Special for Black History Month: Excerpts from 'Reverence Unleashed'

Excerpts from ‘Reverence Unleashed’

Special for Black History Month

By Dr. Gretna Wilkinson

Me and Charlie,
we could bend a spoon with one note
if we blew hard enough

So we blew hard
and we blew long
and we bent spoons
‘til one day
his mother stormed into the room
waving a big old pot spoon
bent like a whole
note over his head

That’s like four beats right there Charlie said

Yes, his mama said
and you can be famous one day boy
but not if you’re dead boy...

 

About the Author and the Poem

Dr. Gretna Wilkinson came to SUNY Plattsburgh in 2011 to read from her works at the college’s annual Black Poetry Day. She later contributed this poem to the Saranac Review, an international literary journal, created by the college’s English department. Its editors look for the best in fiction, poetry and non-fiction from the United States and Canada, as they strive to create a forum for faculty and students to experience excellence in contemporary writing.

“Reverence Unleashed” appears in full in Issue 8 of the Saranac Review. Order a copy at the SUNY Plattsburgh College Store. Or obtain a subscription at research.plattsburgh.edu/saranacreview.

Greta Wilkinson was born and raised in Guyana, South America, and began her teaching career as a missionary teacher in the jungles there. In addition to her many journal publications, she has four chapbooks: “Shhh … I’m Thinking,” “Judging Cain,” “Nude in the Rain” and “What the Hat Knows.” Her latest collection is “Opening the Drawer” (Cool Women Press, 2011).

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