leadbelly: poems (National Poetry Series) (Paperback)

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Jess' debut, an addictive amalgamation of approaches reminiscent, in its way, of Dos Passos' 1919, tells the story of Huddie William Ledbetter and his passage to becoming the blues legend, Leadbelly. Told through many voices, from his devoted wife Martha to folklorist John Lomax and his quest to "stake his claim on the breath of each Black / willing to open his mouth and spit out / southern legend's soiled roots," the collection proceeds by call and response, each negation an affirmation of something else, like trading "dry psalms...for cool cigar smoke." In the telling of one life, a society is exposed-racist, well-meaning, violent, forgiving. And yet while the classic binaries-black and white, man and woman, powerful and powerless-play their part, the collection's strength lies in its contradictory forms; from biography to lyric to hard-driving prose poem, boast to song, all are soaked in the rhythm and dialect of Southern blues and the demands of honoring one's talent. Readers will notice these poems teach us how to read them, but more so, these poems demand performance, recalling that space beyond the page: the stage. Jess has crafted this collection in the logic of its subject, that is, rhythm and performance, proving that a good poem-slam or not-neither needs nor abandons its poet once on the page.
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From Booklist

Rising poet Jess revisits the overlooked life of the blues-original Huddie Ledbetter by telling the story of this Louisiana native and son of a cotton picker in a series of persona poems. Fueled by everything hateful and destructive in southern bigotry, the first poem, "leadbelly's lessons," sets the tone when 12-year-old Huddie, gifted with an artist's voice channeled through six strings, reveals: "it was there, alone./in the dark, darkness for me/that i first learned the ways/of pure white envy." Divided by titles of Leadbelly's recorded songs, the reader gets to "hear" about the prophetic love of his mother and the strength of his father, the long days on southern plantations, and the controversial life of this innocent-turned-musician, confessed prisoner, recording artist, and blues man 'til death. There is an orality in Jess' prose poems that lends itself directly to Leadbelly's life, creating a powerful intertwining of history and blues. Jess has created a unique book that will speak to any lover of blues or close reader of American history. Mark Eleveld
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: Wave Books (October 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0974635332
• ISBN-13: 978-0974635330
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6.7 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #177,174 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars In one sitting . . ., March 27, 2007

By	Foster J. Dickson "Foster Dickson" (Montgomery, AL, United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I read "leadbelly" by Tyehimba Jess in one sitting, after dinner one evening. I don't tell you this to brag, but to tell you that the poems there were enthralling enough to hold me. This volume of poetry, which won the 2004 National Poetry Series prize, and was subsequently published in 2005, is a thoroughly researched series of surreal, un-capitalized poems based on the life of a Texas/Louisiana blues musician probably as famous for his pardons from prison as for his twelve-string guitar-playing. Though the stylistic concern of the poems remains true through the book, the individual poems include from short and touching lyrics, blocky prose poems, and experimental formats juxtaposing Leadbelly lyrics with Jess's lines.

The book begins with the voices of Leadbelly's parents bemoaning a somber foreshadowing their son's hard life to come as a poor black man in the South, then proceeds into a very humane treatment of the men he killed, his prison time, the songs that won him a gubernatorial pardon, and his eventual rocky relationship with Alan Lomax, the legendary folk music collector who "discovered" Leadbelly and others. With constantly shifting voices, Jess's poems cover varying perspectives on the life of a complex man who has contributed massively to our national character.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tyehimba Jess has written an amazing book of poetry!, July 26, 2009

By	Sian M. Lindsey - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Tyehimba Jess strikes a reverberating chord chronicling the life of troubled 1930/40's Blues musician Huddie "Leadbelly" Ledbetter as if he's fresh from a road trip with the man. In language both electrifying and beautifully poetic, Jess deftly illuminates the dark corners of Leadbelly's childhood as the musically gifted but dirt-poor son of a southern, black sharecropper. In Jess' capable hands, Leadbelly's music, women, guitars, crimes, prison time, and much more are resurrected from the dusty annals of history to become vibrant and alive once again.

Jess follows Leadbelly's life roughly chronologically, opening with Leadbelly's mother asking:

"when the black boy climbs out of my womb;
How to peel dynamite from his bones?
how to weed graveyard from his garden of tongue?...

...which revengeful breast fed him this poison?
which breast gilded his mouth with song?"

He follows in the voice of Leadbelly's father, who says "...there's only one way out of slave time dues: hump this land down till it shrieks up a crop of cancelled debt into your wagon..." and Jess gets even more surprising as we are pulled, almost violently, into Leadbelly's world with jolting, ground-level pieces from the perspectives of the people and things most important in his life.

We hear from Leadbelly's first gun, given to him the year before he got his first guitar:

"while his fist cloaks me
with the hush of broken youth,
i singe my bullet-toothed birth-
right into his fingertips. .."

And if that's not raw enough, some of the most fantastic imagery comes from Leadbelly's guitar, which he named Stella:

"you think I'm his poroperty
`cause he paid cash
to grab me by the neck,
swing me `cross his knee
and stroke the living song from my hips...

Jess's language is colourful, gritty, and written true to the dialect of each speaker in turn. He pulls no punches, nor does he soften the tone to make it more palatable to those who might be considered easily offended. No, this isn't a collection you'd likely find on the First Baptist Church's book club reading list. If you want to `hear' the characters, though, if you really want to be pulled into Leadbelly's world, then you have to commend Jess on the outstanding way he presents each piece in exactly the right voice.

In "the song speaks," Jess gives us the view from a record's perspective:

"a professor embalms me
in electrified wax,
then exhumes me at 78rpm
with needle and wire,
tattooing my breath-
less body into wind."

No less exciting or intense is a piece from Leadbelly's first wife, Aletha, entitled "lethe on leadbelly:"
"once, towards the end,
sun burned her face into my back
as i rode him raw between our cotton rows,
wearing his skin into the boll's hungry bed
as if i could bury the low mosquito hum
of perfumed women clinging t his sweat."

The book, for which Tyehimba Jess won the 2004 National Poetry Series, is literally stuffed with piece after piece of edge-of-your-seat, amazing poems written in a style which is difficult to compare to any other popular poet. Perhaps it somewhat reminds me of the dream poems of John Berryman, but if any of it could be so described, it would have to be John Berryman's poetry on crack. And this is Jess' first book of poetry! He's definitely going to be one to watch--and buy. There is no way you could buy this book and be disappointed.

4.0 out of 5 stars An Epic Masterpiece, November 19, 2009

By	John J. Santoemma Jr. (Reno, NV) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

"Leadbelly" is a sequentially organized collection of short poems that celebrates the life of Blues guitarist Huddie Ledbetter (1888 - 1949). The poems begin with the man's birth and end with the real event of a christening at the artist's grave site in Longwood, Louisiana some fifty-four years after his death. A remarkable read, "Leadbelly" triumphs even where the musician himself had failed. Poems depicting the troubled life of this twice convicted felon/musician and his eventual early releases from state penitentiaries offer us the "real deal." Written from various personae from the biography of this struggling musician's life we get a genuine sense of living during times of high racial tension and strong prejudices that greatly hindered minority success. A time line highlighting the main events of this musician's life is provided near the end of the collection. I recommend reading that first in order to more readily identify with the various characters presented in the poems and more easily comprehend their significance to the artist's success and failures.

Some poems of exceptional quality are: "1912: blind lemon jefferson explaining to leadbelly" - a fellow Blues guitarist reveals his own hardships to Leadbelly (Huddie Ledbetter's nickname) and lets him know that life for a musician, especially a black one, will not be easy, but the rewards can be had if you're willing to fight for it.

In poems such as "leadbelly v. lomax: song hunting, 1934" and "brownie v. leadbelly: stipulations and apprenticeship" (along with many others of this similar, dual speaker format), Tyehimba Jess displays a rare form of contemporary genius by structuring the text in a split fashion so that it is apparent that this poem may be read in three distinct ways (yet, the meaning and coherence of all of this three in one poem is never altered or lost). By using italics T. Jess indicates that there is another voice in the poem (the titles, too, clue us into this nuance). One can read the poem on the left side separate from that on the right or read them joined together as one piece (ignoring the visual space created by italicized text vs. normal text). Regardless, of how you read these pieces the messages are virtually the same, though the voices become more distinctly recognizable when you opt to read each side separately. I was truly astounded by this unique structure of text manipulation. This dual voice representation is also found in a vertical poem of alternating verses entitled, "leadbelly and martha return to new york, 1936" - again, absolute poetic genius is demonstrated by having the option to read the poem in any one of three ways without losing its intelligibility.

Whether you're a Blues fan or not this is an enjoyable and intriguing read. T. Jess has offered us a musically crafted literary piece of American history splendidly presented through a biographical collection of poems offering us the sometimes heroic and sometimes disturbing depiction of Leadbelly, the man, his guitar, his music and his life.

Works Cited
Jess, Tyehimba. Leadbelly. St. Paul, MN. Verse Press. ©2005