Skip to main content

EK from IN

 Poets from Indiana, Etheridge Knight

Black revolutionary poet, drug addict, poet of the people, Korean War vet, intellectual, member of the the Broadside Quartet--Etheridge Knight was a complicated figure. And yes, I know he was born in Mississippi and grew up in Kentucky. I know he bounced around the U.S. for a while in mythic poetic fashion and hung out with the likes of Amiri Baraka, Haki R. Madhubuti, Nikki Giovanni, the one-and-only Gwendolyn Brooks, and Sonia Sanchez, whom he was married to for two years. Yes, I know he's one of the titans of the Blacks Arts Movement. But he made his home in Indianapolis, got a college degree later in life there, made friends, mentored young poets, battled his addiction, and eventually died there. They even just put up a mural to him in Indy at the Chatterbox jazz club. 

Here's a sample from one of my favorites. You can find the entire poem on the Poetry Foundation.

Fuck Coltrane and music and clouds drifting in the sky
fuck the sea and trees and the sky and birds
and alligators and all the animals that roam the earth
fuck marx and mao fuck fidel and nkrumah and
democracy and communism fuck smack and pot
and red ripe tomatoes fuck joseph fuck mary fuck
god jesus and all the disciples fuck fanon nixon
and malcolm fuck the revolution fuck freedom fuck
the whole muthafucking thing
all i want now is my woman back
so my soul can sing
 
Note: there's a great interview with Michael Collins, who knew him in Indianapolis, on WFYI in Indy. Give it a listen.

 

 

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

JM in IN

Poets from Indiana, John Matthias Wait, that's John Matthias. I know, you're probably like, why wasn't he the first poet on the list for Indiana? After all, he studied under John Berryman and Yvor Winters. He rubbed elbow patches with Robert Hass and Robert Pinsky. He was at Notre Dame when the MFA started, edited The Notre Dame   Review , and joked around with other amazing writers like Steve Tomasula and Joyelle McSweeney (I suppose, though I haven't heard any stories). And, finally, he's the poet that Robert Archambeau is always talking about, so you know his work is amazing .  He grew up in Ohio and went to The Ohio State U and Stanford, but he's been in South Bend long enough to be claimed as someone with "deep Indiana roots." I'm sure that some of his many books were written along the banks of the St. Joseph River.  One of my favorites is "After Quevedo." Quevedo himself writes insightfully about death, and Matthias' poem picks ...
Post a Comment
Read more

ME in IN

 Poets from Indiana, Mari Evans OK, so she was born and educated in Ohio. I know, but she spent 70 years in Indianapolis, and that clearly puts her in that Indiana poet category, and Indiana needs poets like her to open itself up to the rest of the world. She was an activist, playwright, poet, children's author, and more. She was both politically/socially aware and joyous, and it can be hard to do both of those. Sonia Sanchez said of her at Evans' funeral, "We were reborn in your spreading sails." I suspect that a entire generation of writes fit under those sails, especially since she was a long-time teacher, writer, and supporter of others.  For a glimpse of her work, look at this excerpt from "I am a Black Woman:" 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
Post a Comment
Read more

KK in IN

 Poets from Indiana, Karen Kovacik This one, yes, this poet is fully Indiana. She was born in East Chicago, grew up in Highland, worked in Indianapolis, and lived in Crown Point. She even held the Indiana Poet Laureate position for a term. I suspect that sometimes her own work gets overshadowed by the wonderful translation work she does of Polish poets, but she's a excellent poet on her own. In fact, many classic images of The Region show up in her work, including some nice portraits of life both as a child and later as an adult coming to terms with her Polish heritage.   One of my favorites comes from her book Beyond the Velvet Curtain , and it's titled "Babel." Here's an excerpt.  Scum from the pickle crock, dumplings with plum the Slovak uncles tossing old Stephen to the celing, while the American daddy I thought was so smart shrieked dobry, dobry , like a dim bird from Bratislava, and Babcia flapped her veined, impatient hands at him. 
Post a Comment
Read more