Canary by Rita Dove — https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43359/canary
American History by Michael S. Harper
testify by Eve L. Ewing
https://poets.org/poem/testify
Death eats our lands by Fadairo Tesleem
Everybody Made Soups by Lisa Coffman
dandelion by Ron Bailey
It is Black History month... and after reading the first three poems, we felt a weight of sadness...
The question of how any person survives persistent racism
politics came up... the idea that in Florida books would be banned because it makes people feel uncomfortable... Later, the topic of anti-intellectualism came up, (Hofstader's 1963 book https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-intellectualism_in_American_Life) "My ignorance is equal to your
(or anyone else's) knowledge..." Asimov and the cult of ignorance... "passionate pride in mediocrity" (Sartre). Ken shared briefly this article from the Guardian on "Red poets’ society: the secret history of the Stasi’s book club for spies". Controlling poets, and literati is nothing new, but if you have time, a fine report.
Nutshell:
Canary: Yes, name used in jazz for a female soprano... also the practice of carrying a canary in the coal mines-- if a gas leak, the canary dies... The burned voice... magic spoon, needle, sharpened love... tell one
story, and we puzzled over the couplet, "Fact is, the invention of women under siege/has been to sharpen love in the service of myth". Judith offered the idea of the loving black Mamie... and it came up how Billie made up lies about herself, her story. Indeed, not free from drugs, but a deeper sense of being chained as black woman, born in 1915, wronged by the world. The poems feels like jazz, especially the second stanza. The idea of caged bird, is not new. I like that it is dedicated to Michael Harper, also a
jazz fan and someone interested in history. I don't know more... Please comment if you do.
American History: 9 short lines, two about a contemporary event, (1963) five about an event over 200 years ago. The sarcasm and anger in the final question reminded us of James Baldwin's statement about being "a negro: means you are in a rage all the time." This site shares a bit of information. The 500 slaves may not have referred to an actual event, but rather the regular occurrence of "Americans" trying to hide slave-trading as it was outlawed by the Brits. https://prezi.com/mgg2xblw0gi0/american-history/
By using such extreme examples to show how blacks have been "thrown under the bus", and continue to be thrown, Harper accentuates the inequality of treatment. The hiding of slavery is another example of keeping outrageously inhumane treatment from the public eye, with no consequence. The man responsible for the bombing which killed the 4 girls was charged for possession of dynamite but not for murder of the girls.
It's curious, today, Revisionary by Robert Pinsky showed up in Poem-a-Day. The note says: "Revisionary tries to understand the truth about how truth evolves or devolves."
Revisionary by Robert Pinsky
The globe on a tilted axis means The News.
As the icon spins the angle seems to shift.
Science has found ancestral Neanderthals.
We have a bit of their blood. They painted caves
Better than sapiens, as we named ourselves.
History has found the Jews who fought for Hitler.
Thousands of Part and what were called Full Jews.
A few were generals.
As the globe revolves
Different mixes keep passing into the light
Or into the dark, and then back out again:
The unexpected, over and over again.
Jefferson’s July 2 draft blamed George III
For violating the liberty of “a People
Who never offended him” shipped off to be
“Slaves in another hemisphere.” For many
“Miserable death in transportation thither.”
On the Fourth of July, that passage was left out. Thither.
In draft after draft of Puddn’head Wilson Twain
Linked and tore apart stories: The conjoined twins
From Italy come to town. In that same town, two
Blue-eyed babies. The nursemaid fair-skinned Roxy
Secretly swops the babies cradle to cradle,
Different nightie to nightie and fate to fate.
The one is her son. He sells her down the river.
(2022)
Testify:
It is powerful to hear sociologist Eve L. Ewing read this, especially at the end with the repeated rush of "we are not dead" and the line break before the final not/dead/yet. (Ewing wrote 1919, "a flaming sword of a poetry collection about Red Summer and the aftermath of (a report on) the killing of 17-year-old Eugene Williams, a young Black man who swam into a "whites only" section of Lake Michigan and was stoned to death and drowned by White beach-goers.: -- Abby Murray)
Elaine wondering how the White minister at her church would read it as opposed to a Black minister-- the power, the passion she feels would be missing. As Frederick Douglass said, " Slaves sing when they are most unhappy. The songs of the slave represent the sorrows of his heart and he is relieved by them, only as an aching heart is relieved by its tears." Valerie suggested that the repeated "we are not dead" is like a mantra... what you say to get yourself through a difficult situation.
The detail of the chain link fence... the shoes climbing over it... the resilience of those who insist on testifying to the "good" in a day-- like sun, coming through a fence...
as Abby Murray states it, this is happiness at grief's expense. It puts impossible right next to reasonable-- gratitude flying in the face of violence and uncertainty. Because she mentions her friend Hanif Abdurraqib, we listened to him read his poem: "How can Black People Write About Flowers at a Time like this." https://poets.org/poem/how-can-black-people-write-about-flowers-time.
Emily offered this title: https://www.amazon.com/Taste-Ginger-Novel-Mansi-Shah-ebook/dp/B08YYYVVTC
A Taste of Ginger -- When we are faced with tragedy we must face the good.
how could you allow such injustice??? (David cited the Old Testament in the Bible, Ahab in Moby Dick)... We noted the small i in the first line -- I did send a message to the poet to ask him about it... to my eye, it was like the speaker was a tiny pawn... as opposed to the I who wonders, has seen, has read--
Most of us found it a very moving and powerful poem. I repeat the end line... And with all this horror,
God is still watching???
How could he watch and allow this?
Everybody made Soups: a little relief... and many associations with soup were shared!
Bernie mentioned how his neighborhood put together a cookbook... we thought of "stone soup"...
and how sad that now-a-days, people toss food out instead of making a good soup... Maura shared her
"trip around the world" imagining each country where things came from in her fridge...
Martin offered the metaphorical idea of kissing the new year...and that magical making of one thing out of all that hadn't filled us... instead of tossing out and rejecting, to come up with a soup, "the soothing shapes our mouths made as we tasted."
The images of the onion's story, the weeping meat, cathedral carcass...
the idea of a new year... yet to make demands on us... each day in the dark like a folded letter...
Deliciously wonderful poem!
Likewise Dandelion. It merits the 3 line space between each line indeed!
In the in-person group, we watched the flower sequence for a bit. Do consider muting the sound and replacing it with Arno Pärt's Spiegel im spiegel.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJ6Mzvh3XCc
Revisionary
Robert Pinsky
The globe on a tilted axis means The News.
As the icon spins the angle seems to shift.Science has found ancestral Neanderthals.
We have a bit of their blood. They painted caves
Better than sapiens, as we named ourselves.History has found the Jews who fought for Hitler.
Thousands of Part and what were called Full Jews.
A few were generals.As the globe revolves
Different mixes keep passing into the light
Or into the dark, and then back out again:
The unexpected, over and over again.Jefferson’s July 2 draft blamed George III
For violating the liberty of “a People
Who never offended him” shipped off to be
“Slaves in another hemisphere.” For many
“Miserable death in transportation thither.”
On the Fourth of July, that passage was left out. Thither.In draft after draft of Puddn’head Wilson Twain
Linked and tore apart stories: The conjoined twins
From Italy come to town. In that same town, two
Blue-eyed babies. The nursemaid fair-skinned Roxy
Secretly swops the babies cradle to cradle,
Different nightie to nightie and fate to fate.
The one is her son. He sells her down the river.
Red poets’ society: the secret history of the Stasi’s book club for spies
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/feb/05/red-poets-society-the-secret-history-of-the-stasis-book-club-for-spies?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
connecting the last poem, “Dandelion” with the poem “testify”. It was that dandelions are looked upon as weeds without knowing the incredible source of food and healing and strength and joy they possesses…a bit of a metaphor for the way in which so many people view blacks and other people of color.
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