|
Welcome to February! Ever since Kent State University celebrated the important people and events in the history of the African diaspora in 1970, and certainly after Gerald Ford recognized Black History Month as part of the country's bicentennial in 1976, February has been a time to shine a spotlight on, or learn something new about, Black Americans. A few weeks ago, I shared a poem by Langston Hughes, and we talked a bit about the era known as the Harlem Renaissance, a primarily 1920s and 1930s flowering of African American cultural expression—music, art, politics, scholarship, dance, theater, literature, fashion, and more—centered in and around upper Manhattan's Harlem neighborhood.
Today, I share a poem that presaged the Harlem Renaissance, written in 1899 by Paul Laurence Dunbar, who grew up in Dayton, Ohio (and was a classmate of the Wright brothers, who helped to advance his career), but whose short (but hugely prolific) life's work had enormous influence in New York and in Europe. In 1931, James Wendell Johnson (who penned "Lift Every Voice and Sing") wrote that it was Dunbar who was the first African American "to show a combined mastery over poetic material and poetic technique, to reveal innate literary distinction in what he wrote, and to maintain a high level of performance. He was the first to rise to a height from which he could take a perspective view of his own race. He was the first to see objectively its humor, its superstitions, its short-comings; the first to feel sympathetically its heart-wounds, its yearnings, its aspirations, and to voice them all in a purely literary form."
I offer Dunbar's poem, "Sympathy." Many of you will recognize it as the source of the title of Maya Angelou's autobiography:
Sympathy
Paul Laurence Dunbar
I know what the caged bird feels, alas!
When the sun is bright on the upland slopes;
When the wind stirs soft through the springing grass,
And the river flows like a stream of glass;
When the first bird sings and the first bud opes,
And the faint perfume from its chalice steals—
I know what the caged bird feels!
I know why the caged bird beats his wing
Till its blood is red on the cruel bars;
For he must fly back to his perch and cling
When he fain would be on the bough a-swing;
And a pain still throbs in the old, old scars
And they pulse again with a keener sting—
I know why he beats his wing!
I know why the caged bird sings, ah me,
When his wing is bruised and his bosom sore,—
When he beats his bars and he would be free;
It is not a carol of joy or glee,
But a prayer that he sends from his heart’s deep core,
But a plea, that upward to Heaven he flings—
I know why the caged bird sings!
Had you heard of Paul Laurence Dunbar? How do you think learning about African American history is part of living into UUCMC's vowed 8th Principle, of building a diverse Beloved Community of spiritual wholeness?
Dunbar wrote the poem at age 27 while working (unhappily) as an attendant at the Library of Congress. His wife at the time (Alice Moore Dunbar-Nelson, a poet in her own right) wrote that the iron grating of the book stacks suggested to Dunbar the bars of a bird cage. Does knowing this affect your reception of the poem?
What imagery in the poem speaks most deeply to you? What have been obstacles you have faced in "singing your song"?
I look forward to seeing you tomorrow at Tea Time. A reminder: you needn't have read (or liked!) the poems to attend our gatherings; their primary function is to bring us into community. I ensure that all voices are heard, if only to find out how everyone is doing and how we can hold one another in our thoughts and hearts throughout the week. Please consider being a part of Tea Time.
Please mark February 23rd on your calendars: at 7 PM, I will bring a show I will debut in NYC in March to UUCMC, offering it as a benefit, with all proceeds going to our operating budget. A suggested minimum donation of $20 is asked, but all contributions are welcomed—and needed. This is my way of helping to close the $30,000+ budgetary gap that is a concerning part of our congregation's functioning this fiscal year. Take the Moment will feature pianist Beth Ertz and bassist Marc Schmied, and is directed by celebrated cabaret star Jeff Harnar. Tickets will be available beginning this Sunday at the meetinghouse, and at the door. Look for further details in the weekly UUCMC e-blast.
And, I hope to see you Sunday. We'll hear from Sari Alburtus and Denise Addonisio on ways they are living through an 8th Principle lens, as well as from our Music Director, Dr. Louise Chernosky, with music by African American composers and arrangers. I will share some from the life history of Georgia senator Raphael G. Warnock, and offer some thoughts on how we can all continue to live our 8th Principle.
Please do come join us!
Rev. Craig
| 
