New Bones: Contemporary Black Writers in America

by Quashie, Kevin Everod; Lausch, R. Joyce; Miller, Keith D.

• ISBN13: 9780130141279
• ISBN10: 0130141275
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-01-01
• Publisher: Pearson College Div

Summary

For undergraduate and graduate African American Literature survey courses, Contemporary African-American Literature, Contemporary American Writers, American Ethnic Writers, Urban Narratives, Contemporary Literature, in departments of African-American Studies, English, and Cultural Studies. The first of its kind, this volume presents the largest, most inclusive multi-genre anthology of contemporary (1970 to the present) African-American and Caribbean-American literature available. Unlike all other collections of contemporary Black literature (which are genre-specific), this volume includes works from all genresfiction, poetry, drama, essays, speeches, and mixed-genre worksby important, well-known authors as well as by significant lesser-known authors, many never previously anthologized. It comprehensively captures the breadth, the scope, the depth, and the impact of contemporary African-American literature.

Table of Contents

Preface	xvii
Introduction	1	(14)
Ai	15	(5)
``Twenty-Year Marriage''	16	(1)
``Abortion''	17	(1)
``Young Farm Woman Alone''	17	(1)
``Interview with a Policeman''	17	(3)
Maya Angelou	20	(10)
``Joe Louis Fight''	21	(2)
``Phenomenal Woman''	23	(2)
``New Directions''	25	(2)
``Style''	27	(1)
``Getups''	27	(3)
Tina McElroy Ansa	30	(7)
``Willie Bea and Jaybird''	30	(7)
Toni Cade Bambara	37	(24)
``My Man Bovanne''	39	(5)
``Gorilla, My Love''	44	(4)
``The Organizer's Wife''	48	(13)
Joseph Beam	61	(5)
``Brother to Brother: Words from the Heart''	62	(4)
Becky Birtha	66	(6)
``Johnnieruth''	67	(5)
David Bradley	72	(9)
``197903121800'' (Monday) from The Chaneysville Incident	73	(8)
Gwendolyn Brooks	81	(4)
``Two Dedications''	81	(3)
``when you have forgotten Sunday: the love story''	84	(1)
Octavia Butler	85	(26)
``Bloodchild''	85	(15)
``Speech Sounds''	100	(11)
Bebe Moore Campbell	111	(9)
Sweet Summer: Growing Up With and Without My Dad	112	(8)
Maxine Clair	120	(9)
``Cherry Bomb''	121	(8)
Michelle Cliff	129	(10)
``transactions''	129	(10)
Focused Study: Lucille Clifton	139	(48)
``In Salem''	141	(1)
``Sisters''	141	(1)
``New Bones''	142	(1)
``Roots''	142	(1)
``She Understands Me''	143	(1)
``if mama''	143	(1)
``i was born in a hotel''	144	(1)
``Breaklight''	144	(1)
``the thirty eighth year''	145	(1)
``the lost baby poem''	146	(1)
``the bodies broken on''	147	(1)
``adam and eve''	147	(1)
``homage to my hips''	148	(1)
``mary''	148	(1)
``to the unborn and waiting children''	148	(1)
``holy night''	149	(1)
``island mary''	149	(1)
``testament''	150	(1)
``perhaps''	150	(1)
``caroline and son''	151	(4)
``samuel''	155	(1)
last page of ``thelma'' section	156	(1)
``winnie song''	157	(1)
``this belief''	157	(1)
``the woman in the camp''	158	(1)
``the death of thelma sayles''	159	(1)
``leukemia as white rabbit''	159	(1)
``she won't ever forgive me''	159	(1)
``Interview with Naomi Thiers''	160	(7)
``In Her Own Images: Lucille Clifton and the Bible'' by Akasha (Gloria) Hull	167	(20)
Wanda Coleman	187	(6)
``Women of My Color''	187	(1)
``Today I Am a Homicide in the North of the City''	188	(1)
``A Lyric''	189	(1)
``The Library''	189	(1)
``The Seamstress''	190	(1)
``Without Visible Means''	191	(2)
Jayne Cortez	193	(11)
``I am New York City''	195	(1)
``So Many Feathers''	196	(2)
``Rape''	198	(2)
``Flame''	200	(1)
``There It Is''	200	(2)
``Shut Off the System''	202	(1)
``Poetry''	203	(1)
Edwidge Danticat	204	(5)
``Night Women''	205	(4)
Angela Davis	209	(24)
Excerpts from Angela Davis: An Autobiography	209	(9)
``I Used to Be Your Sweet Mama: Ideology, Sexuality, and Domesticity''	218	(15)
Toi Derricotte	233	(5)
``Touching/Not Touching: My Mother''	234	(1)
``Tender''	235	(1)
``For Black Women Who Are Afraid''	235	(1)
``Passing''	236	(1)
``Workshop on Racism''	237	(1)
Melvin Dixon	238	(11)
``Jesse''	239	(10)
Rita Dove	249	(6)
``Mother Love''	250	(1)
``Courtship''	251	(1)
``Courtship, Diligence''	252	(1)
``Dusting''	253	(1)
``Testimonial''	254	(1)
Cornelius Eady	255	(5)
``I Know (I'm Losing You)''	256	(1)
``One Kind Favor''	257	(1)
``A Rag, A Bone, and A Hank of Hair''	257	(1)
``You Don't Miss Your Water''	258	(1)
``Grace''	258	(2)
Trey Ellis	260	(13)
``The New Black Aesthetic''	261	(12)
Mari Evans	273	(8)
``I Am A Black Woman''	274	(1)
``into blackness softly''	275	(1)
``Vive Noir!''	275	(3)
``Music as Heartbeat and Blood''	278	(1)
``Amtrak Suite''	278	(3)
Percival Everett	281	(12)
``Randall Randall''	282	(11)
Carolyn Ferrell	293	(13)
``Proper Library''	294	(12)
Nikky Finney	306	(7)
``The Blackened Alphabet''	307	(1)
``Irons At Her Feet''	307	(1)
``My Centipeding Self''	308	(2)
``Making Foots''	310	(3)
Ruth Forman	313	(13)
``Young Cornrows Callin Out the Moon''	314	(1)
``Poetry Should Ride the Bus''	315	(1)
``You So Woman''	316	(1)
``Momma''	317	(1)
``Green Boots n Lil Honeys''	317	(2)
``Strength''	319	(1)
``Come between My Knees Child''	319	(1)
``Venus's Quilt''	320	(2)
``Tracie Double Dutch on the Tongue''	322	(2)
``Before I Leave My Doorstep to Mama's Grave''	324	(2)
Leon Forrest	326	(3)
Excerpt from There Is a Tree More Ancient Than Eden	326	(3)
Ernest Gaines	329	(23)
``The Sky Is Gray''	329	(23)
Nikki Giovanni	352	(14)
``Stardate Number 18628.190''	354	(1)
``Nikki-Rosa''	355	(1)
``For Saundra''	356	(1)
``Revolutionary Dreams''	357	(1)
``Ego Tripping (there may be a reason why)''	357	(2)
``Cotton Candy on a Rainy Day''	359	(2)
``All Eyez on U''	361	(1)
``Griots''	362	(2)
``Paper Dolls, Iron Skillets, Libraries, and Museums''	364	(2)
Jewelle Gomez	366	(10)
``Don't Explain''	367	(9)
Hattie Gossett	376	(6)
``old woman''	377	(1)
``a night at the fantasy factory...''	378	(2)
``World view, world view, world view''	380	(1)
``setting up''	380	(1)
``butter #1''	381	(1)
``butter #2''	381	(1)
Michael S. Harper	382	(11)
``Eve (Rachel)''	384	(1)
``Healing Song''	385	(1)
``Nightmare Begins Responsibility''	386	(1)
``The Meaning of Protest''	387	(1)
``Song: I Want a Witness''	388	(1)
``History as Apple Tree''	389	(1)
``Here Where Coltrane Is''	390	(1)
``Brother John''	391	(2)
Focused Study: Essex Hemphill	393	(34)
``American Hero''	395	(1)
``Heavy Breathing''	396	(12)
``Visiting Hours''	408	(1)
``For My Own Protection''	409	(1)
``Commitments''	410	(1)
``The Occupied Territories''	411	(1)
``In An Afternoon Light''	412	(2)
``To Some Supposed Brothers''	414	(2)
``Isn't It Funny''	416	(1)
``American Wedding''	417	(1)
``Better Days''	418	(1)
``Serious Moonlight''	419	(2)
``Where We Live: A Conversation with Essex Hemphill and Isaac Julien''	421	(6)
Focused Study: Bell hooks	427	(38)
``Choosing the Margin as a Space of Radical Openness''	429	(6)
``Homeplace: A Site of Resistance''	435	(6)
``bell hooks interviewed by Cornel West''	441	(20)
Bone Black, Chapters 1, 17, 29	461	(4)
Angela Jackson	465	(7)
``The Fitting Room''	466	(2)
``Why I Must Make Language''	468	(1)
``grits''	469	(1)
``greens''	469	(1)
``Making the Name''	469	(1)
``Foreword''	470	(2)
Jesse Jackson	472	(8)
``The Candidate's Challenge: The Call of Conscience, the Courage of Conviction''	473	(7)
Kelvin Christopher James	480	(10)
``Ties''	481	(9)
Charles Johnson	490	(15)
``The Soulcatcher''	491	(4)
``The Transmission''	495	(5)
``The Mayor's Tale''	500	(5)
Gayl Jones	505	(12)
``Jervata''	505	(12)
Barbara Jordan	517	(4)
``Argument for Impeachment, 1974''	518	(3)
June Jordan	521	(28)
``Who Look at Me''	523	(7)
``Getting Down to Get Over''	530	(9)
``I Must Become a Menace to My Enemies''	539	(2)
``Roman Poem Number Nine''	541	(1)
``Of Nightsong and Flight''	542	(1)
``Foreword''	543	(2)
``A New Politics of Sexuality''	545	(4)
Focused Study: Randall Kenan	549	(33)
``Things of This World; Or, Angels Unawares''	550	(13)
``The Foundations of the Earth''	563	(12)
``An Interview with Randall Kenan''	575	(7)
Jamaica Kincaid	582	(11)
``In the Night''	584	(3)
``Columbus in Chains''	587	(6)
Etheridge Knight	593	(11)
``Cell Song''	594	(1)
``The Idea of Ancestry''	595	(1)
``Haiku''	596	(1)
``My Life, the Quality of Which''	597	(1)
``The Bones of My Father''	597	(1)
``For Black Poets Who Think of Suicide''	598	(1)
``Ilu, The Talking Drum''	599	(1)
``Belly Song''	600	(3)
``A Black Poet Leaps to His Death''	603	(1)
Ruth Ellen Kocher	604	(7)
``Poem to a Jazz Man''	605	(1)
``Liturgy of the Light-Skinned''	606	(1)
``Braiding''	607	(2)
``Desdemona's Fire''	609	(2)
Yusef Komunyakaa	611	(15)
``Passions''	612	(2)
``Back Then''	614	(1)
``Blues Chant Hoodoo Revival''	615	(2)
``February in Sidney''	617	(1)
``Venus's-flytraps''	618	(1)
``Nude Tango''	619	(1)
``Memory Cave''	620	(2)
``Kosmos''	622	(2)
``Buried Light''	624	(1)
``Anodyne''	624	(2)
Focused Study: Audre Lorde	626	(56)
``Black Mother Woman''	627	(1)
``Conclusion''	628	(1)
``The Winds of Orisha''	629	(2)
``Coal''	631	(1)
``A Woman Speaks''	632	(1)
``From the House of Yamenja''	633	(1)
``The Women of Dan Dance with Swords in Their Hands to Mark the Time When They Were Warriors''	634	(1)
``A Litany for Survival''	634	(2)
``Recreation''	636	(1)
``Power''	636	(2)
``Love Poem''	638	(1)
``To the Poet Who Happens to Be Black and the Black Poet Who Happens to Be a Woman''	638	(1)
``Chapter 11'' from Zami	639	(8)
``Poetry Is Not a Luxury''	647	(2)
``Uses of the Erotic: The Erotic as Power''	649	(5)
``Interview with Claudia Tate''	654	(12)
``Coming Out Blackened and Whole': Fragmentation and Reintegration in Audre Lorde's Zami and The Cancer Journals''	666	(16)
Elizabeth Alexander
Haki Madhubuti	682	(7)
``The Secrets of the Victors''	682	(1)
``The Changing Seasons of Ife''	683	(1)
``Lady Day''	684	(1)
``Some of the Women are Brave''	684	(1)
``The Damage We Do''	685	(1)
``Sun and Storm''	686	(1)
``Woman with Meaning''	687	(2)
Clarence Major	689	(10)
``Letters''	690	(7)
``My Seasonal Body''	697	(1)
``The Way the Roundness Feels''	697	(1)
``First''	698	(1)
``The String''	698	(1)
Paule Marshall	699	(17)
``From the Poets in the Kitchen''	701	(7)
``Chapter 4'' from Praisesong for the Widow	708	(8)
Colleen McElroy	716	(15)
``Monologue for St. Louis''	718	(1)
``In My Mother's Room''	719	(1)
``Queen of the Ebony Isles''	720	(1)
``Pike Street Bus''	721	(2)
``Tapestries''	723	(2)
``Imogene''	725	(6)
Reginald McKnight	731	(11)
``The Kind of Light That Shines on Texas''	732	(10)
James Alan McPherson	742	(11)
``The Story of a Scar''	743	(10)
E. Ethelbert Miller	753	(8)
``Panama''	754	(1)
``Fire''	755	(1)
``October 31''	755	(1)
``Whispers, Secrets, and Promises''	755	(1)
``Conjure''	756	(1)
``Aaron''	756	(1)
``in small town usa''	757	(1)
``Urban Zen''	757	(2)
``black boys''	759	(1)
``untitled''	759	(1)
``another love affair/another poem''	759	(1)
``untitled''	760	(1)
Focused Study: Toni Morrison	761	(32)
The Nobel Lecture	763	(7)
``Rootedness: The Ancestor as Foundation''	770	(5)
``A Conversation: Gloria Naylor and Toni Morrison''	775	(11)
``Home''	786	(7)
Thylias Moss	793	(6)
``Washing Bread''	794	(1)
``The Warmth of Hot Chocolate''	794	(1)
``Renegade Angels''	795	(1)
``Remembering Kitchens''	796	(1)
``Sunrise Comes to Second Avenue''	797	(2)
Harryette Mullen	799	(4)
Muse and Drudge, Pages 3-7	800	(3)
Gloria Naylor	803	(30)
``The Two''	804	(29)
Pat Parker	833	(5)
``love isn't''	834	(2)
``legacy''	836	(1)
untitled	837	(1)
``For the white person who wants to know how to be my friend.''	837	(1)
Richard Perry	838	(10)
``Blues for My Father, My Mother, and Me''	839	(9)
Ishmael Reed	848	(8)
``I am a Cowboy in the Boat of Ra''	848	(2)
``Middle Class Blues''	850	(3)
``Untitled''	853	(1)
``Flight to Canada''	853	(3)
Carolyn Rodgers	856	(5)
``Blue''	857	(1)
``A Round''	857	(1)
``how i got ovah''	858	(1)
``Some Body Call (for help)''	858	(3)
Sonia Sanchez	861	(7)
``Small Comment''	862	(1)
``Personal Letter No. 3''	863	(1)
``Haiku''	863	(1)
``sister's voice''	864	(1)
``Homecoming''	865	(1)
``Philadelphia: Spring, 1985''	866	(2)
Sapphire	868	(11)
``Are You Ready to Rock?''	869	(6)
``Strange Juice (or the murder of Latasha Harlins)''	875	(4)
Ntozake Shange	879	(8)
Excerpt from for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf	880	(2)
``hands & Holding''	882	(2)
``senses of heritage''	884	(1)
``the old men''	884	(1)
``an ol fashion lady''	885	(1)
``i live in music''	886	(1)
Reginald Shepherd	887	(5)
``Wide Sargasso Sea''	888	(1)
``Slaves''	888	(1)
``A Muse''	889	(1)
``Soul Music''	890	(2)
Anna Deveare Smith	892	(18)
``The Territory''	893	(17)
Quincy Troupe	910	(11)
``In Texas Grass''	911	(1)
``Blood-Rivers''	912	(1)
``St. Louis Teenage Days''	913	(2)
``Impressions 2''	915	(1)
``Old Black Ladies Standing on Bus Stop Corners #2''	916	(2)
``Eye Change Dreams''	918	(3)
Alice Walker	921	(30)
``Everyday Use''	923	(7)
``Advancing Luna--and Ida B. Wells''	930	(12)
``womanist definition''	942	(1)
``In Search of Our Mother's Gardens''	943	(8)
Michelle Faith Wallace	951	(8)
``Entertainment Tomorrow''	952	(7)
Marilyn Nelson Waniek	959	(7)
``The House on Moscow Street''	960	(1)
``Dedication''	961	(1)
``My Grandfather Walks in the Woods''	962	(1)
``The American Dream''	963	(1)
``The Leaves Are Losing the War''	964	(1)
``Compline''	964	(2)
Michael S. Weaver	966	(5)
``Ego''	967	(1)
``Christmas, 1941''	967	(2)
``Salvation''	969	(2)
Cornel West	971	(22)
``The Paradox of the African American Rebellion''	971	(14)
``Malcolm X and Black Rage''	985	(8)
Focused Study: John Edgar Wideman	993	(45)
``All stories are true''	994	(11)
``casa grande''	1005	(2)
``fever''	1007	(19)
``An Interview with John Edgar Wideman''	1026	(12)
Charles H. Rowell
Sherley Anne Williams	1038	(11)
``Drivin Wheel''	1039	(4)
``1 Poem 2 Voices A Song''	1043	(1)
``The Empress Brand Trim (ruby reminisces)''	1044	(1)
``I Want Aretha to Set This to Music''	1045	(2)
``you were never miss brown to me''	1047	(2)
Focused Study: August Wilson	1049	(65)
Fences	1049	(53)
``The Ground on Which I Stand''	1102	(12)
More Contemporary African American Writers	1114	(1)
Credits	1115	(8)
Index	1123