MACNOLIA: Poems [Hardcover]

A. Van Jordan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 2004 | ISBN-10: 0393059073 | ISBN-13: 978-0393059076 | Edition: 1st ed

IN 1936, teenager MacNolia Cox became the first African American finalist in the National Spelling Bee Competition. Supposedly prevented from winning, the precocious child who dreamed of becoming a doctor was changed irrevocably. Her story, told in a poignant nonlinear narrative, illustrates the power of a pivotal moment in a life.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The first African-American student to reach the final round of the National Spelling Bee, 13-year-old MacNolia Cox of Akron, Ohio, found short-lived celebrity in 1936; when she died 40 years later, the girl who "was almost/ The national spelling champ" had become a cleaning woman, a grandmother, and "the best damn maid in town." Cox's ambition and her later frustration find incisive shape in this remarkably varied meditation on ambition, racism, discouragement and ennui, where successive pages can bring to mind a handbook of poetic forms (a double sestina, Japanese-inspired syllabics, a blues ghazal and prose poems based on definitions of prepositions), Ann Carson's "TV Men" poems, Rita Dove's Thomas and Beulah and the documentary film Spellbound. Jordan (Rise) begins in Cox's later life, giving voice to her husband, John Montiere, at "The Moment Before He Asks MacNolia Out on a Date," then to MacNolia herself when in 1970 her son dies just after his return from Vietnam. As counterpoints, Jordan intersperses poems about African-Americans who won more lasting public acclaim, among them Richard Pryor, Josephine Baker and the great labor organizer and orator A. Philip Randolph. Jordan's most quotable poems, however, return to the voice of the 13-year-old speller, who "learned the word chiaroscuro/ By rolling it on my tongue// Like cotton candy the color/ Of day and night."
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

A deeply humane and highly imaginative sequence. It is a necessary work. -- Edward Hirsch

Full of affection, humor, and ironic recognitions about the life and times of [his] heroine, MacNolia. -- Tom Sleigh

Generous and genuine poems—and many a spirit is raised by the strength of Jordan's confident voice. -- Eleanor Wilner

Jordan can blow a poem the way Coltrane blows a horn, but a little bluer like Miles. -- Joy Harjo

Multi-voiced and multi-faceted...captures an important figure who has been too long obscure. Memorable and haunting. -- Library Journal, 1 April 2004

Storytelling at its best, and poetry taken to new heights. -- E. Ethelbert Miller

What will delight and thrill readers more than the various themes is the collection's brilliant lyricism. (Michael Collier -- Norton

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 96 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company; 1st ed edition (June 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393059073
• ISBN-13: 978-0393059076
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,437,042 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Unique Poety, January 18, 2005

By 

S. Hudson "Avid Reader" (Tucker, GA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: MACNOLIA: Poems (Hardcover)

I am thoroughly impressed that a book of poetry so succinctly captures the life of one person. A. Van Johnson tells the story of 13-year-old MacNolia Cox, the first African American finalist in the National Spelling Bee. Unfortunately MacNolia didn't win; she was given a word not on the official list and this left her profoundly wounded. So much so, that through these poems, one can experience the pain she suffers for 40 years after the contest.

The poems chronicle her life and explore the fact of how her dreams were predicated on and dashed over because of this traumatic event in her life. She had hopes of becoming a doctor, but seemed to have lost her desire after losing the contest. She married a man named John and seemed to exist in obscurity. Her son went to Vietnam but was killed in service so another wound was delivered to MacNolia. She was best described at one point as "The almost national spelling bee champion, almost a doctor, wife, mother, grandmother and the best maid in town." What a wide-ranging description.

Various types and meter of poetry are included in this book. The combination of these varied kinds in a story is notable and remarkable. I would like to read more works of poetry of this caliber in the future.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Bound Confession of a People, August 31, 2006

By 

Lhea J. Love "www.lheajlove.net" (Detroit, MI) - See all my reviews

This review is from: MACNOLIA: Poems (Paperback)

I admit, the purchase of Macnolia was an impulse buy. The eyes of an inocent brown face staring at me with a definition printed across her forehead. I was intrigued. And I sat in the indie bookshop and read. A half hour later, I walked away with a new book for my collection.

mac*no*lia (mak nol ya), n. a Negro who spells and reads as well [if not better than] any white.

This is my introduction ot A. Van Jordan. This was the first poetry book that opened my eyes to what a poetry collection could be. Too often, books of poetry are loose, wandering collections of randomness. Profound, perhaps. Deep even. But strewn together without any connectivity or coherence. This is acceptable because, it is poetry. I love this poetry book because I understand with the turn of each page that each poem was written with pure intention.

Macnolia explores the love between the man and a woman, Macnolia explores the effects of being Black in America, Macnolia the public moments which defined private experiences of Black history - A. Phillip Randolph, Josephine Baker, Richard Pryor, Jesse Owens among others.

This is a beautiful collection of poetry, a poetic storyline, a bound confession of a people.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Listen. Witness., November 23, 2007

By 

Denise Sebesta Lanier (Houston, Texas USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: MACNOLIA: Poems (Paperback)

M-A-C-N-O-L-I-A, about an African American spelling bee whiz-kid, is a compelling, heart-grabbing use of actual history origami-ed with the music of poetry. This collection takes the factual accounting of MacNolia Cox Montiere and orchestrates it with original imaginings and charged reveries that challenge the reader to stand and hear, to witness, the intimacies of a young bright girl on the jagged-sharp wrong-end of racial attitudes during the Depression. Van Jordan is everything a great historical fiction writer should be--he just does it wearing the hat of a poet. Van Jordan has crafted a phenomenal work utilizing historically significant issues--and, unfortunately, issues still front-and-center in our current times. Some will read this stunning creation and comment on How Far We've Come. Others of us will sigh with regret, mournfully acknowledging how closely--too closely--this story mirrors those of our nightly news, our communities, even now. Get M-A-C-N-O-L-I-A today. Kick back, maybe put on some Earl Hines, some Billie Holiday. Slip yourself in the freshly-shined shoes, the new hand-made fancy dress of MacNolia--listen to the tip-tapping of her soles across the stage. Feel that silver-tinged hum of adrenaline? Listen to her confidence as she calls out the letters to words that (mostly) live in other people's lives. Drink in her elation, swallow her heartache. Marvel at how her disillusions with life, with the concept of fairness and equality--mirror water-colored shades of your own, of all our own. Bear witness. She deserves that much at least. Don't we all? Van Jordan is a poet that has the power to stretch minds, to turn hearts, with his haunting portrayals. This is why I read contemporary poetry.