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Location : 長野県、日本

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Word Play [P-Low Prose] -

 

This is something I did really quick in response to my little sister Tee-Tee's poem: http://www.myspace.com/nitamosquita


Words

It is true, a harsh reality they may be
just words upon a page
but as for me, you may fail to see
that the words are like performers on a stage.

These elements of diction, truth and fiction, are my own Noun and verb
transformed into sentences and cultivated into meaning
Like a minstrel, traveling along, his song bystanders sometime heard
Words, dance in the mind, subtle, during quiet daydreaming

Make them up, and dress them up so that they may exist
these words, nouns and verbs, in which I like to play
their origin, an illusion performed by ventriloquist
Like puppets on strings, manipulated in some sort of way

Imagery, sometimes fallacy, modality of mind and heart,
Words. Sometimes they conflict, and sometimes they decieve
The truth of the matter, These words are actors, so play their part

But the show never goes the way the producer intended it to be.

[Prosaic Warrior-Monk P-Low]

 

- 2/28/2008

Black Writer's Dilemma -

I had to read this speech by Chester Himes in high school. I decided to read it again since February is Black History Month. Below is my interpretation of what Chester Himes was expressing during his speech at the University of Chicago
many years ago.

Dilemma of the Negro Novelist in the U.S.A describes in detail what black authors write about and the conflicts they face as a result of the content of their works. Black writers write to express intellectual and emotional experiences,
and to find their true meaning of existence through past hardships and struggles. These struggles, that were hard and painful, must be faced in order to bring a true, honest expression of black experiences to the public and the author.

The black writer is faced with the obstacle of finding a publisher. Most publishers feel that an honest interpretation of the black struggle is a bad business venture and probably would not consider a publishing contract with such an author. Next there is the non-profit, unprejudiced publisher who feels he is so in tune with the black
struggle that any honest portrayal of the black experience becomes a psychotic obsession that does not reflect that of the black race. The racially bias publisher will not publish any black writings unless it portrays a happy-go-lucky type Negro instead.

The black writer must also face the public. The public, middle classed African Americans) attack the black writer for telling the truth about past black experiences because they wish to hide, forget, or feel embarrassed by such truths
also they feel that these stories paint a negative image of the black race and therefore add to their struggle of conforming to the American ideal of life.

In regards to the white public, truth revealing works, force feelings of guilt onto white people who wish to evade such emotions and feelings. For the white liberalist, the guilty emotions brought out in them is rationalized through
their over sympathetic and exaggerated support for the black race. In contrast to those liberalists other whites simply euphonize their guilt through by fabricating petty and ridiculous excuses (blacks are savages)

The most extreme dilemma faced by the black author is the dilemma of hate. The black writer hates the white public because of the hardships and discrimination brought on by white racism. The black writer in turn hates themselves because they fear the discovery of their hate.

The Dilemma of the Negro Novelist in the USA describes the conflicts and aspects of the black writer, but also introduces a quality in the human spirit that wills people to go on, this quality is growth. As the black writer continues to grow they will discover that they are not alone and whey they learn that nothing is permanent, but forever changing, they will have a complete understanding of their knowledge of truth.

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I wonder how much of this is still true today. Do Black writers still have to face those same dilemmas that Chester Himes had to face during his literary career? Black culture is romanticized all over the world. Being black is cool. Even in Japan there is the "Black Style" or B形(B-kei) most of the kids do not even realize that the 'B' stands for black!

Black music and fashion is emulated by the youth of many cultures all over the world. Though I feel some of the images emulated by foreign youths tend to be some of the more negative aspects of 'Black Culture' . And is probably
the same feeling Du Bois had in regards to McKay's works in the past. Do we (black writers) play to the mainstream and over exaggerate our troubled past, do we feel ashamed about it? Do whites feel guilty when they read about the
struggles of blacks today? Do we hate others for emulating our culture or do we embrace it? Should we segregate American literature? Is African-american literature different from White-American literature? What is literature?

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Paul ヨリ☆彡 paul-harris@*****.jp

 

- 2/27/2008

Baldwin's Exile -
Why I left America is a conversation between the famous literary writer, James Baldwin and editorialist, Ida Lewis. Ms. Lewis, in her conversation, searches to find out why Baldwin left the United States in exile.

James Baldwin first left America in 1948, not in exile, but in order to save his life. When Baldwin left he did not have any specific location in which he desired to go. He simply left America and ended up in Paris. When he arrived in Paris he only had forty dollars and was scared, but his fate proved more positive than it had in America. In America Baldwin faced death, "real death". This death, Baldwin explains, "is sacrificing your life for the government while it steadily takes your life and your family's life."

Though Baldwin left America in order to escape death, he returned in 1957, even though he was still in danger of that death. Baldwin was getting tired of Paris, eating in cafes and explaining Little Rock and Tennessee while his friends, the Algerians, were being taken away and talked about during the Algerian war. This had shamed Baldwin and so he decided to come home.

Once back in the States, Baldwin achieved high literary status and became a spokesman for African-Americans. Baldwin had not wished to become a spokesman, but did. During that time he stayed in the public's eye. When it was all over he needed to find time to start his life over again because he no longer belonged to himself, but the public.

Baldwin once more left America, this time, for good so that he could finally get himself together. James Baldwin made his decision to leave for good after
Al-hajj Malik Al-Shabazz [Malcom X], Martin Luther King, Jr., Medgar Evars, John, Bobby, and Fred Hampton were all killed. James was the last witness to the civil rights movement and knew he could no longer stay in America.

James went to Israel where he learned a better understanding of Judaism. It also opened his eyes to why Israel was created-not for the Jews, but in order for the west(America) to keep its hands into the affairs of the middle east. From Israel Baldwin went to Turkey to flee from the pressures sparked by his writings and to be further away from the United States. In Instanbul Baldwin saw what it was like to interact with people who were not white, not black, and nobody cared about. He also saw what it was like for a country to be held victim to power politics and foreign aid. He saw western influence first hand and at work.

James Baldwin describes how no other race can be compared with the black race because they have not been through the same types of ordeals as the black race had during their growth in the United States. Baldwin says black people know
what no other people know because of the struggles blacks have faced and survived and that no other people in the world has ever encountered.

On the subject of family, Baldwin says that family is the reason he achieved what he did. If it were not for family, his brothers and sisters, he would have been on the streets. Taking care of his brothers and sisters kept Baldwin busy, he had no time to waste on the streets. Keeping his family off those streets was Baldwin's ultimate goal and inspiration-His will to succeed.

Lastly, James Baldwin explains what his meaning of black is: "What one has been forced to see through all pretentions and all the artifacts of the world that calls itself white." Baldwin also says of Black Pride: "its what kept his father going through hard times-it not new, it has always been here and for those that think it's new, it can be dangerous. Most people talking about Black Pride don't know what they are talking about."

James Baldwin is clearly disgusted at the ways of the western world. This along with his sudden writing popularity and the deaths of great black leaders caused him to flee from the U.S. He wanted to escape death and bring his life under control. During his time in exile, Baldwin developed strong views on western power, family, black pride, and the black race.
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I guess I would have left the U.S. during the civil rights movement if it had been possible. But at the same time, being a spokesman for the civil rights movement should have been an incentive for Mr. Baldwin to stay. Then again, after the assassination of civil rights leaders he felt he would be next. I totally agree with his opinion on the creation of Israel. Muslims and Jews lived in peace during the biblical days and even afterwards. But once the Yanks got their dirty fingers in the desert things changed. That is still continuing to this day. That is why I gladly
save my 7-11 gas coupons when I get them. I filled my tank up yesterday and it was 5,065 yen! I also understand what he means when he says no one can relate the African-American experience. The form of slavery and segregation of the
American black man is pretty much unique to the U.S.A. However, there are probably many other terrible historical events that we (black people) cannot relate too as well. But none-the-less, we have hurt the longest--to the point where it is engrained in our mind, heart, and spirit.

My final quote from Baldwin: "It is something the world denied and lied about, energy labeled savage, inferior, and insignificant."

The lies which Baldwin speaks of here are the same lies Chester Himes referred to that whites rationalize their guilt for the oppression of blacks where they labeled us as primitive, dangerous, disease ridden, etc…

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Paul ヨリ☆彡

 

- 2/27/2008

Beauty of the End [P-Low Prose] -

Twilight paints the sky
hilighted with hues and dyes

Tinted with colors that fade
On the canvas of life
these images are  made

fleeting memories of me
 
Death of spirit, slowly dyed black
Pass by the whites behind my eyes
unblinking and dry they no longer react.
Finally,  into mists they dissapate

Pains
Faliures
Loves
and
Hates

Bourne with the clouds and fade into the sea
Darkness
Wiped clean by the cloth
Now soiled with the past, those memories lost

Into the midts the rag is tossed
Eyes blink, as the last rain spills, dropped
Essence of life fills every molecule
within a single drop

The stain, once more,
Is dipped into the sky again

Color returns to the picture above
in a  single stroke of an  almighty brush
the light returns to do as it does

It bathes its light over me
Illuminating my sense of spirituality,
over me the lights fall and dance
the rays of the sun, like wisdom, so brilliant
Shinning me out of this fading existance.

---
ポール　・ハリス

 

- 2/27/2008