for jayne cortez (25)

savage to the passing silence

for jayne cortez

yr range
of poetic resources :

an uber voice, inspired like
breath by oya, emotan &
nne mmiri, textured with
multiple voices within, plying
pitch against pitch, point
against point, melismatic
more than syllabic, more
polyphonic than contrapuntal.

yr verse:

jazzy,projective, written
in breath; rich in ascending/
descending tonality & wry
rhythmic speechsinging –
an a cappella blues loosed
from its melody like a butterfly
escaping its larval coil. a body
of postmodern lyrics.

stylistics & postures:

yr tongue, a scathing weapon
of self defense, yr excesses ,
poetic or otherwise, nothing
more than strategies to slip
inhibiting, inimical conventions
imposed on women writers;
neither nilhilist nor relativist,
but poststructuralist.

charged
with energy & power:

u dazzle, a supersurrealistic
nova shot out of a dense cluster ,
an incandescence, a black body
radiation in a pantheon of black
aesthetic stars, pushing back
the catastrophes, pushing us
forward toward peace, toward
equality & justice

Joseph McNair;2009