Here’s what I read this January; Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury, The Fateful Triangle by Stuart Hall, Just Us by Claudia Rankine, Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi.
Tag Archives: Claudia Rankine
Just Us in 2021
I finished Claudia Rankine’s Just Us: An American Conversation yesterday (coincidentally on Martin Luther King Day). Just Us is once again a fascinating mix of poetry, art, criticism and (personal) essay on the current state of race and racism in the United States. The title is (probably) adapted from a Richard Pryor quote Rankine also …
Citizen: An American Lyric
“because white men can’t police their imaginationblack men are dying” I reread Claudia Rankine’s Citizen: An American Lyric recently. Published in 2014, this poetic, artistic snapshot of Black life in the US is stunning in its impact and intellectual heft. The book is decidedly not written for white men like me, and can, maybe should make …
The responses were various. One man said he was moved by a reading I gave and wanted to do something to help me. I said I personally had a privileged life, which I do, and that I didn’t need his help. What I needed was for him—this was a white gentleman—to understand the urgency of …
trms: Claudia Rankine responds to Johari Osayi Idusuyi reading her book, “Citizen: An American Lyric,” at a Donald Trump rally. Video: Worlds collide: Reading poetry at a Donald Trump rally The Rachel Maddow Show segment linked above about the protest-through-poetry-reading is a really interesting recap of the action and a good (if slightly awkward) interview …
CLARITY AND CHAOS 