Sometimes the postman comes twice. Dawn Davis (editorial director) at HarperCollins sent me a copy of Ellease Southerland's LET THE LION EAT STRAW. This novel printed in 1979 was out of print. Davis just helped to release the 25th anniversary edition. For additional info go to:
www.amistadbooks.com
Amistad is an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.
E-NOTES: WHEN THE NEWS IS NOT ENOUGH. THE BLOG OF E. ETHELBERT MILLER
Monday, November 29, 2004
Construction workers are still filling my workspace at Howard with dust. I have no idea what I'm breathing. I just know they have masks and I don't have one. Maybe some folks are ready for anthrax and I missed the memo.
I went down into the stacks and pulled some poetry books for research. The HU library has an excellent collection of poetry books.
I gave a talk/reading to senior citizens over in Georgetown at the St. John's Episcopal Church located at 3240 O St, NW. I invited my friend Melissa Tuckey to join me. She is a student enrolled in the George Mason creative writing program. We both read our own work as well as poems by Linda Hogan, James Tate and Stanley Kunitz. We had a nice discussion afterwards.
On the way back across town I ran into the writer Richard McCann. He has a new book out next year. McCann has been a cornerstone of the creative writing program at American University for the last several years.
In the mail was a large pile of material for a writer up for promotion at his college. I have to review the package and write a critical evaluation. I have about two months to do it. I guess I do about 3 - 4 of these things a year. Sometimes it feels like jury duty. It's important- so I push myself to do it. It's a good opportunity to keep up with what folks are writing.
Also in the mail was Gretchen Roberts-Shorter's new novel CAN'T REMEMBER PLAYING.
The book was published by the Washington Writers' Publishing House. The novel is set in the 1780s. You get the Revolutionary War, slavery and more. The book sells for $14.95 and can be obtain by writing to:
Washington Writers' Publishing House, P.O.Box 15271, Washington, DC 20003
Gretchen is one of those writers I wish I could have helped more. Sometimes there is just too much on my desk.
I'm back to listening to Etta James tonight: Blue Gardenia.
Oh...while in Georgetown I saw some nice sweatshirts for our new baseball team - The Nationals. Now if we can just drop those funny looking W caps. I hate them...no wonder the Senators couldn't win with those things on their heads.
DC City Council should just vote for having the team in DC. Was the City Council folks talking about improving our schools and having a new library before baseball was heading this way? I don't think so. 50 people walking around with protest posters is not a Boston Tea Party. It's a small poetry reading.
I went down into the stacks and pulled some poetry books for research. The HU library has an excellent collection of poetry books.
I gave a talk/reading to senior citizens over in Georgetown at the St. John's Episcopal Church located at 3240 O St, NW. I invited my friend Melissa Tuckey to join me. She is a student enrolled in the George Mason creative writing program. We both read our own work as well as poems by Linda Hogan, James Tate and Stanley Kunitz. We had a nice discussion afterwards.
On the way back across town I ran into the writer Richard McCann. He has a new book out next year. McCann has been a cornerstone of the creative writing program at American University for the last several years.
In the mail was a large pile of material for a writer up for promotion at his college. I have to review the package and write a critical evaluation. I have about two months to do it. I guess I do about 3 - 4 of these things a year. Sometimes it feels like jury duty. It's important- so I push myself to do it. It's a good opportunity to keep up with what folks are writing.
Also in the mail was Gretchen Roberts-Shorter's new novel CAN'T REMEMBER PLAYING.
The book was published by the Washington Writers' Publishing House. The novel is set in the 1780s. You get the Revolutionary War, slavery and more. The book sells for $14.95 and can be obtain by writing to:
Washington Writers' Publishing House, P.O.Box 15271, Washington, DC 20003
Gretchen is one of those writers I wish I could have helped more. Sometimes there is just too much on my desk.
I'm back to listening to Etta James tonight: Blue Gardenia.
Oh...while in Georgetown I saw some nice sweatshirts for our new baseball team - The Nationals. Now if we can just drop those funny looking W caps. I hate them...no wonder the Senators couldn't win with those things on their heads.
DC City Council should just vote for having the team in DC. Was the City Council folks talking about improving our schools and having a new library before baseball was heading this way? I don't think so. 50 people walking around with protest posters is not a Boston Tea Party. It's a small poetry reading.
Sunday, November 28, 2004
Another comment from Charles Johnson from his book of interviews edited by Jim McWilliams:
"Most writers write totally off the top of their heads. They don't know how their work fits within the tradition of literature, they don't know really what their objectives are. But art, like science, has rules, objectives. It's only on the basis of having a sense of tradition that you can say that something fits within the continuum and advances it."
"Most writers write totally off the top of their heads. They don't know how their work fits within the tradition of literature, they don't know really what their objectives are. But art, like science, has rules, objectives. It's only on the basis of having a sense of tradition that you can say that something fits within the continuum and advances it."
I didn't do much today. I watched the Washington/Steeler game on television. Tonight neighbors outside fighting over a parking space. Silly except it started getting racial. I went outside and got between them. The black man started talking about how a black man has nothing. I looked over my shoulder at the parking space....it didn't remind me of Africa.
The Latino woman had a couple of kids. They didn't need to listen to all the foul language. The black man said he was 52 and didn't have to be pushed around in front of his own home. I told him I was older and he should listen to an elder. ;-)
I'm also getting too old for this type of stuff.
The Latino woman had a couple of kids. They didn't need to listen to all the foul language. The black man said he was 52 and didn't have to be pushed around in front of his own home. I told him I was older and he should listen to an elder. ;-)
I'm also getting too old for this type of stuff.
Saturday, November 27, 2004
A very productive day. I spent a couple of hours cleaning the basement. I discovered a box of correspondence. Letters from Arthur P. Davis, Ahmos Zu-Bolton, Ai, Afaa Michael Weaver, Abraham Chapman, Marilyn Hacker,Alvin Aubert, Alexis DeVeaux and others.
A number of letters from the literary critic Karla Hammond. Whatever happened to her? She was living in CT.
Ahmos just moved back to DC. His letters are filled with so much literary history of the 1970s and 1980s. Maybe we should sit down and look at what we were doing back then. If we're not careful magazines like Callaloo will just skip over folks like Thulani Davis, Ahmos Zu-Bolton, Primus St. John and others. This is what happened to folks who were writing in the 1950s and early 1960s. Their careers were overshadowed by the advocates of the Black Arts Movement.
Folks will think poetry started again when Saul Williams was born. That's a slam. Well hush my mouth but keep my eyes open.
A number of letters from the literary critic Karla Hammond. Whatever happened to her? She was living in CT.
Ahmos just moved back to DC. His letters are filled with so much literary history of the 1970s and 1980s. Maybe we should sit down and look at what we were doing back then. If we're not careful magazines like Callaloo will just skip over folks like Thulani Davis, Ahmos Zu-Bolton, Primus St. John and others. This is what happened to folks who were writing in the 1950s and early 1960s. Their careers were overshadowed by the advocates of the Black Arts Movement.
Folks will think poetry started again when Saul Williams was born. That's a slam. Well hush my mouth but keep my eyes open.
Friday, November 26, 2004
"As I said before, writers should be able to write everything, anything. You should be able to write novels, radio plays, operas, short fiction, gas, manifestoes; you should be able to write philosophy, epic poesm, screenplays, and charms to raise the dead, blight your enemies, and kill rats, everything."
- Charles Johnson
PASSING THE THREE GATES: INTERVIEWS WITH CHARLES JOHNSON
edited by Jim McWilliams
University of Washington Press, 2004.
- Charles Johnson
PASSING THE THREE GATES: INTERVIEWS WITH CHARLES JOHNSON
edited by Jim McWilliams
University of Washington Press, 2004.
"Not only is there a God, but also what is worse, He has a sense of humor."
- Allen Hoffman in his essay "From the Herring to the Leviathan" published in the first issue of Maggid: A Journal of Jewish Literature.
Checkout the essay on Charlie Brown by Jonathan Franzen in The New Yorker (November 29, 2004). It's good.
Early morning work: Letters mailed. A short jog. One letter of recommendation completed. One more letter of recommendation to do.
I'll hopefully complete all my Bennington work this afternoon. Maybe I'll have a moment to go down to the basement and pack 2 boxes of books for the Booker T. Washington Charter School.
- Allen Hoffman in his essay "From the Herring to the Leviathan" published in the first issue of Maggid: A Journal of Jewish Literature.
Checkout the essay on Charlie Brown by Jonathan Franzen in The New Yorker (November 29, 2004). It's good.
Early morning work: Letters mailed. A short jog. One letter of recommendation completed. One more letter of recommendation to do.
I'll hopefully complete all my Bennington work this afternoon. Maybe I'll have a moment to go down to the basement and pack 2 boxes of books for the Booker T. Washington Charter School.
Thursday, November 25, 2004
Sad news. Novelist Larry Brown is dead at 53. He was the author of DIRTY WORK, JOE, FATHER AND SON and FAY. Many years ago I was invited to judge the best books by Mississippi writers. I selected Brown's work. I only met him once. He was sitting on the floor at a book fair that might have been held in DC. The fifth inning and it's over so quickly for so many of us.
Edwidge Danticat had an OP-ED article on Haiti in the New York Times on November 24th. E's uncle recently died while seeking asylum in the US.
Here are E' s words:
"When he left Port-au-Prince, my uncle joined a long list of desperate, ill-fated Haitians who are fleeing a country that is plagued not only by gang warfare, rebel attacks, summary arrests and other human rights violations, but also ecological disasters: in September, flash floods caused by Tropical Storm Jeanne killed 1,900 people and left 200,000 more homeless."
In the Washington Post today there was an article about how Kodak will no longer be making slide projectors. Can you believe that? Do you remember how the slides always got stuck?
MOMA just reopened. The Museum of Modern Art in New York. www.moma.org
I won't get to visit until April of next year.
Yesterday I received the latest issue of The Bloomsbury Review. There is a review of all the new Neruda books, as well as an article on Hayden Carruth.
Edwidge Danticat had an OP-ED article on Haiti in the New York Times on November 24th. E's uncle recently died while seeking asylum in the US.
Here are E' s words:
"When he left Port-au-Prince, my uncle joined a long list of desperate, ill-fated Haitians who are fleeing a country that is plagued not only by gang warfare, rebel attacks, summary arrests and other human rights violations, but also ecological disasters: in September, flash floods caused by Tropical Storm Jeanne killed 1,900 people and left 200,000 more homeless."
In the Washington Post today there was an article about how Kodak will no longer be making slide projectors. Can you believe that? Do you remember how the slides always got stuck?
MOMA just reopened. The Museum of Modern Art in New York. www.moma.org
I won't get to visit until April of next year.
Yesterday I received the latest issue of The Bloomsbury Review. There is a review of all the new Neruda books, as well as an article on Hayden Carruth.
Wednesday, November 24, 2004
Jody Bolz gave me a copy of her new book last night. Checkout --A LESSON IN NARRATIVE TIME just published by Gihon Books. They are located in Vermont: P.O.Box 613B, Johnson, Vermont 05656. The book sells for $14.00.
Carl Phillips writes : Bolz persuasively argues for a narrative in which time no longer figures as it used to: anything - to our delight and terror, equally- is possible.
Jody is a fellow editor of Poet Lore and teaches creative writing at George Washington University.
Another pointer from the new Marsalis book:
"You should go practice, then think about saving the world."
Carl Phillips writes : Bolz persuasively argues for a narrative in which time no longer figures as it used to: anything - to our delight and terror, equally- is possible.
Jody is a fellow editor of Poet Lore and teaches creative writing at George Washington University.
Another pointer from the new Marsalis book:
"You should go practice, then think about saving the world."
Tuesday, November 23, 2004
I purchased my ticket for Bennington today. Albany here I come. While downtown I went into Borders and picked up a nice small book by Wynton Marsalis. Checkout -TO A YOUNG JAZZ MUSICIAN. It's a good gift for a young artist. In the second chapter Marsalis talks about the 3 P words that are important for the creative folks. They are patience, persistence and productivity. Amen.
I like this Zen sentence in his book:
"It's important to realize that in order to be different, you have to do something different."
I went to the big poetry committee meeting held at the King Library. We are planning the next TAKING POETRY TO THE STREET. It's a celebration of National Poetry Month sponsored by the DC Public Library. The date is April 23rd, from Noon to 3PM. Last April it was a nice affair...
Talking about the library...have you seen the lovely renovations taking place in the King building? New carpet, etc.
I think Richard L. Jackson is doing a good job down there. Can we keep the guy in the director's position? Down the street the good Wizards keep leaving town. We already lost Hamilton...let's keep the other Richard at the library.
Poet Lore meeting this evening.
Talking about poetry, the new Callaloo magazine is out. The focus is on "the new wave" of contemporary African American Poetry. Thomas Ellis, A. Van Jordan, Honoree Jeffers are included.
I'm waiting for the writer to emerge who will have that June Jordan walk and talk. Right now I see Suheir doing it and she's not African American. Hmmmm.
If African American poetry keeps coming out of workshops while a war is going on some of this stuff is going to be nothing but wallpaper in an academic's basement. Good for an MLA meeting and wine or beer at the bar.
Still some of the best writers at work today are in this latest issue of Callaloo. Get your copy...Vol. 27. No.4.
I'm glad Charles Rowell (editor) included interviews with the new wave. How many are perms?
I like this Zen sentence in his book:
"It's important to realize that in order to be different, you have to do something different."
I went to the big poetry committee meeting held at the King Library. We are planning the next TAKING POETRY TO THE STREET. It's a celebration of National Poetry Month sponsored by the DC Public Library. The date is April 23rd, from Noon to 3PM. Last April it was a nice affair...
Talking about the library...have you seen the lovely renovations taking place in the King building? New carpet, etc.
I think Richard L. Jackson is doing a good job down there. Can we keep the guy in the director's position? Down the street the good Wizards keep leaving town. We already lost Hamilton...let's keep the other Richard at the library.
Poet Lore meeting this evening.
Talking about poetry, the new Callaloo magazine is out. The focus is on "the new wave" of contemporary African American Poetry. Thomas Ellis, A. Van Jordan, Honoree Jeffers are included.
I'm waiting for the writer to emerge who will have that June Jordan walk and talk. Right now I see Suheir doing it and she's not African American. Hmmmm.
If African American poetry keeps coming out of workshops while a war is going on some of this stuff is going to be nothing but wallpaper in an academic's basement. Good for an MLA meeting and wine or beer at the bar.
Still some of the best writers at work today are in this latest issue of Callaloo. Get your copy...Vol. 27. No.4.
I'm glad Charles Rowell (editor) included interviews with the new wave. How many are perms?
Monday, November 22, 2004
Maurice Jackson came by around 9AM and took me over to Georgetown University. I gave a talk on the Black Arts Movement in his Black History and Black Culture class. I think the students enjoyed my presentation.
On my way over to Howard I shared a cab with Kirsten a nice woman who had recently started working at the Norwegian Embassy. Our female cabdriver wrote poetry and recited a long piece that was actually very good. It did take me longer than usual to get across town.
At the HU post office I mailed my son's basketball tapes to the schools he is interested in playing for next year. I dropped one of his videos over at Howard's athletic office.
Folks are doing construction in the Resource Center. :-( My computer is not working...
Like Ali in Zaire I roll with the punches.
On my way over to Howard I shared a cab with Kirsten a nice woman who had recently started working at the Norwegian Embassy. Our female cabdriver wrote poetry and recited a long piece that was actually very good. It did take me longer than usual to get across town.
At the HU post office I mailed my son's basketball tapes to the schools he is interested in playing for next year. I dropped one of his videos over at Howard's athletic office.
Folks are doing construction in the Resource Center. :-( My computer is not working...
Like Ali in Zaire I roll with the punches.
"What Am I to You? I'm listening to Norah Jones. Sunday was a day of rest. I spent the day watching football games. Ravens are looking good. Poets have to support teams named for Poe's work. Football seems safer than the NBA these days. Should players knockout fans? Artest should be given Jackie Robinson's autobiography to read during his off season- which just started.
I'm slowly writing new poems for my next collection. Here's what's coming:
ON SEEING THE FIRST WIFE A SECOND TIME
(for Mikki)
We sit in a Hard Rock Cafe
with our two drinks in front of us.
The woman behind you stares at
your gray hair. I look into your eyes
and try to find the address to our
old apartment. We've been holding
hands all night as if we wanted to
touch tomorrow. When you talk
about the sad things in your life I can
smell the burning of a tear.
11/21/04
I'm slowly writing new poems for my next collection. Here's what's coming:
ON SEEING THE FIRST WIFE A SECOND TIME
(for Mikki)
We sit in a Hard Rock Cafe
with our two drinks in front of us.
The woman behind you stares at
your gray hair. I look into your eyes
and try to find the address to our
old apartment. We've been holding
hands all night as if we wanted to
touch tomorrow. When you talk
about the sad things in your life I can
smell the burning of a tear.
11/21/04
Saturday, November 20, 2004
I spent almost the entire day watching my son play basketball in Potomac, Maryland. Next week his season begins. My daughter just dropped by...so it looks like birthday cake for everyone this evening. We're waiting for Buddy Bev to come back from Boston and perhaps join us. Then it's back to work. Is that a Bennington packet I see?
Early BertDay for me. How old would Robert Kennedy be today? Let's not forget. Yesterday Barbara and I picked Denise up from the hospital. I spent the morning making sure she was comfortable and adjusting to life after surgery. She should be back to her old self in a few days.
At Howard it was a day of talking to folks and helping them with research. One person who came by my office to visit was the writer and scholar John McCluskey, Jr from Indiana University in Bloomington. We had a wonderful time talking and laughing. It made the day.
Mikki picked me up from Howard after work and we went down to Chinatown for dinner. Afterwards we drove over to 10th Street and went to the Octavia Butler and Samuel Delany program at the Smithsonian. It was good to see so many people out for the event. Both of the writers are loved. They have fans. They were both gracious and seemed moved by the evening.
Mikki and I sat in the auditorium holding hands like we were back in college. We were married back in 1972. After the program we walked over to the Hard Rock Cafe and had a drink. We looked at each other's gray hair and wondered where the time went. I'm glad our friendship is still special...
Before going to bed I looked at the mail. Two new books arrived:
Destiny's Gift by Natasha Anastasia Tarpley. Illustrated by Adjoa Burrowes.
I remember when Natasha came from Harvard to Howard. Adjoa was a Fine Arts Student at Howard back in the day. She did a couple of my Ascension reading flyers. The first one was after the death of our friend Janet Gaillard. The film Juice by E. Dickerson is dedicated to Janet.
Little, Brown and Company sent me Martha Cooley's new novel. The title is Thirty-Three Swoons. Martha is the author of The Archivist and is teaching at Bennington. I look forward to giving her a hug during our January residency.
OK...let me go get my birthday cake. I saw Denise sneaking it into the house the other day.
At Howard it was a day of talking to folks and helping them with research. One person who came by my office to visit was the writer and scholar John McCluskey, Jr from Indiana University in Bloomington. We had a wonderful time talking and laughing. It made the day.
Mikki picked me up from Howard after work and we went down to Chinatown for dinner. Afterwards we drove over to 10th Street and went to the Octavia Butler and Samuel Delany program at the Smithsonian. It was good to see so many people out for the event. Both of the writers are loved. They have fans. They were both gracious and seemed moved by the evening.
Mikki and I sat in the auditorium holding hands like we were back in college. We were married back in 1972. After the program we walked over to the Hard Rock Cafe and had a drink. We looked at each other's gray hair and wondered where the time went. I'm glad our friendship is still special...
Before going to bed I looked at the mail. Two new books arrived:
Destiny's Gift by Natasha Anastasia Tarpley. Illustrated by Adjoa Burrowes.
I remember when Natasha came from Harvard to Howard. Adjoa was a Fine Arts Student at Howard back in the day. She did a couple of my Ascension reading flyers. The first one was after the death of our friend Janet Gaillard. The film Juice by E. Dickerson is dedicated to Janet.
Little, Brown and Company sent me Martha Cooley's new novel. The title is Thirty-Three Swoons. Martha is the author of The Archivist and is teaching at Bennington. I look forward to giving her a hug during our January residency.
OK...let me go get my birthday cake. I saw Denise sneaking it into the house the other day.
Friday, November 19, 2004
So the cab driver (from Sierra Leone) last night says "Getting married lasts an hour, divorce six months..." Hmmm.
Ken Burns will release his documentary on the boxer Jack Johnson on PBS in January. The title is UNFORGIVEABLE BLACKNESS: THE RISE AND FALL OF JACK JOHNSON.
I wonder if football player Terrell Owens will be watching.
Irshad Manji had an interesting article on Islam in yesterday's New York Times.
Manji is the author of THE TROUBLE WITH ISLAM: A MUSLIM'S CALL FOR REFORM IN HER FAITH. Manji is a young Canadian Muslim.
I just got a newsletter and note from my buddies at the Blue Mountain Center located in upstate New York. They wanted to know if I knew some "hot" poets interested in coming to their retreat. For more info contact: BMC@bluemountaincenter.org
Blue Mountain is where I wrote many of the poems included in WHERE ARE THE LOVE POEMS FOR DICTATORS?
Folks in Detroit are trying to raise money for a bust that will honor poet Naomi Madgett in Detroit. Madgett is also the founder of Lotus Press. That's a company that's responsible for many African American poets having books. Include me on the list. Madgett published my collection SEASON OF HUNGER/CRY OF RAIN. Lotus Press Inc is trying to raise $20,000 fo r the project honoring Madgett. If you want to make a gift contact Diane Reeder, Chair, Lotus Press, Inc. They can be reached at: lotuspress@aol.com
Website is: www.lotuspress.org
Ken Burns will release his documentary on the boxer Jack Johnson on PBS in January. The title is UNFORGIVEABLE BLACKNESS: THE RISE AND FALL OF JACK JOHNSON.
I wonder if football player Terrell Owens will be watching.
Irshad Manji had an interesting article on Islam in yesterday's New York Times.
Manji is the author of THE TROUBLE WITH ISLAM: A MUSLIM'S CALL FOR REFORM IN HER FAITH. Manji is a young Canadian Muslim.
I just got a newsletter and note from my buddies at the Blue Mountain Center located in upstate New York. They wanted to know if I knew some "hot" poets interested in coming to their retreat. For more info contact: BMC@bluemountaincenter.org
Blue Mountain is where I wrote many of the poems included in WHERE ARE THE LOVE POEMS FOR DICTATORS?
Folks in Detroit are trying to raise money for a bust that will honor poet Naomi Madgett in Detroit. Madgett is also the founder of Lotus Press. That's a company that's responsible for many African American poets having books. Include me on the list. Madgett published my collection SEASON OF HUNGER/CRY OF RAIN. Lotus Press Inc is trying to raise $20,000 fo r the project honoring Madgett. If you want to make a gift contact Diane Reeder, Chair, Lotus Press, Inc. They can be reached at: lotuspress@aol.com
Website is: www.lotuspress.org
Google just started a new search engine. It will help you with academic research:
http://scholar.google.com
One can locate theses, abstracts and technical reports.
http://scholar.google.com
One can locate theses, abstracts and technical reports.