The Mighty Stream: Poems in celebration of Martin Luther King

by Carolyn Forché (Editor), Jackie Kay (Editor)

Overview

When he was awarded an honorary degree in civil law at Newcastle Universityin 1967, Dr Martin Luther King gave an electrifying extemporaneous address, speaking without notes, in which he said: 'There are three urgent and indeed great problems that we face today...That is the problem of racism, the problem of poverty and the problem of war.' As part of a fifty year anniversary and celebration, this anthology gathers poets from both sides of the Atlantic to address the challenges set out by Dr King. It's a shock to think how little has changed, and that Martin Luther King could well be speaking right here, right now. In the spirit of Dr King and his work as a humanitarian and activist, this anthology brings together poems that offer powerful testimonies to the urgent issues Dr King defines and represents the polyphony of voices that speak in resistance to our continuing problems of racism, poverty and war. Featuring poems by Claudia Rankine, Grace Nichols, Yusef Komunyakaa, Moniza Alvi, Rita Dove, Daljit Nagra, Imtiaz Dharker, Fred D'Aguiar, Oliver de la Paz, Rowan Ricardo Phillips, John Agard, Patricia Smith, Jericho Brown, Toi Derricotte, Vahni Capildeo, Carl Phillips, Sarah Howe, Elizabeth Alexander, Ishion Hutchinson, Linton Kwesi Johnson, Marilyn Nelson, Mimi Khalvati, Nikki Giovanni, Robert Pinsky, Bernardine Evaristo, Vidyan Ravinthiran, Major Jackson, Tim Seibles, Choman Hardi, Benjamin Zephaniah, Shazea Quraishi, E. Ethelbert Miller, Sandeep Parmar, Malika Booker, Roger Robinson, Rigoberto Gonzalez, Rae Paris, Kendel Hippolyte, Amali Rodrigo, Zaffar Kunial, Rishi Dastidar, Raymond Antrobus, Mai Der Vang, Martin Espada, Inua Ellams, Arundhathi Subramaniam, Gregory Pardlo, Edward Doegar, Degna Stone, MacDonald Dixon, Ada Limon, Philip Metres, Nick Makoha, Nathalie Handal, Lauren K Alleyne, Kevin Bowen, Bashabi Fraser, Satchid Anandan. Co-publication with Newcastle University.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781780373928
Publisher:	Bloodaxe Books
Publication date:	11/16/2017
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.20(h) x (d)

About the Author

Carolyn Forche is Director of the Lannan Center for Poetry and Poetics and holds the Lannan Chair in Poetry at Georgetown Universityin Washington, D.C. Her collection The Country Between Us (1981) drew on her experiences in El Salvador during the civil war, and will be reissued by Bloodaxe in 2018. Her later collections from Bloodaxe are The Angel of History (1994), Blue Hour (2003), and In the Lateness of the World (2020). Her landmark anthology, Against Forgetting: Twentieth-Century Poetry of Witness (Norton, 1993), was followed by Poetry of Witness: The Tradition in English: 1500-2001 (Norton, 2014), edited with Duncan Wu. Jackie Kay is Scotland's Makar, or National Poet of Scotland. Her many books include The Adoption Papers (1991) and Darling: New & Selected Poems (2007) from Bloodaxe. She has published a novel, three short story collections, a memoir and two poetry collections with Picador. She lives in Manchester. Jackie Kay is Professor of Creative Writing and Carolyn Forche a Visiting Professor at Newcastle University.

Table of Contents

Preface Carolyn Forché 9

Preface Jackie Kay 11

Acknowledgements 12

I

In the Spirit of Martin Nikki Giovanni 14

On the Turning Up of Unidentified Black Female Corpses Toi Derncotte 16

Our Side of the Creek Yusef Komunyakaa 18

Ota Benga at Edankraal 19

The Soul's Soundtrack 20

Poem of Disconnected Parts Robert Pinsky 22

Mixed Corus 24

Boys in the Park Marilyn Nelson 25

Dioxin Song Kevin Bowen 27

'About as close as you can get…'

Heart Copy Fanny Howe 30

The Feast 30

Calligraphies III Marilyn Hacker 32

Afterwardness Mimi Khalvati 36

Solja McDonald Dixon 37

The People Have Spoken and They Are Ugly Bruce Weigl 39

Draft of Final Chorus I 39

Draft of Final Chorus II 40

War Story 40

The Standing Man K. Satchidanandan 41

The Kiss 42

II

In God's Greatest Country, 1945 James Berry 44

Travelling As We Are John Agard 47

Voice 47

No Joy Harjo 48

This Morning I Pray for My Enemies 49

Freedom Ride Rita Dove 50

Teach Us to Number Our Days 51

Rosa 51

How I Won the War Patricia Smith 52

Aid Travels with a Bomb Jean 'Binta' Breeze 54

Reggae Fi Dada Linton Kwesi Johnson 56

To Martin Luther King: Neal Hall in Kolkata Bashabi Fraser 59

Freedom's Call 60

Red Velvet Nikky Finney 61

My Time Up with You 65

The Last Ritual E. Ethelbert Miller 70

I Hold My Breath in This Country with Its Sad Past Moniza Alvi 71

How the Children Were Born 72

How the Stone Found Its Voice 72

I Have a Scheme Benjamin Zephaniah 73

A Brief Odyssey Grace Nichols 75

Poem in a manger Kendel Hippolyte 76

Haloing the Lion Carl Phillips 78

Looking away from Lucky Boy Imtiaz Dharker 79

How We Could Have Lived or Died This Way Martín Espada 80

Sleeping on the Bus 81

Litany at the Tomb of Frederick Douglass 82

Emmett Till's Glass Top Casket Cornelius Eady 83

Future Crimes 83

The Blues 85

The Lexical Rebellion of Protest Bernardine Evaristo 86

Croix-des-Bouquets, Haiti Ian Duhig 89

Fatras Baton 89

Ghost Tim Seibles 90

III

Call & Response Fred D'Aguiar 94

Praise Song for the Day Elizabeth Alexander 97

A Poem for Tuhn Das Kwame Dawes 99

Black Humor 100

Bones in the Soil 102

The Health of Us Claudia Rankine 103

Against Silence Tyehimba Jess 104

Habeas Corpus 105

Fallujah, Basra Shazea Quraishi 106

The Dream of Mr Bulram's English Daljit Nagra 108

Horses Brian Turner 110

Neda 111

The Buddhas of Bamyan 112

Anthropocene Hymns Khaled Mattawa 113

Charlie Rose Has Frank Langella on for the Hour 116

Letter for K & Poems for Someone Else Mark McMorris 118

Untitled 122

Blues for Harpsichord, or, the Boston Massacre Honorée Fanonne Jeffen 124

Mothering #2 124

Prayer Arundhathi Subramaniam 127

Madras, November, 1995 128

Winter After the Strike Gregory Pardlo 129

Letter from the Levant Nathalie Handal 131

Noir, une lumière 131

I Am Going to Speak About Liberty 132

Nightshift Roger Robinson 133

Killing Suite for Stephen Lawrence 134

Going to Meet the Man Major Jackson 136

Stand Your Ground (a double golden shovel) 136

On Disappearing 137

IV

American Sonnet for My Past and Future Assassin Terrance Hayes 140

Bullet Points Jericho Brown 141

Second Language 142

Stand 143

The Preachers Eat Out Camille T. Dungy 144

Greyhound to Baton Rouge 144

My Grandmother Takes the Youth Group to Services 145

Brevity 145

Dear Empire, Oliver de la Paz 146

Dear Empire, 146

To the Killers of Us Rae Paris 147

Compline Philip Metres 149

Testimony (after Daniel Heyman) 149

Kolmanskop Amali Rodrigo 151

The Eye 152

Peace 153

from Genesis Fadwa Suleiman 154

Gas Attack Choman Hardi 157

Dibs Camp, the Women's Prison 157

Dispute Over a Mass Grave 158

King of Myth Nick Makoha 159

Black Death 159

About the Shape of Things Vahni Capildeo 161

Borderliner Hannah Lowe 162

Song of the Dispersed Matthew Shenoda 163

The Unlearning 164

Of Mutuality Degna Stone 167

On Board the 'Tynesider' Rishi Dastidar 168

A Brief History of Fathers Searching for Their Sons Rigoberto González 169

Faithful Malika Booker 172

Broken Gifts 172

A New National Anthem Ada Limón 173

The Once and Future King of Ohio Rowan Ricardo Phillips 174

American Arithmetic Natalie Diaz 175

Manhattan is a Lenape Word 175

from The Black Maria Aracelis Girmay 179

from Eidolon Sandeep Parmar 182

Mother Britain 184

Martin Luther King Jr Mourns Tray von Martin Lauren K. Alleyne 186

Heaven? 187

Elegy 188

Poppy Zajfar Kunial 190

Spider Trees, Pakistan 192

A Small Needful Fact Ross Gay 193

We Lived Happily During the War Ilya Kaminsky 194

V

Mens Rea Edward Doegar 196

The Difference Ishion Hutchinson 197

Window Sarah Howe 198

Our first house Vidyan Ravinthiran 199

My parents and I 199

Because There's Still a Sky, Juneberg Tarfia Faizullah 200

I Told the Water 201

Singer Valzhyna Mort 202

Transmigration Mai Der Vang 203

Faith in a time of double-dip recessions Inua Ellams 204

Fragments of bone 205

The N Word Kayo Chingonyi 208

Casting 209

Two Days and Two Nights in Kisumu, Kenya Raymond Antrobus 210

Jamaican British 212

Publication Acknowledgements 214

Biographical Notes 216

Editorial Reviews

Consisting of poems by almost 90 writers… it is not so much a book of poems about Martin Luther King as about the causes for which he lived and died…. This very strong collection is full of powerful individual poems.' - Andy Croft , Morning Star

From the Publisher