After the Poetry Reading, Black (with annotations) 1

Resource added
109 [*This poem, worked on in France, Poland, and Holland, developed from my poetry reading in Toulouse after which a colleague, Annice Mouyen (her later name, reported to me the 1st-stanza comments of some young man in the audience.*] After the Poetry Reading, Black His friend, the red hair and tight jeans, took back her pen, left me THIS piece of cake: “He’s disappointed”--meant this due half down the aisle, himself so blond surveying, counting those who cared-- added what she meant, sweeping off the crumbs with “You’re not Black enough, he said.” But do they EVER say, I thought, just what they mean?--and didn’t even see her fine retreat, but went behind The Veil… Back there with Truth, and Prosser, Turner, [*Sojourner Truth, Gabriel Prosser (slave rebel), Nat Turner (slave rebel), Frederick Douglass, a truly great man.*] whipped out my pocket Trans-s-lator model Double-Oh-Daddy-oh-Douglass, pushed chromobuttons “Blond” and “Reddish,” laid it ‘longside the echoes in the aisle till cake came back in Trans-s-lator slices hard and sure as this? “He’s disappointed: wanted to frolic in the backyard of your mind, smell weeds, rip up the tender shoots, peel back the shade,

Full description

Poem written by Emanuel in 1976-1977/1978, typed with handwritten notes specifying where he worked on this poem: France, Poland, and Holland. The narrator notices that Black creatives are limited in their art when they set out to only create Black art, without incorporating their individuality. (Page 1)

  • type
    Image
  • created on
  • file format
    jpg
  • file size
    684 KB
  • container title
    James A. Emanuel Papers
  • creator
    James A. Emanuel
  • issue
    BOX 5 FOLDER 12 "Whole Grain and Later Poems of James A. Emanuel (Annotated by the Auhtor), draft, part I, 1995 (2 of 2)
  • rights
    James A. Emanuel Estate
  • rights holder
    James A. Emanuel Estate
  • version
    1976/1977