--Mari Evans, poet
Evans has lectured on literature, written, directed and produced a television program called “The Black Experience,” written a play (“River of My Song”), a musical based on Zora Neale Hurston’s “Their Eyes Were Watching God” and taught at Indiana University, the State University of New York at Albany, the University of Miami at Coral Gables and at Spellman College, Atlanta.
She has won numerous awards for her poetry, including the Indiana University Writers' Conference award, the Black Academy of Arts and Letters' first annual poetry award.
The poem “I Am a Black Woman” speaks to the pain of the black experience but also the resilience of black women:
I am a Black Woman
I am a black woman
the music of my song
some sweet arpeggio of tears
is written in a minor key
and I
can be heard humming in the night
I saw my mate leap screaming to the sea
and I/with these hands/cupped the lifebreath
from my issue in the canebrake
I lost Nat's swinging body in a rain of tears
and heard my son scream all the way from Anzio
for Peace he never knew....I
learned Da Nang and Pork Chop Hill
in anguish
Now my nostrils know the gas
and these trigger tire/d fingers
seek the softness in my warrior's beard
I am a black woman
tall as a cypress
strong
beyond all definition still
defying place
and time
and circumstance
assailed
impervious
indestructible
Look
on me and be
renewed
Books of poetry by Mari Evans:
1. A Dark and Splendid Mass (Harlem River Press, 1992)
2. Nightstar: 1973-1978 (1981)
3. I Am a Black Woman (1970)
4. Where Is All the Music? (1968)
5 comments:
Actually, I like "Who Can be Born Black" better. But this is a great one too.
Happy, 4th, MacDaddy....
Actually, today is a day of mourning for us Nun in the 'Hood....Our dear, dear Guatemalan friends were overlast evening, and Mom and Dad have to wear ankle bracelets to the 'won't run'...For all pracical purposes they are on House Arrest! After 17 years in this country their immigration status is being questioned...When I read Mari Evens' poetry I wondered how many people in this country are tempted to despair because of the oppresion they experience at the hand of our government. "LIFE, LIBERTY AND THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS" is surely an exclusive freedom in this U.S.A. Write me something hopeful, MacDaddy!!!!
"ringing with the sound above sound above sound
to explode/in the majesty of our oneness
our coming together
in a coming togetherness"
Yes, anon, it's a great poem.
nuninthehood: Sorry to hear about the Guatemalan family. I know of some resources in that area. Let me know if there's anything I can do. Meanwhile, the next poem will be more hopeful. Let's talk later.
Hey there MacDaddy!!
Thank you for honoring Mari Evans....
Have you seen this book?
The Columbia Granger's Index To African-American Poetry
Peace, blessings and DUNAMIS!
Lisa
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