MACNOLIA: Poems (Paperback)

~ (Author) "The melody seeps through her room..." (more)
Key Phrases: spelling bee, John Montiere, Fanny Brice, Bill Cosby (more...)

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. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From The Washington Post

A. Van Jordan combines the tragic poignancy of the blues with the cinematic sweep of a documentary in his deeply humane and highly imaginative second book, M·A·C·N·O·L·I·A, which focuses on the life of MacNolia Cox, a spunky 13-year-old girl who won the Akron District Spelling Bee in 1936. Cox was the first African American to advance to the final round of the national competition, but it is generally thought -- and Jordan clearly believes -- that the Southern judges kept her from winning by deviously tripping her up on the word "nemesis," which was not on the official list. That stolen opportunity marked her for life, and she was never afterwards the same. Hence this conclusive poem, which is spoken by a woman veiled in white:

N-e-m-e-s-i-s Blues

I'd rather have no name, no name for my man to call
Say, I'd rather lose my name, no name to call
Than to use my name to make a poor girl crawl
They gon' and used my name, cruel as they can be
They up and broke my good name, cruel as they can be
Done set fire to my name and blown the smoke back at me
Smells like turpentine is in the drinks tonight
Yeah, put some turpentine in the drinks tonight
Might as well get crazy cause we gonna have to fight
My name must taste like a misspelled word
Poor girl, my name must taste like a misspelled word
But when it's all over, I'll show 'em how trouble gets stirred
Than to use my name to make a poor girl crawl
Man, I'd rather have no name, no name for my man to call
Hell, I'd rather lose my name, have no name at all

Jordan comes from Akron, and he stumbled upon Cox's haunting story, as he says, "while researching the lifestyles of African Americans in Ohio during the '20s and '30s." It is for him an emblematic tale -- the word "macnolia," he tellingly suggests, means "a Negro who spells and reads as well as [if not better than] any white" -- and it gives him a convincing way to concentrate on an individual life while also exploring social attitudes and racial prejudices of Depression-era America.

Jordan's primary strategy is to interweave voices to create a dramatic overall portrait of MacNolia's life. MacNolia speaks often, savoring words ("So many words hover around my head"), and we hear often from her less verbal husband, John Montiere, who exclaims on their wedding night: "let's strip off our words/ to speak without our tongues. let's/ try to tongue without/ saying a word. let's turn speech/ back into struggle tonight."

Jordan is a formally inventive poet who plays with the notion of the spelling bee, creates dictionary definitions to refer to MacNolia's experiences (I especially like the one for "afterglow") and meditates on the nature of words. "Sometimes you learn words/ By living them and sometimes/ Words learn you// By defining who you are," MacNolia declares in the poem "Infidelity."

This diverse sequence uses framing devices from the movies ("INTERIOR -- NIGHT -- Panning shot of MACNOLIA'S bedroom on her deathbed") and takes some of its highest notes from music. One feels more than a little grief-stricken and outraged for the gifted young girl who never recovered from her lost or stolen chance, the A student who dropped out of school, married and ended up working as a domestic in the home of a local physician. "They say she/ Spelled like a demon as a child," Jordan has Dr. Wittenberg declare in 1948. "They say she was almost/ The national spelling champ, would've/ Been the second one we had/ From Akron in as little as three years. . . . / I don't know, really, but I'm telling you -- / She's the best damn maid in town."

By Edward Hirsch

Copyright 2004, The Washington Post Co. All Rights Reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: W.W. Norton & Co. (December 5, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393327647
• ISBN-13: 978-0393327649
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #469,765 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Bound Confession of a People, September 1, 2006

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

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 Lanier "Words are breath and blood" (Hollywood Beach, Florida United States) - See all my reviews

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.