Beckonings

by Gwendolyn Brooks

The distinguished American poet limns the importance and human immediacy of black deaths, endeavors, desires, goals and perceptions in twelve freeverse lyrics

Genres: Poetry

16 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1975

About the author

Gwendolyn Elizabeth Brooks is the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Annie Allen and one of the most celebrated Black poets. She also served as consultant in poetry to the Library of Congress—the first Black woman to hold that position. She was the poet laureate for the state of Illinois for over thirty years, a National Women’s Hall of Fame inductee, and the recipient of a lifetime achievement award from the National Endowment for the Arts. Her works include We Are Shining, Bronzeville Boys and Girls, A Street in Bronzeville, In the Mecca, The Bean Eaters, and Maud Martha.

Reviews

[Jack Heller · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very short collection of Brooks poems from the 1970s. Standouts are "Raymond Melvin Brooks," "The Boy Died in My Alley," "To John Oliver Killens in 1975," "A Black Wedding Song," and "Boys. Black."

[Christina Turner · Rating 4 out of 5]

BOYS. BLACK. is incredible. One of my all time favorite poems, breaks my heart but also rekindles my hope.

[Bunnie Girl · Rating 4 out of 5]

A pleasantly brief collection of poems consisting of free verse lyrics, Beckonings plays with perception and cognition, form and resonance to invoke images of blackness.

Brooks produces for Beckonings 12, admittedly, bizarre poems, deputizing tactics such as enjambment and compounding words to produce new ones which are far more absurd than their counterparts but all the more gripping. In this flirtatious dance with the absurd, Brooks’ poems remain grounded with an air of acute seriousness; where one reading never truly feels they have departed from the Earthly realities they fear and face in their daily lives.

Perhaps there is poetry even there.
What can appear as the metaphysical musings of something otherworldly, in actuality, are wholly germane to the plot and plight of being Black in America in the 1970’s.

[Miranda · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Steam Song" "A Black Wedding Song" and "Friend" are my favorites from this collection.