A new collection of poems.
| ||||||||||||||||||
Book Description
Frequently Bought Together
Editorial Reviews
Review
"... In the US today, poetry can still rouse passions and lead to political action." -- Kwame Dawes, South Carolina, 2003
"Somebody Blew Up America & Other Poems" ... one more mark in modern Black radical & revolutionary cultural reconstruction. -- Kamau Brathwaite, New York University, 2003
"Somebody Blew Up America & Other Poems" ... one more mark in modern Black radical & revolutionary cultural reconstruction. -- Kamau Brathwaite, New York University, 2003
About the Author
Amiri Baraka is an American poet icon and revolutionary political activist who has recited poetry and lectured on cultural and political issues extensively in the USA, the Caribbean, Africa and Europe.
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
More About the Author
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
At least someone's honest about who really blew up America,
This review is from: Somebody Blew Up America and Other Poems (Paperback)
People like to separate out people like Amiri Baraka as a "Black radical" yet what happened on 9/11 happened to everyone and everyone needs to be just as angry over who was behind it--those who occupy the US and most of the world. Baraka lost his poet laureate title over this truthful poem, by those who occupy this country, so it's no surprise to anyone who's clued in on this horrific situation that that is exactly what happens when you reveal the truth. The poem is brilliant and immensely courageous. We don't make true heroes of the people like this anymore.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
who framed roger rabbit, who shot cook robin, who's afraid of virginia woolf??,
By
This review is from: Somebody Blew Up America & Other Poems (Paperback)
the rant, the screed, the curse, forms of voice used by amiri baraka, are not without precedent, as far back as old testament prophets, virgil's rumor, villon, and medieval church books of curses, the torturous battle of god and the devil on the battleground of the soul is continued by baraka. the title of the poem Somebody Blew up America reads like sci-fi, with the seeker of answers to a litany of questions resounding with `who', tiring even the poet as he concludes with the inclusion of an owl. to the questions are different answers. some of the questions the poet answers, not always with reason, giving rhetorical answer to rhetorical question, generally, not the wisest strategy.
in Jungle Jim Flunks his Screen Test, baraka returns to the schoolyard and the way home from school to play the dozens. overheard is the late johnny carson asking: just how ugly is he? and baraka goes on for four pages about how ugly jungle jim is. ironically, with all the invective, there is purity in baraka's language, a simplicity honed after decades of complexities and juxtaposing disparities and stripping language of grammar and vocabulary. vocabulary for baraka, the poet, anyway, is culled from jazz improvisations, why his poems are better experienced heard as read by him than by the reader holding his text. several of the poems have as subtitles, songs by jazz musicians, Airconditioned Nightmare, by Duke Ellington, Blood Count, by Billy Strayhorn, and Night in Tunisia, by Dizzy Gillespie. accompanying the poems are intriguing and elegant digital illustrations by angelo rombley of the caribbean island of st martin.
7 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Moving and thought provoking,
By
This review is from: Somebody Blew Up America & Other Poems (Paperback)
I was there when Baraka read this poem at the Dodge poetry festival, before the controversy. It is an incredibly moving and thought provoking poem.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product).
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
