Contemporary Poetry

: a web symposium  |  Spring 2006

Jay Wright, one of the foremost African-American poets of all time was born in 1935 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. A very talented narrative poet, most of his work was written in the turbulent 1960s and 70s when racism in the United States was at its peak. Along with his contemporaries Amiri Baraka and Robert Hayden, a great deal of Wright’s work dealt with issues of race, and more specifically identity in race. His debut book of poems, The Homecoming Singer does just that, introducing the reader to African American culture through historically important figures, autobiographical information, and gripping portraits about African American struggle. Wright’s poems are not standard rhyming poems, and a great deal of them read like a story. These narrative poems are Wright’s true voice and help the reader get a better idea of the history that fueled this poems. A great deal of Wright’s works were inspired by the heroes and pioneers of African-American perseverance, such as W.E.B. Du Bois, and Crispus Attucks. Through his emotional narrative poems Wright actively pursues identity through historical and social commentaries, relying on the past to tell the reader things about the future, which is the project of his poetry.

There is an old saying that in order to know where you are going, you have to know where you have been, and when that statement is applied to Jay Wright’s poetry in The Homecoming Singer, it holds true. The historically charged poems that have to deal with African American figureheads help Wright to develop an identity of strength and unity in African American culture. However, some images in Wright’s poems take a darker tone and give the reader an idea of doom when it comes to African American society. A poem like “The Neighborhood House” doesn’t act as an uplifting tale whatsoever, while poems like “Beginning Again” act as a somber outlook for the future of African American people. This is due to the fact that these poems were written in possibly the most volatile period of hate in the 20 th century, when black people were thought to be inferior to everyone else, so perhaps this is why Wright feels that there is little hope for the future of the African American people in the middle of the century.

At first, Wright seems to feel that black people have no real grip on their place in life, referring to the “mysteries of being black” in the poem “Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting”. Clearly due to the inferior treatment, a lot of African Americans had a rough time adjusting to their own culture, as they were new to the United States. It is because of this that Wright draws back to the prominent figures throughout history in order to help illuminate the foundation of African American culture in an attempt to rally his readers into having pride about their heritage.

One of Wright’s poems that deal with an African American hero is his poem entitled “Crispus Attucks”. Attucks was killed in the Boston Massacre, and after his death was viewed as a martyr for political freedom. This is an important figure for Wright to cover due to the fact that Attucks was around from the beginning of when America first became a country, emphasizing African American people’s importance to the struggle that all Americans had to deal with. Wright knows that Attucks really doesn’t have a recognized place in history when he writes lines like, “sometimes we forget you”. Wright says that we forget Attucks when we think of the Englishmen with muskets in the Revolutionary War era. Wright is basically saying that if the overlooked Attucks is viewed as a freedom fighter, than he deserves a place in not just black history, but American history as well. Wright then goes on to portray Attucks as a hero saying, “The flag dipping in your hands, / your crafted boots / hammering up the unclaimed streets.” Lines like this use imagery to paint a very patriotic picture of a person who was not afraid to die for his beliefs.

If Crispus Attucks was the forefather of African American identity, then W.E.B. Du Bois was the person that was passed the torch. Du Bois helped found the NAACP and was the first African American to receive a doctorate from Harvard. As much as Wright praises Attucks for his patriotism and bravery, he praises Du Bois for his intellectual achievement and leadership. In the poem “W.E.B. Du Bois at Harvard”, Wright describes Du Bois’s hardships that he was forced to endure as the only African American student. To illustrate some hardships that Du Bois faced, Wright uses lines such as, “The bells push you / toward the teasing dons.” These boys were obviously making racially charged jokes towards Du Bois for no reason except for the color of his skin, and Wright respects his perseverance to perform exceptionally at Harvard while having to deal with torment day in and day out. Wright uses darker terms such as “fledgling history” in an attempt to illustrate how under appreciated Du Bois was. Perhaps Jay Wright feels as if Du Bois’ scholarly achievement is just another sidenote in African American history instead of being a benchmark for everyone to strive for.

Once Wright is done covering the importance of African American historical figures, he turns his attention towards more contemporary issues, aiming towards the future in an effort to speak out and be socially conscious. Much like Du Bois’ “fledgling history”, Wright gives the readers the idea that African American culture in general is fleeting. Poems such as “The Neighborhood Home” and “Beginning Again” feature Wright lamenting over the state of African Americans currently and in the future. Each of these poems has something to say about the state of African American affairs.

The darker of the two poems is clearly “The Neighborhood Home”, a narrative that has a lot of dark imagery in it and gives the reader an idea of death in the poem. Wright paints the community as the proverbial concrete graveyard with lines like, “It looks bombed-out here. / Bricks jut up like stubbled old men”. This image of destruction and nothingness can be looked at as a metaphor for the African American situation in the 1960s and 1970s. There is a more somber tone being taken here, as if the struggles of the African American leaders in the past are so overlooked that their descendants have lost hope. The desolate nature of the neighborhoods depressing and downright sad, considering the great achievements that were attained by the people at the front of African American culture and history.

The final poem in the book has this same kind of theme in it. In “Beginning Again” Wright examines the history and legacy of African Americans, and describes to the reader a fleeting legacy. Wright compares his history to that of a bird saying, “My history is like a bird’s / flying away, nesting / wherever sun and some small / charity are offered to me.” Wright is insinuating that African American history is not a sweeping history, but instead a passing history, with isolated heroes, moments, and events. Isolated heroes like Du Bois, and Attucks are overlooked in African American history, and because of this, Wright feels as if African American history in general is “flying away”. It seems as if the only way to prevent this is to teach about the not so well known pioneers of black leadership, and Wright would agree with this.

Jay Wright is a very important figure in African American poetry. His social commentary and narrative poem style help him relay his message to the reader. Wright is saying that it seems as if some African Americans have forgotten about their own culture and history, which is something that should never happen to any ethnic group. One must know his or her own history to truly grasp his or her identity, and the struggle and search to find identity is what drives Wright to write his poems. A lot of his poems read almost like speeches, as if Wright is the spokesperson for African American history, calling to arms African American people in an effort to bring unity to his race. This is very commendable and through Wright’s poetry, the past, present, and future of the African American heritage is described and respected.

Wright, Jay. Soothsayers and Omens. Seven Woods, 1976.

Wright, Jay. Selected Poems of Jay Wright . Princeton University Press, 1987.

Wright, Jay. Explications/Interpretations. University of Kentucky, 1984.