Monday, 19 February: Safiya Henderson-Holmes, “Friendly Town #1,” UA 292-93.

Reader: Pam Richey

Her Story:  She was born Sharon E. Henderson and grew up in the Bronx.  Though her initial degree was a B.S. in physiotherapy in the seventies; her interest in literature manifested itself in MFA in creative writing.  She was a writer and a performer as well as a poet.  "Safiya Henderson-Holmes gives us spine and joy…with a surety of craft that cannot fail to swell and, rising, captivate the open, political heart of America." -June Jordan

Poetry Reading: UA pp. 292-3, read by Pamela Richey

Course Objectives:

1b- “Voiceless: therefore choiceless”

Ø     The speaker is one of the children, but he/she does not say anything out loud. 

Ø     The only one who speaks is the counselor.

Ø     The only children who are heard are Paulette and Edward, and they do not speak.

2b- “… class as a repressed subject of American discourse.”

Ø     The children are specifically referred to as “forty/ seven inner city tens”.  They are described as “pulsing centers of blueblack/ of brownbeige faces…”

Ø     Their schools are described “crowded.”

Ø     In contrast, the counselor is described as blonde with perfect teeth. (line 21-3)

Ø     The speaker tries to compare the animals he/she knows (dogs and cats fighting, birds that can not fly) to the country animals. (lines 38-42)

2c- “What is the … relation to … dominant institutions?”

Ø     The children are being taken to a day camp; they are “…escaping in twos…”

Ø     There are images of institutions, such as charity and federal support, throughout the poem.  i.e. lunches in white paper bags, white sticker labels on the children.

Ø     The counselor is detached from the students, she has to count “…three times before the bus left the corner…” to make sure all the children are there. 

Ø     The counselor’s final outburst reveals her distrust of the students on the bus.  “—my god—she said—i thought/ it was a gun.”

5e- “…how all speakers and writers may use common devices of human language to make poetry.”

Discussion:

1.     Both “Friendly Town # 1” and “Failure of an Invention” by Safiya Henderson-Holmes have been read and discussed in class.  Neither poem uses capitalization.  Do you think this is merely stylistic or is the poet using this device to convey a deeper message?  What might that message be?

2.     Several of the children are described in the poem either through physical attributes or actions.  Is there significance to their descriptions?

3.     What do the last few lines in the poem imply, “…imagined dogs barking/ their teeth chasing our bus.”?

Works Cited:

Gillan, Maria, and Jennifer Gillan. Eds. Unsettling America: An Anthology of Contemporary Multicultural Poetry. New York: Penguin, 1994.

Info safiya Henderson-holmes obituary.  April 25, 2001.  Topica.  February 19, 2007  http://lists.topica.com/lists/e-drum/read/message.html?mid=1602488503&sort=d&start=1474

Kitchen Schedule: February 2000.  The Kitchen.  February 19, 2007  http://www.thekitchen.org/past/00-02-Schedule.html