Books Interviews
Jess's Book Club Pick for November: Whole Grain by James A. Emanuel
By Jessica Schneider
Nov 1, 2007, 1:00 GMT

Emanuel can be argued as “The Greatest Neglected Poet of the 20th Century.” More can be read on Emanuel in this great, in-depth interview here.

As the introduction to the interview states, “this [Interview] will likely be the most historically important one. This is not because this interview is leagues above the others, in terms of quality- although it is surely on par with the best of the rest, but because the four other writers have had so many interviews published in print and online, while this is the first and only in depth interview with this great writer. This adds to its truly historic literary significance, and will prove invaluable for scholars, historians, and researchers of the man’s art in the future.”

For any lover of poetry, and especially great poetry, I recommend Emanuel’s book Whole Grain: The Collected Poems of James Emanuel 1958-1989.

The book is running for $25, courtesy of Lotus Press. If you visit www.Lotuspress.org, it reads “Excellence in the Publication of Poetry by African Americans and Others Since 1972.”

The founder of Lotus Press, Naomi Long, was kind enough to send out several copies of Whole Grain for review--some which will be published on M&C.

Here is a sample poem from Whole Grain:

For A Farmer

Something slow moves through him, watched by hills.
Something low within each rock receives
His noonday wish, then crumbles rich; so fills
Each furrow that the prairie year upheaves.
His arm has lain with boulders. His copper hand
Has mused on roots, uncaring of barbed wire.
His fist has closed on thistle, and dug the land
For corn October snows have whelmed entire.
Something flows within him in stubborn streams,
And in the parted foliage something lives
In upright green, stirred by the rhythmic gleams
Of his hoe and spade. From worn-out arms he gives;
The earth receives, turns all his pain to soil,
Where he believes, and testifies through toil.

I encourage readers to seek out this book, visit www.Lotuspress.org, as well as visiting the interview with James Emanuel.

This would make a great holiday gift, so order yours today!