Poets for Young Adults: Their Lives and Works Mary Loving Blanchard Cara Falcetti Greenwood Press POETS FOR YOUNG ADULTS POETSPOETS FOR YOUNG ADULTS Their Lives and Works Mary Loving Blanchard and Cara Falcetti GREENWOOD PRESS Westport, Connecticut • London Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Blanchard, Mary Loving, 1952– Poets for young adults : their lives and works / Mary Loving Blanchard and Cara Falcetti. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0–313–32884–6 (alk. paper) 1. American poetry—Bio-bibliography—Dictionaries—Juvenile literature. 2. Poets, American—Biography—Dictionaries—Juvenile literature. I. Falcetti, Cara. II. Title. PS305.B57 2007 811'.009—dc22 [B] 2006029475 British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data is available. Copyright © 2007 by Mary Loving Blanchard and Cara Falcetti All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, by any process or technique, without the express written consent of the publisher. Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 2006029475 ISBN: 0–313–32884–6 First published in 2007 Greenwood Press, 88 Post Road West, Westport, CT 06881 An imprint of Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc. www.greenwood.com Printed in the United States of America The paper used in this book complies with the Permanent Paper Standard issued by the National Information Standards Organization (Z39.48–1984). 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 This book is dedicated to the memory of Cortney Jerome Rivers (1984–2005), a young poet whose light burned brightly. Contents List of Entries ix Preface xi Acknowledgments xv A–Z Entries 1 Selected Bibliography 273 Index 275 vii List of Entries Adoff, Arnold Fleischman, Paul Alvarez, Julia Fletcher, Ralph Angelou, Maya Forché, Carolyn Anzaldúa, Gloria Evangelina Frost, Robert Bishop, Elizabeth Giovanni, Nikki Blake, William Glenn, Mel Bontemps, Arna Wendell Grimes, Nikki Bradstreet, Anne Hagedorn, Jessica Tarahata Brewster, Martha Wadsworth Hall, Donald Brooks, Gwendolyn Elizabeth Holbrook, Sara Carroll, Lewis Hopkins, Lee Bennett Castillo, Ana Hughes, (James) Langston Clifton, Lucille Janeczko, Paul Cofer, Judith Ortiz Johnson, James Weldon Collins, Billy Keats, John Cullen, Countee Porter Kerouac, Jack Cummings, Edward Estlin Komunyakaa, Yusef Dickinson, Emily Elizabeth Kumin, Maxine Doolittle, Hilda (H. D.) L’Engle, Madeline Dove, Rita Lennon, John Dylan, Bob Livingston, Myra Cohn Emerson, Ralph Waldo Merwin, W.S. Erdrich, Louise Millay, Edna St. Vincent ix List of Entries Momaday, N(avarre) Scott Sandburg, Carl August Moore, Marianne Sexton, Anne Gray Harvey Morrison, Lillian Shakur, Tupac Amaru Myers, Walter Dean Shange, Ntozake Nash, (Frederick) Ogden Silko, Leslie Marmon Nelson, Marilyn Soto, Gary Nye, Naomi Shihab Stockton, Annis Boudinot Oates, Joyce Carol Toomer, Jean Okutoro, Lydia Omolola Trammell, Robert Parker, Dorothy Poe, Edgar Allan Turell, Jane Colman Reed, Ishmael Warren, Mercy Otis Rich, Adrienne Wheatley (Peters), Phillis Rylant, Cynthia Wong, Janet S. Sanchez, Sonia Young Bear (Ka ka to), Ray Anthony x Preface In Cultural Capital: The Problem of Literary Canon Formation, literary critic John Guillory observes that the problem of canonization is a problem of the syllabus and of the curriculum, which are the primary institutional forms by which great works are preserved and by which the school’s function— the dissemination of knowledge—might be realized. In contrast to the classroom, in which a select few of all available literary works are presented to students, Guillory credits libraries, given their function to pre- serve everything, with providing opportunities for students’ increased access to knowledge. Often excluded from such acts of preservation and dissemination are the texts of women writers and writers of color. Poets for Young Adults brings together in a single collection poets who represent 163 years of participation in the American literary tradition. Of the seventy-five poets included in this collection, forty-one, or a bit more than one-half, are women. Of that number, approximately seventeen, or a bit more than one-third, are women of color. Of the remaining thirty-four entries, all of which are concerned with the work of male poets, approxi- mately nine, or about one-fourth, provide biographical and bibliographical data, including primary as well as secondary source information, on men of color. The inclusion of these writers reflects the authors’ conscious efforts to highlight the texts of poets who may escape attention in the present-day classroom. Poets for Young Adults also showcases writers whose poetic voices announce the arrival of a generation of artists who are creating new forms or combining several genres to produce imaginative verse. To that end, readers will discover in these pages entries on poets Tupac Amaru xi Preface Shakur, John Lennon, Lydia Omolola Okutoro, Ntozake Shange, and Ray Anthony Young Bear. This reference guide for young scholars acknowl- edges as well the contributions of writers whose poetic voices recorded important moments in our country’s history. In that regard, we have com- piled entries on poets ranging from those who wrote during the colonial era to those writing about contemporary issues. Poets whose verse imag- ines a human experience free from subjugation or gives voice to cries of protest and to instances of witness are represented here in entries on Ishmael Reed, Carolyn Forché, Robert Trammell, Carl Sandburg, James Weldon Johnson, Jean Toomer, Mercy Otis Warren, Phillis Wheatley, and Jane Colman Turell. Poets for Young Adults includes within its pages entries on poets who immigrated to colonial America as well as poets who immigrated to con- temporary America. Selections on Annis Boudinot Stockton and on more recent immigrants such as Julia Alvarez and Jessica Hagedorn reveal sur- prising similarities in the imaginative verse produced by writers separated by a distance of more than one hundred years. The collection includes entries on poets who were lawyers or librarians. Some of the writers included here obtained advanced degrees in various fields, and many of them are or were teachers. Other poets received less in the way of tradi- tional preparation. Each poet included in this collection participated in creating a Western literary tradition that is still alive, thriving, and dynamic. Despite its emphasis, Poets for Young Adults is much more than a celebration of lesser-known poets. The text also includes biographical and bibliographical information on mainstream writers, acknowledged masters in the American and British literary traditions, including William Blake, Anne Bradstreet, Countee Cullen, Ralph Waldo Emerson, E. E. Cummings, Emily Dickinson, Gwendolyn Brooks, Robert Frost, John Keats, and Edgar Allan Poe. There are entries on poets who keep the old traditions alive even as they demonstrate inventiveness and daring. Young readers will discover in this collection descriptions of poets who employ traditional verse and meter along with articles on poets who explode and reinvent traditional forms. To that end, we include entries on poets Elizabeth Bishop, Gloria Anzaldúa, Maya Angelou, Hilda Doolittle, Yusef Komunyakaa, and Jack Kerouac. In recognition of the contemporary student’s ready access to data in an age of advancing technology, many entries include the poet’s home page or an Internet address for a site such as Poem Hunter, a delightful search engine that encourages young scholars to pursue additional research on a favorite poem or poet. xii Preface Young readers will find much to like in this collection. Although the poets included here come from a variety of backgrounds and produce imaginative verse that is diverse in its exploration of themes and its use of languages, imagery, sound, and voice, these poets were chosen for this col- lection precisely because those differences permit them to speak with a sin- gle voice from a myriad of cultures and identities. The poets included here have produced wildly wonderful, often silly, sometimes somber verse. Each voice is a single element in that complex mosaic known as the West- ern literary canon. xiii Acknowledgments Thanks to Debra Adams, who inherited the project. Both Poets for Young Adults: Their Lives and Works and its authors have been the beneficiaries of her guidance, support, and encouragement. Thanks as well to the copyedi- tor, Dave Mason, at Publication Services, who worked with us to finalize this project. A special thanks to the folks at the New York Public Library’s Teen Central, Books of Wonder, the J. Erik Jonsson Branch of the Dallas Public Library’s Young Adult Center, Young Audiences of North Texas, Black Images Book Bazaar in Dallas, and the Miller Branch Library in Jersey City for their efforts to help readers rediscover the pleasure of poetry. Thanks to the parents, the faculty, and the students of St. Francis of Assisi School in Queens County, New York, as well as to the parents, fac- ulty, and students at University Charter High School in Jersey City, New Jersey, and at W. E. Greiner Arts Academy in Dallas, Texas, for their energy, their commitment, and their love of poetry. Cara Falcetti sends an extra special thanks to friends Brian Selznick, Muriel Feldshuh, and Gerry Catoggio; to family members Kevin, Larry, Cathy, Felicia, and John for their good humor; to her children, Laura and Andrew, for their patience; and to her mom for putting books in her hands in the first place. Mary Loving Blanchard thanks New Jersey City University (Jersey City) for awarding her a research grant, which reduced her teaching load and allowed her to devote time to the completion of this project. Both authors wish to acknowledge the unsung poets whose imagina- tive verse fills our ordinary lives with extraordinary delight. xv Arnold Adoff Adoff(1935– ) Arnold Adoff’s contributions to the body of children’s and young adult liter- ature go beyond the books he has written and the collections he has antholo- gized. He is considered one of the primary forces in creating a base of multicultural works for young readers—a mission he started when he discovered few high-quality books available that depicted people from vari- ous racial and cultural backgrounds.