Cosmic deputy : poetry and context 1968-2019 / Kalamu ya Salaam.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Salaam, Kalamu ya, 1947- author.

Language:

English

Genre:

Essays.

Poetry.

Physical Description:

404 pages ; 23 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

New Orleans, LA : Runagate Press ; The University of New Orleans Press, 2020.

Summary:

"Cosmic Deputy is a literary memoir from esteemed activist, educator, producer, and poet Kalamu ya Salaam. Representative poems from Salaam's fifty years of writing are interspersed in an overarching essay tracing the poet's multitude of influences. Toward mapping a theory of a Black literary aesthetic, Salaam explores the cultural inheritances of Black resistance movements, blues music, and the ways in which these sources and others have shaped not only his own work but Black letters more broadly"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Machine generated contents note: ESSAYS

What is Poetry?

A Half Century of Poetry

Art for Life: My Story, My Song

POETRY

From The Blues Merchant (1969) STATE/MEANT

From Pamoja Tutashinda (1973) give a speech/talkin abt `da problem'

From Revolutionary Love (1978) RE TAIL & MERCHANDISE, ghetto time

From Our Women Keep Our Skies from Falling (1980) Our Women Keep Our Skies From Falling

From A Nation of Poets (1989) MY STORY, MY SONG

From What Is Life? (1994) Sometimes I Think I have not done enough to make the world safe for love

From Ghosts (1995) GHOSTS

If You're Still The Same Afterwards It Wasn't Love

We Don't Stand A Chinaman's Chance Unless We Create A Revolution

From 360: A Revolution of Black Poets (1998) No Ordinary Waterfall

Snapshot: dawn in dar es salaam

From Ways of Laughing (2009) Ways of Laughing

Cosmic Deputy (Previously uncollected) A REPLY TO KELLY

A Toast To You

Aft/er

AS SERIOUS AS A HEART ATTACK

BB explains why...

Been Here & Gone

Bro/therLove

Cosmic Deputy

Congo Square

Dinner With Jerry

Echoing Eshu's Love Songs

Even death will not stop me from struggling

Exit left

Flying Over America

For Life / For Maisha

Forces Of Nature: Hope Song

Freedom

A Haitian Rant

Gathering Speed

He gets off at 4:30 / its 6:09 now

I AM A POET

I don't want to live anywhere where they are killing me

I Have My Mother's Hands

I Look But What Is There To See?

I Stare Into The Air

I Thought Of This As I Passed In The Hallway And You Looked Up While Drying Off After Stepping Out Of Your Sunday Shower

I Want To Talk About You

I Wonder What You Feel Like Now

It Is Raining

Janis Joplin/poor white refuse refugee running for cover of rock

Kalamu looks at HI val, fifty-five years later

Locks

Ming The Merciless

Our Field General

Morning Calm

My Father Is Dead, Again

On Visiting My Ex-Wife Of 16 Years After Her Third Brain Tumor Operation

Our Problem

Our World Is Less Full Now That MR. Fuller Is Gone

The Past Predicts The Future

Remember

Sometimes when I hear thunder, I think of you

Time Is A Funny Thing

Touch

We are all amphibians

We Are Guilty Of Forgetting Who We Are

"We Mustn't Cry, We Must Continue!"

We Say, Bechet

What can I say?

What Does Your Life Mean To A Tree?

Why I am not Hindu

Yesterday Was So Beautiful #2

You can't survive on salt water

You'll Never See My Byline In The Times-Picayune.

Notes:

Includes index.

Other Format:

Online version: Salaam, Kalamu ya, 1947- Cosmic deputy.

ISBN:

9781608011896

1608011895

OCLC:

1140667719