Review by Booklist Review
Poetry reconsidered and new works by both established and emerging writers provide vibrant perspectives not only on African American life but also on the entire multivoiced history of America, and on poetry itself. Ishmael Reed, an accomplished and prolific poet, novelist, essayist, playwright, and editor, as well as a teacher and MacArthur fellow, rejects the idea of a narrow and calcified canon of American literature, asking, "Can you imagine where science would be had scientists refused to budge from accepted theories?" Indeed, American poetry is always a work-in-progress, and Reed's in-touch and open-minded approach in From Totems to Hip-Hop yields a dynamic and original anthology, an unprecedented amalgam of poets representing many facets of American culture and society. Even Reed's organizing categories are pertinent and stimulating: nature and place, men and women, family, politics, and heroes and sheroes, anti and otherwise. Within these arenas, readers will find poems by Sylvia Plath, Yusef Komunyajaa, Thulani Davis, Bob Holman, Jayne Cortez, Diane Glancy, Garrett Hongo, Charles Simic, Al Young, Nellie Wong, Tupac Shakur, and many others. Reed then sagely concludes with an invaluable selection of eloquent and challenging manifestos and poetic commentaries. Jeffers derives her form and jaunty, deal-with-it attitude from the blues, an American tradition that beats back despair with wit, elan, and grace. Artfully distilled, Jeffers' musical and forthright lyrics cut to the chase in their depictions of self-destructive love, treacherous family life, and sexual passion turned oppressive or violent. She calls on her mentors, soulful musicians such as Dinah Washington, James Brown, John Coltrane, and Aretha Franklin, for guidance, then, sustained by their voices, segues into vivid imaginings of the inner lives of biblical figures such as Sarah, Hagar, and Lot's wife; a man about to be lynched; and a former slave bravely attending college. And whether she's singing the "battered blues" or critiquing Hollywood's depiction of slavery, Jeffers is questioning the nature and presence of God. For Alice Walker, there are no dividing lines between the personal, the political, and the artistic, and, consequently, her novels, essays, and poetry swing from sweet modes of intimacy to blunt polemics to confessional therapy to revelation. In her introduction to her sixth volume of poetry, Walker confides that she had thought she might not write anymore, but that changed after September 11, and she found herself writing these mystic prayers and heartfelt yet lithe and airy recollections of dreams and tributes to plants, animals, and compassionate people. Although some verge on triteness, most achieve a radiant simplicity, and all are sincere in their celebrations of nature and love, and protests against war, conquest, and more private forms of cruelty. Graceful in their spirituality, openness to experience, and rueful humor, Walker's poems revolve around love and gratitude for the earth. Wesley focuses ardently on the little things--palm butter, lipstick, bony fish--to build a pathway to the overwhelming facets of life, the ruptures and terrors of war and exile, the ever-lastingness of death. Born and raised in Liberia, Wesley was forced into exile by that land's horrendous civil war, and ultimately found sanctuary in Kalamazoo, Michigan, where she teaches creative writing and African literature at Western Michigan University. Wesley writes with clear-eyed lyricism about her ruthless and beleaguered homeland, and the bittersweet relief and loss of the diaspora. Her poems are scintillating and vivid, quickly sketched fables shaped by recollections of childhood playmates, moonlight and ocean surf, hibiscus hedges, and big pots of boiling soup. But these paeans to home blend with percussive visions of falling rockets and murdered children, sharp recollections of hunger and mourning, and a survivor's careful gratitude in a land of cold winds and rationed sunlight, her carefull measured memories and cherished dreams of return. --Donna Seaman
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Library Journal Review
Not just another trendy anthology, this magnificent collection proves once and for all that poetry isn't the sole preserve of some imagined white elite. The formidable Reed blends Sandburg, Simic, and Tupac Shakur into a seamless chronology of modern American poetry. (LJ 4/1/03) (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
