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# [https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/evie-shockley Evie Shockley Biography]. Poetry Foundation. Retrieved January 1 2020. | # [https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/evie-shockley Evie Shockley Biography]. Poetry Foundation. Retrieved January 1 2020. | ||
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Latest revision as of 07:40, 15 March 2021
Contents
Poetry
“what, to the american slave, is your 4th of july?”—frederick douglass
i. august 1619
arrived in a boat, namedand unnamed, twenty, pirated
away from a portugueseslaver, traded for victuals.
drowned in this land of fresh,volatile clearings and folk
with skin like meltedcowrie shells. soon shedding
servitude. soon reapingtalents sown on african soil.
after indenture, christians,colonists. not english, but
not yet not-white. antoneyand isabella, whose marriage
stretched the short shadowsof america’s early afternoon
into the dusky reaches of evening,whose conjugal coitus spent
first the choice coin of africaon rough virginian citizenship,
baptized their son, william,into the church of england.
ii. december 1638
fear must have shuddered
into boston on the backs
of true believers—men andwomen of an unadorned god—
deep in the heavy black fabricof their coats and dresses like
a stench. black a mark ofpride they wore as if branded,
never dreaming they couldtake it off. envy anticipated
their advent. glittered at them,settling in, from the knife
blades of the massachusetts.seeped like low-pitched
humming from the furlining the natives’ warm
blankets. but desire dockedin 1638. in from the harbor
flocked a people whose eyessparked like stars, even near
death. whose hair promiseda mixture of cotton and river
water and vines, a texturethe fingers ached for. who
wholly inhabited a skin themidnight color of grace
that clarified the hue of thepilgrims’ woolen weeds. fear
and envy claimed pride of place,put desire’s cargo to good use.
iii. march 1770
that night, crispus attucks
dreamed. how he’d attacked
his would-be master and fledin wild-eyed search of self-
determination. discardedvirginia on the run and ran
out of breath in salt-scentedboston. found there, if not
freedom, fearlessness. a beliefin himself that rocked things
with the uncontrolled powerof the muscular atlantic, power
to cradle, to capsize. awokeangry again at the planter
who’d taken him for a muleor a machine. had shouldered
a chip the size of concordby the time the redcoat dared
to dare him. died wishing he’damassed such revolutionary
ire in virginia. died dreaminggreat britain was the enemy.
iv. july 4th: last
but not least
17-, 18-, 19-76 and still
this celebration’s shamed
with gunpowder and wordsthat lie like martyrs in cold
blood. africa’s descendents,planting here year after year
the seeds of labor, sweatingbullets in this nation’s warts,
have harvested the rope,the rape, the ghetto, the cell,
the fire, the flood, and theblame for you-name-it. so
today black folks barbequeribs and smother the echoes
of billie’s strange song insauces. drink gin. gladly
holiday to heckle speecheson tv. pretend to parade.
turn out in droves for distantdetonations, chaos, controlled
as always, but directedaway from us tonight. stare
into the mirror of the skyat our growing reflection,
boggled by how americagawks at the passing pinpoints
of flame, but overlooks the vast,ebony palm giving them shape.
(Evie Shockley, Source: a half-red sea (Carolina Wren Press, 2006))
Author
Born and raised in Nashville, Tennessee, Evie Shockley, an author, received a BA from Northwestern University, a JD from the University of Michigan, and a PhD from Duke University in English literature. Shockley is also the author of many poetry collections, including the Half-Red Sea (2006) and the New Black (2011), and of the critical volume Renegade Poetics: Black Aesthetics and Formal Creativity in African American Poetry (2011). In many anthologies, including Black Nature: Four Centuries of African American Nature Poetry (2009), Poets on Teaching: A Sourcebook (2010), A Broken Thing: Contemporary Poets on the Line, her poetry and essays have been featured (2011), and Contemporary African American Literature: The Living Canon (2013).
Racism Issue
This poem criticizes the segregation and slavery committed by white people against blacks since the era of colonialism.
Reference
- Shockley, Evie. Waiting on the Mayflower. Poetry Foundation.
- Evie Shockley Biography. Poetry Foundation. Retrieved January 1 2020.