bad: A New Chicago Anthology (Brooks, 1971); East St. Louis- St. Louis, Sides of the River (Redmond, 1970); New York, Three Hundred and Sixty Degrees of Blackness Coming at You (Sanchez, 1971) and Harlem: Voices from the Soul of Black America (Clarke, 1970); Philadelphia, Black Poets Write On (Black History Museum Committee); Newark, Soul Session (1972); 103 �Detroit, Ten: 1968}. Anthology of Detroit Poets (South and West, In many regions several components have merged to form cultural and performing arts conglomerates. It is often at these centers that white movie and theater moguls cv_,. ~-et1i find new talent for the wave of Black movies. At this writing, the s(ontemporary poetry scene i embroiled in vigorous debates and conferences dealing with "directions" for Black writers, consolidating publishing houses, and getting published materials into schools {especially into Black school~. Caught {sometimes unknowingly) in the midst of these issues and questions are the older Black poets--some 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. active'U Miss Brooks 1 supporf the younger writers by w, y of financial and moral encouragement. She supervises writers workshops, establishes 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 through Broadside Press. Randall established Broadside Press in Detroit in 1966 and also bas set up poetry awards with his own funds. Hayden, who often shuns public displays dards .. # • He is recognized as a brilliant teacher as well as poet, and is known to work quietly with young writers and scholars. Hayden played a major role in gaining recognition for Lucille Clifton (Good Times jl969; _. Good News About 104 �&, Ond1n4t~~ Wt1w1<1 n.; \q 1'1-)1 the Earth/ 1972) A one of the most splendid of the new poets ~ Some new and old'(names closely linked to the current period are Pinkie Gordon Lane (Wind Thoughts), Michael Harp:{ (Dear John, Dear Coltrane, History is Your OWn Heartbta., Waring Cuney {Puzzles), . Troupe (Embryo), Sterling Plump (Half Black Half Blacker), Jayne Cortez (Pisstained Stairs and the Monkey Man's Wares,..._ Festivals I~ and Funeral-;>, • WA~~,;2~~ J• Dumas ( Poetry For My Peopl~), .,. - ~· Rivers (The Still Voice of Harlem, etc), Nikki Giovanni (Black Judgement, Black Feeling, Black Thought, Re:Creation), Reed (~atechism of A neoamerican ~ .,er, odoo ~hurc1tt), David Henderson (De Mayor of Harlem, etc.), Arthur Pfister (Bullets, Beer Cans & Things), Baraka (Black Magic, etc), John Echols (Home is Where the Soul Is), Arna Bontemps (Personals), Hayden (Selected Poems, Words in the Mourning Time)~ '/ Lee (Think Black, Black Pride, etc.), Sonia Sanchez (Homecoming, e t c . ) , ~ Randall (Cities Burning and More t,o Rememb~), Stanley Crouch {Ain•t No Ambulances for No Niggahs Tonight), Hughes (The Panther and the Lash,etc.), Atkins (Heretofore), May Miller (Into the Clearing), Austin Black (The Tornado in My Mouth), ~11$n Tolson (Harlem Gallery), Young (The Song Turning Back Unto Itself), James Vesey (~yory tu§~~), Mari Evans A,.; Emanuel (Panther Man), (I Am A Black Woman), Julia Fields (Poems), Stephany (Moving Deep), Etheridge Knight (Poems from Prison), Gwe~n Brooks +nffi2Mecc4 , ~Riot) Family Pictures, etc.), Roy Hill (49 Poems, etc.}, Ray Durem (Take No Prisoners). ~~~QiiliiiDi--far from being 105 �~M ~ exhaustiv'l",s:ii;=::•a~ is ~epresentative of the great poetic output during th~,=~~---- period. Many of these poets--Reed, Troupe, Young, Crouch, P\lt.l}~~~J ~ ~ EJl'i)--are also · .affl anthologists. Certainly the ~....-JU# list grows and changes constantly, especially in view of the continual unfoldinFZ..-u•••~' urpri es, e:t; i,i,e pieaenb • Suffice it to say that the contemporary mood of ./, Ct~- # Black roetry is multi-leveled and ~e~, ctfti'.ft:rl:ieated. are •••a generalities; There ,_ t,f• one is that -WAOf the poets w..-WJ~IAM~~ saturate their work with obvious Black references and cultural motifs. There is~nti-intellectual rlavor.lm •une u:P• as ~ o1ts turn their backs on ac demic or ~ PJ~b, Western forms. 'n · ,e general disregard for the esoteric, literary and sometimes secret allusions, employed in much of the current There are exceptions, or course--notably - - ts (Marvin X, Askia ' Toure, Baraka, Sonia SanchezJand others). These exceptions can also be seen in works or poets who explore African Ancestor Cults, Voodoo, mysticism and African languages. Evidence of this can be seen in the poetry of Ishmael Reed, ' Askia Toure, Henry Dumas, Norman Jordan, Sun R, K. Curtis Lyle, Bob Kaufman and others. Generally, though, Black poets are framing their allusions, images and symbols in the more concrete cultural motifs, as indicated in a line from &9et1e f!eci111n J •-'11 i:m "Tune for e. Teenage Neice II where being "spiced as pot-liquor." 106 hE.. ~.o A views• neice as �J.II ·11HE PO~TS AND THEIR TOTEMS: ,,,t A. tSoon, One Morning~: Threshhold of the fi&: New Black Poetry (My Blackn - ess is the beauty of this land. '------ Lance Jeffers ____...,/ ~chard Wright.-mlll called the Blacks and "ta ~t: fer e tb&m- · America 1 s metaphor" ~-'~ sixties and seventies. andiiii~iil;ii~ 11 "the beauty of this lana.. "~t1 taken-it; well in advance of~ her playmates in the Alabama iiill!!III- s 1,ancel:j ".black Pride" poetry of the l'1argaret Walker• s discussion of 1 11 1 ~If}*aa:••-•• dust or self-deprecating; ~ortrait_ Uwendolyn rlrooks•s j.\Satin Legs ~mith\1945) is far from geing unhappy. These are only four of Blacks viewing themselves ••me•·•••· randomly 11 selected poetic affidavits poa tively 11 before the advent of the New Black Poetry. We could, of course, bring up hundreds of examples from Phyllis Wheatley the poeury of~••.-s.through t~at of Langston Hughes. But the point, already -.......!'.ecent,. made, is simply that one is seriously remiss in looking a1,fBlack ~oetry without The poets who wrote and published between 1945 and 1965, for example, did not work in sealed chambers of -...-v tunneled vision. ~ach group/ <J concern, ev~lved from what had been written or said before. teachers, a ,d and tools were oft hese poets were heavily influenced by white writers, How€ver e best of themftallillB••~ applied their knowledge the service of a the Black literary tradition. Others under the direct tutelage of Blacks(Paul Vesey studted with J.W. Johnson, Joyce Yeldell with Hayden) and beclme part of a continuing l-ine of Black-developed thought and writing(~esey in turn taught Arthur JPfister). Whatever their make-up, or their mission, the poets as a group show great facility with language, depth of insight and passionate concerns for their collective and individual hurts:as Blacks and as humans. ,and that of their older pen-fello~ 'l 'he work of these poets can be found in several anthologies: �Poetr of the ~e ro 1949,1970); J. ingua Zwart Ik Was(I ~aw How Black I Was, 1958); urning S¥ear\~ Beyond the Blues{l962); American Negrn ~Y( 96) ~sand ~evensll963); r Negro Versetl964); New Negro Poets: USA(l964,1966); Poets of Today(l964); the bilingual Ik Ben De Nieuwe Neger(I Am the New ~egro, 1965); and Kaleidoscope edi tad Poetry of the 1~egro in (1967). Bontemps and 1949 ,"the first major collection smnce Cullen's Caroling Vusk, it was revised by Bontemps in 1970 Hughes's death. Interestinglf' I oft he 1949 en tries are has been doctored some table of teontents tom!~is,,iih&(tfi~sDudley Randall,..t Mari Evans and Ray Durem) coincide with their age-line. Bontemps, a Renaissace poet who did not publish a volume until 1963(Personals), also edited American Negro Poetry, a task which.J'l,J~•• him the opportunity to pick the best from the past as well as the present. The two bi-lingua published in Holland and England and edited by Rosey Pooi, with the assistance 1905-1973) of Paul Bremen. Dr. Poo a Ro ande~, came across Cullen when she was preparing a paper on American poetry in 1925. This disvovery a life-long UIIIIIM!lt!imBlimlMf interest in Black culture and poetry. During 1959160 she toured the United ::;tates on a Fulbright t r a u a n t , spending several months visiting and lecturing at 27 ~colleges and uni- versities. Dr. Pool 1 s work in Black 1oetry has drawn mixed reactions from cautious Black writers and critics. But her importance~ in helping to bring attention to Black poets, despite cries of "exploitation," is undeniable. ~ven more controversial is Bremen, 'Wilo appears to fancy himself as an English Jean-Paul ::;arte; he originated the Heritage ::;er~m:ldmxix "devoted entirely to the works of Afro-American authors"--with Haydend:s ~ Ballad of Remembrance ~~~Dbital"3Iltlll5I'IJIUllll1tl:nDll in 1963. Since that time Bremen, who edited 1\lnl~ Sixes and Sevens and You Better believe It: Black Verse in poetry. has released more than 20 volumes of Afro-Ameirican roadside Press services as the American distributor or the �slim booksx which have invluded the aesthetical and historical range of Black poetry: 1''rank Horne(HaverstraJ, 1963~abim':Dl311!1f:-._ ff:ffl Bontemps, Rivers(The Still Voice of Harlem, 1968; The Wright Poems,1972), Mari Evans("Where is all the Music?, 1968 but withdrawn "at the author's request".), Russell Atkins(Heretofore, 1968), Lloyd Addison(The Aura the Umbra, 1970), Audre L .... lipve You, 1970), Ishmae w. whom Bremen calls "the best Black (Catechism of d neoamerican hoodoo church, 1970), poet writing today" James 1970), Dudley Randall, rdet,:-bles to Rage, Thompson(First Fire: Poems 1957-1960#,,~.;{~), - Dodson, Harold liarrington(Drive ~uite, 1972), Clarence Major(Private Line, 1971), the "first non-American contributor" ~ ukh arr us ap a1Thorns and Thistles, 1971), Durem(Take Mo Prisoners, 1971), and Hayden(The NightwBlooming Cereus, 1972). Bremen notes that r-- aymond Patterson d both l"lari ordered their books withdrawn because ..__... 11 wer_:;. suspicious of the contract terms. 11 In addition to ~ "suR'icion i',. ~other Black poets, there is - - . resentment of Bremenis fritical evaluations of the poetry--which · caustic, ridiculou~~~ow, and reflect; a lack o~ general knowledge of Black poetry. lie calls Durem, for example, one of the first "Black" poets. His statement about Heed, coming as it did in 1970, does violence to both tp.e author J::..d evecy ay.r,Nevertheless(alas!), one u sh~ · wh~ch Black P.oets grapple ders where these Black poets may have gotten published if such ~ "healthy diseases'' as Bremen did not exist. - Negro Verse,~ edited by Anselm Hollo, has no introduction or forward, but does 1-=-.-~a eozen blues and Gospel song-poems. Poets was edited by Hughes with a ~rward by Gwendolyn. word "new" &:::iau:u :1 tan ti' _31) Pp 1 11 s-- exemplifies the kind of spirit that was in ascension at the time·. Miss Brooks, terse as always, is also her uaual definitive self: �At the present time , poets who happen~also to be ~egroes are twice-tried. They have to write poetry,and they have to remember that they are Negroes. Often they wish that they could solve the Negro question once and for all, and go on from such success to the composition -of textured sonnets or buyant villanelles about the transcience of a raindrop, or the gold-stuff of the sun. They are likely to find significances in those subjects not instantly obvious to the r r fairer fellows . fhe raindrop may seem to them to represent racial tea rs--and those might seem, indeed, other than transient . The golden sun might remind th em that they are b%urning. There is an attitude in this statement that~ the Gwendolyn ~rooks of 1968 will reject : 11,y:t M' ''poets who falsolh_ajbpen to be Negroes . 11 But she reflects Cullen in the "dark tower" and his ruminating on the "curious thing 11 of the ·Black poet . She also presages the twistings and turnings in Jayne introducing the 11 'ortes ' s 11 :B'es ti vals & Funerals . " , in Hew J.~egro Poets," she informs the reader that "here stars of an early tomorrow . are some of the prevailing 11 Walter Lowenfels 1 s decision to include 11 20 Negroes" in Poets of Today was spurred in part by his recognition(along with Shapiro) that .Negroes . 11 11 most general anthologies of American poetry elltclude An authority on Whitman Lowenfels shared an award with S.E . Cumrnings in the thirties, and has he numer of Blackx poets m:=ikEiiiiliiiiiiiilila-into print: Dumas, Troupe , Patterson, Redmond, Carrington, Major, Reed, E~rper, Hayden, and many others . Lowenfels 1 was the first new anthology stantial number of Blacks. Jilhere were 85 poets in all . One of the most im ortant of these anthologies is Burning Spear,- which : Walter DeLegall(l936-), J e f f e r s ~ , Al Fraser , Oswald Go ~an( ) , Percy Johnston(l930-) �Nathan Richards ( ), LeRoy Stone tl936- ) a nd Joseph White. Bui.j{n ~ Spear, subtitle An Anthology of Afro-~axon Poetry, was a ef lso Dasein Literary Society, loc a ted at Howard University, which rn blish~d Dasein: A Quarterly Journal of the Arts(l961- 1969 ). Johnsto publisher ~ . while Delagall ~was. editor. *ronnection with the olde r £ii¥ • group of and sch olars ~ . · Arthur p. Davis, Uwen Dodson Govan, Je:C..fers, ~tone and White served as --- l''raser, • oets in the ,, ue of the advisory board list: as a memorial to i.Wll Richard wright, ~te:li~~ Delores Kendrick, Clyde R. Taylor, Jeffers, Wi lliam Jack son, Vernon A. Butler, Robert Salughter, Laura~. Watkins, Govan, Fraser, Delores F. tlenry, R. Orlando Jackson, DeLegall, Johnston~§tone• l Th':;'e is no~ing thre_a d running either Dasein or Burning Spear but ~ Black influences andAQ~~,;;i:!'rn are clearly imbeded. Burning Spear, for examnle, is published by Jupiter Hammon Press, another connection--in name--to the tra~tion of Black poetry. In a the ei.~...-back-cover note, contributors are called "a new breed of young poets who are to American poetry what Charlie Parker, Dizzy uillespie, Thelonious Monk and Miles !Javis are to American jazz." After this important analogy, the statement continues: These eight Afro~-Saxon poets are not members of a literary movement j f in the tradition sense of the word, because they do not have in common anj monist view about crea tivity or aesthetics. Collectively, however, they are indifferent to most critics and reviewers--since criticism in America is controlled and written in the main by Euro-Americans. There is no pre face or introduction or st atement about poetics; these poems themselve~ fill the pages. Poems by Delegall, Jeffers, Johnsl nn and ~tone the Blues and a in numerous "little" magazines. �programs participated in leading up th ~;:,:;:~~~~wider interests iq poetry in the later sixties and seventies. hematician and electronic data processing specialist, published in many anthologies and quart erlies, and had re~d his) and lectured at various eastern and southern colleges. FrasQr~is a political scientist with a , specialization in African Affairs. Along with LJelegall, ..--.. h~ ~tone,Bllll Govan, Johnston and Richards, he,{recorded r e ading his poetry at the Library of vongress. Fraser cultnvated a coffee-shop audience for his readings and appeared before college groups • ..._. He is a phimosopher-mathematician. One of the older members of the group, with have credited 11 influence" on the Howard Poets. ~~ and rU"it· has taugn? "half a do•en American colleges and universitfiesf. ~ Blackness is the beauty of This Land(l970)_,...._.,, His first volume of poevr-~A~Y secon~iiai~!;!!!5!SDDtamil:Qmua•••mn, When I Know the Power of My Black Hand, will be out in 1975. Bot~ are published by Broad- side Press. Jeffers llllt has also written novels, short stories and criticism. Jo11~6lfl'¢urrently teaches at a college in ,New Jersey and with Stone ~ "co-authored the revolutionary verse pamphlet Continental,. Streamlets\ ,. ~lso a playwright, Johnston published a pamphlet of his poetry, Concerto for a uirl and ~onvertible1960 Wert ~ w , and was con- sidered the leader of the lhite is a native Philadelphian whose work appeared in Liberator, Poets of T0 day, and other places • .tie is a technician for FAAx and has written short sotries as well as successful proee-poems. As a group, the Howard Poets represent one of the strains i n * contempoPary Black poetry. Maybe the fact of their having such \.~-~~ divseree ~esvrr1u vraning aided in their vitality, virtuosity and power. �hero-worship--they present precise analyses and interpretationSof their world. Most of them grew up .ik in the bejBop era and so ttheir subjects quite naturally include Miles Davis, Lester Young, Charles 1 P·ardbird" Parker, Clifford Brown, Sonny Rollins, •rhelonious Monk, and other makers and contributors to that period. preoccupation with Civil Rights and the their of the 0 11 1ack struggle is merged with bomb," iHlli middle class pre- tensions, history, mythology, religion, and the various trends in poetry:modernity, Seat poetry, jazzJ poetry and folk lyrics. DeLegall celebrates the Black presence( 11 My Brownskin Business 11 ) and satirizes a prenti tious lWilllllllliBNlll!li!~ Howard coed( "Requiem for A perfo~ tloward Lady 11 ) who is "cultured' an mBl8. every social amenity perfectly. She wears 11 High-heeled tennis shoes 11j he hopes, near the poem's end, that the preisident of the universal Institute of ~ugenics will i ~ d a &BJ x New species of female who will be robed in clothes nA Wa>man." In 11 of "sincerity" and who can be called Psalm for Sonny Rollins" he announces. that he is Absorbed intct> the womb of the sound. I am in the sound The sound is in me. I am the sound. Rollins, the Harlem pied piper, will lead his listeners to "Foet~, 11 and 11 God." Aftej; 11 11 truth," "Zen, 11 1:'he Blast" (nuclear bombing) there will be •• no I, no world, no you. MAJ 11 Govan writes convincingly The Lynching": He was soaked in oil and the match thrown. ne screamed, he cried) he moaned, he crackled ~his fiery inhuman dance. I Gova.n.A-~~aim~---~ turbulence in 11 Hungary, II space explorationr 11 The Angry Skies �~ Are Calling"), 11 and "Prayer" wherein he asks Christ II for a new dawnis light! Jeffers is is a living example of AAa~sa;&w£ij.i.1 ilintz been writing of plight o~black writer. Rlthoµgh he has for several decades, his work was white-listed by antholgiess . book form until the seventies. and .his poetry did not appear in Blackness is the 0 eauty of this Lan~" stanQ.s as a rebuff to those who say "black" poetry was "inventedn $tt~nin ~ ''My Jeffers' s poem, the fifties, is at once definat and proud: My ~lackness is the beauty of this land, my blackness, tender and strong, wounded and wise, ••• Walker, chronicles the hurts, the happinnesses, and the hungers of Blacks. 'l'he se he stands against his of larger America. 11 11 whi teness II and the perversiibns Black i::>oul of the Landf 11 rA:IR~•e.s the same vein: rich reliance on the well-deep strength of the Black man"in Lreorgia is "leathered, lean, and strong~~, And ~ - • The "old black secrets that "crackers could not kill,: a secret spine unbent within a spine, a secret source of steel, a secret sturdy rugged love, . a secret crouching hate, a secret knife within his hand, a secret bullet in his eye. The poe asks the old man to pasa on his source of strength so that he, and his fellows, will be able to "turn black" the soul of the nation and American shall abase to be its name. Jeffers gathers up a fury of love, anguish and co:mmi t:ilent in other of his poems: "Her Black and African Face I Love, 11 "The Man with A Furnance in His �Hand, 11 111 iegro Freedom Rider, A New Day, '1 and 11 11 11 Her 1Jark Body I Cluster, 11 11 black Man in Prophecy. 11 Johnston echoes Jeffers, though in a different voice and style, in many of his poems. But Johnston's concern is with Black music and musicians. "To Paul Robeson, Opus No. 3" celebrates the muliti-faceted talents of ~,gam&ls(Pdlmna the man whose song "stood Brooklyn on its feet." 11 Im l'lemoriam: Prezn is a magnificent tribute to the President of jazz: Lester lfoungx whose music continues to 11 igni te the heart. 11 In 11 Fi tchett' s Basement Blues, Opus B11 Johnson wanders why wverytime I want Coltrane or ~onny all I get is Brubeck, ••• history contemporary everyman, is R~~ary of the of Johnston• s generation. Words for 11 unkinkill8 hair, n recollections of Johnston with the knowledge that nothing Has changed but my postal zone. • In other peices he surveys the current and past Black musical seene: "Variation on a 'l'he by Hohnston" 1 Round Bout 11idnight, Opus 17, o Bobby Timmons," ~ is My Reward" R~ards says, noting that Sorrow came, and I left the world •••• An experimentalist, his 11 .Uo Not 1''orget to rtemember" includes a "prelude." and an "interlude." Like the other poets, he writes plrimarily in free ~ verse(almGst ••~rhyme) and in the forego}ng grief and anguish, as does Richards in "God Bless This Child and Other. ,. ildren... Hequiem. 11 In syntax and vocabulary, it bears resemblence;}o thk beats and to Boa Kaufman and Russell Atkins. ia,rds and phrases like "matronymic diva, "sepiacenic martyr," 11 11 albumenic hawk," "womb-prize," and "black aegis" convey the mystical,i and eerie sense implied in the repetition ot 11 sleep 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_33 Title A name given to the resource Draft of Drumvoices: The Mission of Afro-American Poetry: A Critical History, Chapter VI. Festivals & Funerals, p. 1-30 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.