A BLACK MILITANT POEM SPEAKS

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A BLACK MILITANT POEM SPEAKS by J. A. Emanuel 1 was born militant: screamed when the world first touched me, slapped me into life. Measles, mumps, and scarlet fever stalked me to school, envied my blackboard stardom, dragged me homeward from my inkwell to test my fighting back. I had battle scars at nine. Retilo Remos taught me to curse like Mexicans pushed into worm—thin boxcars (their homes that smoked and scowled back-- cocoons across the railroad tracks), while words my father's Blackness bated chewed my homework pencil, hardened my grip. Gang-war trampled my seasons, aging me in its schoolrooms, armies, offices, bedrooms: the same Black lessons smearing each desk, each day, each year, the same merciless faces reddening the mud, the same outmaneuvered hands crumpling the memorandums, the same passionless asses printing lies on clean linen. At last, this voiceful hour bursts me out of a lifelong cave, sticks me upright and formal among delicate eavesdroppers, my brittle memories the strength, the need, to lift this club in my hands.

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Poem written by Emanuel in 1985 addressing the power of writing and poetic voice. Overt autobiobiographical elements include Retilo Remos, who was a childhood friend of Emanuel.

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  • type
    Image
  • created on
  • file format
    jpg
  • file size
    537 kB
  • creator
    James A. Emanuel
  • rights
    James A. Emanuel Estate
  • rights holder
    James A. Emanuel Estate