I have found a number of beautiful instances in which poetry has inspired visual art or vice versa, and these definitely include some of the more profound pieces I love. Today’s is a poem by Margaret Taylor Burroughs, whose prints we’ve looked at a couple of times before. You may remember her as an activist/artist/advocate, a poet as well as practitioner of several visual art media. Of those, printmaking is the one for which she is best known.
One of Burroughs’ most famous ( and in my humble opinion, most profound) poems is titled “What Shall I Tell My Children Who Are Black? (Reflections of an African-American Mother)” published in 1963. Here is the first stanza and a little of the second, just to give you a sense of it. (Full text here.)
“What shall I tell my children who are black
Of what it means to be a captive in this dark skin
What shall I tell my dear one, fruit of my womb,
Of how beautiful they are when everywhere they turn
They are faced with abhorrence of everything that is black.
Villains are black with black hearts.
A black cow gives no milk. A black hen lays no eggs.
Bad news comes bordered in black, black is evil
And evil is black and devils’ food is black…
What shall I tell my dear ones raised in a white world
A place where white has been made to represent
All that is good and pure and fine and decent….”
This was apparently published in book form with some of her own prints as illustrations. I have been searching but have not yet been able to find a copy quickly and easily. (The Interlibrary Loan request is pending. Even that is pretty amazing in terms of ease, but I’m spoiled by ebooks and buying on Bookfinder.com).
I found an online article that pairs a couple of Burroughs’ prints with the book/poem. Even though the dates mean these can’t possibly be illustrations in the book, they do connect to the poem, so I will share them here today.
Here’s hoping that 2022 is better for people of color and how people treat each other than has been the case (especially 2016-2021).
