leadbelly: poems (National Poetry Series) - Softcover

Jess, Tyehimba

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0974635332 ISBN 13: 9780974635330

Publisher: Wave Books, 2005

Synopsis

“It is exhilarating to be invited into a world so large and muscular, so rooted in history, a world where so much is at stake.”—Brigit Pegeen Kelly, National Poetry Series judge

A biography in poems, leadbelly examines the life and times of the legendary blues musician from a variety of intimate perspectives and using a range of innovative poetic forms. A collage of song, culture, and circumstance, alive and speaking.

Tyehimba Jess’ numerous awards include fellowships from the NEA and the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown. A native of Detroit, he is a proud alumnus of the Chicago Green Mill Slam teams and Cave Canem. His first nonfiction book is African American Pride: Celebrating our Achievements, Contributions, and Enduring Legacy (Citadel Press, 2003).

About this title

About the Author

Tyehimba Jess' numerous awards include an NEA Literature Fellowship, a Winter Fellowship at the Fine Arts Work Center, and the 2001 Gwendolyn Brooks Open Mic Poetry Award. A native of Detroit, Jess is a proud alumni of the Chicago Green Mill Slam teams and Cave Canem. His book, African American Pride, was published by Citadel Press in 2003.

Reviews

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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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

Edition details

• Publisher: Wave Books
• Publication date: 2005
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0974635332
• ISBN 13: 9780974635330
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 128