this / that...

from my anthology of must read (a)merican poems

Evie Shockley

bio / autography
(or, 18th-century multiculturalism)

found in africa / dawned in freedom
raised in boston / rose in slavery
schooled in greek / grew in god
published in england / died in poverty

                    for phillis wheatley

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The power of Shockley’s wonderful poem is its form, economy, witness ... and, above all, its yearning. Action verbs, opening both halves of each line, move together in a wonderful dance of tone and meanings. Shockley achieves the full scale of a life and the history before and after in four brief lines. This is a poem that must have drifted – over the rough field of two centuries – before a poet let it in. A model of perfection.

From the first morning I read this piece at Poetry Daily, the lines have refused to leave my head – not even for a moment. That must surely be one of the defining characteristics of great poetry.

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If you want more, read Shockley’s a half-red sea (Carolina Wren Press, 2006).