Celebrated novelist, poet, and MacArthur fellow Ishmael Reed pushes the boundaries once again in the publication of From Totems to Hip Hop—a truly all-inclusive multicultural anthology—a literary event which will finally even the playing field. This important collection synthesizes and presents broad swaths of work from poets of all races and backgrounds, as only Reed can, ranging from Gertrude Stein to Ai, from Bessie Smith to Askia Toure, from W. C. Handy to the little-known poetry of Ernest Hemingway. Through his unique position in American letters, as writer, teacher, and even publisher, Reed has an unparalleled working knowledge of many of the more marginalized voices in American poetry. This collection will reflect that unique access by including acknowledged masters as well as lesser known talents in greater variety than any previous anthology. From Totems to Hip Hop will cover American poetry from its pre-Columbian origins to the hip hop lyricists of today and, with the guidance of Reed's thoughtful and provocative introduction and headnotes, trace the remarkably rich cross-pollination which has continually occurred across racial and cultural lines.
| Introduction | ||
| A Lost Memory of Delhi | 5 | |
| Newark | 7 | |
| Sun with Issues | 8 | |
| Endangered Species | 11 | |
| from Elemental Journey: Anniversary Gift, #4 and #5 | 16 | |
| Hides | 20 | |
| San Jose: a poem | 22 | |
| Three Snakes, Strawberry Canyon, Berkeley | 24 | |
| Hurakan: A Two Way Poem | 26 | |
| The Idea of Detroit | 28 | |
| Earth Chorus | 30 | |
| Shagoon 1-4 | 32 | |
| Animal Liberation | 34 | |
| Oaktown CA | 37 | |
| Chicago | 39 | |
| Africa | 40 | |
| The Steeple-Jack | 41 | |
| #8 from The Past | 43 | |
| At Yorktown | 43 | |
| La Jolla. In 3 Acts | 45 | |
| Earthquake Blues | 47 | |
| Chicago | 49 | |
| The Heavy Bear Who Goes with Me | 51 | |
| Weather | 52 | |
| Every Where and Every When | 54 | |
| Cows and Alabama Folklore | 57 | |
| Hurricane Doris | 59 | |
| Love Poem to an Avocado from a Tomato | 63 | |
| Los Angeles | 64 | |
| Montana's Biggest Weekend | 65 | |
| Pear's Complaint | 67 | |
| Seeing Red | 69 | |
| Black Mountain Blues | 70 | |
| The Battle | 75 | |
| Woman | 76 | |
| The Brides Come to Yuba City | 78 | |
| Something Nice | 81 | |
| Untitled | 82 | |
| from Lives in Dreadful Wanting | 83 | |
| Love is Not a Word | 84 | |
| The Purpose of Altar Boys | 86 | |
| A Very Valentine | 88 | |
| Ringless | 88 | |
| The Widow's Lament in Springtime | 91 | |
| Bad Girl Blues | 93 | |
| Why Must U Be Unfaithful (4 Women) | 95 | |
| Bells | 99 | |
| A Place Without Shame | 100 | |
| In the Waiting Room | 102 | |
| Oh! Mercy Mercy Me! A Family Gathers to Marvin Gaye | 106 | |
| Callaloo | 110 | |
| Nani Worries About Her Father's Happiness in the Afterlife | 115 | |
| One Man's Family | 117 | |
| Good times | 119 | |
| The Names | 120 | |
| Grandmother Eliza | 122 | |
| April Fool Birthday Poem for Grandpa | 124 | |
| Aunt Helen | 126 | |
| Bicentennial Anti-Poem for Italian-American Women | 127 | |
| Dance of the Letters | 129 | |
| Winnings | 132 | |
| Joshua Clark | 134 | |
| Aerogramme 1-5: Los Angeles | 139 | |
| This Is the Poem I Never Meant to Write | 150 | |
| Doll | 152 | |
| Last Days of a Slow Cooker | 154 | |
| My Shattered Sister | 157 | |
| Hungry | 160 | |
| Turkey People | 163 | |
| Quill Holler Waller | 164 | |
| The Truth the Dead Know | 165 | |
| The Elders | 166 | |
| Uncle Good Intentions | 168 | |
| Easter: Wahiawa, 1959 | 171 | |
| Untitled | 175 | |
| For My Sister | 176 | |
| The Cloud Unfolding | 178 | |
| The Fat of the Land | 180 | |
| Six Families of Puerto Ricans | 181 | |
| It's in the Blood | 183 | |
| The Dirty Dozens | 187 | |
| And in the U.S.A. | 193 | |
| Integrating the Strawberry Swimming Pool in 1998 | 194 | |
| Killers | 198 | |
| Poem for the Young White Man Who Asked Me How I, an Intelligent, Well-Read Person, Could Believe in the War between Races | 198 | |
| Giles Johnson, Ph.D. | 202 | |
| The Sony of the Smoke | 202 | |
| Speak the Truth to the People | 204 | |
| 1933 | 206 | |
| Eli, Eli | 209 | |
| A Semi-Revolution | 211 | |
| Centennial year for the Spirits | 211 | |
| That God Made | 216 | |
| 1990 | 217 | |
| Advertisement for the Waldorf-Astoria | 223 | |
| The Potato Manifesto | 228 | |
| Facing It | 229 | |
| What Were They Like? | 230 | |
| The Execution | 232 | |
| Milla: Mi abuela, Puerto Rico | 233 | |
| This Passover or the Next I Will Never Be in Jerusalem | 235 | |
| from America in 1918 | 237 | |
| For the Angry White Student Who Wanted to Know If I Thought White People Ever Did Anything Good for 'the Indians' | 240 | |
| Poem (I Lived in the First Century) | 242 | |
| Between the World and Me | 243 | |
| Coyote Makes the First People | 249 | |
| Ogun's Friend | 250 | |
| Song 1 from Three Songs From the 50's | 254 | |
| Skin of Clouds | 255 | |
| Helen | 258 | |
| Tribute to Duke | 259 | |
| Latin Music in New York | 265 | |
| Joe Williams at the Blue Note/Chicago, 1955/March 30, 1999 | 268 | |
| Wolf Warrior | 271 | |
| A Ballad of the Life and Times of Joe Louis: The Great Brown Bomber | 274 | |
| Tiva's Tapestry: La Llorona | 287 | |
| Filling the Gap | 288 | |
| Skip The Byuppie | 291 | |
| Crootey Songo | 293 | |
| Sun Yat Sen Comes to Lodi | 294 | |
| Trickster Rabbit | 296 | |
| Bryan, Bryan, Bryan, Bryan | 301 | |
| Viewing Mona Lisa | 312 | |
| Six Movements for Portraits of Erzulie | 313 | |
| Lady Lazarus | 316 | |
| Disney's Cinderella | 320 | |
| Madonna for the Damned-a 1980's Heroine | 322 | |
| A Flower from Robert Kennedy's Grave | 324 | |
| from The Battlefield Where the Moon Says I Love You | 328 | |
| Dawnsong! | 334 | |
| A Poem for "Magic" | 339 | |
| Fallen | 341 | |
| Jerusalem Walked thru War | 342 | |
| For Malcolm X | 344 | |
| Searchin' | 345 | |
| The Imagists' Manifesto (1915) | 356 | |
| The Introduction to American Writers' Congress (1935) | 357 | |
| Gwendolyn Brooks (1969) | 368 | |
| An Introduction to Chinese- and Japanese-American Literature (1975) | 371 | |
| Adieu a Charlot (Second Populist Manifesto) (1975-1978) | 404 | |
| The Rise of the White Shamon as a New Version of Cultural Imperialism | 410 | |
| from Pro Femina (1973) | 424 | |
| The Introduction to Stealing the Language, the Emergence of Women's Poetry in America (1986) | 427 | |
| The Cannon (1999) | 436 | |
| Police State | 454 | |
| Contributors | 457 | |
| Acknowledgments | 511 | |
| Permissions | 513 | |
| About the editor | 525 |
This is one of the best books that I have found with a collection of poetry meant to be spoken aloud. Topics range from Italians to religion to music. Anyone with an interest in poetry will find this book to be fun and inviting example of collected spoken word works.
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Overview
Celebrated novelist, poet, and MacArthur fellow Ishmael Reed pushes the boundaries once again in the publication of From Totems to Hip Hop—a truly all-inclusive multicultural anthology—a literary event which will finally even the playing field. This important collection synthesizes and presents broad swaths of work from poets of all races and backgrounds, as only Reed can, ranging from Gertrude Stein to Ai, from Bessie Smith to Askia Toure, from W. C. Handy to the little-known poetry of Ernest Hemingway. Through ...