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Beachhead Preachment
By Ahmos ZuBolton II from this beach i want to make a
poem
into a stage presence
with some sex in it,
with some oo-we-baby and trembling
thighs,
with some tongue dancing in &
out,
with some oo-la-la in it.
from this beach
a nightfall of orgasms my audience
gives back to me,
a nightful of orgasms my audience
gives back to me,
a nighful of putting our hands and
hearts together,
a nightful of surf giving me some
head,
as my short leg strokes the gypsy
waves
and i move thru a forest of desire
i want to leave my sperm-seed
radioactive
as i work some music thru a people
like uranium,
as my calypso testifies
and my zydeco shouts rock and roll
bump
to the rhythm of the sea
i would be preacherman hallelujah
lover
challenging the seaweed wig that
life wears
between her bowed legs,
i would be a hot sunday afternoon
healer
jazzing sho nuf gospel blues
from this beachhead
(i want to raise the lawd
with their nude music)
from this beach
let my voice be an echo
lubricating the horizon,
let seagulls know my poem
that they might carry the word
in the sails of their wings.
Source: Open Places, No.29 (Spring 1980) |
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Ahmos Zu-Bolton (1935-2005) --
Born in Poplarville, Mississippi, Zu-Bolton is the author of
A
Niggered Amen (Solo Press, 1976), a collection of poetry,
and coeditor of Synergy: D.C. Anthology. he was the
founder and editor of
HooDoo magazine, and has taught
fiction and folklore at the Galveston Arts Center, Xavier
University, Delgado College, and was Tulane University's
first Writer-in-Residence.
For several years he operated his own publishing firm, Energy
Earth Communications. His work has appeared in numerous
magazines and in the anthologies
Giant Talk,
Mississippi
Writers: Reflections of Childhood and Youth, Vol. III, and
Black
Southern Voices: An Anthology of Fiction Poetry, Drama,
NonFiction, and Critical Essays (1992). In addition to
operating a community bookstore, ZuBolton frequently writes for
the Louisiana Weekly. Photo above: Ahmos ZuBolton II and Haryette Mullen
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Ahmos Zu-Bolton II—(October
21, 1948 - March 8, 2005)—President Madison Apartments, 1908
Florida Ave. NW, Dupont Circle neighborhood, DC.—Zu-Bolton was
an activist, teacher, playwright, and the author of three books
of poems. He founded Energy BlackSouth Press, edited the
literary journal
HooDoo
and co-edited an innovative journal on cassette tape called
Black Box. He co-edited an anthology (with E. Ethelbert
Miller), called Synergy D.C. (1975). After working at
Howard University in the early 1970s, Zu-Bolton took teaching
jobs at Xavier University, Delgado College, and Tulane
University. His poetry books are
A
Niggered Amen (1975), No Spring Chicken (1998),
and 1946 (2002).—DCwriters
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Video: "South Side Story"
—Ta-Nehisi
Coates author of
The Beautiful Struggle: A Father, Two Sons, and an Unlikely Road to
Manhood
discusses Michelle Obama with Paul Coates an outspoken publisher
and former Black Panther—his father.
“American Girl" (Ta Nehesi Coates)
When Michelle Obama told a
Milwaukee campaign rally last February, "For the first time in
my adult life, I am proud of my country," critics derided her as
another Angry Black Woman. But the only truly radical
proposition put forth by Obama, born and raised in Chicago's
storied South Side, is the idea of a black community fully
vested in the country at large, and proud of the American dream. * * *
* *
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Blacks in Hispanic Literature: Critical Essays
Edited by
Miriam DeCosta-Willis
Blacks in Hispanic Literature is a
collection of fourteen essays by scholars and
creative writers from Africa and the Americas.
Called one of two significant critical works on
Afro-Hispanic literature to appear in the late
1970s, it includes the pioneering studies of
Carter G. Woodson and
Valaurez B. Spratlin, published in the 1930s, as
well as the essays of scholars whose interpretations
were shaped by the Black aesthetic. The early
essays, primarily of the Black-as-subject in Spanish
medieval and Golden Age literature, provide an
historical context for understanding 20th-century
creative works by African-descended, Hispanophone
writers, such as Cuban
Nicolás Guillén and Ecuadorean poet, novelist,
and scholar
Adalberto Ortiz, whose essay analyzes the
significance of Negritude in Latin America. This
collaborative text set the tone for later
conferences in which writers and scholars worked
together to promote, disseminate, and critique the
literature of Spanish-speaking people of African
descent. . . .
Cited by a
literary critic in 2004 as "the seminal study in the
field of Afro-Hispanic Literature . . . on which
most scholars in the field 'cut their teeth'."
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Sister Citizen: Shame, Stereotypes, and Black Women in
America
By Melissa V.
Harris-Perry
According to the
author, this society has historically exerted
considerable pressure on black females to fit into one
of a handful of stereotypes, primarily, the Mammy, the
Matriarch or the Jezebel. The selfless
Mammy’s behavior is marked by a slavish devotion to
white folks’ domestic concerns, often at the expense of
those of her own family’s needs. By contrast, the
relatively-hedonistic Jezebel is a sexually-insatiable
temptress. And the Matriarch is generally thought of as
an emasculating figure who denigrates black men, ala the
characters Sapphire and Aunt Esther on the television
shows Amos and Andy and Sanford and Son, respectively.
Professor Perry
points out how the propagation of these harmful myths
have served the mainstream culture well. For instance,
the Mammy suggests that it is almost second nature for
black females to feel a maternal instinct towards
Caucasian babies.
As for the source
of the Jezebel, black women had no control over their
own bodies during slavery given that they were being
auctioned off and bred to maximize profits. Nonetheless,
it was in the interest of plantation owners to propagate
the lie that sisters were sluts inclined to mate
indiscriminately.
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* * *
* *
Ahmos Zu-Bolton (1935-2005) --
Born in Poplarville, Mississippi, Zu-Bolton is the author of
A
Niggered Amen (Solo Press, 1976), a collection of poetry,
and coeditor of Synergy: D.C. Anthology. he was the
founder and editor of
HooDoo magazine, and has taught
fiction and folklore at the Galveston Arts Center, Xavier
University, Delgado College, and was Tulane University's
first Writer-in-Residence.
For several years he operated his own publishing firm, Energy
Earth Communications. His work has appeared in numerous
magazines and in the anthologies
Giant Talk,
Mississippi
Writers: Reflections of Childhood and Youth, Vol. III, and
Black
Southern Voices: An Anthology of Fiction Poetry, Drama,
NonFiction, and Critical Essays (1992). In addition to
operating a community bookstore, ZuBolton frequently writes for
the Louisiana Weekly. Photo above: Ahmos ZuBolton II and Haryette Mullen
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ChickenBones Store
(Books, DVDs, Music, and more)
update
2 February 2012
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