New Directions

Volume 2 | Issue 4 Article 8

10-1-1975

Book Review: The New York Head Shop andMuseumE. Ethelbert Miller

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Recommended CitationMiller, E. Ethelbert (1975) "Book Review: The New York Head Shop and Museum," New Directions: Vol. 2: Iss. 4, Article 8.Available at: http://dh.howard.edu/newdirections/vol2/iss4/8

34 Horton's first publication was reprintedas Poems of a Slave in Philadelphia in1837. Thefollowing year, it was boundwith poems by Wheatley and publishedin Boston. During this period, the styleof Horton's poetry changed, and in 1845another book, The Poetical Works, waspublished.

Richmond's book describes howHorton, in his bid for freedom, wroteletters to William Lloyd Garrison, theabolitionist editor of the Liberator, andto Horace Greeley, the celebrated editorof the New York Tribune, which heentrusted to Swain, who was thenpresident of the University of NorthCarolina. The letters are now includedin the papers of the university-neverhaving been mailed.

Horton obtained his freedom in 1865 onEaster Sunday as the Union soldiersmarched into North Carolina under thecommand of General William T.Sherman. Horton, then 68, did not waitin Chapel Hill, but walked to Raleigh tomeet the Army.

In 1866, after moving to Philadelphia,Horton made his first approach toBlacks for assistance in publishing hisworks. The Banneker Institute, a smallexclusive fraternity of educated Blackmen, turned him down. After that,there is no trace of him. The date andplace of his death are unknown, but it isbelieved that he died in 1883.

Both Wheatley and Horton weremarried, but neither mentions muchabout personal life. Wheatley could becalled the "Mother of Black Literaturein America"; Horton the "Father ofBlack Protest in America." But howBlack was Wheatley's poetry? Howmuch could Horton protest? Whiteshave compared Wheatley to AlexanderPope, and Horton to Edgar Allen Poe,neither has been acclaimed great in heror his own right.

One is left with the feeling thatcertainly Wheatley was not exemplary

of the slave woman. Many questions gowanting for answers: What was theplight of Northern slaves-particularlythe women? What was happening toWheatley psychologically? Was hersocialization such that she did notperceive herself as a member of theslave society, or for that matter anysociety?

1£Horton's life was in any wayrepresentative of slavery, then onewould deduce from this book thatSouthern slaves had time to actualizethemselves - after completing theirlaborious tasks. One would develop thebelief that the brutality in the Northwas mental rather than physical andthat slavery in the South was betterthan slavery in the North. From thistreatment, one should be thoroughlyconvinced that a few extraordinaryBlacks were able to pull themselves upby their imaginary bootstraps ... thatWheatley and Horton were and continueto be enigmas to the racist contentionthat Blacks are innately inferior.

The author gets into the psyche ofHorton and permits the reader to seeHorton ;).S a man striving to fulfill hisneeds. When confronted by barriers, onesees him devising methods to circum-vent these obstacles. His poetry gives asuggestion of power and imagination.

Wheatley's poetry demonstrates a suretaste. But based on the image ofWheatley the author allows the readerto see, one would certainly denouncethe Black Matriarch concept as a mythand a great misconception of the Blackfemale from an historical point.

The author crystalizes many ambigui-ties that have been long associated withthese two early Black American poets.The book more than adequately bringsto life the historical occurrences of theirperiod, and one is left feeling sad thatthese literary giants lived in the rightplace at the wrong time. One can onlybelieve that if these figures were

transposed into modem times, thevassal would surely soar.

Bid The Vassal Soar is easily readable.There is keenness in detail and sim-plicity in description. Richmond writesto the fullest measure all that thepoets allowed to be scrutinized. Sheseems to dwell more intensely onHorton than on Wheatley. However,this may be due to Horton's own candorin his poetry. A few portions of thebook move slowly, but the readershould not permit the slow passages tostand in his/her way of reading thisbook. 0

. The New York Head Shopand MuseumBy Audre LordeBroadside Press56pp. $3.50

Reviewed by E. Ethelbert MillerHopefully before this decade is over,someone will attempt a study of theinfluence of New York City on Blackpoetry. This study would offer addi-tional insight into the work of severalwell-known writers. Included amongthem would have to be Audre Lorde. Inher latest collection of poems she openswith lines that defy the Empire StateBuilding, The Bronx Zoo, RiversideDrive, Greenwich Village and all ofHarlem.

There is nothing beautiful left in thestreets of this city.

I have come to believe in death andrenewal by fire.

What is it like to live in New York? Askany skeleton or read Lorde who writes:

Have you ever risen in the nightbursting with knowledge and the

worlddissolves toward any listening earinto which you can pourwhatever it was you knewbefore wakingOnly to find all ears asleep 1

Miller: Book Review: The New York Head Shop and Museum

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or drugged perhaps by a dream ofwords

because as you scream into themover and over

nothing stirsdnd the mind you have reached is not

a working mindplease hang up and die again!

The mindyou have reached is not a workingmind

Please hang upAnd die again.

There is a need in this work for theauthor to make a long distance call. Herpoetry changes in tone and texturewhen she writes of things outside thecity of New York. She is funny in thepoem "My Fifth Trip to WashingtonEnded in Northeast Delaware." Humoris unusual for Lorde who has a tendencyto always be serious, and the poemoffers a pleasant and different emo-tional release. The poem "Visit To aCity Out of Time," which is about thecity of St. Louis, ends with a mysticalstatement that sounds like the wisdomof Gibran.

In timepeople who liveby riversdreamthey are immortal

Several poems in this book demandcloser attention. For instance, the poem"Naturally" is one whose quality forcesthe reader to genuflect and pray thatwhat was read was not actually seen."Naturally" is a poem which probablywould have found better acceptanceoutside the book. It is an importantpoem to note because it shows therange which Lorde covers in her book,which contains very good as well as'very poor poetry. "Naturally" is typicalof the type of poem that was written inthe late Sixties. It is a "Black isBeautiful" poem of elementary propor-tions. It begins:

Since Naturally Black is NaturallyBeautiful

I must be proudand, naturally,Black andBeautifulwho always was a trifleyellowand plainthough proudbefore.

The poem continues with Lorde givingup pomades and ends with a corny pun:

But I've bought my can ofNatural Hair Spray-made and marketed in Watts-still thinking moreProud Beautiful Black Womencould better make and useBlack bread.

"Naturally" and two other poems,"Song For a Thin Sister" and "BalladFrom Childhood," are not what oneexpects from Lorde-a poet who wasnominated in 1973 for the NationalBook Award for poetry.

The poem "Sacrifice" finds Lorde at herbest. So much of her mother knowledgecomes through. She writes in a mannerin which her words become a guidinglight for the young and a pillar for thosemature in years. It is instructional butnot didactic.

Pulling down statues of rock fromtheir high places

we must level the expectationupon which they standwaiting for usto fulfill their imagewaitingfor our feet to replace them

In "Revolution Is One Form of SocialChange," one is given a glimpse ofLorde's feminist outlook on life. Herviews are also captured successfully inthe poem, "To Marie, In Flight." In thispoem, her poetic interpretation of awoman's menstrual cycle gives newmeaning to a regular occurrence.

Forwomenperspective is more easily maintained.But something in my bodyteaches patienceis no virtueevery monthrenews its own destructionwhile my blood ragesfor proof

. or continuity.Audre Lorde is a strong woman; apowerful poet. The New York HeadShop and Museum, however, is onlyone indication of her strength. It isimportant to read some of her earliercollections (The First Cities, Cables toRage and From a Land Where OtherPeople Live) in order to better under-stand her. D

The reviewer is director of the Afro-AmericanStudies Research Center at Howard University.

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