{"id":263,"date":"2009-08-01T00:51:48","date_gmt":"2009-08-01T04:51:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jennsjournal.com\/blog\/?p=263"},"modified":"2009-08-01T01:00:31","modified_gmt":"2009-08-01T05:00:31","slug":"review-of-tyehimba-jess-leadbelly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jennsjournal.com\/blog\/2009\/08\/01\/review-of-tyehimba-jess-leadbelly\/","title":{"rendered":"Review of Tyehimba Jess\u2019s Leadbelly<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tyehimba Jess\u2019s Leadbelly<\/em> is a poetic exploration of the life of Huddie \u201cLead Belly\u201d Ledbetter. <\/p>\n

Ledbetter was, as noted by The Lead Belly Foundation, \u201ca musical giant [and] a legend\u2026remembered as the \u2018King of the 12-String Guitar.\u2019\u201d Leadbelly<\/em> is very much a biography told through verse. Jess explores each phase of Ledbetter\u2019s life by using all manner of poetry, including prose, letters, dialogue, lyricism, and persona. By inhabiting the voices of various characters, Jess is able to bring Ledbetter\u2019s fascinating existence to life, while examining cultural issues such as racism, stereotypes, and classism. Ultimately, Leadbelly<\/em> leaves the reader with a clear sense of certain moments of Ledbetter\u2019s self and environment, even while it paradoxically leaves the reader wanting to learn more about this influential musician.<\/p>\n

The first poem in Leadbelly<\/em> conveys how Ledbetter got started with guitar lessons as a 12-year-old:<\/p>\n

\u201ci’d tote up from the swollen center of guitar,
\nits catch and slide caught between palms
\nand cradled \u2018cross louisiana starlight\u201d (Jess 9).<\/p>\n

When we look at this poem, titled \u201cleadbelly\u2019s lessons,\u201d we can see a variety of poetic devices in use that serve to establish the tone and voice of the rest of the book. In just the three lines above, we can see alliteration is present in \u201cswollen center\u201d; assonance in \u201ccaught\u2026palms\u201d; consonance in \u201clouisiana starlight.\u201d This poem explains how Ledbetter began to learn to play guitar: in a general store, the owner ordered Ledbetter to \u201choist song\u201d the way the owner \u201choist[s] bourbon\u201d (Jess 9). Jess also uses the metaphor of undressing a woman to explain the act of making music with the guitar: \u201cundressing music from its wooden clothes\u201d (Jess 9). Right off the bat, music is established as the central theme of the book. By using the theme of music, Jess is able to bring out other themes, including racism. One of the other things the general store owner taught Ledbetter is \u201cthe ways\/of pure white envy\u201d (Jess 10). In that general store, Ledbetter is first introduced to the wide gap between white and black. He\u2019s taught to envy from the very young age of 12, setting the tone for the rest of his life. Jess is successful in using this introductory poem as an explanation for what he wants the rest of the book to accomplish. The book\u2019s overarching themes are all established in this short piece.<\/p>\n

After that introductory poem, Jess begins the first section of the book at the beginning of Ledbetter\u2019s life, with poems written in the voices of Ledbetter\u2019s parents, Wes and Sally. Each section of the book features poems that follow Ledbetter\u2019s lifeline, from birth to death. Jess\u2019s poems take the reader on a journey of low and high points throughout Ledbetter\u2019s life, while also leading the reader on a discourse about the issues of race, society, and class, many times all in the same poem, as seen in \u201cEthnographer John Lomax Speaks of His Vocation\u201d:<\/p>\n

\u201cI stake my claim on the breath of each Black
\nwilling to open his mouth and spit out
\nsouthern legend\u2019s soiled roots. I will blue
\nthe pale ears of Ivy League lecture halls<\/p>\n

with secrets snatched from between Negro jaws.\u201d (Jess 66).<\/p>\n

Some of Jess\u2019s poems may seem hard to grasp without careful study, and even then they may elude even the most academic reader. Stephen Burt observes that \u201cthe poets of the New Thing eschew sarcasm and tread lightly with ironies, and when they seem hard to pin down, it is because they leave space for interpretations to fit.\u201d Not all of Jess\u2019s work fits into the New Thing paradigm, but his use of experimental forms and obtuse imagery certainly does seem to fit the highbrow requirements. For example, in the poem \u201cthe song speaks,\u201d Jess describes several images that may leave the reader scratching his or her head (even though they are, without a doubt, beautifully worded):<\/p>\n

\u201csticky with god,
\ni shove and smooth
\nmy way up gullet,
\nhauling treasure
\nchest of fingerpop
\nand footstomp.\u201d (Jess 79).<\/p>\n

One other important point to make in this review is the musical quality evident throughout Leadbelly<\/em>. Jess\u2019s subject was a very influential musician, noted on Leadbelly.org as the “King of the 12-string,” so it is no accident that Jess\u2019s poems contain a strong musical quality. Jess\u2019s background as a performance poet (according to Heintz, \u201cby the early 1990s he was making a name for himself as a performance poet\u201d) allows him to focus on the tonal quality of his poems more so than a poet without a performance background would. Sonic devices such as assonance, consonance, alliteration, and repetition abound throughout Jess\u2019s poems (some of which are seen in earlier examples in this review). As noted on the Web site for the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, Ledbetter\u2019s \u201crepertoire included diverse African-American styles from work songs, ring chants, cowboy songs, games, and Tin Pan Alley to the Delta blues\u201d; Jess\u2019s Leadbelly<\/em> reflects this diversity. <\/p>\n

This musical quality is different from the style of other contemporary poets such as Denise Duhamel. While Duhamel also uses persona poems to get into the character of Barbie in her book Kinky<\/em>, she uses third person and a dry, droll tone of voice: \u201cBorn in 1980, she looks exactly like Black or White Barbie\/\u2026Shoppers\/who complain she\u2019s hard to find should check Lamston\u2019s\/or Woolworth\u2019s\u201d (Duhamel 21). Her book doesn\u2019t follow the timeline of Barbie\u2019s life and the poems don\u2019t tell an overarching story the way Jess\u2019s poems do. The poems are interconnected in that they offer commentary on the plasticization of society, but unlike Jess\u2019s work, they do not offer the reader any additional information about their subject. Like Jess, Duhamel uses an influential icon as her character, but she doesn\u2019t take it nearly as far as Jess does. <\/p>\n

Jess\u2019s lyrical style probably better compares to the work of Patricia Smith, who Heintz states, believes \u201cperformance has an absolute relationship to text.\u201d Smith\u2019s writing is passionate, energetic, and has a lyrical quality due to her slam poetry roots. She isn\u2019t just writing for the page, but also for the stage, much the same way Jess is. For example, these lines from \u201cAsking for a Heart Attack,\u201d available on slamnation.com, show the musical quality of Smith\u2019s writing:<\/p>\n

\u201cAretha. Deep butter dipt, burnt pot liquor, twisted sugar cane,
\nVaselined knock knees clacking extraordinary gospel.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smith\u2019s subject matters are obviously not the same as Jess\u2019s. However, they both infuse their writing with music, rhythm, and soul that is at odds with many of today\u2019s contemporary poets, where the prevailing style seems to be a sort of detachment. Though Jess and Smith have both written persona poems as part of their repertoires, that sense of detachment isn\u2019t there at all; they both whole-heartedly embrace their characters as they dive into them head first.<\/p>\n

Perhaps because Jess embraced his cast of characters so completely, Leadbelly<\/em> was a joy to read and process, providing beautiful poetry in both traditional and the more experimental New Thing formats. The reader also gets a thorough history lesson about a dramatic and influential musician who left an indelible mark upon American music. Leadbelly.org observes that Ledbetter\u2019s \u201cmusic still has a great influence on some of [today\u2019s] greatest artists, both black and white\u201d; in much the same way, Jess\u2019s book will probably influence future poets when undertaking their own ambitious historical\/societal\/musical\/experimental poetry collections. The thought-provoking social commentary throughout the poems is also a wonderful quality that serves to encourage readers to learn more. Leadbelly<\/em> is one poet\u2019s careful conclusion about a tumultuous character and time in history; readers will finish the book wanting to learn more so they can draw their own careful conclusions. Readers will marvel that Jess managed to impart so much impact into the space of a book of poetry, weaving a complete life together with the power of each individual character and poem. <\/p>\n

Works Cited<\/p>\n

Burt, Stephen. \u201cThe New Thing.\u201d Boston Review. May\/June 2009. 18 July 2009 <http:\/\/bostonreview.net\/BR34.3\/burt.php<\/a>>.<\/p>\n

Duhamel, Denise. \u201cHispanic Barbie.\u201d Kinky. Washington: Orchises Press, 1997. 21.<\/p>\n

Heintz, Kurt. \u201cThe Idea of the Father.\u201d The Book of Voices. 2000. 18 July 2009 <http:\/\/voices.e-poets.net\/JessT\/home.html<\/a>>.<\/p>\n

Heintz, Kurt. \u201cChapter 1: Patricia Smith.\u201d The Book of Voices. 1999. 25 July 2009. <http:\/\/voices.e-poets.net\/SmithP\/<\/a>>.<\/p>\n

Jess, Tyehimba. Leadbelly. Amherst: Verse Press, 2005.<\/p>\n

\u201cLead Belly.\u201d The Lead Belly Foundation. 2004. 21 July 2009 <http:\/\/www.leadbelly.org\/leadbelly.html<\/a>>.<\/p>\n

\u201cLead Belly.\u201d Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage. 2009. 21 July 2009 <http:\/\/www.folklife.si.edu\/center\/legacy\/lead.aspx<\/a>>.<\/p>\n

Smith, Patricia. \u201cAsking for a Heart Attack.\u201d Slamnation. 25 July 2009. <http:\/\/www.slamnation.com\/archive\/HeartAttack\/<\/a>>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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