Category Archives: lyric

Brazil: Karen Tei Yamashita, Elizabeth Bishop

Posted on April 24, 2013 by wcd2

April 24, 2013 Both write about human efforts that come to nothing. Bishop’s Manuelzinho begins bravely, planting gardens that ravish the eye: beds of cabbages edged with red carnations, lettuces with alyssum. But then “silver umbrella ants arrive,/ or it … Continue reading →

Posted in Americas, Asian-American literature, Brazil, Contemporary novel, Environmentalism, Ethnicity, Genre, Global South, indigenous communities, lyric, Magical realism, Poetry, Science fiction, Twentieth century literature, world literature | Tagged Brazil, Cain, Elizabeth Bishop, Karen Tei Yamashita, Manuelzinho, Matacao, Through the Arc of the Rain Forest | Leave a comment

Ralph Ellison, Marianne Moore: Yams and Nectarines

Posted on January 16, 2013 by wcd2

January 16, 2013 The yams are as real as anything in Invisible Man. The mere smell of them sends a “stab of swift nostalgia” coursing through the protagonist. The years of his life seem so many yams eaten: candied, … Continue reading →

Posted in African-American literature, China, Chinese art, Ethnicity, Food in literature, Gender, lyric, Poetry, Twentieth century literature | Tagged China, Invisible Man, Marianne Moore, Nine Nectarine and Other Porcelain, Ralph Ellison, The World's Geography | 2 Comments

Muriel Rukeyser, Wallace Stevens: Books of the Dead

Posted on December 26, 2012 by wcd2

December 26, 1012 There’s a picture of the two of them – Stevens standing at the back, and Rukeyser seated in front with Marianne Moore. To the left of him from where they were, and to the left of … Continue reading →

Posted in Africa, Classics, Egypt, Environmentalism, Experimental poetry, Global South, Journalism, Labor history, lyric, Poetry, print medium, Race, Remediation, Translation, Twentieth century literature, Vernacular dialects | Tagged Book of the Dead, Dante, Egypt, Henry Church, Homer, investigative journalism, Marianne Moore, Muriel Rukeyser, Owl in the Sarcophagus, silica mines, U.S.1, Underworld, Virgil, Wallace Stevens, West Virginia | Leave a comment

Jack Kerouac: Mexico City Blues

Posted on October 3, 2012 by wcd2

October 3, 2012 “The immense triangular arc from New York to Mexico City to San Francisco”: Jack Kerouac writes in The Dharma Bums. After two publishers turned down On the Road in quick succession, Kerouac went to Mexico in a … Continue reading →

Posted in African-American music, Americas, Arts communities, Cities, Experimental poetry, Genre, Global South, jazz, Latin America, lyric, Media, mexico, Modernist poetry, Music, peripheral networks, Publishers, Spanish, Twentieth century literature, YouTube videos | Tagged Dharma Bums, Jack Kerouac, Jazz poetry, mexico city, New York, Paris Review, San Francisco, Ted Berrigan, William Burroughs | Leave a comment

Maya Angelou, Walt Whitman: Songs of Myself

Posted on September 19, 2012 by wcd2

September 19, 2012 As of today, “Still I Rise” has 743,494 views on YouTube. There are 1,113 comments, some vituperative, including this one: “What the fuck kind of poetry is this? John Milton would rise from the dead to kill … Continue reading →

Posted in African-American literature, African-American music, contemporary poetry, digital platforms, Genre, Interdisciplinarity, lyric, Media, Music, Nineteenth-century literature, Race, slavery, Twentieth century literature, YouTube videos | Tagged Calypso, Dante, Italian Opera, Leo Logic, Maya Angelou, Milton, Rap Genius, Song of Myself, Still I Rise, Whitman | Leave a comment

Seamus Heaney: More Strange Fruit

Posted on August 8, 2012 by wcd2

August 8, 2012 This week I’ve been listening to many versions of “Strange Fruit”: Nina Simone, Jeff Buckley, Gil Evans and the Sting. I have to say: I still prefer Billie Holiday. But I had no idea Seamus Heaney also … Continue reading →

Posted in African-American literature, collaboration, Comparative literature, contemporary poetry, Diaspora, Gender, globe, Irish literature, lyric, Modernist poetry, Music, Race, Racial violence, Remediation, Rock music, slavery, Translation, twentieth century art, Twentieth century literature, World history, world literature, YouTube videos | Tagged " Jutland, " Seamus Heaney, "Punishment, "Strange Fruit, Billie Holiday, Denmark, Gil Evans, Jeff Buckley, Nina Simone, North (1975), Northern Ireland, the Sting | 6 Comments

Billie Holiday, Abel Meeropol: Black/Jewish Strange Fruit

Posted on July 25, 2012 by wcd2

July 25, 2012 Billie sang it, but the music and lyrics were Abel’s. He had first written it as a poem, after seeing the photograph of the lynching of Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith in Indiana on August 7, 1930. … Continue reading →

Posted in adaptation, Black-Jewish alliances, Cities, collaboration, Educational institutions, Ethnicity, Jewish literature, lyric, Media, Music, Newspapers, print medium, Publishers, Race, Racial violence, slavery, Twentieth century literature | Tagged " Café Society, "Strange Fruit, Abel Meeropol, Abram Smith, Billie Holiday, Columbia Records, Commodore, Ethel and Julius Rosenberg, Indiana, Lady Sings the Blues, Laura Duncan, Lewis Allan, Madison Square Garden, New York Teacher, Robert and Michael Meeropol, Sonny White, Thomas Shipp | 4 Comments

Richard Wright, Count Basie, Paul Robeson: Collaboration that Happened and Collaboration that Didn’t

Posted on July 18, 2012 by wcd2

July 18, 2012 Richard Wright had always liked boxing, but what intrigued him most of all was probably the personality of Joe Louis – “King Joe” – the world heavyweight boxing champion for more than 11 years, defending his title … Continue reading →

Posted in Africa, African-American literature, Afro-Asian alliances, Asia, Cities, collaboration, Ethnicity, Global South, Interdisciplinarity, jazz, lyric, macro politics, Media, Music, Newspapers, peripheral networks, planet, Sports, Twentieth century literature, world literature | Tagged " FDR, "King Joe, Adam Clayton Powerll, Bandung Conference, boxing, Count Basie, Daily Worker, Ganges, Hitler, Joe Louis, Max Baer, Max Schmeling, Nazism, Niger, Nile, Okeh Records, Paul Robeson, Richard Wright, State Department, Yangtze, Yankee Stadium | 2 Comments

Street Scene: Langston Hughes, Kurt Weill, Elmer Rice

Posted on July 11, 2012 by wcd2

July 11, 2012 It started out as a play by Elmer Rice: a Broadway run of 601 shows, the Pulitzer Prize in 1929, the movie in 1931. Kurt Weill saw it in Berlin, both the play and the film, and … Continue reading →

Posted in adaptation, African-American literature, Arts communities, Broadway plays, Cities, collaboration, Dance, Ethnicity, film medium, Interdisciplinarity, jazz, lyric, Media, Modernist poetry, Music, Remediation, Theater, Twentieth century literature, world literature, YouTube videos | Tagged " Anna Sokolow, " Life Magazine, "Lonely House, "Moon-faced, Abbey Lincoln, Berlin, blues, Broadway, Elmer Rice, Harlem, jazz, Kurt Weill, Langston Hughes, Musical Digest, Pultizer Prize, Starry-Eyed, Street Scene | 9 Comments

Jazz in Australia: Yusef Komunyakaa, Charlie Parker

Posted on May 22, 2012 by wcd2

May 22, 2012 I’m heading there later today, so I’ve been doing a bit of homework. Komunyakaa, of course: it’s so strange that I should be talking about his play adaptation of Gilgamesh at the University of Sydney, when there … Continue reading →

Posted in adaptation, Arts communities, Australia, collaboration, Comparative literature, contemporary poetry, Cuneiform, Educational institutions, epic, Ethnicity, Global South, Handwritten script, lyric, Media, Mesopotamia, Middle East, Music, Near Eastern poetry, peripheral networks, planet, print medium, Remediation, twentieth century art | Tagged " Charlie Parker, "Testimony, Austraiia, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Dexter Gordon, February in Sydney, Gilgamesh, jazz poetry anthology, Louis Armstrong, Mandy Sayer, Melbourne International Festival of the Arts, Miles Davis, Sand Evans, Sydney Opera House, Thieves of Paradise, University of New Orleans, University of Sydney, Yusef Komunyakaa | 8 Comments