Say Thank You Say I’m Sorry by Jericho Brown
Harlem by Langston Hughes
On the D Train by Jacqueline Johnson
The Bees by Audre Lorde
Behind the Bruised Peach by Kitty Jospé
Praise Them by Li-Young Lee
The poems selected brought up the question of a poem’s purpose… what makes a poem, (or a date, or a number) iconic;
The poems contained so many rich references, from the idea of “social contract” (and my mind leaps to Rousseau 'man is born free, but he is everywhere in chains’ which challenged the traditional order of society), (Rankine) to Dunbar’s “We wear the mask” https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44203/we-wear-the-mask
Feminism (Lorde), the role of humans in our eco-destruction (Vincenz) and ending with Li-Young Lee’s encouragement to see into the soul of things…
Thank you Dave and Bernie for jiving alive Shango on the D train; Jan, Jim,Emily, Susan for voices the 6 ways Hughes elaborates on a dream deferred.
Thank you Kathy for bringing up The Book of the Dead by Muriel Rukeyser https://www.amazon.com/Muriel-Rukeysers-Book-Dead-Dayton/dp/0826220630
(1938) and the asphyxiation by acute silicosis …
Pandemic masks, how to unmask racism bring up plenty of points!
Several people mentioned American Masters Filmmaker Timothy Greenfield-Sanders’ new documentary “Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am” which profiles the life, work and recurring themes of the Nobel Prize-winning storyteller. Angela Davis, poet Sonia Sanchez, writers Fran Lebowitz, Walter Mosley and Hilton Als, and Oprah Winfrey, who produced a feature film based on Morrison’s novel “Beloved,” are interviewed. — Apparently this will be rebroadcast tonight.
I appreciate the input from everyone. Sometimes a comment may feel like a “conversation stopper” — but that in itself can be a trigger for a deeper conversation.
It is interesting to ponder whether a poem written now, will be around 100 years from now… and the “how” of understanding it.
It is valid to question how as white readers of a poem by a black poet, we are responding — and I would say, to go further— find black readers and discuss—
go beyond black and white to the poem and how and what it lays out for any reader.
With Kathy’s permission, I share her comments:
"I've been thinking of Elaine's comment about the Audre Lorde poem and the idea that whites just couldn't really understand blacks. And Dave H's reply that we CAN relate to a poem by a black poet. These are not opposing points of view. I think Dave was responding to a specific poem and Elaine was responding to the Huge issue of race in general. I think we can agree with both.
I find this keynote presentation by Audre Lorde a very specific, nuanced message to Elaine's point of whites efforts, sometimes clueless, to understanding black experience. Near the beginning Lorde gives powerful "Examples".
**
In Brief: listen again to Rankine and Jericho brown reading their poems.
Weather… umbrella— what is covered, what it means to be “without”… what lies on the surface and 6 feet (apart) and under in the underlying conditions.
The language, line breaks, sounds are masterful, and call us to truly go beyond “talking about weather” as metaphor for avoiding important issues.
Say Thank you Say I’m Sorry: again… polite words tossed off… but how are they used? How is Brown telling the reader to look at “us/them”, those working, and those in the pandemic who don’t; note the shift in point of view… the washing of hands… for you… vs the dismissive washing hands of taking responsibility in a situation.
the leaps in the poem challenge: what does it mean to be a nation : the hint of “under God” and “in God we Trust” on American bills when Brown says “I have PTSD/About the Lord.” Ironic overtones of God Save the Queen, applied to “God save the people who work/in grocery stores.”
John brought up “smile wars” and the stress of keeping yourself hidden…
On the D Train: Shango, god of thunder and lightening… love of justice… “wearing an applejack” — apple brandy… drunk and “rhapsodizing”? great contrast w/ hollering’ and singing the Blues. Poet-tential… Peace dance… that hope of love. Like the Li-Young Lee — loving… the state of mind that allows a change — allows us to see “what singing completes us”.
The Bees: “what the children learn/possesses them.” What stings us to destruction? How to understand what destroys — and what being destroyed means
and the “could have” alternative of studying honey-baking.
Oil Sheen: underlying returns, but this time about the body of Earth— the desolate landscape of industrial waste and cynical context for the final couplet about “fresh water” —
Praise them: Thank you those who stayed. Bio of Li-Young Lee https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Li-Young_Lee. We thought in the 6th line, a “that” was missing— but the versions of this poem I find don’t have it. “It is our own astonishment that collects… “ The barer tree" — not bearer… (with the 3 birds) , but how in winter, one sees the isolation of one tree more clearly, accentuated by birds we might not otherwise see. We are the nervous ones. The echo of being in a collective of “violent number”,
reminds us of the girls in Audrey Lorde’s poem. It is the untroubled, untroubling gaze, like Shango “doing a peace dance”… that allows us to praise the singing.
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