You already know, and if you don’t you never will.
Clandestine Poems by Roque Dalton
Dalton is probably best known for Miguel Marmol, his recounting of the life of the famous Central American revolutionary. This volume of poetry, however, is something different, a way of exploring and acknowledging different facets of a wide ranging movement through one large piece.
Clandestine Poems is presented as a “project” complied by Dalton, with several different writers contributing. Under this guise, five different writers, all of which are really Dalton, have contributed several different poems for the mock-compilation. Styles, tone, and topics change with each different “writer,” but in general the poems address life, love, death, and politics.
It is a dated piece, but the idea is incredibly creative, and the poetry (this coming from someone who does not read a lot of poetry) is very entertaining and accessible. Rather than continue to describing someone’s poetry, I present you quickly with this piece, written under the pseudonym Jorge Cruz entitled “Watchtower”:
A religion that tells you there’s only pie in the sky
and all earthly life is lousy and vicious
and that you shouldn’t be too concerned
is the best guarantee that you’ll stumble at every step
and break your teeth and soul
against absolutely earthly rocks.
Simple, beautiful. And lucky for you, a good chunk of this poetry is available on different sites online, if you don’t feel like buying the book and just want to try some of Dalton’s work on for size.
IF YOU LIKE THIS, TRY: Miguel Marmol, by the same author.
Bad by James Carr
Bad is the autobiography of a man who George Jackson was quoted as calling “the baddest motherfucker.”
In Bad we follow Carr from his youth on the streets of South Central L.A. where he burned down his school at age nine, through his developmental stage as a petty thief and armed robber, to his eventual incarceration. While in jail, Carr met up with George Jackson , led the Wolf Pack prison gang, and jockeyed for power in the dangerous and racially charged atmosphere of the California jail system in the 1960’s.
In a way, Bad flirts with the well studied wild youth/incarceration/realization/redemption trajectory as similar books – Manchild in the Promised Land, Down these Mean Streets or even other “Panther Narratives” like Long Time Gone (ehhhh) or Revolutionary Suicide. What makes Bad unique, however, is the vicious nature of the protagonist, and the way that he tells his story without glossing over the gritty details of the terrible things he had done. While reading Bad,I never got the impression that James Carr was exaggerating or bragging, but that he was just one bad-ass “motherfucker” who is recounting his angry youth and the resulting damages.
If you have any interest in the Black Panthers, the California Penal system, Prison reform, George Jackson….this book is a must read.
IF YOU LIKE THIS, TRY: Manchild in the Promised Land by Claude Brown, Down these Mean Streets by Piri Thomas, Long Time Gone by William Lee Brent, Revolutionary Suicide by Huey P. Newton, Seize the Time by Bobby Seale, The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Alex Haley.
The Comedians by Graham Greene
I would have to say that Graham Greene is one of the unsung heroes of American literature. Nevermind the fact that he is British; his body of works which takes place in the Americas speaks for itself, and his range of locales – from Cuba, to Mexico, Haiti to El Salvador – explores the breadth of our continent, and makes Greene a priceless storyteller.
The Comedians takes place in the Haiti of Poppa Doc Duvalier, and follows the experiences of three men: Smith, a vegetarian philanthropist with aims on setting up vegetarian farms in Haiti; Jones, a con man and general liar attempting perhaps his largest score; and Brown, a reluctant hotel owner who is having an affair with a foreign ambassadors wife and who, despite all attempts to stay neutral, gets pulled into the affairs of Smith and Jones.
As with any Greene novel, there is a philosophical backing to the whole stage – at times transparent, but always well developed. The tone of the piece is dark, as might be expected of a novel written about Duvalier’s Haiti, but also comedic and irrevocably honest in its portrayal of the politics and social conditions of its particular setting…..after all, Greene must have been doing something right to have earned Duvalier’s ire.
IF YOU LIKE THIS, TRY: Our Man in Havana or The Power and the Glory by the same author.
