Transfigurations

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ISBN: 9780807126301 | 0807126306
Cover: Paperback
Copyright: 11/1/2000

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Few poets have as much to tell us about the intricate relationship between the African American past and present as Jay Wright. His poems weave a rich fabric of personal history using diverse materials drawn from African, Native American, and European sources. Scholarly, historical, intuitive, and emotional, his work explores territories in which rituals of psychological and spiritual individuation find a new synthesis in the construction of cultural values. Never an ideologue but always a poet of vision, he shows us a way to rejoice and strengthen ourselves in our common humanity.

Here, together for the first time, are Wright's previously published collections -- The Homecoming Singer (1971), Soothsayers and Omens (1976), Explications/Interpretations (1984), Dimensions of History (1976), The Double Invention of Komo (1980), Elaine's Book (1988), and Boleros (1991) -- along with the new poems of Transformations (1997). By presenting Wright's work as a whole, this collection reveals the powerful consistency of his theme -- a spiritual or intellectual quest for

THE HOMECOMING SINGER

Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting

(3)

The Baptism

(3)

Crispus Attucks

(1)

Billie's Blues

(1)

Feeding the Stove

(2)

The Fisherman's Fiesta

(1)

Jason's One Command

(2)

Two House Painters Take Stock of the Fog

(1)

Track Cleaning

(1)

The Hunting Trip Cook

(2)

The End of an Ethnic Dream

(1)

The Man from Chi

(1)

A Month in the Country

(1)

A Non-Birthday Poem for my Father

(4)

The Homecoming Singer

(2)

W.E.B. Du Bois at Harvard

(2)

II.

Moving to Wake at Six

(1)

The Mormon Missionaries

(1)

The Neighborhood House

(1)

Morning, Leaving Calle Gigantes

(2)

Chapultepec Castle

(1)

Jalapena Gypsies

(3)

Bosques de Chapultepec

(2)

Reflections Before the Charity Hospital

(4)

An Invitation to Madison County

(5)

III.

The Invention of a Garden

(1)

Preparing to Leave Home

(1)

Origins

(2)

The Player at the Crossroads

(2)

Death as History

(2)

The Crucifixion of the Vine

(1)

Historical Days

(1)

Variations on a Theme by LeRoi Jones

(4)

Idiotic and Politic

(2)

My Mother Dances on the Jut of God's Good Hip

(2)

Destination: Accomplished

(2)

Pastel

(1)

IV.

The Regeneration

(1)

Night Walk

(2)

First Principles

(3)

A Nuer Sacrifice

(1)

The Desert Revival

(2)

Collection Time

(2)

Sketch for an Aesthetic Project

(3)

Beginning Again

(7)

SOOTHSAYERS AND OMENS

The Charge

(3)

The Appearance of a Lost Goddess

(1)

Sources (1)

(1)

Sources (2)

(2)

Sources (3)

100

(1)

Sources (4)

101

(1)

Sources (5)

102

(1)

Sources (6)

102

(1)

Benjamin Banneker Helps to Build a City

103

(4)

Benjamin Banneker Sends His ``Almanac'' to Thomas Jefferson

107

(3)

II.

Entering New Mexico

110

(3)

The Master of Names

113

(3)

The Faithful One

116

(1)

The Albuquerque Graveyard

117

(1)

Family Reunion

118

(2)

Baptism in the Lead Avenue Ditch

120

(4)

Night Ride

124

(2)

III.

The Sense of Comedy: I

126

(1)

The Museums in Chapultepec

126

(1)

Walking Chapultepec

127

(1)

Meeting Her in Chapultepec

127

(1)

Inside Chapultepec Castle

128

(1)

The Birthday

129

(1)

Jason Visits His Gypsy

130

(2)

The Death of an Unfamiliar Sister

132

(2)

Homecoming

134

(3)

IV. Second Conversations with Ogotemmeli

Ogotemmeli

137

(1)

Beginning

138

(1)

The First Word

139

(2)

The Second Word

141

(2)

The Third Word

143

(1)

The Smith

144

(1)

The Sanctuary

145

(2)

Lebe

147

(2)

Binu

149

(1)

Altars and Sacrifice

150

(3)

The Dead

153

(6)

EXPLICATIONS/INTERPRETATIONS

Tensions and Resolutions

159

(2)

Polarity's Trio

Zones

161

(1)

Corrida

162

(1)

San Diego's Dispossession

163

(2)

Harmony's Trio

The Continuing City: Spirit and Body

165

(1)

The Measure

166

(2)

The Sunset's Widow

168

(2)

The Body

170

(8)

Twenty-Two Tremblings of the Postulant

178

(13)

MacIntyre, the Captain and the Saints

191

(14)

Love's Dozen

The Ritual Tuning

205

(1)

Love in the Water, Love in the Stone

206

(1)

Love in the Iron and Loom

207

(1)

Love as Heaven's Nostalgia

208

(1)

Anagnorisis

208

(1)

Transcendent Night

209

(1)

Love in the Weather's Bells

210

(1)

The Crosses Meet

211

(1)

Love Plumbs to the Center of the Earth

212

(3)

The Unwedding of the Magdalene of the Vine

215

(1)

Love's Coldness Turns to the Warmth of Patience

216

(1)

New Adam's Cross

217

(1)

Love as the Limit and Goal

218

(2)

Inscrutability

220

(41)

DIMENSIONS OF HISTORY

The Second Eye of the World: The Dimension of Rites and Acts

The Eye of God: The Soul's First Vision

230

(9)

The Key That Unlocks Performance: Vision as Historical Dimension

239

(14)

The Second Eye of the World

253

(8)

Modulations: The Aesthetic Dimension

Rhythm, Charts and Changes

Teponaztli

261

(1)

Atabaque

262

(1)

Bandola

263

(4)

Huehuetl

267

(1)

Areito

268

(3)

Joropo

271

(1)

Lundu

271

(1)

Son

272

(1)

Tamborito

273

(2)

Vela

275

(1)

Villancico

276

(2)

Pututu

278

(1)

Maracas in Merengue

279

(1)

Bambuco

280

(2)

The Body Adorned and Bare

Cacahuatl: The Craft of a Bead Rosary

282

(1)

The Craft of the Trumpet Shell Bracelet

283

(1)

The Craft of Beating Cloth

284

(1)

Agave

284

(1)

Missangas

285

(1)

The Hat

286

(1)

Choosing My Shoes

286

(1)

The Body Bare

287

(4)

Retablos

Nino de Atocha

291

(1)

El Cristo Negro

292

(1)

Mater Dolorosa

293

(1)

Saint Gertrude

294

(1)

Logbook of Judgments

What Is Good

295

(2)

What Is True

297

(1)

What Is Beautiful

298

(1)

Meta-A and the A of Absolutes

299

(17)

Landscapes: The Physical Dimension

301

(15)

THE DOUBLE INVENTION OF KOMO

The Invocation

316

(1)

Prefigurations: First Instance of the Field, First Instance of Voice

316

(5)

The First Figure of the Stair, the First Casting

321

(1)

The Eleven Altars Dance in the Wood

322

(14)

The First Return, the First Presentation of Instruments

336

(2)

The Opening of the Cycle of Redemption

338

(12)

The Abstract of Knowledge/the First Test

350

(14)

The Initiate Takes His First Six Signs, the Design of His Name

364

(9)

The Opening of the Ceremony/the Coming Out of Komo

373

(50)

ELAINE'S BOOK

Veil, I

423

(1)

Seals, I

423

(1)

Seals, II

424

(1)

Hathor

425

(1)

The Origin of Mary in a Cathedral Choir

426

(1)

Yemanja

427

(1)

Zapata and the Egungun Mask

428

(15)

Confrontation

443

(1)

Guadalupe-Tonantzin

444

(8)

Tlazolteotl

452

(3)

Confrontation

455

(1)

The Lake in Central Park

456

(1)

Confrontation

457

(1)

Ann Street

458

(1)

Cornelia Street

458

(2)

Confrontation

460

(1)

Confrontation

461

(1)

Confrontation

462

(1)

Guadalajara

463

(2)

Lisboa

465

(1)

Madrid

466

(3)

Confrontation

469

(1)

Confrontation

470

(1)

Orchid

471

(1)

Passionflower

472

(1)

Dandelion

473

(1)

Confrontation

474

(1)

Confrontation

475

(1)

Confrontation

476

(1)

The Anatomy of Resonance

477

(5)

Journey to the Place of Ghosts

482

(2)

Saltos

484

(1)

The Power of Reeds

485

(2)

Desire's Persistence

487

(8)

BOLEROS

495

(1)

496

(1)

497

(1)

498

(1)

498

(2)

500

(2)

502

(1)

503

(1)

504

(1)

505

(1)

506

(1)

507

(1)

(Erato ↔ khat)

508

(1)

(Calliope ↔ sahu)

509

(3)

(Euterpe ↔ ab)

512

(1)

(Thalia ↔ ka)

513

(1)

(Melpomene ↔ ba)

514

(5)

(Polyhymnia ↔ khaibit)

519

(3)

(Clio ↔ khu)

522

(1)

(Terpsichore ↔ sekhem)

523

(2)

(Urania ↔ ren)

525

(3)

Saints' Days

Nuestra Senora de la Paz (January 24th)

528

(1)

Nuestra Senora de Lourdes (February 11th)

528

(2)

San Juan de Dios (March 8th)

530

(1)

San Anselmo (April 21st)

530

(3)

Corpus Christi (May 25th)

533

(2)

San Pedro/San Pablo (June 29th)

535

(2)

Santa Cristina (July 24th)

537

(1)

Santa Clara (August 12th)

538

(3)

Nuestra Senora de Los Remedios (September 24th)

541

(3)

San Rafael Arcangelo (October 24th)

544

(2)

San Diego (November 13th)

546

(2)

Santa Barbara (December 4th)

548

(2)

New England Days

The White Deer

550

(2)

Indian Pond

552

(1)

553

(2)

Sources and Roots

555

(1)

556

(1)

557

(1)

Coda I

558

(1)

Coda II

558

(1)

Coda III

558

(3)

TRANSFORMATIONS

The Navigation of Absences: An Ode on Method

561

(2)

The Emerald Sound in Kagame's Kairos

563

(3)

Seguidilla with a Double Heart

566

(1)

Naming the Asturian Bird

567

(2)

The Bullring at the Quinta Real, Zacatecas

569

(1)

Leaving the Buenos Aires Cemetery

569

(1)

Rewriting the Light

570

(1)

The Buried Barn's Own Nocturn

570

(1)

Another Hymn to Trees: Juniper and Pine

571

(1)

Compassion's Bird

571

(2)

Restaurant Bonaparte, Rue St. Francois Xavier, on a Rainy Day

573

(1)

Mid-Spring, Coming into Buenos Aires

574

(1)

The Anti-Fabliau of Saturnino Orestes ``Minnie'' Minoso

574

(22)

A Cowry Rispetto

596

(1)

Popper's Dilemma

596

(2)

Ntu and Emerald: The Day Divine

598

(2)

The Metaphysics of Sorrow

600

(1)

Love's Augustine or, What's Done Is Donne

600

(2)

The Economy of Power

602

(1)

Dreaming: Rhythm I: [Monday]

603

(2)

The Fall into Love's Atmosphere

605

(1)

Ecstasy, Bird and Oak

606

(1)

Don Jose Gorostiza Encounters el Cordobes

607

(2)

The Cradle Logic of Autumn

609

(1)

Braving the Fork in the Road

610

(2)

The Healing Improvisation of Hair

612

(1)

Intuition: Figure and Act

613

(1)

January, Love, and the Galician

614

(2)

Lichens and Oranges

616

(1)

The Hieroglyph of Irrational Space

617

(2)

Coda IV

619

(1)

Coda V

619

(1)

Coda VI

619

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Transfigurations

Summary

Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials