Customer Reviews

MACNOLIA: Poems

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

M-A-C-N-O-L-I-A is the story of MacNolia Cox, the first African-American to compete in a national spelling competition. Due to the racial injustice of her time, the judges used a word not on the official list and as a result she lost the competition. Although M-A-C-N-O-L-I-A is a collection of poetry, it is difficult to categorize it strictly as such because it is so much more. This poetic presentation is a history lesson, a documentary, a love story and a tragedy, all in one.

M-A-C-N-O-L-I-A is a very uniquely written book of poetry. It is the first story that I have read in the form of poetry and A. Van Jordan has captured her compelling story with great lyricism. Words alone can not describe the reading experience. This story and the poet's words moved me in unspeakable ways.

Reviewed by Aiesha Flowers
of The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers

the truth of memoir, lyricism of poetry, and narrative arc of fiction. incredible story, well told.

I received my book in excellent condition just like they said it would be in. It was delivered just in time for my first class like they said it would be. It was a great buy and saved me money.

This is a wildly ambitious and moving collection, remarkable for its daring impurities: for the way Jordan trespasses the divide between the lyric and the narrative, the personal and the historical, always mixing and cutting the voice of the poet with so many other voices. M-A-C-N-O-L-I-A is a worthy succesor to Rita Dove's Thomas and Beulah and Ellen Bryant Voigt's Kyrie. If, like me, you are exhausted with young poets whose vision extends no further than their own navels, MACNOLIA is an antidote. These are powerful and necessary poems.

I really liked this book of poems for its imagination, its lyrical intensity, and its daring strategy of mixing so many different forms, levels of intensity, into one major book. This book takes a lot of risks in its writing and tells a tremendously interesting and sad story, but there is hope in the end that this story is told.

yeats' advice to beware of poetry of "passive suffering" rings true with the (feigned) sentiments of this sophomoric effort. whereas Rita Dove's Thomas & Beulah derived from familial grounds, Van Jordan's hodgepodge hangs on its purported subject by a thin thread--unsure of it's direction and executed with a lackluster hand.