A Tribute to Dr. Maya Angelou

Special Issue of The College Language Association Journal

Dr. Cheryl Wall, Guest Editor

   Call for Papers

    The College Language Association Journal is pleased to announce a forthcoming special issue focusing on the life and work of the late Dr. Maya Angelou. 

     We invite proposals for essays examining any aspect of Angelou’s multi-faceted career, including her role as poet, memoirist, autobiographer, dancer, singer, dramatist, producer, song writer, novelist, and educator.  Essays that explore Angelou’s contributions as a cook book author and children’s book author are welcome as well.  The editor of the special issue is open to receiving essay proposals representing a range of critical contexts including African Diaspora/Post- Colonial, African American literary history and culture, Feminism/Womanism, and Queer Theory.

     We are especially interested in essays that lend a global and/or interdisciplinary perspective in light of Angelou’s expatriate experiences in Accra, Ghana and Paris, France.

     Ultimately, the special issue has as its primary purpose the attempt to offer a scholarly reassessment of Angelou’s signal contribution to Africana/American Literature and Culture.  Essays might  consider the following topics:

Angelou and the Autobiographical Mode

Angelou and the Southern Literary Tradition

Figurations of Mother Africa

Angelou as Expatriate Artist

The Relationship between Angelou and James Baldwin

Domestic Space and Ritual in the Writings of Angelou

Angelou as Dramatist

Angelou as Educator

Angelou as Filmmaker

Angelou’s Contribution to the Bildungsroman

The Role of Folklore in the Writing of Angelou

Magic, Mysticism, and the Supernatural in Angelou’s Writings

Angelou and the Biblical Tradition

Physical Markings or Disfigurement in Angelou’s Writing

Angelou as Children’s Book Author

Angelou and the Migration Narrative

The Mother-Daughter Dyad in Angelou’s Writing

The Relationship between Angelou and the Black Woman’s “Writerly” Tradition

Angelou’s Memoirs and the “Speakerly” Tradition

Angelou as a Literary Foremother

The Cult of True Womanhood in Angelou’s Autobiographies

 By October 1, 2014, please forward abstracts of 500 words to CLAJ Guest Editor, Dr. Cheryl Wall, at cwall@rci.rutgers.edu and Cc’ed to CLAJ Editor, Dr. Sandra Shannon at Editor@clascholars.org.  Email notices informing potential contributors of the status of their abstracts will be sent by November 1, 2014.

By February 15, 2015, please forward the complete essay of approximately 5 to 6,000 words or 18 - 20 typed, double-spaced pages—including citations and bibliography—to cwall@rci.rutgers.edu and Cc’ed to Editor@clascholars.org.

 Please submit your anonymous essay as an email attachment along with a separate additional file that contains a cover letter with the author’s name, address, email address, telephone number, and professional affiliation. Manuscripts submitted for consideration and possible publication should be limited to eighteen to twenty pages (double spaced, 12 pt. font, 1” margins) and should conform to the latest edition of the MLA Handbook in all matters of form. Submissions that do not adhere to these specifications will not be read.

     We ask that you do not send work that has been previously published or is currently under consideration for publication elsewhere.  This themed issue will be published in April 2015.

Poet Lore

Volume 109 Numbers 1 & 2

Spring/Summer 2014

Biannual

Review by Travis Laurence Naught

This was the first issue of Poet Lore I have ever read, and it will not be the last! Well over 100 pages of outstanding poems, poetic history, interviews, and reviews made this more than just another issue to review; they turned it into an outright gripping read. While most of the works were brief (under one printed page), large-scale themes of loss and death are woven throughout. The editors did an outstanding job of finding beautiful poems that also highlighted positive moments…
[Read full review]

NADINE GORDIMER 1923-2014

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/15/books/nadine-gordimer-novelist-and-apartheid-foe-dies-at-90.html?_r=0

POET LORE - 125 YEARS OF NEW WRITING

Poet Lore Staff

http://thekojonnamdishow.org/audio-player?nid=25693

We keep playing Russian roulette with the same narratives. After someone shoots several people in a public space we demand gun control. How long are we going to hope for peace in the Middle East? Maybe we prefer the narrative of Israel always being under attack and Palestinians as bad guys.

A nation with people calling themselves settlers will always be looking for a frontier. Are Palestinians being forced forced out of Jerusalem as if it were Florida or South Dakota?

# 97

I live in bright darkness

a place where love goes

to die. The sky of blue

longing. The land of gray

despair. What grows green

are my dreams of you. The red

nights of passion and the fruit

of these words. Come hold the ash

of me. The black of me now.

 - E. Ethelbert Miller

NOTE RECEIVED TODAY FROM GRACE A. ALI

Dear OF NOTE Family, 

Wanted to share with you a terrific thing that happened over the weekend. OF NOTE’s article from The Immigrant Issue, "Stories Of Migration By Photographer Encarni Pindado,” a timely and thoughtful piece written by the talented Asmara Pelupessy, was featured on the cover of the "Ideas and Issues" section of The Miami Herald, yesterday (Sunday). That’s a readership of over 2 million. 

As you all know, part of OF NOTE’s mission is to:

Address the media’s under-reporting of artists impacting their communities through the arts and to amplify the voices and visibility of those artists, their work, and the social justice issues they engage.

While the headlines are focused on the 50,000 children migrating to the U.S., photographer Encarni Pindado has been putting cameras in the hands of migrants themselves so that they can document their own stories of that perilous journey. She’s added a much needed perspective to this highly controversial issue. 

Here is the link to online article: http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/07/12/4232736/migrants-photograph-perilous-journeys.html

Attached a little snapshot of the print version. 

Thank you all for your continued contributions to our work + mission, and especially to the writers and artists who are making The Immigrant Issue an impactful and thought-provoking contribution to this debate. 

warmly, 

Grace

--

Grace Aneiza Ali

Founder | Editorial Director 

OF NOTE magazine—the arts as tools for social change.

grace.ali@ofnotemagazine.org

DC for DC?

The Washington Post reported today that Muriel Bowser recently intervened to protect political cronies accused of mismanaging over $1 million in payments for low-income housing.

Tenants of the Park Southern Apartments in Ward 8 have accused key Bowser campaign aide Joyce Scott of squandering over $1 million while they are subjected to leaky roofs, mold and decaying rodents.

Additionally, $300,000 in rent payments were allegedly pocketed by Bowser’s East of the River campaign coordinator and tens of thousands of dollars in tenant security deposits have gone missing.

These are grave allegations and District residents are owed a thorough explanation. Tell Muriel Bowser to hold a hearing to investigate and give taxpayers and residents of Park Southern the answers they deserve.

Bowser has known about these egregious allegations for months. The Director of the Department of Housing and Community Development has called on Bowser—who chairs the D.C. Council Committee responsible for all of the District’s housing agencies—to hold a hearing into the situation, but she has refused.

Instead, she has improperly intervened behind the scenes to protect her campaign supporters.

It’s past time for Muriel Bowser stop protecting her friends and campaign supporters and to do her job. Tell her to hold a hearing to investigate the Park Southern debacle:

http://www.davidcatania.com/park-southern

This serious ethical lapse follows nearly 18 months that Bowser has chaired the committee responsible for housing without passing a single substantive proposal to address the city’s affordable housing crisis.

It’s time to end business-as-usual in city government, including the culture of cronyism and indifference to the needs of our residents. Taxpayers and the residents of Park Southern deserve better.

Thank you,

Ben Young
Catania for Mayor

Justice Department and Howard University to Host Program Celebrating 50th Anniversary of Civil Rights Act of 1964

WASHINGTON  (July 1, 2014) – The Department of Justice announced today that it will be co-hosting the historic program and celebration, “The 50th Anniversary of the Civil Rights Act of 1964: Preserving Progress, Charting the Future,” with Howard University on July 15, 2014.  Signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson on July 2, 1964, the groundbreaking act outlawed discriminatory voting requirements and segregation in schools, employment and places of public accommodation.  Attorney General Eric Holder has made protecting civil rights a top priority of his administration of the Department of Justice.  The long road to passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was paved with the footsteps of countless ordinary Americans and well-known civil rights leaders who marched, held sit-ins, staged boycotts and led freedom rides to end segregation and discrimination.  The call for comprehensive civil rights legislation gained momentum in 1963, as civil rights activists continued to organize peaceful demonstrations throughout the country.  After hundreds of nonviolent protestors were met with police violence and arrest in Birmingham, Alabama, President John F. Kennedy delivered a nationally televised speech voicing his support for comprehensive civil rights legislation.  After President Kennedy’s assassination in November 1963, President Lyndon B. Johnson made a commitment to pursue passage of civil rights legislation.  And after the longest debate in senate history, the Civil Rights Act was finally passed and signed into law, becoming the first of many legislative victories over the next 50 years that have been critical tools for protecting civil rights. The speakers and participants at the 50th anniversary program at Howard University will honor the strides that have been made in the journey for equal rights, and look to the work that remains to fully realize that promise.  In addition to Howard University Interim President Dr. Wayne A.I. Frederick and the keynote address by Attorney General Holder, the program will include remarks from Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and Secretary of Labor Tom Perez, who lead two of the Department of Justice’s key government partners in enforcing the Civil Rights Act.  Ambassador Andrew Young, former leader of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference will also deliver remarks.  Charlayne Hunter-Gault will moderate a roundtable discussion titled “The Impact of the Civil Rights Act of 1964,” featuring civil rights movement veterans and scholars including Howard University School of Law Associate Dean for Academic Affairs Lisa A. Crooms-Robinson, Julian Bond, Joan Trumpauer Mulholland, Todd Purdum and Helen Zia.  Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton will deliver the event’s closing remarks. The program begins at 10 a.m. in Cramton Auditorium on the campus of Howard University and will include a temporary display of original pages from the Civil Rights Act of 1964, on loan by the United States Archives. The display will be available for viewing prior to the program beginning at 9 a.m. in the lower level of Cramton Auditorium. A limited number of tickets for the celebration are available to the public, which will also include performances by the Howard University Choir and the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, D.C., as well as readings and videos commemorating the act.  Tickets are free and available, starting today, at the Cramton Auditorium Box Office on the Campus of Howard University on a first come, first served basis.  Media registration details will be provided at a later date.

DIVIDED JERUSALEM

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/14/world/middleeast/in-divided-jerusalem-rail-line-for-arabs-and-jews-is-among-the-fractures.html

# 97

Time for me to turn my back 

to the ocean. Boats disappearing

on the horizon. You decide 

to swim further from the shore.

Home is no longing over your

shoulder. The future keeps you

from drowning. My love keeps

gasping for air.

   - E. Ethelbert Miller

What's the 911?

At the end of the day it's language that holds us back and keeps us chained to the past. Here are a few words we really don't need to carry into the future:

Pirates
Settlers
Caliph
Warlord

What number can I call for language security?

The Results of Practice | July 14, 2014 One becomes an ordinary person, but in an extraordinary way. Your words are still there, your hang-ups may still be there, you still have to deal with all your karmic baggage and so on, but you see it in a totally different light. You’re at peace with yourself, at peace with the world. Not in a complacent sense, but in the sense that you can simply devote yourself to a life of compassion. —L.F. Habito, “Other Fingers Pointing to the Moon”

What if all the bombs in Gaza were turned into food, clothing and shelter?  How long will we continue to try and imagine peace but do nothing to achieve it?  We remain children playing with toys. I'm afraid we will never understand love.

POET TO WATCH FOR IN 2014

http://www.pardlo.com/

But at the end of the day will we create art that matters?

http://www.ozy.com/wildcard/artsy-and-writerly-spots-on-our-radar/32571.article

# 96

I keep fighting (myself)

long after the bell rings.

You mail me a Muhammad

Ali postcard. It's a hit

in the head- a reminder of what matters

in life and how friendship endures

after every jab.

Love is boxing. Many of us

get knockdown. We struggle

and stagger to our feet after

each mysterious fuck. Like

Liston we never saw it coming.

 - E. Ethelbert Miller

# 95

Your face in sunlight

near water. Your lips swimming

in my direction. A kiss right

now would be like laughter

after your smile. You grin as

if I shouldn't be thinking (those)

thoughts or maybe that's your

arm around my tongue.

 - E. Ethelbert Miller

The Writer's Center and Poet Lore are elated to announce  Editor Jody Bolz will appear on The Kojo Nnamdi Show Monday, July 14, 12PM to discuss Poet Lore's 125th Anniversary and poetry in general.  Please tune in—and call in—to join the conversation! Live stream at thekojonnamdishow.org. Call in at 1-800-443-8850.

Poet Lore is published by The Writer's Center 4508 Walsh Street, Bethesda MD 20815 | poetlore.com | Phone: 301.654.8664 Email: post.master@writer.org

DENISE CHAVEZ

I received wonderful news this week from my friend Denise Chavez. Her new novel The King and Queen of Comezon will be published in September by the University of Oklahoma Press.

Denise sent me bio information and the type of workshops she would like to conduct during the upcoming months. If you are interested in sponsoring one please let me know. I can be reached at: emiller698@aol.com. I can send you information about Denise.

Spirits of the Dead   Edgar Allan Poe

Thy soul shall find itself alone ‘Mid dark thoughts of the grey tomb-stone; Not one, of all the crowd, to pry Into thine hour of secrecy. Be silent in that solitude, Which is not loneliness—for then The spirits of the dead, who stood In life before thee, are again In death around thee, and their will Shall overshadow thee; be still. The night, though clear, shall frown, And the stars shall not look down From their high thrones in the Heaven With light like hope to mortals given, But their red orbs, without beam, To thy weariness shall seem As a burning and a fever Which would cling to thee for ever. Now are thoughts thou shalt not banish, Now are visions ne’er to vanish; From thy spirit shall they pass No more, like dew-drop from the grass. The breeze, the breath of God, is still, And the mist upon the hill Shadowy, shadowy, yet unbroken, Is a symbol and a token. How it hangs upon the trees, A mystery of mysteries!

# 94

The poems keep

breaking in my hands

each line suffocating.

I believe nothing 

will ever fly again 

airplane or bird.

 - E. Ethelbert Miller

# 93

Every love poem

struggles to survive

a war, to contain

its fragrance and beauty.

We are all casualties

from broken hearts

and battles we might

never win.

  - E. Ethelbert Miller

WHAT'S TICKING?

http://fukushima-diary.com/2014/07/breaking-m6-8-hit-fukushima-offshore-update-fukushima-plant-status/

GOUCHER COLLEGE

Today I had fun making a presentation at a teacher's workshop on the campus of Goucher College.
Many thanks to Frazier O'Leary for the invitation.

Kliban by B. Kliban

Note from PHIL RICHARDS:

I am associate editor at DoveTales, the literary journal of WritingforPeace -- you can find our web site archived work and posts on-line. We publish essays, fiction, poetry photography, painting, drawing etc. at the nexus of literature, politics, the arts, and peace. For our third issue we are issuing a call for such art falling under the rubric of "nature" understood in either its broadest sense or in any of the various senses of the word. We are particularly interested in translation of poetry, prose etc. We will publish both the originals of the piece and the translation. The translator is responsible for getting permissions. Send work to carmelmawle@comcast.net 750 word limit for prose. October 15, 2014 or thereabouts deadline. For problems connected to translation connect to Phil Richards at pbwriter54@hotmail.com

FIRST MEETING

LaNora Williams Clark and Ethelbert at Busboys and Poets

My next book of poetry will soon be out. It's a collection of poems translated into Portuguese and dedicated to my friend Beverly Hunt.

http://medulalivros.blogspot.pt/

Cover design:

SELF-PORTRAIT OF A POET AS A BLACK MAN

NEWS FROM JOANNA

http://joannachen.com/

HARD FACTS

In a recent Washington Post article I came across the following information:

There are 14,000 District residents younger than 24 who are neither enrolled in school or employed.
10% of DC residents have criminal records.

MONEY MONEY MONEY

http://truth-out.org/news/item/24813-7-weird-things-money-does-to-your-brain

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ll3uipTO-4A&feature=kp

NOURA ERAKAT

http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/18337/jadaliyya-co-editor-noura-erakat-responds-to-israe

IS BLACK POETRY STILL BLACK POETRY?

http://www.jmu.edu/stories/furiousflower/2014/lookback-1994.shtml

I was once there - now I'm here.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NAOMI AYALA

Time to Party: Let's gather the poets...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDP5c_MC37I&index=5&list=RDkGbwe0qcW5g

Love you madly!

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/naomi-ayala

JOB FOR YOU?

Hello,

As we continue on our search for the ideal bookstore manager for our soon-to-be-opened bookstore (Sept), I was hoping you all might be able to pass along the job description to anyone you might know who might be interested. Or feel free to post on any literary/community boards you might be tuned into.

http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/doc/med/4556635790.html

We've posted on Craigslist (DC, NY, PHIL), American Booksellers Association Classifieds, Community Listservs, Facebook pages, etc.

Any other ideas of where we should post would be very helpful (even paid/subscription sites), and thanks so much for your continued support! 

Best, 
Kristina

--
http://kristinabilonick.net
http://pleasantplainsworkshop.com

A few days ago Merrill Leffler sent me a copy of Natasha Trethewey's Congregation. It's a small book published by Dryad Press and the William Meredith Foundation.

www.dryadpress.com

www.williamMeredithFoundation.org

In this collection we find Trethewey writing about the Mississippi Gulf Coast and the people who survive hurricanes. How can one forget Katrina? Trethewey reminds us about Camille who haunted us in 1969.
Read her poem "Providence" on page 3.

MONK TIME

Black men on the corner
doing that little Monk Dance.
No work today - just America
making folks go in circles. Call
it unemployment but don't
call it jazz.

 - E. Ethelbert Miller

IS ANYONE COUNTING?

http://rt.com/news/170800-fukushima-water-leak-temperatures/

ANOTHER BLUES MOMENT

Photo taken by Denise-King Miller (DuPont Circle, Washington, D.C.)

TIME TO GET THE FUNK OUT OF THE TRUNK

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vptGSENcXeI

Yes, you know what time it is.  Get on up!

WOMAN WITH ARMS OUT BUT SUNGLASSES ON

Photo by Ethelbert

# 92

Is there a mosque
in Santa Monica?

Every night your smile
recites another sura.

Stars make salat
when we kiss.

God is merciful.

There is no fasting
from love.

 - E. Ethelbert Miller

# 91

Yesterday I feared
you had collapsed
(somewhere).

How silent
your phone
after each call
(to you).

Now your voice
at the end
of this poem
and before every word
I will ever write.

  - E. Ethelbert Miller

# 90

Here is advice
for you
dear friend:

Rise with the monks
Wash one's bowl
Follow the path of kindness
Hold only the wind in your hand

 - E. Ethelbert Miller

# 89

I want to be
one of those trumpet

players who stops to sing
in the middle of a song.

Place my horn down
and scat to your lips.

You make me feel
Dizzy baby.

Dizzy.
Dizzy.
Dizzy.

  - E. Ethelbert Miller

# 88

Tell me about the fisherman
-the man who discovered his
hands were nets. Did he
trap you? Lately the sand
can no longer remember
how long the beach is.
Our bodies swim in air.
We love like clouds.
No anchors to hold us
down.

 - E. Ethelbert Miller

E ON DC

http://www.capitalcommunitynews.com/content/fences

# 87

You occupy everything.
There is nowhere
I can go without you.

  -  E. Ethelbert Miller

Walter Dean Myers 1937-2014

The death of Walter Dean Myers took me back to 2004. That might have been the last time I spoke with him. Myers was gracious to be part of an exhibit I curated at the Anacostia Musuem. Here is a link to the review:

http://www.eethelbertmiller.com/postreview.html

Unemployment is now projected at 6.1. Who knew?  Remember when everyone was focusing on these economic numbers each month?  This was a good excuse for Barrack throwing. Look for the economy to take a back seat to all the Middle East conflicts. The last thing our nation needs is another terrorist attack. Why have another shoe fall before we even get out of bed?  So difficult these days to be hopeful - yet as Dennis Brutus once wrote - somehow we survive.

I've been working this summer on a series of 50 poems. The title is "Fifty Love Poems To A Friend."
I should have everything done by the end of July. A few have already been accepted for publication.

Reading Susan Cheever's Desire: Where Sex Meets Addiction.

# 86

Beyond the ocean
something deeper
than marriage.

Friendship
is a light tower
keeping us
from crashing
against the rocks
of depression.

Many 
sink
and
drown
because
they
cannot
touch
or
love.


 - E. Ethelbert Miller

GRACE A. ALI

Amazing Grace continues to be amazing. Congrats!

http://ivoh.org/2014-ivoh-awards-appreciation-winners/

# 85

These are the saddest
lines I will write (this
summer). The ocean
a witness to friendship
and tides. My heart
a seashell as empty
as every night
you are away.

What is starlight
but hope without
keys. This love
ending before it
begins.

  - E. Ethelbert Miller

# 84

Next to the love poems
Neruda placed one of despair.
It was as if sunlight could no longer
see your lips or our eyes
had to stop to catch their breath.
Despair finds my  hands forgetting
to hold your breasts after winter.

  - E. Ethelbert Miller

FLOWERS OUTSIDE MY WINDOW

Photo by Ethelbert

DEVORAH MAJOR

I received a note this week from the writer Devorah Major. I hadn't heard from her in years.
Here is a link to her website:
http://www.devorahmajor.com

# 83

So many nights
you cannot sleep.
Your eyes keep
me awake.

I would be
pillow
blanket
bed 

for you.

  - E. Ethelbert Miller

THE WORLD CUP

After a meeting at the George Washington University Gelman Library (yesterday) I watched the first half of the soccer game between the US and Belgium. The World Cup is about politics as much as goals. It's raw nationalism at times. Little nations still trying to kick the colonial European's butts. One thing you can't overlook is how everywhere the world is filled with color. How many people of color are playing in the World Cup? Our earth is a very diverse place. Maybe the last people to realize this might be African Americans. We no longer have a monopoly on blackness. Did we ever?

I would like Costa Rica to win. A nice narrative here...
If not then this is who I can also cheer for - Brazil and France.

History can't pull a soccer shirt over Germany and Belgium for me.
Yes, I can't cry for Argentina yet.

# 82

There are other planets
that are safer this time
of year. People ask
where my name comes
from but what about
your cute little ears
and those funny toes?
There is space between
us but nothing a galaxy
would be jealous of.
The good life (on earth)
is just a rumor like a comet
burning bright and fading fast.

  - E. Ethelbert Miller

People often ask where my name comes from but why do you have those funny little ears?

http://www.wtop.com/109/3655260/World-UFO-Day-Search-for-extraterrestrial-intelligence-continues

# 81

Billy Stewart could

always find me in a park

thinking about you.

Love is never,

never gonna let me 

go. Birds and squirrels

keep singing from

the singing trees.

 - E. Ethelbert Miller

#  80

When you return 

we will take our walk

together. The days 

will say its August.

I might stop and 

reach for a small

flower.You continue

ahead only to turn

around and see 

me holding you.

 -  E. Ethelbert Miller

VOCABULARY BUILDING

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caliphate

THE MIDDLE EAST IS ONCE AGAIN A MESS

http://www.thenational.ae/world/middle-east/caught-in-the-crossfire-of-gazax2019s-war-with-Israel

# 79

Where is the ode to loneliness?
The absence of sweetness as if
all the oranges stayed in their rooms.

 - E. Ethelbert Miller