Soulscript: A Collection of Classic African American Poetry
Black poets from the early twentieth century and onward come together for a moving anthology, edited and organized by the late, revered poet June Jordan.\ \ First published in 1970, soulscript is a poignant, panoramic collection of poetry from some of the most eloquent voices in the art. Selected for their literary excellence and by the dictates of Jordan’s heart, these works tell the story of both collective and personal experiences, in Jordan’s words, “in tears, in rage, in hope, in sonnet,...
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Black poets from the early twentieth century and onward come together for a moving anthology, edited and organized by the late, revered poet June Jordan. First published in 1970, soulscript is a poignant, panoramic collection of poetry from some of the most eloquent voices in the art. Selected for their literary excellence and by the dictates of Jordan’s heart, these works tell the story of both collective and personal experiences, in Jordan’s words, “in tears, in rage, in hope, in sonnet, in blank/free verse, in overwhelming rhetorical scream.” Soulscript features works by Jordan and other luminaries like Gwendolyn Brooks, Countee Cullen, Paul Laurence Dunbar, Nikki Giovanni, Langston Hughes, Gayl Jines, James Weldon Johnson, Audre Lorde, Claude McKay, Ishmael Reed, Sonia Sanchez, and Richard Wright, as well as the fresh voices of a turbulent era’s younger writers. Celebrated spoken-word poet Staceyann Chin, an original cast member of Def Poetry Jam on Broadway, has also added an introduction that speaks to Jordan’s legacy, helping to further cement soulscript as a visionary compilation that has already become a modern classic.Library JournalAssembled by editor Jordan in 1970, this anthology includes works by Langston Hughes, Gwendolyn Brooks, Richard Wright, Nikki Giovanni, and numerous others. The poems are divided into multiple categories such as Tomorrow Words Today, Black Eyes on a Fallowland, and Attitudes of the Soul. Good stuff. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.
MY PEOPLE by Langston Hughes\ The night is beautiful,\ So the faces of my people.\ The stars are beautiful,\ So the eyes of my people.\ Beautiful, also, is the sun.\ Beautiful, also, are the souls of my people.\ UNCLE BULL-BOY by June Jordan\ His brother after dinner once a year would play the piano short and tough in white shirt plaid suspenders green tie and checked trousers.\ Two teeth were gold. His eyes were pink with alcohol. His fingers thumped for Auld Lang Syne.\ He played St. Louis Woman Boogie, Blues, the light pedestrian.\ But one night after dinner after chitterlings and pigs' feet after bourbon and rum and rye after turnip greens and mustard greens and sweet potato pie Bullboy looking everywhere realized his brother was not there.\ Who would emphasize the luxury of ice cream by the gallon who would repeat effusively the glamour not the gall of five degrees outstanding on the wall?\ Which head would nod and then recall the crimes the apples stolen from the stalls the soft coal stolen by the pile?\ Who would admire the eighteenth pair of forty dollar shoes?\ Who could extol their mother with good brandy as his muse?\ His brother dead from drinking Bullboy drank to clear his thinking saw the roach inside the riddle.\ Soon the bubbles from his glass were the only bits of charm which overcame his folded arms.\ AMERICAN GOTHIC by Paul Vesey\ To Satch\ (The legendary Satchel Page, one of the star pitchers in Negro baseball)\ Sometimes I feel like I will never stop Just go on forever Til one fine mornin'\ I'm gonna reach up and grab me a handfulla stars Swing out my long lean leg And whip three hot strikes burnin' down the heavens And look over at God and say How about that!
ForewordIntroductionReflections3Monument in black4Foxey lady5Epilogue6I am waiting7April 4, 19688Death prosecuting10No way out11Hands12The air is dirty13Dedication to the final confrontation14Tripart15Many die here16Satori18My people21Mother to son22Fruit of the flower23Those winter Sundays25Nikki-Rosa26The bean eaters27On the birth of my son, Malcolm Coltrane28Award30Five winters age31Uncle Bull-boy32To my son Parker, asleep in the next room34Song of the Son36Preface to a twenty volume suicide note37Blues note41At that moment (for Malcolm X)43Runagate runagate45Frederick Douglass49Malcolm X - an autobiography50In time of crisis53The ballad of Rudolph Reed54Blind and deaf old woman57After winter58Holyghost woman : an ole nomad moving thru the South60Second Avenue encounter61If you saw a Negro lady62Ameican gothic67Counterpoint68The creation69Reapers73Beware : do not read this poem74Mud in Vietnam76lXVXII80Of faith : confessional81Brown river, smile83The end of man is his beauty88As a possible lover90This age91Sonnet92Madhouse93Number 5 - December97Poem98Song99Naturally100Summer Oracle101Iron years : for money103Off d pig104A poem looking for a reader107Moonlight moonlight110Coal111Air112The distant drum113It's here in the114This morning115Georia dusk119The Louisiana weekly #4121Right on : white America122Rhythm is a groove (#2)123Now, all you children124Incident125From riot rimes : USA126From 26 ways of looking at a blackman127Riot laugh & I talk128I substitute for the dead lecturer129I have seen black hands131In memoriam : Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. (part one)134Motto139The White House140O Daedalus, fly away home141November cotton flower142I know I'm not sufficiently obscure143Sorrow is the only faithful one144An Agony. As now145Midway147One thousand nine hundred & sixty - eight winters148Yet do I marvel149Dream variation150We have been believers151Nocturne varial153From the dark tower154We wear the mask155If we must die156
\ Library JournalAssembled by editor Jordan in 1970, this anthology includes works by Langston Hughes, Gwendolyn Brooks, Richard Wright, Nikki Giovanni, and numerous others. The poems are divided into multiple categories such as Tomorrow Words Today, Black Eyes on a Fallowland, and Attitudes of the Soul. Good stuff. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.\ \
