April Is National Poetry!

April Is National Poetry Month!

An autobiographer, an educator, and a prolific poet who published over 300 poems and 13 books. The recipient of the Sidney Bechet Creative Award for creating a new jazz and blues haiku literary genre. Ranked as “one of the best and most neglected poets of the 20th century.” Today I feature one of James Emanuel masterpieces.

NEGRITUDE

JAMES EMANUEL

Black is the first nail I ever stepped on;

Black the hand that dried my tears.

Black is the first old man I ever noticed;
Black the burden of his years.

Black is waiting in the darkness;
Black the ground where hoods have lain.
Black is the sorrow-misted story;
Black the brotherhood of pain.

Black is quiet iron door;
Black the path that leads behind.
Black is a detour through the year;
Black the diary of the mind.

Black is Gabriel Prosser’s knuckles;
Black Sojourner’s naked breast.
Black is a schoolgirl’s breathless mother;
Black her child who led the rest.

Black is the purring of a motor;
Black the foot when the light turns green.
Black is last year’s dusty paper;
Black the headlines yet unseen.

Black is a burden bravely chanted:
Black cross of sweat for a nation’s rise.
Black is a boy who knows his heroes;
Black the way a hero dies…