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BOOK REVIEW    GOW

porch     blood
spurting from
the open wound
......
the wind took
his breath
& cast it back
into the vermilion
pound of non
violence

A moving tribute is paid to Rosa Parks by Sam Cornish in his poem entitled "Montgomery." It was her refusal to follow Jim Crow regulations that led to the boycotting of buses in Alabama and eventual reversals of procedure. Further acclaim is given the two black athletes at the Olympics who struck a dramatic pose that shook the world of sports. Michael Harper recaptures this image in "Ode to Tenochtitlan":

Socks and gloves
the medal of honor
ablaze in twin fists
of two men
blackened in the imperial fires;

a style so resilient
and chromatic the pure
reeds of their bodies
bulge through metric
distances in their
special rhythms.

But all is not praise for members of the race. Some leaders, like Roy Wilkins, come under sharp attack for condescending attitudes toward whites. Dionne Warwick is castigated for "ENTERTAINING TROOPS! Aboard the U.S.S Enterprise."

Among the younger poets we find poems of introspection. Nikki Giovanni's "Adulthood" and William Harris's "I, Satan" weigh and measure the black experience. Themes of social action are also prevalent-and it is surprising to find militant views ably expressed by

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Transcription Notes:
---------- Reopened for Editing 2024-02-14 17:01:58