Review
This is a really intriguing book, an exciting anthology of poetry by well known poets like Amiri Baraka, June Jordan, and E. Ethelbert Miller, mixed with poems by younger poets from around the country. It was put together, according to the editors, in three short months, the result of a collaboration between Black Words in Alexandria, Virginia, and Runagate Press of New Orleans. The title, of course, plays on the different meanings of the word, "revolution" as either the longed-for transformation of society or more literally the simple completion of a circle: a new generation is embarking in their poetry, like Baraka and company, on the same struggle against oppression. Political or not, the collection was a joy to read: funny, angry, and devoid of agitprop rhetoric. Some of my favorite poets were Wanda Coleman, whose "Dreams without Means" is a witty and disturbing update of the famous Langston Hughes poem, and Mari Evans, whose "Urban Dawn," a poem about domestic v! iolence, ends "His terrible loving arm / a careful choke hold." Revolutionary poetry, it seems, does not preclude passages of authentic sensuality, as in this passage from Ruth Formans "Venus' Quilt": "You need to be loved / I would do it / be the one to open you like pomegranate / take your fruit between my teeth and tongue / and shine every seed . . ." It can also be wildly experimental, as in DJ Renegades marvelous "Landscape with Black Youth" that uses the arrangement of words on the page to evoke a politically charged crime scene. The book is framed by two eloquent essays -- I could almost call them manifestos -- by the editors. Kwame Alexanders foreword puts the book, and the September 98 poetry festival at the Baltimore Museum of Art that it commemorates, into the context of a history of black poetry, deftly blended with some wonderful passages of memoir. Kalamu ya Salaams afterword is more theoretical and polemic in tone: "Black poetry is popular poetry, meaning p! recisely that whether college-educated or street-wise, peop! le like to hear Black poetry. Our audiences react to poetry readings as if they were in church, in a nightclub, or in bed with a lover." To this -- and similar passages like it -- I can only say, "Amen!" Anything to move poetry, "black" or "white," beyond the classroom and into our lives where it belongs. As one of the anthologized poets, founding member of the Black Arts Movement Haki Madhubuti, says in his poem, "Poetry," "Poems bind people to language, link generations to each other and introduce cultures to cultures ..." -- Sam Schmidt, November 1998
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Product Description
At poetry slams, in coffee houses and cafes, on spoken word CDs, and even featured in Hollywood movies, a new and exciting renaissance of Black poetry is emerging out of the oral tradition of African-American culture. 360: A Revolution of Black Poets presents the cutting edge of this poetic firestorm sweeping across America. Featuring five pages per poet, 360 presents forty established and emerging Black poets in an anthology of contemporary verse. Stylistically there is everything from rap-like performance verse to haiku, political rants to lyrical love songs, narrative tales to personal meditations. 360 is a treasure map of Black poetry. 360 is published in conjunction with a two-day series of poetry readings, workshops, and film screenings at the Baltimore Museum of Art (Sept. 11) and the University of Maryland-College Park (Sept. 12). Edited by New Orleans writer/producer Kalamu ya Salaam with writer/publisher Kwame Alexander, 360 includes sharp-edged n! ew work from Amiri Baraka, a historic founder of the sixties Black Arts Movement, complemented by a moving elegy for a friend with cancer from activist/poet Tony Medina, editor of an award-winning anthology on political prisoner Mumia Abu Jamal. Grand divas Sonia Sanchez, author of Wounded in the House of a Friend and Does Your House Have Lions, and Mari Evans, author of the classic I Am a Black Woman, are displayed side by side with the youthful albeit sophisticated musings of Apollo Showtime winner Jessica Care Moore and Pulitzer prize nominee Ruth Forman. Haki Madhubuti, who has sold over 3 million books, and poetry slam World Heavyweight Champ Quincy Troupe mix it up with performance poet D-Knowledge (featured in Poetic Justice and Higher Learning) and Dark Room Collective founder Thomas Sayers Ellis. The table of contents is a poetic who's who. From Emmy-winning West Coast writer Wanda Coleman and legendary playwright/novelist/poet Ntozake Shange, to Abiodun Oyewole! , a founding member of the Last Poets, and Mannafest, a Lon! don-based female duo, the range of Black poets is encyclopedic. 360 is one of the most eclectic poetry anthologies in decades. 360 poets are: Kwame Alexander, Amiri Baraka, Ras Baraka, Toni Blackman, Nadir Lasana Bomani, Roger Bonair-Agard, Kysha N. Brown, Wanda Coleman, Kamau Daaood, D-Knowledge, Thomas Sayers Ellis, Mari Evans, Stacey Lyn Evans, Ruth Forman, Peter J. Harris, Angela Jackson, June Jordan, Carolyn Cooley Joyner, Quraysh Ali Lansana, Toni Asante Lightfoot, Haki Madhubuti, MANNAFEST, Laini Mataka, Tony Medina, E. Ethelbert Miller, Jessica Care Moore, Tracie Morris, Abiodun Oyewole, Eugene Redmond, DJ Renegade, Kate Rushin, Kalamu ya Salaam, Sonia Sanchez, Ntozake Shange, Glenis Redmond Sherer, Nichole L. Shields, Askia M. Toure, Quincy Troupe, wadud, and Afaa Michael Weaver.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
