Books Interviews
Jess's Book Club Pick for December: The Force and the Reckoning by James Emanuel
By Jessica Schneider
Dec 1, 2007, 5:51 GMT

The Force and the Reckoning. What is it about? 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.”

Last month I recommended Emanuel’s book Whole Grain: The Collected Poems of James Emanuel 1958-1989. This month I am recommending his memoir The Force and the Reckoning.

If you visit Emanuel's publisher www.Lotuspress.org, it reads “Excellence in the Publication of Poetry by African Americans and Others Since 1972.”

The Force and the Reckoning tells the tale of Emanuel growing up in Alliance, Nebraska during The Great Depression, joining the CCC in Kansas, attending college, racism in the U.S. during that time, to writing his poetry, to finally moving to France.

Here is a sample poem from Whole Grain:

To Kill A Morning Spider:

Like a thick black pencil-mark
whipped suddenly across the pinewood floor,
his blot at the bed corner
leaped to my tightening shoe,
swelled into an eight-legged coil,
oozing fur, it seemed,
angering to be recognized
as spider. 

He quivered once, in a paroxysm
seized his stomach, gripped something there.
A tiny thing hopped from him, whirling-
just as my foot, clutching at itself,
smashed his eight legs.
The wheeling little thing, in pausing,
killed itself:
my shoe, an engine on its own,
crushed what was there. 

Such is surprise, is destiny:
a spider in disguise,
an insect fleeing,
and we watchers from our sleep awaking
to close their being.

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!