The reading this Wednesday at St. Mark's in promotion of SOS, Amiri Baraka's posthumous release from Grove Press, was an event that suffered from a case of "phantom-limb syndrome” in the words of Ammiel Alcalay. Alcalay was the first physically present speaker to grace the pulpit at St. Mark’s that evening. Just prior to his reading of poems from the new collection was a disembodied audio presentation by Thomas Sayers-Ellis: a haunting intermeshing of saxophone riffs, Baraka’s words being sung, and simultaneously recited by two distinct voices.
Ammiel Alcalay’s tribute focused upon the audience of the night.The “phantom-limb syndrome” that he spoke of was the absence of a full venue at St. Mark’s that night. He talked about how people took very “ambivalent views” of Baraka’s work.
Rachel Eliza-Griffiths also gave a passionate reading of Baraka’s poems including “A Poem for Neutrals” (SOS, p.55, 2015). She was reverent in her reading as well as somber.
David Henderson opened his portion of the night by pointing towards Amiri Baraka’s “politicized last few decades.” Speaking about Baraka’s post as Poet Laureate of his home state of New Jersey and his subsequent ouster after the release and reading of his poem “Somebody Blew Up America” in 2002.
Basil King an old friend of Baraka’s back when he was still “Roi Jones” gave a short narrative of being intoxicated with Baraka and read some of his more Blues inspired poetry.
Rickey Laurentiis was probably the most poignant speaker/reader of the night. Laurentiis said at the beginning that he “follow[ed] Baraka reluctantly.” It quickly became clear, with two pointed quotations from Alice Walker and James Baldwin, where the confliction came from. Much like the next speaker/reader Eileen Myles, Laurentiis focused on the poetics of homophobia in Baraka’s work. It was a powerful note for the evening that was part of fleshing out the “ambivalent views” that Alcalay had spoken of earlier.
The second to final speaker of the night was the Poetry Project’s own Simone White who presented three of Baraka’s poems with power and reverence that none of the other speaker/readers that night matched.
In his foreword to SOS Paul Vangelisti compares Baraka to Ezra Pound as, “one of the most important and least understood American poets of the past century.” Vangelisti’s comparison is provocative for both poets were full of political vinegar throughout the latter parts of their lives as well as being charged with anti-semitism and anti-americanism. The “ambivalent views” that Alcalay talks of are a consequence of art’s intersection with politics. Lots more people in the United States of America can stomach a poem than can stomach Marxist-Leninist ideology or Black Nationalism. Similarly lots more people can stomach a poem than can stomach Jewish caricatures and Homophobic verse. This dual nature to the politics (not the art) of Baraka’s poetry create a vacuum around it that one must reason with if one is to take Baraka’s Shadow upon one’s back and push poetry forward in his absence.
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