Arkansippi Memwars: Poetry, Prose & Chants 1962-2012

by Eugene B Redmond

Overview

Celebrating a career that spans four decades, Eugene B. Redmond’s collected work—Arkansippi Memwars—triumphs.  An award-winning poet, playwright and educator, Redmond represents through his body of work the veracity and audacity of the Black Arts Movement, the traditions of the Yoruba, and the complex history of the Black American.  The poetry of Redmond moves to the cadence of drums stripped from his ancestors and reclaimed by the burgeoning Hip-Hop movement of the 1970s. Fearless, sharp, and satirically masterful are but a few words to describe the excellence of Eugene Redmond and his poetry.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780883783474
Publisher:	Third World Press
Publication date:	03/15/2014
Pages:	260
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Eugene B. Redmond is the Poet Laureate of East Saint Louis, Illinois, Emeritus Professor of English, Founding Editor of Drumvoices Revue and former Chairman of the Creative Writing Committee at Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville. Redmond has authored or edited more than 25 volumes of poetry, collections of diverse writings, and plays for stage and TV. In his capacity as the Henry Dumas Literary Executor, he has edited several collections of the late writer’s works. Redmond is the recipient of many awards including a National Endowment for the Arts Creative Writing Fellowship, a Lifetime Achievement Award from Pan-African Movement USA, a National Endowment for the Humanities Grant, a Pushcart Prize: Best of the Small Presses, an American Book Award for The Eye in the Ceiling: Selected Poems (1993) and most recently a second American Book Award for Lifetime Achievement (2012).

Table of Contents

Introduction xv

Section 1 From East Saint Arkansippi to Southeast Asia

Blackfest 3

The Eye in the Ceiling 4

Sea Changes: Recalling 1958-1960 5

Barbequed Cong: or We Laid My Lai Low 7

1963: Kwansaba for "10^th Street Tech" 9

Section 2 Sentry of the Four Golden Pillars (1960s)

Sacred Place 13

Smoke and Fire 14

Love Necessitates 15

Last Night 16

The Bum 17

My Study is a Battleground 18

Wedge Wall, Huge Hand 19

The Assassin 22

All A-Thighed in Black 23

In a Time of Rain and Desire 25

Parapoetics 26

Spearo's Blues (Or: Ode to a Grecian Yearn) 28

Exiled in Buffalo 30

Disneyland 31

Inseedent 32

Wind Goddess: Sound of Sculpture 33

Definition of Nature 34

The Fallen Alto 35

Strong Lines 36

Section 3 Consider Loneliness as These Things (Lote 1960s)

Consider Loneliness as These Things 39

Looking Through Liquid 40

Sundowning 41

Second Coming 42

Carryover 43

The Atmosphere is Starving 45

High Gloss 46

Little People 47

The World's Well 48

The Fire Inside 49

Section 4 River of Bones and Flesh and Blood (Late 1960s to Early 1970s)

River of Bones and Flesh and Blood 53

Epigrams for My Father 55

Gods in Vietnam 57

September in March 58

City Night Storm 59

The 18 Hands of Jerome Harris 60

Spring in the Jungle 62

Twilight 63

Invasion of the Nose 64

Black Community: Mind & Mirror 66

I Mind

II Mirror

Angel of Mercy 69

The Bastard 72

Poetic Reflections Enroute to, and During, the Funeral and Burial of Henry Dumas, Poet, May 1968 73

I Flight to New York

II The Funeral

III Forty-Five Minutes to the Cemetery

Gears of the Globe 79

Distance 80

Walking One Day in Baton Rouge, Louisiana 82

Grandmother 83

Section 5 Songs From an Afro/Phone (Early 1970s)

Brothersong: Composition for My Mirror 87

Axe Song: Swordphone 89

Senor Pepe's Promenade 90

Songs From an Afro/Phone 92

Swiftsong 93

Blues-Tone #1 94

Blues-Tone #2 95

Stone Song 96

Natal Song 97

Big Sister Song 98

Lone Song 99

Love Song 100

Itch-Song 101

Trek-Song, Mack-Song 102

Steelsong in Stillwater 103

Miles Song 104

Hummin', Hookin' & Cookin' 105

Lyrics and Lines of Blood from a Black Painting 107

Cane-Brake-Blues 109

Railroadrhyme 110

Sharpeville Sting/Song 111

Sonnet Serenade/Soulo Beauty 112

Mood-Afro/Fire 113

Happenin' Harmony 114

Southern Sound: A Brooding Under Blood 115

Dance Bodies #1 116

Think-Tune 117

Lyrics for Leon 118

Tune for a Teenage Niece 119

Sound of a Heart-Train 120

After a While/Wail 121

In the Fleshflame that is Her Face 122

Drumfeet on the Soil 123

Section 6 In a Time of Rain & Desire (Early 1970s)

Boyjewel: Dazzle-Man 127

Main Man Blues 128

Postscript 129

Not Rejection: But Complex and Painful Truth 130

Heart-Wounds Do Not Heal 131

Miss Teenage Black Sacramento 132

Love as Upbringing 133

Underneath Africa 135

I Can Never Unlove You 136

Midway in the Night: Blackman 137

Night Love: Postscript 138

A Candle of Struggle Lights the Road 139

I Know the Stigma 141

Inside My Perimeter 143

Rain Desire Rain Desire 144

Request (If It's Not Asking Too Much) 145

…Morning So Soon, Too Soon… 146

Love as Nostalgia: Love as Remembrance 147

Highflown: Love 148

Section 7 Funky-Grace (from The Eye in the Ceiling) (Mid to Late 1970s)

Myth Vaulter 151

Bye-Centennial: Unreflected Thrusts and Frontiers 153

Flight from Texarkana to Dallas: Air Edifice 155

Double Clutch Lover 157

Funky-Grace 160

New York Seizures 162

Section 8 Long Distance Warriors, Dreamers & Rhymers (1980s to 2010) Long Distance Warriors, Dreamers & Rhymers 169

Nine by Nine 171

Choreo/Cosmos-Empress' Leg-a-cy Lands on East Saint Earth 172

Reginald & Edna Petty Host a Soiree for Artists at their East Saint Love Castle 176

Indigenous Daughter Awake in the Dreams of Nana 178

Robert Allen/Kathleen Cleaver/Abdul Alkalimat 180

Every Blood's Avery Brooks 181

In Memoriam: Fresh Ancestors 182

Tommy's Haiku…Tommy's Elegy 183

Ars American, 1996 184

Toni Cade Bambara

Ameri-Amour #1

Entitled

Ina Peabody, Sister Friend 185

Maya Toni Alice 187

A Writer's Retreat at Maya Angelou's Overlaps National Black Theatre Festival 188

Looking Through the MayaScope II 190

Maya's Kitchen: Homage to SisterCook 192

Blue-Eyed Sula Sings Solomon's Song Among Beloved Tar Babies 194

His Eminence Plays The Soular System 197

Aerolingual Poet of Prey 200

Movin' West Tanka 202

Northern California 203

The Blues Priest of Stowe Way 204

Don't Bring Him No 'Bad News' 207

A Poetree, A Love Trove, A Village Grove 209

Gwensways 211

Who were Those? 212

The Ached Bishop of New Art 214

A 75-line (prefatory) portrait of the poet as a life-long rebel 216

Milestone: The Birth of an Ancestor 218

Mandela's Home Where the Ancient Word Walks 222

Blues-Ode for the Foredreamers 225

Daughter 226

Haiku 227

Wyvetter: The Navigator & Elevator 229

Carolyn, our Mandolin…like Gwendolyn 231

Section 9 Kwansabas (1990s to 2012)

A Note on the Origin of the Kwansaba 235

Sankofa Kwansaba for Reginald Lockett 237

Two Kwansabas for Patrick Teye Narter, World Patriot & Patriarch -1926 - 2013 238

Upbringing: The Pedagogy of East Boogie 239

Local "Sun" Was Central to "Black Dance - USA" Dancin' Thru Fresh & Ancestral Passages 240

Hey, Hey, LJ is OK 241

South by West by World 242

Break Word with the World 243

Fun & "Conch/Us/Nest" At ESL's "Earth Day" Earth Day in East Saint Love 244

East Coast Tapestry Kwansaba 245

The Gather-Rings Kwansaba 246

Maya's Birthdaze Kwansaba Kwansaba: yo maya! yo day! 247

Maya's Sun Rides Waves Mood Maya Kwansaba 248

Kwansaba Tales Tall as Maya 249

Lookingback: Jazzstained Jayne: 3 Kwansabas 250

Three Kwansabas for Homegirl Barbara Ann's Harlem Homegoing 251

Margaret's Salon of Good Luck & Trouble 252

Oprah at 55 253

Kwansaba for Sheryl's Pilgrimage 254

A Troupe of Kwansabas for A Bloodsman of Tropes 255

Arkansippi (Midwest) Kwansaba 256

A Triptych of Kwansabas for a Triptych of Bodies & Souls 257

A Bouquet of Kwansabas 258

Dunham's 2 Souljourns to East Saint Earth

Dunham Omen

Inferno Amiri

Third Cup & WSQ

Melba & Dahveed

2 Margarets & Gwen

Sonia's Phat Moon Blues

Remi Raji

EBR Riders

Kwansaba Canvas & Coda for Gwen at 90 261

Miles Davis Arts Festival 262

Long Distance Prodigies Davis & Haynes 263

Dumas' Rebirth in Word-Deed 264

Kwansaba-Elegy for Atty. Richard G. Younge 265

Fire-Wrought Wright (as in Richard) 266

Genesis' "Youth Arts" Event "Dazzled" Audience: Young & Old Enjoyed Easter Concert Starring Jazz Titan Benny Golson 267

3 Kwansabas for Geniuses of 'Genesis' Jazz 268

X-Ray 269

Section 10 "Da-Dum-Dun": Memwars Of The 1960s Black Arts Movement

A Photographic Gallery 273

"Da-Dum-Dun": A Black Arts Movement Triumvirate of Conch/Us/Nest 279

Riffing Between Rifts: BAG's Grooves 286

A Blues Taps for Harold Washington 294

Cataloging Toward an Autobiography of an Archive 296