Hi Gary,
This is the kind of poem that needs to be written and read, I guess, in our
times - a reminder and also an echo of how villified some
muslims/arabs/asians feel right now in western culture. (Is villified the
right word? Dunno. Chose another that describes what's happening right where
you are?)
I like the form the poem creates! The "after" stanzas, then the "before"
stanzas! That "after" comes before "before" is neat wordplay!
I also like the "Before" stanza that begins with Harlem... the words appear
like they do on radio news bulletins - particularly: "Viola Gregg
Liuzzo,/thirty-nine,/Detroit housewife,/white,/volunteer, - that's also
subtly done!
With the composition of the poem I only stumbled on one line - the "Governor
Wallace" line - which seemed really crammed full of syllables (the first
word using 3!). Most lines are a lot shorter - and have a good pause when
they've been read before the next one starts. So, here, could you break
things differently? Have:
Governor Wallace's first cup of coffee
was poured by his loyal retainer.
The Governor line is still jaunty to say - but the next line is then long
enough to slow the pace right back down to the pace of all the rest of the
poem!
I also suspect the phrase "Gut shot" might be there to shorten the line its
on... so it might be that two lines could be made out of: "gut shot
protecting his grandfather."
And, in the first stanza, I keep reading "horse" as horses! And "diner"
keeps wanting to be "a (or, the) diner opens..."
I also enjoyed my mis-reading of the ending (where, initially, I read:
"LBJ's pen aligned the fires" because I didn't see the comma!) and that
mis-reading made me think further! Then the correct reading made me feel the
impact of "the fires"!
A class poem, gary, a class poem!
Bob
>From: Gary Blankenship <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: The Pennine Poetry Works <[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: New: March in Selma, 1965
>Date: Tue, 2 Sep 2003 19:32:22 -0700
>
>March in Selma, 1965
>
>After the debris was cleared,
>the celebrities departed,
>dignitaries bedded,
>last brick thrown,
>horse combed and brushed,
>Colonel Lingo's tackle oiled and stored,
>bats returned to equipment bags,
>guns to the hall closet,
>a grandson buried,
>gut shot protecting his grandfather.
>
>After the hospital emptied,
>last window shattered,
>blood washed from the dirty streets,
>congratulations offered
>for bustin' that nigra's head
>and breakin' the fag's camera,
>the last jar drained
>congratulations offered
>for bright and shining speeches
>
> How long?
> How long?
> How long?
>
>Before the sharecroppers rose
>to work the boss's fields,
>diner opened for breakfast,
>courthouse steps swept,
>Sheriff Clark polished his baton,
>Governor Wallace's first cup of coffee was poured
>by his loyal retainer.
>
>Before the sun rose on Harlem,
>the South Side,
>Watts,
>Viola Gregg Liuzzo,
>thirty-nine,
>Detroit housewife,
>white,
>volunteer,
>lay in the wet Alabama dust
>shot besides Highway 80,
>Lowndes County,
>
>before their sheets hung on the line to dry,
>LBJ's pens aligned,
>the fires.
>
>
>
>(The march from Selma to Montgomery, actually the fourth march from or in
>Selma in early 1965 started March 21, 1965 and ended the 26th with Martin
>Luther King's speech, "How long will it take?" Acquitted of murder,
>Viola's
>assassins were convicted of civil rights violations and sentenced to ten
>years. The Voting Right's Act was signed in August and the Watt's riots
>started a few days later.)
>
>(John Lewis, leader of the first march, said in his autobiography, Wakling
>with the Wind, "It had been Selma that held us together as long as we did.
>After that we just came apart.)
>
>IF MY MAIL BOUNCES, MAIL [log in to unmask] AS AN ALTERNATIVE.....The
>homepage
>on hold until ???--- Writer's Hood at http://www.writershood.com/.....Check
>out the Auden contest. Poets for Peace.... ˇPoemas sí, balas no!
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