Seeking: Poetry and Prose Inspired by the Art of Jonathan Green
By Kwame Dawes and Marjory Wentworth
4/5
()
About this ebook
The best art has the uncanny ability not only to give pleasure to those who view it but also to led to a desire to respond. The best artists are a force for all art, and renowned Gullah artist Jonathan Green's work has inspired a wide range of responses from artists around the world. In Seeking we see how Green's art prompts works of poetry, prose, and memoir. Seeking's evocative power lies in the intimacy of this dialogue, which speaks to the shared sense of landscape and culture that Green stirs in these writers, ranging from close friends and fellow artists from his home state of South Carolina to nationally established authors who regard Green's work as an important cultural institution. The contributors have allowed themselves to be challenged by Green's brilliance, his honesty, his intense spirituality, and his deep love of people. Inspired by a personal quest toward induction into a spiritual community, Green's painting Seeking is rich with history, myth, and truth. The writers in this collection have found fertile ground for their own responses to Green's work, and the result is an engaging and enlivening chorus of celebratory voices.
Edited by Kwame Dawes and Marjory Wentworth, this collection features eleven color paintings by Green in addition to a preface on the history of the project, information on the painting Seeking, and an artist's statement.
Read more from Kwame Dawes
Duppy Conqueror: New and Selected Poems Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5She's Gone Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Midland: Poems Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Place to Hide Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to Seeking
Related ebooks
Gullah Images: The Art of Jonathan Green Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Stories in Verse Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOn Writing Wonderfully: The Craft of Creative Fiction Writing Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Marrow of Tradition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ninety Writing Prompts Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe 30 Day Author Platform Challenge: Non-Fiction @ Ronel the Mythmaker, #1 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBecome a Freelance Writer Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWords and Wonder: A Guide to Becoming a Creative Writer Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Voice of the Muse: Answering the Call to Write Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCora's Kitchen Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings500 Writing Prompts for Fiction, Journaling, Blogging, and Creative Writing: Writing Prompts, #1 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTALES FROM THE FUR SIDE: Purrfectly Adorable Cat Stories Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings30 Days of Hope for Writers Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Larissa's Breadbook: Ten Incredible Southern Women and Their Stories of Courage, Adventure, and Discovery Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAsk the Authors 2022: WordCrafter Writing Reference series Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Lifestyle Writer: How to Write for the Home and Family Market Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSoul of a Diva: A Memoir in Verse Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHand Luggage: A Memoir in Verse Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Dear Indie Author: Creative Writing With Dr. Nagle Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMosaic Life: A Memoir in Verse Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMontclair Write Group Flash Fiction Anthology 2019 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLife Writing: A Guide to Writing Family History Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLuckily Fish Don't Need Raincoats Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHow to get Published Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWriter's Toolbox: Books for Writers and Authors, #4 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIndie Author Magazine Featuring Joanna Penn: Indie Author Magazine, #26 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Complete Canadian Book Editor Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Joy of Poetry: How to Keep, Save & Make Your Life With Poems Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBook Publishing for Entrepreneurs: Top Secrets from a New York Publisher Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Poetry For You
The Things We Don't Talk About Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bedtime Stories for Grown-ups Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5You Better Be Lightning Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Selected Poems Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dream Work Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Love Her Wild: Poems Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ariel: The Restored Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Beyond Thoughts: An Exploration Of Who We Are Beyond Our Minds Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Way Forward Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Everything Writing Poetry Book: A Practical Guide To Style, Structure, Form, And Expression Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Twenty love poems and a song of despair Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Leaves of Grass: 1855 Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Prophet Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Daily Stoic: A Daily Journal On Meditation, Stoicism, Wisdom and Philosophy to Improve Your Life Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Dante's Inferno: The Divine Comedy, Book One Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Enough Rope: Poems Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Tao Te Ching: A New English Version Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Inward Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Edgar Allan Poe: The Complete Collection Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Complete Poems of John Keats (with an Introduction by Robert Bridges) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Collection of Poems by Robert Frost Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Gilgamesh: A New English Version Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Beowulf Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Divine Comedy: Inferno, Purgatory, and Paradise Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Odyssey Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDante's Divine Comedy: Inferno Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Iliad: The Fitzgerald Translation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Odyssey: (The Stephen Mitchell Translation) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Waste Land and Other Poems Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Seeking
1 rating0 reviews
Book preview
Seeking - Kwame Dawes
Seeking
Poetry and Prose Inspired by the Art of
Jonathan Green
Edited by Kwame Dawes and Marjory Wentworth
THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA PRESS
© 2013 University of South Carolina
All art reproductions © 2013 Jonathan Green
Published by the University of South Carolina Press Columbia, South Carolina 29208
www.sc.edu/uscpress
22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Seeking : poetry and prose inspired by the art of Jonathan Green / edited by Kwame Dawes and Marjory Wentworth.
p. cm. — (Palmetto poetry series)
ISBN 978-1-61117-091-7 (hardbound : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-1-61117-092-4 (pbk. : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-1-61117-186-0 (epub) 1. American literature—South Carolina. 2. Gullahs—Influence. 3. Art and literature. 4. Influence (Literary, artistic, etc.) 5. Gullahs—Poetry. 6. African diaspora. I. Dawes, Kwame Senu Neville, 1962–
II. Wentworth, Marjory, 1958– III. Green, Jonathan, 1955–
PS266.S6 S44013
810.9'9757—dc23
2012033259
I don't feel weary and noways tired
O glory hallelujah
Just let me in the kingdom while the world is all on fire
O glory hallelujah
I Don't Feel Weary,
from Slave Songs of the United States, 1867
CONTENTS
ILLUSTRATIONS
Seeking
Chinaberry Lane
Breath of Earth
The Gnostic
Marsh Grass
Praise House
Solitude
Tulips
Endless Marsh
Deep Roots
A Simple Prayer
Contemplation
Marsh Breeze
Corn Field
Fishing Line
My Daughter
PREFACE
Once you encounter Jonathan Green, you enter into a world that is magical, inclusive, celebratory, and incredibly generous. He has an ability to move mountains—no matter what the odds. Even more than his accomplishments, it is his compassion that defines him. Despite his fame and fortune, Jonathan is literally and metaphorically grounded by the place he comes from. He is a role model to young people throughout the region, and he takes that role very seriously.
I first met Jonathan through a collaborative exhibit at the Gibbes Museum of Art that included my poetry and his paintings. I fell in love with his work at once and was thrilled when he agreed to let me use his painting Marsh Grass on the cover of my first book of poems. Proving that the world is indeed a small place, the collection included a eulogy of a close mutual friend. Since then we have worked together on a number of projects that focus largely on arts education. Mostly, Jonathan is a warm-hearted friend. I am blessed to know him.
Everything about the Seeking Project embodies Jonathan Green's deep community spirit—from his initial meeting with Father Francis Kline at Mepkin Abbey, who dreamed of having a painting that would honor the African American slave culture, which is part of the monastery's rich history—to the collaborative poetry and jazz performances, created in response to the Seeking painting five years later.
The project started in 2003, when Jonathan Green visited Mepkin Abbey in Moncks Corner, South Carolina, to meet with Father Francis Kline, the abbey's revered abbott. Once a rice plantation, the abbey was home to African Americans who were held as slaves. When the two men visited the overgrown, unmarked slave cemetery on the edge of the abbey grounds, Jonathan, who was deeply moved, discovered a deep personal connection to the sacred space. He began to sketch out his ideas for the painting on the spot. What ultimately became the painting Seeking was inspired by Jonathan's childhood in the Gullah community of Gardens Corner, South Carolina, where young people were sent into the woods alone for two weeks to seek
the word of God as a rite of passage into the church. Upon their return, the teenagers were questioned by church elders about their insights and feelings. Their answers determined whether of not they were admitted to the church.
In 2006, just a few days after the death of Father Kline,