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this issue of mipoesias is
composed of the work of african american poets :: as editor, i have
selected work eclectically :: i have not attempted or desired to be
comprehensive :: rather, i’ve gathered samples of the outrageous,
the deep-blue, the needle-tipped, and the butter, the kinds of work
i know and love, created by daring, caring, wayfaring poets :: the
cover art for this issue is a collage created by the visionary
krista franklin :: she calls it “wanderlust wonderland” :: she
shows us a young black girl on the border between the fantasies of
childhood and the hard realities of adulthood :: she evokes the
history of african american enslavement and immobility :: (drapetomania—a
psychological disease “causing negroes to run away,” according to
dr. samuel cartwright, 1851) :: she juxtaposes black dreams of
escape to a land of opportunity (symbolized by the urban skyline)
with reminders that even in fantasies we find labor (“who will help
me plant this wheat?”) and cruelty (“off with their heads!”) :: the
race against race :: flora frames a flee(t)ing fancy :: clouds (9) in our eyes
:: keep on moving, don’t stop
taking my cue from krista’s suggestive images, i present the work of
these african american poets under the sign of “~quest~” ::
the work of this work is ~quest~ ::
quest, to
undertake a long and difficult search, an adventure, a journey in
pursuit of a grail :: bequest, inheritance, a legacy, what
has been handed down to us, what we will hand down, a tradition of
trans-i-tion :: question, to call for or demand information,
to doubt, an issue subject to debate :: conquest, an admirer gained
through seduction or perseverance, almost against the person’s will
:: inquest, investigation, an inquiry into what went wrong ::
request, the expression of a wish, to politely name a desire,
a musical (poetic!) selection played/performed/presented because
someone has asked for it :: sequester, to isolate someone
(oneself?), to remove her from the pressures and disturbances of
daily life, to take possession of someone’s property until s/he has
paid a debt :: question mark, an enigma (after harryette
mullen), a person whose character is unknown or unfathomable, an
area of uncertainty :: the ~quest~ of these african american
poets continues :: we seek and we find
peace.
evie
shockley
jersey city / february 2007
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Evie Shockley is the
author of a half-red sea (2006) and The Gorgon
Goddess (2001), both from Carolina Wren Press. Her
work appears in numerous journals and anthologies,
including Beloit Poetry Journal, Callaloo, Crab
Orchard Review, CutBank, Hambone, HOW2, nocturnes (re)view,
MiPOesias, Talisman, Rainbow Darkness: An
Anthology of African American Poetry, and Poetry
Daily: Poems from the World’s Most Popular Poetry
Website, and is forthcoming shortly in The
Ringing Ear: Black Poets Lean South, and The
Beside Guide to No Tell Motel—2nd Floor.
Shockley is a Cave Canem graduate fellow, a
long-distance member of the Carolina African American
Writers' Collective, and the recipient of a residency at
the Hedgebrook retreat center for women writers in 2003.
She is Assistant Professor of English at Rutgers
University, New Brunswick, where she teaches courses in
African American literature and creative writing and is
at work on a study of the relationship between race and
innovation in African American poetry.
Photo Credit:
Stephane Robolin |
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