Phillis Wheatley's poetry continues to inspire and to challenge us. Poets Artress Bethany White and Danielle Legros Georges brought together twenty contemporary Black women poets to reinterpret, or reimagine, Phillis Wheatley Peters' poems. Today, in addition to Artress and Danielle, we are joined by two of the poets, Florence Ladd and Yalie Saweda Kamara. Their collection Wheatley at 250: : Black Women Poets Re-Imagine the Verse of Phillis Wheatley Peters, a poetic conversation among past, present, and future, features both the poems of Phillis Wheatley and their contemporary re-imagining.
Get your copy of Wheatley at 250 here: https://www.pangyrus.com/product/wheatley-at-250/
Phillis Wheatley's poetry continues to inspire and to challenge us. Poets Artress Bethany White and Danielle Legros Georges brought together twenty contemporary Black women poets to reinterpret, or reimagine, Phillis Wheatley Peters' poems. Today, in addition to Artress and Danielle, we are joined by two of the poets, Florence Ladd and Yalie Saweda Kamara. Their collection Wheatley at 250: : Black Women Poets Re-Imagine the Verse of Phillis Wheatley Peters, a poetic conversation among past, present, and future, features both the poems of Phillis Wheatley and their contemporary re-imagining.
Get your copy of Wheatley at 250 here: https://www.pangyrus.com/product/wheatley-at-250/
WEBVTT
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the Rep 250 Advisory Group.
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We are a consortium of about
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70 groups in Massachusetts
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planning ways to
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commemorate the American Revolution.
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Actually,
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one of the big events of 1773 was
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the publication of Phyllis
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Wheatley's book .
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Her book came over on one of
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the spring AT to Boston.
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And Danielle Lagros George,
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who is a former Poet
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Laureate of the City of Boston,
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now a Professor Emerita of
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Creative Writing at Lesley University.
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And who is an Associate
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Professor of English at
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Stroudsburg University,
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author of the poetry collection,
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My Afmerica,
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have collaborated on a volume
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commemorating this, Wheatley at 250,
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Black Women Poets Reimagine
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the Verse of Phyllis Wheatley Peters.
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And they and 18 other Black
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women poets worked on
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reimagining or
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reinterpreting the poetry
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of Phyllis Wheatley.
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And so we actually were
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fortunate to have actress
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Bethany White with us,
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along with Danielle
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LaGrosse George and two of
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the contributing poets,
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Yele Soweta Kamara,
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who is a Sierra Leonean American writer,
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her book
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this year.
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She was the winner of the
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2023 Elizabeth Alexander
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Award for Poetry and the
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2020 Adam York Prize Accomplished Poet.
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So thank you for joining us, Yelly.
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And also with us
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a poet's collaborative collective.
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And in addition to writing poetry,
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she's the author of two novels,
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Sarah's Psalm and The
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Spirit of Josephine.
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Yalie is coming to us from
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the environs of Cincinnati.
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She teaches at Xavier University.
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Florence is coming to us
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from Aix-en-Provence in France,
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which she reports is warmer
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than where we are now.
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So thank you all for joining us.
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I will turn this over to
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Artris and Danielle,
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who can tell us about
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So thanks for joining us.
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Thank you, Bob, for having us.
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We're really happy to be
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here to celebrate this anthology,
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which began back in 2022 in
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a conversation you and I
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had about the commemorative year,
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the 250th anniversary of
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the publication of Phyllis
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Wheatley's book in 1773.
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And so you'd invited us to
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prepare a panel for the
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Colonial Society of Massachusetts.
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And I thought, yes, of course,
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we'll do that.
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And then a panel became a series of poems,
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which became a chapbook,
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which became an anthology.
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So you are implicated in this project.
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So thank you so much.
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And I'm going to begin with... Thank you.
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Yes,
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with some contextual notes about
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Phyllis Wheatley.
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And then our guests will
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talk a little bit about the
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process of making this book.
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So as many of you know,
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Phil Sweetly was the author
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or is the author of the
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1773 book Poems on Various Subjects,
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Religious and Moral.
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She's been called many
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things and is many things,
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including the West African
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girl enslaved by Boston
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Sweetly family in 1761,
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the acclaimed 18th century
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transcontinental poet.
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In a magnificent 2006 essay entitled
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The Difficult Miracle of
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Black Poetry in America,
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the poet June Jordan names
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Wheatley the first
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decidedly American poet on
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this continent.
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Can you hear me?
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Yes.
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On this continent,
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by virtue of the keen
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attention Wheatley pays to
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the turbulent events of her
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time and the
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revolutionaries who have forged America.
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The historian Henry Louis Gates Jr.
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situates Wheatley squarely
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in the colonial and
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post-colonial debates that
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sought to confirm or
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dismiss black intelligence.
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As a consequence of her
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distinction as a poet,
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Wheatley was thrust into a
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cosmopolitan sphere and
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found herself in
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conversation with such
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figures as George
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Washington and Benjamin Franklin,
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So you can imagine here is a teenager,
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a black teenager in conversation,
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in correspondence with
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these founding fathers.
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While she was also in
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conversation posthumously
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with Thomas Jefferson,
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whose 1785 notes on the
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state of Virginia prefers
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scathing and undeserved criticism.
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For Jefferson to have recognized
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Wheatley's intelligence and
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talent would have meant to
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recognize the intelligence
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and talent of those he had enslaved.
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Endorsers of Wheatley's book
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identified themselves as
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among the most respectable
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characters of Boston.
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These are the people who, in essence,
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blurbed her book, to use a current term.
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And they included the
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governor and the lieutenant
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governor of Massachusetts.
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Of her poems, they remarked,
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she's been examined by some
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of the best judges and is
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thought qualified to write them.
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A little less restrained,
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David Wall Streicher,
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a Wheatley biographer, notes,
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she became fluent and
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culturally literate and
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able to write poems in
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English so quickly that we
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shouldn't hesitate to call her a genius.
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There's been some really
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wonderful recent scholarship
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on Wheatley,
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including Honoré Fanon
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Jeffers' well-researched
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2020 collection of poems,
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The Age of Phyllis.
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And Jeffers advances the
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argument for referring to
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Wheatley by her married name,
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Wheatley Peters,
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thereby liberating Wheatley
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Peters from perpetual
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historical adolescence.
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So now we can separate the
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celebrated but enslaved
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teenage poet from the free and married
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author.
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Tara Bynum,
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a scholar of literary histories,
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deepens our understanding
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of Wheatley's inner life by
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identifying her letters, not her poems,
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as a means by which
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Wheatley delights in the
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pleasures of her living in
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spite of and because of the
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world at large.
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Phyllis Wheatley Peters
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called herself an Ethiopian
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and an African and poet, of course.
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She dubbed herself friend to, among others,
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Obor Tanner,
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a fellow enslaved woman with
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whom she shared a lengthy
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epistolary friendship.
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We might see Obor Tanner as her bestie.
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She was also friends with Scipio Moorhead,
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a young African-American
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painter who made the image
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of her that we're very familiar with,
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that frontispiece of her book,
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friends with Samson Ockel,
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a Mohegan Presbyterian evangelist,
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and with the English
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Countess of Huntingdon, Selina Hastings,
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who was instrumental in
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funding the publication of
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the book in 1774.
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So Wheatley saw her first
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published in London,
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published in Boston on two
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sides of the Atlantic.
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She named herself wife of John Peters.
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Historian Cornelia Dayton
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offers a narrative that
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runs counter to the popular
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and unfavorable ones we
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have about what transpired
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between the Peters family.
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Peter's,
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and among John Peter's chief efforts,
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she notes,
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was to insulate his wife from
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physically taxing housewife
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free and to create space
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and time for her to inhabit
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a writer's life and to be a mother.
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An acclaimed writer and
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political actor of her lifetime,
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Whitley would not live to
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see herself as inspiration
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for an immense number of scholarly,
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literary, and creative texts.
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She wouldn't see the plaque
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in Boston,
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recognizing the site where she
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was purchased,
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nor the likeness of herself
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in a bronze statue on the
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city's Commonwealth Mall,
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which is shaded so beautifully by trees,
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elm trees and linden trees.
0:08:46.905 --> 0:08:47.447
She wouldn't see the
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buildings that bear her name,
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the lecture halls.
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After her unexpected death in 1784,
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while she was still in her early
0:08:58.610 --> 0:08:59.932
And the second manuscript
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known to have been
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circulating at the time of
0:09:02.835 --> 0:09:04.976
her death has never been recovered.
0:09:05.758 --> 0:09:08.019
And we don't know the exact
0:09:08.059 --> 0:09:09.662
site of her grave at the
0:09:09.701 --> 0:09:11.443
Cops Hill Burying Ground in
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Boston's North End.
0:09:13.792 --> 0:09:14.072
She,
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we know that she's named after the
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ship that bore her to the
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Americas and into the maw
0:09:19.717 --> 0:09:21.099
of greed and the
0:09:21.139 --> 0:09:23.000
dehumanization that was a
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transatlantic slave trade.
0:09:24.842 --> 0:09:26.244
We will never know,
0:09:26.264 --> 0:09:28.066
or at least we don't think
0:09:28.086 --> 0:09:29.947
we will know her West African name,
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her true name,
0:09:31.769 --> 0:09:34.091
the name given to her by her parents,
0:09:34.192 --> 0:09:36.573
but we call her sister and
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we call her ancestor.
0:09:38.953 --> 0:09:40.875
And we call her the mother
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of African-American
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literature and the luminary
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of United States.
0:09:51.696 --> 0:09:53.476
Thank you so much, Danielle,
0:09:53.797 --> 0:09:57.178
for the introduction to the collection.
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And I'm just going to say a
0:09:59.158 --> 0:10:01.320
few words about the process
0:10:01.500 --> 0:10:03.902
of putting this anthology together.
0:10:05.522 --> 0:10:07.462
We had a lot of faith that
0:10:08.403 --> 0:10:09.884
the poets we were inviting
0:10:10.004 --> 0:10:11.024
into this project
0:10:11.465 --> 0:10:14.186
had a story to tell about
0:10:14.626 --> 0:10:15.807
Phyllis Wheatley as
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ancestor and inspiration.
0:10:18.729 --> 0:10:20.970
And we were not wrong in
0:10:21.549 --> 0:10:22.890
hoping that was the case.
0:10:23.510 --> 0:10:25.991
Truly, the response was tremendous.
0:10:26.413 --> 0:10:28.594
We celebrated the first yes
0:10:28.913 --> 0:10:30.495
that we received from our
0:10:30.534 --> 0:10:31.914
letter of invitation.
0:10:32.916 --> 0:10:36.298
And after that first yes came through,
0:10:36.398 --> 0:10:38.438
many others came down through the pike.
0:10:39.259 --> 0:10:41.341
And people were completely
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enthusiastic about
0:10:43.542 --> 0:10:44.883
celebrating Phillis
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Wheatley's poetry and
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talking about how she had
0:10:48.285 --> 0:10:51.128
served as a poetic
0:10:51.207 --> 0:10:53.568
inspiration in their own work.
0:10:54.389 --> 0:10:56.130
One of the essential
0:10:56.211 --> 0:10:57.871
features of this collection
0:10:58.133 --> 0:10:58.993
is that it is
0:10:59.113 --> 0:11:00.614
representative of Black
0:11:00.714 --> 0:11:02.916
poets throughout the diaspora.
0:11:04.966 --> 0:11:08.208
As Bob mentioned in introducing this panel,
0:11:09.349 --> 0:11:13.792
Yaeli is from Sierra Leone, and we have,
0:11:15.091 --> 0:11:16.253
including my co-editor,
0:11:16.273 --> 0:11:17.754
Haitian American poet,
0:11:17.774 --> 0:11:18.734
Danielle Legro-George,
0:11:19.254 --> 0:11:21.316
who are a part of this collection,
0:11:21.676 --> 0:11:23.297
both in country and out.
0:11:23.777 --> 0:11:26.658
And it is a beautiful thing
0:11:26.678 --> 0:11:27.938
that we were able to
0:11:27.999 --> 0:11:31.500
accomplish that because the true nature,
0:11:31.681 --> 0:11:33.081
it's truly representative.
0:11:33.802 --> 0:11:35.783
of Phillis Wheatley's legacy.
0:11:36.543 --> 0:11:38.605
So we really had a lot of
0:11:38.686 --> 0:11:41.947
fun putting the anthology together.
0:11:42.488 --> 0:11:44.009
Once we had all of the yeses,
0:11:44.149 --> 0:11:46.331
we began assigning poems to people.
0:11:47.152 --> 0:11:50.173
We talked about their craft.
0:11:50.634 --> 0:11:52.254
We talked about what we had
0:11:52.335 --> 0:11:53.495
seen in other of their
0:11:53.535 --> 0:11:55.596
works that might lend to a
0:11:55.677 --> 0:11:57.138
delightful interpretation
0:11:57.238 --> 0:11:58.799
of a particular poem and
0:11:58.879 --> 0:12:00.520
assign them accordingly.
0:12:01.341 --> 0:12:04.462
And again, we were not disappointed.
0:12:04.802 --> 0:12:06.464
There are so many various
0:12:06.563 --> 0:12:09.046
points of entree that the
0:12:09.086 --> 0:12:11.687
poets had as they wrote
0:12:11.866 --> 0:12:13.107
their craft statements
0:12:13.648 --> 0:12:15.948
about their particular process.
0:12:16.490 --> 0:12:18.250
And I'm just going to share
0:12:18.370 --> 0:12:19.691
one really quickly.
0:12:20.751 --> 0:12:23.333
And this is a poet, Sharon Strange,
0:12:23.793 --> 0:12:24.833
who wrote
0:12:26.921 --> 0:12:28.703
on Phyllis Wheatley's poem
0:12:28.764 --> 0:12:30.024
to the University at
0:12:30.086 --> 0:12:31.827
Cambridge in New England,
0:12:31.908 --> 0:12:32.828
a re-inscription.
0:12:33.330 --> 0:12:34.971
And she dedicates it to
0:12:35.432 --> 0:12:38.817
Phyllis Wheatley Peters and Claudine Gay.
0:12:39.738 --> 0:12:40.720
She starts off,
0:12:41.980 --> 0:12:43.341
One, prologue.
0:12:43.782 --> 0:12:46.004
Call it history, future,
0:12:46.364 --> 0:12:49.245
the web of energies connecting continents,
0:12:49.625 --> 0:12:50.525
diasporas.
0:12:51.047 --> 0:12:52.547
Call it synchronicity,
0:12:53.227 --> 0:12:55.188
fate spinning two lives,
0:12:55.589 --> 0:12:57.529
spawning twin duties,
0:12:59.030 --> 0:13:01.232
twinned by aboriginal home place,
0:13:01.592 --> 0:13:02.893
manifest genius,
0:13:03.374 --> 0:13:05.034
such phenomena who
0:13:05.075 --> 0:13:06.775
compelled your colonized
0:13:07.035 --> 0:13:10.197
patriarchal halls to hear their voices.
0:13:11.235 --> 0:13:14.897
So this is a trans-historical project.
0:13:15.496 --> 0:13:18.379
And I read the first stanza
0:13:18.479 --> 0:13:20.019
of her reinscription
0:13:20.100 --> 0:13:23.261
because it speaks to that
0:13:23.522 --> 0:13:26.062
trans-historical phenomenon, right?
0:13:26.903 --> 0:13:28.264
Both of the people she
0:13:28.323 --> 0:13:32.067
dedicates the poem to are a
0:13:32.147 --> 0:13:34.427
part of this august institution.
0:13:35.008 --> 0:13:35.948
And as a poet,
0:13:36.129 --> 0:13:38.509
Strange herself attended Harvard.
0:13:40.230 --> 0:13:41.772
Pulling all of these threads
0:13:41.971 --> 0:13:44.474
together is so much about
0:13:45.053 --> 0:13:47.735
what this project is really
0:13:47.796 --> 0:13:48.677
concerned with.
0:13:49.297 --> 0:13:51.999
So just thrilled with the
0:13:52.499 --> 0:13:54.660
breadth of work contained
0:13:54.900 --> 0:13:57.121
in the collection and the
0:13:57.201 --> 0:13:59.764
reception of the poets to
0:13:59.923 --> 0:14:02.485
tap into their own creative
0:14:02.566 --> 0:14:05.048
forces to make Phyllis
0:14:05.107 --> 0:14:06.389
Wheatley Peters work
0:14:07.028 --> 0:14:09.951
accessible to newer generations.
0:14:16.873 --> 0:14:19.933
So Bob will be rejoining us momentarily.
0:14:19.953 --> 0:14:22.375
And I have to say that I
0:14:22.455 --> 0:14:25.056
often think about Phyllis
0:14:25.355 --> 0:14:27.856
very much as a product of her time.
0:14:27.897 --> 0:14:29.977
And I'm interested to know whether,
0:14:30.658 --> 0:14:32.818
before we get to your two contributors,
0:14:34.078 --> 0:14:36.340
whether consideration was given to
0:14:37.200 --> 0:14:39.341
how much her space may have
0:14:39.422 --> 0:14:42.705
affected the space in which she lived,
0:14:42.725 --> 0:14:43.926
the spaces she visited,
0:14:44.407 --> 0:14:45.548
Old South Meeting House of
0:14:45.607 --> 0:14:46.729
which she was a congregant.
0:14:47.168 --> 0:14:49.971
Do you think that space is
0:14:50.172 --> 0:14:51.472
one of the factors that
0:14:51.653 --> 0:14:52.793
affects her writing?
0:14:56.116 --> 0:14:57.759
Yes, it's a great question.
0:14:57.778 --> 0:14:59.860
I think it could not but
0:15:00.321 --> 0:15:01.642
affect her writing.
0:15:01.701 --> 0:15:02.562
She was very much
0:15:04.657 --> 0:15:07.798
working within a community.
0:15:08.077 --> 0:15:09.457
We tend to think of poets
0:15:09.518 --> 0:15:12.178
and writers as isolated creatures, right?
0:15:12.259 --> 0:15:13.320
But Phillis Wheatley was
0:15:13.440 --> 0:15:15.799
very much in the community of Boston,
0:15:16.379 --> 0:15:17.341
documenting,
0:15:18.181 --> 0:15:20.182
witnessing and documenting
0:15:20.302 --> 0:15:21.902
the events of her day,
0:15:22.042 --> 0:15:24.802
including the impending revolution.
0:15:25.395 --> 0:15:29.301
You will recall that 1773, in 1773,
0:15:29.301 --> 0:15:31.224
we were not yet the United States,
0:15:31.264 --> 0:15:33.466
but there was something brewing.
0:15:33.486 --> 0:15:36.110
And so she was watching that
0:15:36.190 --> 0:15:37.832
and in conversation with
0:15:37.852 --> 0:15:39.495
this mentioned earlier.
0:15:41.317 --> 0:15:43.799
and others who were making the revolution,
0:15:43.919 --> 0:15:48.245
both within, you know, the colonists,
0:15:48.705 --> 0:15:51.248
white colonists circles,
0:15:51.427 --> 0:15:53.009
but also within circles of
0:15:53.451 --> 0:15:56.254
people of color in Boston
0:15:56.433 --> 0:15:57.315
and New England.
0:15:58.785 --> 0:15:59.025
Right.
0:15:59.086 --> 0:15:59.486
So, you know,
0:15:59.506 --> 0:16:00.847
they often say that the past
0:16:00.908 --> 0:16:02.048
is a foreign country and
0:16:02.087 --> 0:16:03.288
certainly we see that in
0:16:03.389 --> 0:16:06.030
language and in costume and
0:16:06.831 --> 0:16:07.971
in structures.
0:16:08.131 --> 0:16:10.173
And so I guess, you know,
0:16:10.212 --> 0:16:11.072
that would be one of the
0:16:11.113 --> 0:16:13.134
questions I'd have for your contributors,
0:16:13.174 --> 0:16:13.615
you know,
0:16:13.815 --> 0:16:15.936
is do they think about those
0:16:16.015 --> 0:16:17.756
things as they're coming?
0:16:17.836 --> 0:16:19.738
I mean, her words are very powerful.
0:16:21.820 --> 0:16:22.080
You know,
0:16:22.139 --> 0:16:25.642
she's obviously moved by the
0:16:25.701 --> 0:16:27.381
passions of her heart and
0:16:27.923 --> 0:16:29.202
the brilliance of her mind
0:16:29.663 --> 0:16:31.544
to write these extraordinary poems.
0:16:31.644 --> 0:16:34.566
But as we've just said, you know,
0:16:34.765 --> 0:16:37.668
place and time matters as well.
0:16:37.748 --> 0:16:40.590
And so do your contributors, I mean,
0:16:40.610 --> 0:16:41.450
do you think about those
0:16:41.490 --> 0:16:42.571
things when you're sitting down?
0:16:43.571 --> 0:16:45.572
write something that is
0:16:46.312 --> 0:16:48.094
meant to compliment or
0:16:48.254 --> 0:16:52.096
amplify or exhibit the
0:16:52.157 --> 0:16:53.216
genius of this woman.
0:16:54.418 --> 0:16:56.139
I think Florence would be a
0:16:56.219 --> 0:16:59.441
great person to address this question.
0:16:59.461 --> 0:17:00.721
Florence, would you mind?
0:17:01.522 --> 0:17:02.342
Well, not at all.
0:17:02.982 --> 0:17:03.524
Certainly,
0:17:05.944 --> 0:17:11.988
I put my heart and self into
0:17:12.288 --> 0:17:14.909
what I imagine was her situation.
0:17:16.509 --> 0:17:20.391
And the poem that I had the
0:17:20.490 --> 0:17:27.433
privilege of studying, living with, was,
0:17:29.095 --> 0:17:30.835
well, I'll tell you when I get to it.
0:17:31.536 --> 0:17:33.736
I'll tell you just how it
0:17:33.817 --> 0:17:34.936
came to her in the moment.
0:17:35.507 --> 0:17:38.508
And that moment took me into
0:17:39.848 --> 0:17:42.749
her situation in the Wheatley family,
0:17:43.690 --> 0:17:44.490
serving them,
0:17:45.931 --> 0:17:47.590
overhearing conversations
0:17:50.612 --> 0:17:54.794
and building her or
0:17:54.953 --> 0:17:56.394
allowing her imagination
0:17:57.694 --> 0:18:01.736
and her extraordinary genius to take her
0:18:02.611 --> 0:18:06.134
from serving positions to the page,
0:18:06.413 --> 0:18:09.435
to putting on paper her
0:18:10.396 --> 0:18:13.078
sense of poetic expression
0:18:14.038 --> 0:18:16.500
of the events of her time.
0:18:19.748 --> 0:18:20.128
Danielle,
0:18:20.148 --> 0:18:22.289
I believe you wanted to go in a
0:18:22.329 --> 0:18:23.771
particular order regarding
0:18:23.872 --> 0:18:24.771
your contributor.
0:18:24.791 --> 0:18:25.452
So I don't know if you'd
0:18:25.492 --> 0:18:26.894
like to give us a brief
0:18:26.953 --> 0:18:31.278
introduction to Gailey and
0:18:31.758 --> 0:18:33.159
how she came to be involved
0:18:33.199 --> 0:18:33.799
in this project.
0:18:35.020 --> 0:18:35.320
Yes.
0:18:37.182 --> 0:18:37.403
Well,
0:18:37.583 --> 0:18:40.484
I will read a little bit about her
0:18:41.705 --> 0:18:42.606
from her biography.
0:18:42.686 --> 0:18:43.548
I think Bob already
0:18:43.587 --> 0:18:46.470
mentioned some of what she
0:18:46.509 --> 0:18:47.530
has done in the world.
0:18:48.422 --> 0:18:49.362
But I want to mention that
0:18:49.402 --> 0:18:51.042
she earned a PhD in
0:18:51.123 --> 0:18:52.124
creative writing and
0:18:52.384 --> 0:18:53.564
English literature from the
0:18:53.663 --> 0:18:54.984
University of Cincinnati.
0:18:55.625 --> 0:18:57.346
She lives in Cincinnati,
0:18:57.405 --> 0:18:59.666
teaches English at Xavier University,
0:19:00.248 --> 0:19:01.887
and she's the 2022-23
0:19:01.988 --> 0:19:04.368
Cincinnati and Mercantile
0:19:04.509 --> 0:19:06.810
Library Poet Laureate.
0:19:07.250 --> 0:19:08.131
So I imagine she's doing
0:19:08.151 --> 0:19:10.771
some amazing work in that
0:19:10.853 --> 0:19:12.373
role and already has done
0:19:12.393 --> 0:19:16.055
some amazing work in that role.
0:19:16.604 --> 0:19:18.047
And I think Yaeli will speak
0:19:18.106 --> 0:19:19.910
a little bit about her
0:19:19.970 --> 0:19:25.219
process and her poem and her thinking.
0:19:26.663 --> 0:19:27.023
Excellent.
0:19:27.124 --> 0:19:28.345
So thank you so much.
0:19:28.384 --> 0:19:29.625
I'm very happy to be here.
0:19:29.645 --> 0:19:33.867
And so far as thinking about this poem,
0:19:34.429 --> 0:19:35.568
which originally the poem
0:19:35.588 --> 0:19:37.691
that I re-inscribed was to
0:19:37.730 --> 0:19:38.951
a lady on her coming to
0:19:39.011 --> 0:19:40.071
North America with her son
0:19:40.192 --> 0:19:41.593
for the recovery of her health.
0:19:42.534 --> 0:19:44.015
And well,
0:19:44.035 --> 0:19:44.954
the first thing was reading the
0:19:44.994 --> 0:19:46.115
poem over and over again
0:19:46.135 --> 0:19:48.076
and just thinking about the rhythm,
0:19:48.856 --> 0:19:50.097
the music, the thematics,
0:19:50.357 --> 0:19:52.700
the sonic nature and
0:19:52.759 --> 0:19:54.661
imagistic quality of Phil Sweetly's work.
0:19:55.037 --> 0:19:56.336
and just sitting with that for a while.
0:19:56.356 --> 0:19:57.317
So just kind of the first
0:19:57.337 --> 0:19:59.377
step was savoring the work itself.
0:19:59.718 --> 0:20:01.298
And the next thing was kind
0:20:01.337 --> 0:20:02.138
of a bewilderment.
0:20:02.459 --> 0:20:03.259
How do you add to a poem
0:20:03.278 --> 0:20:04.278
that already feels perfect?
0:20:04.679 --> 0:20:06.578
So there is just kind of a
0:20:06.839 --> 0:20:07.779
quiet period with that.
0:20:07.839 --> 0:20:08.099
And just,
0:20:08.180 --> 0:20:09.740
I felt it was a poem and I've
0:20:09.759 --> 0:20:10.319
spoken with other
0:20:10.359 --> 0:20:12.141
contributors that felt the
0:20:12.181 --> 0:20:13.080
same way about wanting to
0:20:13.181 --> 0:20:14.320
give these poems care.
0:20:14.500 --> 0:20:15.520
And so I was thinking really
0:20:15.560 --> 0:20:16.461
closely about all these
0:20:16.721 --> 0:20:17.521
different drafts of the
0:20:17.561 --> 0:20:18.622
poem until it eventually
0:20:18.682 --> 0:20:20.843
found its sort of momentum.
0:20:23.617 --> 0:20:24.157
And for me,
0:20:24.618 --> 0:20:25.779
what that entailed was thinking
0:20:25.859 --> 0:20:28.842
about my sort of craft
0:20:28.882 --> 0:20:30.103
notes is thinking about the
0:20:30.123 --> 0:20:31.923
synergy between Phillis
0:20:31.943 --> 0:20:32.724
Wheatley and myself.
0:20:32.805 --> 0:20:33.905
And so one of the things I
0:20:33.925 --> 0:20:34.686
was thinking about,
0:20:34.946 --> 0:20:36.028
or a few of the things I
0:20:36.048 --> 0:20:36.867
was thinking about with
0:20:37.388 --> 0:20:38.209
approaching this poem was
0:20:38.229 --> 0:20:39.150
thinking about my entry
0:20:39.190 --> 0:20:40.671
points into Phillis Wheatley's life.
0:20:41.412 --> 0:20:45.035
And as a young girl growing up in Oakland,
0:20:45.075 --> 0:20:45.835
California,
0:20:45.855 --> 0:20:48.237
the idea of poetry being
0:20:48.277 --> 0:20:49.857
possible for a black girl
0:20:49.897 --> 0:20:50.378
or a black woman
0:20:51.161 --> 0:20:52.102
through Phyllis Wheatley,
0:20:52.501 --> 0:20:53.662
the mention of her name and
0:20:53.902 --> 0:20:54.843
Nikki Giovanni and
0:20:54.883 --> 0:20:55.823
Gwendolyn Brooks for me.
0:20:55.863 --> 0:20:57.644
So these were some of the founding names,
0:20:57.683 --> 0:20:58.424
but there was never,
0:20:58.444 --> 0:21:01.226
I think the way that poetry
0:21:01.246 --> 0:21:02.287
was shared with me was
0:21:02.307 --> 0:21:03.126
Phyllis Wheatley was more
0:21:03.146 --> 0:21:04.748
of a name and sort of this
0:21:04.807 --> 0:21:05.769
monument and we didn't have
0:21:05.828 --> 0:21:06.828
opportunities to really dig
0:21:06.888 --> 0:21:07.469
into her work.
0:21:07.509 --> 0:21:08.430
And so this was a lovely
0:21:09.250 --> 0:21:10.050
sort of experience for me
0:21:10.090 --> 0:21:11.791
to be able to return to her
0:21:11.832 --> 0:21:13.352
work after some years.
0:21:13.532 --> 0:21:15.292
And so I was thinking about
0:21:16.693 --> 0:21:17.654
Phyllis Wheatley's love of
0:21:17.734 --> 0:21:19.214
faith and thinking about my
0:21:19.276 --> 0:21:20.115
own Christian faith
0:21:20.583 --> 0:21:21.384
as an entry point,
0:21:21.544 --> 0:21:22.964
thinking about her family,
0:21:23.464 --> 0:21:23.945
her being from the
0:21:24.006 --> 0:21:25.547
Senegambia and my family
0:21:25.646 --> 0:21:28.068
being from that region, Sierra Leone.
0:21:28.108 --> 0:21:28.788
So thinking about
0:21:28.828 --> 0:21:31.171
geographical references as
0:21:31.211 --> 0:21:34.773
well as faith sort of residences too.
0:21:35.354 --> 0:21:36.535
And something else that I
0:21:36.575 --> 0:21:38.537
was thinking about was that, you know,
0:21:38.997 --> 0:21:40.538
this poem was written about
0:21:41.098 --> 0:21:43.000
the recovery of health of a Black woman.
0:21:43.059 --> 0:21:45.903
And this is a pervasive topic.
0:21:46.143 --> 0:21:47.564
And I think often about how
0:21:48.405 --> 0:21:50.366
black women don't receive equitable care,
0:21:50.547 --> 0:21:51.047
healthcare,
0:21:51.728 --> 0:21:52.887
and thinking about what I
0:21:52.928 --> 0:21:55.410
would want for the beloved
0:21:55.430 --> 0:21:56.130
women in my life,
0:21:56.369 --> 0:21:57.530
the women that I know and don't know,
0:21:57.550 --> 0:21:58.790
and thinking about kin.
0:21:59.291 --> 0:22:00.892
And so in terms of putting
0:22:00.912 --> 0:22:01.532
this poem together,
0:22:01.553 --> 0:22:02.653
I was thinking about what
0:22:02.673 --> 0:22:03.413
would it look like to
0:22:03.453 --> 0:22:04.294
create a poem that felt
0:22:04.314 --> 0:22:05.535
like a sermon and felt like
0:22:05.575 --> 0:22:06.714
a wish and felt like a prayer?
0:22:07.115 --> 0:22:08.576
And how could I share that
0:22:08.635 --> 0:22:09.557
with women I love?
0:22:10.076 --> 0:22:11.518
And so that's how I came to
0:22:11.557 --> 0:22:12.377
write this poem.
0:22:13.098 --> 0:22:13.558
And yeah,
0:22:13.578 --> 0:22:15.380
I'm just gonna go ahead and read it now.
0:22:16.376 --> 0:22:16.978
And again,
0:22:17.018 --> 0:22:17.979
this is such a pleasure to be
0:22:18.019 --> 0:22:18.920
part of this anthology.
0:22:18.940 --> 0:22:20.082
It's one of the best moments
0:22:20.142 --> 0:22:21.844
of my literary career so far,
0:22:21.884 --> 0:22:22.585
and I know that it will
0:22:22.625 --> 0:22:23.526
remain one of the best.
0:22:23.705 --> 0:22:24.606
So thank you again,
0:22:25.307 --> 0:22:26.169
Danielle and Archeress.
0:22:29.093 --> 0:22:31.214
So this poem is called
0:22:31.335 --> 0:22:32.797
Declarations Over Your Life.
0:22:33.498 --> 0:22:35.000
For every sister in need of
0:22:35.059 --> 0:22:35.780
a health blessing.
0:22:37.041 --> 0:22:37.883
Precious sister,
0:22:37.903 --> 0:22:40.085
I hold your hand and pray
0:22:40.184 --> 0:22:42.007
bliss over every cell of
0:22:42.047 --> 0:22:43.868
your being and soothe the
0:22:43.929 --> 0:22:46.391
muscles that spasm in anxiety.
0:22:47.231 --> 0:22:48.772
May you remember who you are
0:22:49.153 --> 0:22:50.055
and whose you are,
0:22:50.615 --> 0:22:51.476
and may you recall
0:22:51.536 --> 0:22:53.218
confidently the steadfast
0:22:53.357 --> 0:22:54.759
and gentle architecture of
0:22:54.798 --> 0:22:56.300
your body and expect
0:22:56.381 --> 0:22:58.082
wellness to soon flood its
0:22:58.142 --> 0:22:59.304
majestic contours.
0:23:00.204 --> 0:23:01.786
May the mass be disappeared,
0:23:02.467 --> 0:23:03.928
and the strictures slacken,
0:23:04.548 --> 0:23:06.588
and the toxins break down to nothing.
0:23:07.470 --> 0:23:09.230
May the angels assigned to
0:23:09.290 --> 0:23:12.252
life and limb cover you, protect you,
0:23:12.752 --> 0:23:15.634
shroud you in their manifold ikru wings.
0:23:16.215 --> 0:23:17.537
And may God hold your heart
0:23:17.676 --> 0:23:19.238
in his hand until you hear
0:23:19.317 --> 0:23:20.798
a psalm rising from the
0:23:20.858 --> 0:23:22.259
wonder of your own breath.
0:23:22.779 --> 0:23:23.641
Ah, salah.
0:23:23.661 --> 0:23:24.441
Ah, salah.
0:23:24.461 --> 0:23:25.182
Ah, salah.
0:23:25.201 --> 0:23:25.241
Ah.
0:23:28.911 --> 0:23:30.333
And in the operating room,
0:23:30.752 --> 0:23:31.855
may the doctor become an
0:23:31.994 --> 0:23:33.876
auntie and the nurse a brother.
0:23:34.478 --> 0:23:36.180
May stranger kindle to kin.
0:23:37.020 --> 0:23:39.443
May dignity burn the edges of isolation.
0:23:40.045 --> 0:23:41.286
May you be heard with
0:23:41.346 --> 0:23:43.128
neither doubt nor prejudice
0:23:43.269 --> 0:23:44.569
nor impending slander.
0:23:45.717 --> 0:23:46.617
May the vector of your
0:23:46.657 --> 0:23:48.080
questions land with no
0:23:48.141 --> 0:23:49.742
crook in their spine on the
0:23:49.782 --> 0:23:51.065
way to the ear of the
0:23:51.105 --> 0:23:52.527
professional or personnel
0:23:52.606 --> 0:23:55.010
who needs to hear them if they must.
0:23:55.391 --> 0:23:56.673
May those who love you fight
0:23:56.752 --> 0:23:58.695
for you all in the name of
0:23:58.855 --> 0:24:00.618
every good thing that you are owed.
0:24:01.460 --> 0:24:03.020
May the suture silken as the
0:24:03.060 --> 0:24:04.722
wound heals for the last time.
0:24:05.503 --> 0:24:06.523
May you become one with the
0:24:06.604 --> 0:24:07.744
rapturous velocity of
0:24:07.826 --> 0:24:10.067
wellness and may it know you by name.
0:24:10.847 --> 0:24:12.269
May the ailment be banished
0:24:12.630 --> 0:24:14.270
and your gait be a thud as
0:24:14.351 --> 0:24:15.811
short and fierce as thunder
0:24:16.153 --> 0:24:17.594
on the stillest summer night.
0:24:18.193 --> 0:24:19.355
And may you be filled with
0:24:19.454 --> 0:24:21.156
unflinching testimony and light.
0:24:21.815 --> 0:24:24.957
Sister, woman of beloved perpetual future,
0:24:25.458 --> 0:24:26.057
is yours.
0:24:26.679 --> 0:24:28.059
May every holy wind wrap
0:24:28.140 --> 0:24:29.701
around you and lift you
0:24:29.800 --> 0:24:31.422
from supine to upright.
0:24:32.182 --> 0:24:33.403
May every step you take from
0:24:33.423 --> 0:24:34.724
the hospital bed be flanked
0:24:34.765 --> 0:24:37.205
with the scents of home, hibiscus,
0:24:37.586 --> 0:24:39.367
cocoa butter, bergamot.
0:24:40.048 --> 0:24:41.529
May you smile at what awaits.
0:24:42.170 --> 0:24:43.750
your lover, your child,
0:24:44.011 --> 0:24:44.892
and the tomorrow that you
0:24:44.912 --> 0:24:47.173
will continue to build here on earth.
0:24:47.974 --> 0:24:49.256
May you too give thanks for
0:24:49.316 --> 0:24:51.278
things unseen but known and felt,
0:24:51.478 --> 0:24:53.038
triumphant sister.
0:24:53.660 --> 0:24:54.881
May there be ease from hair
0:24:54.941 --> 0:24:57.563
follicle to arch of foot evermore.
0:24:58.042 --> 0:25:00.685
And may the sun greet you again and again,
0:25:00.705 --> 0:25:02.386
a velvet bright fruit
0:25:02.586 --> 0:25:03.748
rising from the dirt of
0:25:03.788 --> 0:25:05.809
this land to brush your sweet face.
0:25:06.349 --> 0:25:07.151
And like the sun,
0:25:07.550 --> 0:25:08.852
may every day break grief
0:25:09.173 --> 0:25:10.053
and resist death.
0:25:10.854 --> 0:25:11.894
what is left to say but
0:25:11.974 --> 0:25:14.115
sister good morning good
0:25:14.155 --> 0:25:18.558
morning thank you brava
0:25:20.420 --> 0:25:29.585
stunning so thank you uh
0:25:30.025 --> 0:25:31.746
bailey that poem is very
0:25:31.826 --> 0:25:36.028
moving to me and with its
0:25:36.169 --> 0:25:39.990
ending of of rising right
0:25:40.353 --> 0:25:41.674
And I think that's been part
0:25:41.734 --> 0:25:44.017
of our project of bringing
0:25:44.938 --> 0:25:47.181
Phyllis Wheatley forth into
0:25:47.221 --> 0:25:48.342
the 21st century,
0:25:48.422 --> 0:25:51.306
having her rise into the 21st century,
0:25:51.786 --> 0:25:52.886
or continue to rise into
0:25:52.906 --> 0:25:54.890
the 21st century.
0:25:54.930 --> 0:25:54.990
Yes.
0:25:56.223 --> 0:25:56.743
Definitely.
0:25:56.784 --> 0:26:00.026
It was so much about what we
0:26:00.866 --> 0:26:02.508
intended for this
0:26:02.567 --> 0:26:04.229
publication as far as
0:26:04.288 --> 0:26:06.730
reaching newer generations
0:26:07.471 --> 0:26:10.252
and the placement of the poetry.
0:26:11.233 --> 0:26:11.673
Originally,
0:26:11.713 --> 0:26:12.934
we thought we would have
0:26:13.474 --> 0:26:14.756
Phillis Wheatley's original
0:26:14.796 --> 0:26:18.498
poems first and then the
0:26:19.318 --> 0:26:20.740
new re-inscribed poems.
0:26:21.619 --> 0:26:23.121
And then there was a
0:26:23.181 --> 0:26:25.281
recognition that it's the
0:26:25.382 --> 0:26:27.843
story of the creation of
0:26:27.903 --> 0:26:30.304
these new poems that is so
0:26:30.503 --> 0:26:33.846
significant because we are
0:26:34.006 --> 0:26:35.567
opening a pathway for
0:26:35.646 --> 0:26:37.106
people to understand her
0:26:37.146 --> 0:26:38.147
work in a new way.
0:26:38.567 --> 0:26:40.528
So we start with those craft
0:26:40.568 --> 0:26:42.170
statements about how poets
0:26:42.210 --> 0:26:44.570
were inspired for their particular poem.
0:26:45.111 --> 0:26:47.992
then move to the re-inscribed poem,
0:26:48.493 --> 0:26:50.394
and then end with Phyllis
0:26:50.454 --> 0:26:52.096
Wheatley's original poem.
0:26:52.896 --> 0:26:56.900
And that really is a journey
0:26:57.220 --> 0:26:59.082
that allows people to
0:26:59.321 --> 0:27:01.683
understand how significant
0:27:01.723 --> 0:27:03.964
her legacy is and gain that
0:27:04.025 --> 0:27:05.846
new appreciation of her work.
0:27:07.688 --> 0:27:08.868
People have been responding
0:27:08.969 --> 0:27:13.692
very positively to Florence's essay,
0:27:15.055 --> 0:27:17.317
and thoughts on the poem
0:27:17.436 --> 0:27:18.978
that she re-inscribed.
0:27:19.317 --> 0:27:20.057
So Florence,
0:27:20.117 --> 0:27:21.058
I'm hoping you won't mind
0:27:21.098 --> 0:27:24.141
sharing your process with us,
0:27:24.181 --> 0:27:27.623
the Wheatley poem, and then your poem.
0:27:28.823 --> 0:27:29.303
All right.
0:27:30.203 --> 0:27:34.026
I thought I might start with
0:27:34.445 --> 0:27:36.047
Phyllis Sweet's poem, though,
0:27:38.228 --> 0:27:40.349
and end with
0:27:42.509 --> 0:27:45.030
my process, if you will.
0:27:49.516 --> 0:27:50.656
It was her first published
0:27:50.717 --> 0:27:56.021
poem that I had the pleasure,
0:27:56.821 --> 0:27:59.003
the privilege of revisiting.
0:28:00.184 --> 0:28:01.787
And I say revisiting because
0:28:02.007 --> 0:28:05.711
I grew up acquainted with
0:28:05.770 --> 0:28:06.832
Phyllis Sweetly's work.
0:28:11.413 --> 0:28:13.596
The poem was delivered to
0:28:13.695 --> 0:28:15.637
the Newport Mercury by
0:28:15.857 --> 0:28:22.584
someone who attached these lines.
0:28:24.144 --> 0:28:26.807
Composed by a Negro girl
0:28:28.108 --> 0:28:29.470
belonging to one Mr.
0:28:29.509 --> 0:28:31.771
Wheatley of Boston on the
0:28:31.811 --> 0:28:34.153
following occasion when Messrs.
0:28:34.193 --> 0:28:38.397
Husey and Coffin belonging to Nantucket
0:28:39.161 --> 0:28:41.663
being bound from thence to Boston,
0:28:42.303 --> 0:28:44.265
narrowly escaped being cast
0:28:44.345 --> 0:28:46.727
away on Cape Cod in one of
0:28:46.767 --> 0:28:47.686
the late storms.
0:28:50.328 --> 0:28:52.911
Being at Mr. Wheatley's and
0:28:52.971 --> 0:28:53.892
while at dinner,
0:28:54.932 --> 0:28:56.993
told of their narrow escape,
0:28:57.595 --> 0:28:59.715
this Negro girl at the same
0:28:59.816 --> 0:29:04.179
time tending table heard of their plight,
0:29:05.000 --> 0:29:07.301
from which she composed verses.
0:29:10.156 --> 0:29:14.240
Imagine how this came to her.
0:29:18.523 --> 0:29:22.606
Her poem on Mrs. Husey and Coffin.
0:29:27.931 --> 0:29:30.733
Did fear and danger so
0:29:30.894 --> 0:29:33.256
perplex your mind as made
0:29:33.296 --> 0:29:35.738
you fearful of the whistling wind?
0:29:37.578 --> 0:29:39.580
Was it not Boreas's knit his
0:29:40.230 --> 0:29:42.771
angry brow against you?
0:29:44.073 --> 0:29:48.115
Or did consideration bow to lend you aid?
0:29:48.815 --> 0:29:50.796
Did not his winds combine to
0:29:50.856 --> 0:29:53.698
stop your passage with churlish line?
0:29:54.617 --> 0:29:56.659
Did haughty Aeolus with
0:29:56.740 --> 0:29:58.641
contempt look down with
0:29:58.840 --> 0:30:02.382
aspect windy and a studied frown?
0:30:03.962 --> 0:30:04.884
Regard them not.
0:30:06.384 --> 0:30:09.046
The great supreme, the wise,
0:30:09.772 --> 0:30:11.813
intends for something hidden
0:30:11.932 --> 0:30:12.973
from our eyes.
0:30:14.834 --> 0:30:16.574
Suppose the groundless gulf
0:30:17.054 --> 0:30:19.095
had snatched away Husey and
0:30:19.154 --> 0:30:21.674
Coffin to the raging sea.
0:30:23.315 --> 0:30:24.275
Where would they go?
0:30:25.895 --> 0:30:29.415
Where would their abode be?
0:30:31.876 --> 0:30:33.057
Were the supreme an
0:30:33.217 --> 0:30:36.136
independent god or made
0:30:36.176 --> 0:30:38.897
their beds down in the shades below?
0:30:39.602 --> 0:30:41.682
where neither pleasure nor
0:30:41.801 --> 0:30:43.002
content can flow.
0:30:44.623 --> 0:30:47.223
To heaven their souls with
0:30:47.344 --> 0:30:48.743
eager raptures soar.
0:30:49.784 --> 0:30:53.984
Enjoy the bliss of him they would adore.
0:30:55.325 --> 0:30:56.945
Had the soft gliding streams
0:30:57.066 --> 0:30:58.165
of grace been near?
0:30:59.625 --> 0:31:00.705
Some favorite hope,
0:31:01.446 --> 0:31:03.326
their fainting hearts to cheer.
0:31:04.346 --> 0:31:08.107
Doubtless the fear of danger far had fled.
0:31:09.425 --> 0:31:11.287
No more repeated victory
0:31:12.428 --> 0:31:13.548
crowned their heads.
0:31:18.790 --> 0:31:21.413
The poem was published.
0:31:21.472 --> 0:31:22.953
Her first published poem
0:31:25.035 --> 0:31:28.076
appeared in the newspaper,
0:31:28.217 --> 0:31:29.037
the Newport Mercury, in 1767.
0:31:29.037 --> 0:31:31.097
She was 18 years old.
0:31:38.876 --> 0:31:39.498
I'm sorry.
0:31:41.480 --> 0:31:42.661
Slip of tongue.
0:31:43.161 --> 0:31:44.663
She was 14 years old.
0:31:47.526 --> 0:31:48.807
She was 14 years old.
0:31:54.692 --> 0:31:58.537
My reinscription on Messrs.
0:31:58.616 --> 0:31:59.637
Husey and Coffin.
0:32:02.280 --> 0:32:05.002
Hearing of your brush with death at sea,
0:32:05.723 --> 0:32:08.026
young Phyllis rushed to pen
0:32:08.266 --> 0:32:09.047
her wonderment.
0:32:10.387 --> 0:32:13.810
How you endured torment, tormenting winds,
0:32:14.852 --> 0:32:17.273
pelagic waters buffeting your catch.
0:32:18.895 --> 0:32:21.038
Did you read the script in
0:32:21.117 --> 0:32:22.239
obsidian clouds?
0:32:24.260 --> 0:32:24.740
Trembling,
0:32:25.821 --> 0:32:28.704
did you curse mythic wind deities?
0:32:30.518 --> 0:32:34.060
or pray to the great supreme that you,
0:32:34.662 --> 0:32:38.705
Hussie and Coffin, spared briny graves,
0:32:39.266 --> 0:32:42.970
be guided over the waves to Boston Harbor,
0:32:43.851 --> 0:32:45.471
where hopeful and heartfelt
0:32:45.511 --> 0:32:46.573
relief awaited?
0:32:48.115 --> 0:32:49.056
Did you thank heaven,
0:32:50.156 --> 0:32:53.240
promising never again would
0:32:53.279 --> 0:32:55.602
you repeat risking your lives at sea?
0:32:58.288 --> 0:33:00.567
With her seraphic gifts and
0:33:00.627 --> 0:33:01.729
Christian sympathy,
0:33:02.388 --> 0:33:03.808
Phyllis pondered the plight
0:33:04.449 --> 0:33:06.690
of men in ships at sea.
0:33:12.250 --> 0:33:20.132
Her poem at 14 stirred a lot in me.
0:33:22.252 --> 0:33:27.993
I was happy to have this poem to
0:33:29.005 --> 0:33:30.766
allow me a sentimental
0:33:30.806 --> 0:33:34.047
return to Boston and to the Cape.
0:33:34.707 --> 0:33:35.166
But first,
0:33:35.867 --> 0:33:37.567
I had to renew acquaintance with
0:33:37.587 --> 0:33:38.328
the classics.
0:33:39.828 --> 0:33:41.289
I was reminded of my
0:33:41.349 --> 0:33:43.010
enthusiasm for the classics
0:33:43.790 --> 0:33:44.951
as a high school student,
0:33:45.571 --> 0:33:47.892
but I marvel at her
0:33:47.971 --> 0:33:49.692
knowledge of the classics
0:33:51.034 --> 0:33:53.335
and admire her deft
0:33:53.575 --> 0:33:56.935
insertion of the gods in her poem.
0:33:59.655 --> 0:34:01.596
And then an excursion into
0:34:01.636 --> 0:34:03.517
the meteorology of Boston's
0:34:03.636 --> 0:34:05.798
coastal waters for suitable
0:34:05.877 --> 0:34:09.298
vocabulary occupied me for,
0:34:10.159 --> 0:34:11.400
and I wrote several hours,
0:34:11.559 --> 0:34:12.900
actually for several days.
0:34:16.782 --> 0:34:18.682
I then realized the poem was
0:34:18.742 --> 0:34:21.244
not about winds at sea,
0:34:22.063 --> 0:34:23.143
rather it's about the
0:34:23.204 --> 0:34:25.364
experience of the two men,
0:34:25.425 --> 0:34:27.405
Husey and Coffin.
0:34:30.353 --> 0:34:31.353
Phyllis Wheatley's many
0:34:31.432 --> 0:34:32.494
questions about their
0:34:32.673 --> 0:34:34.673
experience had me shift my
0:34:34.733 --> 0:34:36.675
focus from the water to the men.
0:34:38.295 --> 0:34:39.494
I copied her style of
0:34:39.574 --> 0:34:42.335
questions and appropriated
0:34:42.416 --> 0:34:44.135
some of her lexicon.
0:34:46.097 --> 0:34:48.677
Her rhyme scheme renewed my
0:34:48.836 --> 0:34:50.498
interest in rhyming.
0:34:53.237 --> 0:34:55.818
And my poem became a sonnet,
0:34:55.938 --> 0:34:59.739
which seemed appropriate for the period
0:35:00.557 --> 0:35:03.639
and for the material.
0:35:07.280 --> 0:35:08.621
In my home library,
0:35:08.641 --> 0:35:13.442
I found the life and works
0:35:13.581 --> 0:35:17.023
of Phyllis Wheatley by G. Herbert Renfrow,
0:35:17.202 --> 0:35:22.425
first published in 1916.
0:35:22.425 --> 0:35:24.625
In Renfrow's introduction to
0:35:24.644 --> 0:35:25.885
the collection of her poems
0:35:25.965 --> 0:35:28.025
and correspondence, he wrote,
0:35:28.967 --> 0:35:29.567
and I quote,
0:35:31.963 --> 0:35:33.463
In the days when women were
0:35:33.563 --> 0:35:35.865
not encouraged to pursue
0:35:36.166 --> 0:35:37.867
the richer fields of
0:35:37.947 --> 0:35:39.268
science and literature,
0:35:40.708 --> 0:35:42.190
when only the wealthy and
0:35:42.230 --> 0:35:44.431
refined invaded the
0:35:44.510 --> 0:35:47.512
storehouses of ancient classics,
0:35:48.653 --> 0:35:50.954
a Negro girl became an
0:35:51.074 --> 0:35:53.597
honored precedent for an
0:35:53.777 --> 0:35:54.878
ungrateful nation.
0:35:56.739 --> 0:35:57.378
Close quote.
0:35:59.840 --> 0:36:01.081
Many of her poems in
0:36:01.771 --> 0:36:03.432
the collection have an
0:36:03.532 --> 0:36:05.273
elegiac tone that
0:36:05.353 --> 0:36:07.155
influenced my re-inscription.
0:36:09.976 --> 0:36:13.199
I am grateful to the works
0:36:13.699 --> 0:36:14.960
of brilliant Phyllis
0:36:15.041 --> 0:36:17.521
Wheatley for the occasion
0:36:17.581 --> 0:36:23.465
to honor her in this amazing book.
0:36:29.030 --> 0:36:29.971
And I want to
0:36:32.168 --> 0:36:32.628
Repeat,
0:36:33.028 --> 0:36:38.853
she was 14 years old when she
0:36:39.534 --> 0:36:44.117
displayed evidence of being a genius,
0:36:44.938 --> 0:36:46.000
not just a prodigy.
0:36:48.722 --> 0:36:50.543
And when her command of
0:36:50.724 --> 0:36:53.326
English was extraordinary
0:36:55.347 --> 0:37:00.211
and her capacity for empathy evident.
0:37:02.291 --> 0:37:04.532
And I imagine the memory of
0:37:04.632 --> 0:37:06.514
her Atlantic crossing
0:37:07.675 --> 0:37:09.856
resonated with her
0:37:10.715 --> 0:37:13.056
identification with the
0:37:13.436 --> 0:37:18.438
close call that you see in Coffin Act.
0:37:21.161 --> 0:37:22.021
Thank you, Florence.
0:37:22.590 --> 0:37:25.012
Thank you for your re-inscription.
0:37:25.112 --> 0:37:26.373
I so appreciate the many
0:37:26.494 --> 0:37:29.135
questions that it contains
0:37:29.215 --> 0:37:30.916
and how they echo the
0:37:30.956 --> 0:37:33.539
questions of weekly.
0:37:33.719 --> 0:37:34.699
And I appreciate you
0:37:34.739 --> 0:37:38.262
mentioning the possible
0:37:38.362 --> 0:37:42.186
evocation of the Middle Passage for us.
0:37:45.367 --> 0:37:49.150
Thank you both for embarking
0:37:49.170 --> 0:37:51.592
on this extraordinary project.
0:37:53.121 --> 0:37:54.862
I think it will bring together,
0:37:54.882 --> 0:37:58.465
at least on paper,
0:37:59.766 --> 0:38:01.967
many poets of our time
0:38:02.648 --> 0:38:05.750
whose works we won't know no better.
0:38:08.030 --> 0:38:10.992
And it will certainly lift
0:38:13.333 --> 0:38:16.936
the works of Phyllis Sweetling.
0:38:19.097 --> 0:38:19.938
That's been our goal.
0:38:27.277 --> 0:38:28.739
Well, thank you all.
0:38:28.759 --> 0:38:29.318
This has been an
0:38:29.398 --> 0:38:32.021
extraordinary introduction
0:38:32.041 --> 0:38:34.123
to both Phyllis Wheatley
0:38:34.182 --> 0:38:35.342
Peters and to this
0:38:35.563 --> 0:38:37.545
tremendous volume and to
0:38:37.585 --> 0:38:38.726
the other voices who are
0:38:38.766 --> 0:38:39.927
now inspired by her.
0:38:39.987 --> 0:38:41.547
And as Florence was saying,
0:38:41.947 --> 0:38:43.349
these reinscriptions we
0:38:43.389 --> 0:38:48.012
hope will continue her legacy, you know,
0:38:48.012 --> 0:38:49.552
250 years into the future
0:38:50.253 --> 0:38:52.155
really is a conversation between
0:39:15.563 --> 0:39:15.762
Yes,
0:39:15.782 --> 0:39:17.403
what we should add is that there is
0:39:17.463 --> 0:39:19.846
going to be an official launch.
0:39:19.865 --> 0:39:20.586
We've had a couple of
0:39:20.626 --> 0:39:23.168
readings from the anthology,
0:39:23.188 --> 0:39:23.889
but there will be an
0:39:23.969 --> 0:39:26.170
official launch on March
0:39:26.670 --> 0:39:28.652
14th at the Massachusetts
0:39:28.813 --> 0:39:33.956
Historical Society in Boston at 6 p.m.
0:39:35.217 --> 0:39:36.878
And we will have music and
0:39:36.918 --> 0:39:38.840
we will have contributors,
0:39:38.880 --> 0:39:41.262
including Florence and others.
0:39:41.978 --> 0:39:44.061
to help us continue to bring
0:39:44.081 --> 0:39:45.644
this book into the world.
0:39:45.684 --> 0:39:47.387
So we want to invite Robert
0:39:47.407 --> 0:39:50.753
Smith to attend the launch.
0:39:51.554 --> 0:39:51.956
Wonderful.
0:40:09.632 --> 0:40:10.994
I'm really speechless having
0:40:11.034 --> 0:40:12.733
now heard you again read
0:40:12.873 --> 0:40:14.375
your work and her work.
0:40:14.434 --> 0:40:15.014
So thank you.
0:40:16.956 --> 0:40:20.016
And thanks to Jonathan Lane, our producer,
0:40:20.398 --> 0:40:22.478
and to our many friends who
0:40:22.577 --> 0:40:23.759
tune in regularly.
0:40:24.579 --> 0:40:24.838
You know,
0:40:24.858 --> 0:40:25.960
we initially thought we'd have a
0:40:26.000 --> 0:40:27.860
handful of history folks in
0:40:27.940 --> 0:40:29.380
and around Boston tuning in,
0:40:29.400 --> 0:40:30.342
but we actually have
0:40:30.882 --> 0:40:32.922
regular listeners all around the world.
0:40:35.795 --> 0:40:37.056
I thank some of them.
0:40:37.717 --> 0:40:38.577
And if you're in one of
0:40:38.597 --> 0:40:40.438
these places and listening,
0:40:40.478 --> 0:40:42.161
send Jonathan Lane an email,
0:40:42.621 --> 0:40:45.302
jlane at revolution250.org,
0:40:46.043 --> 0:40:47.403
and he'll send you some of
0:40:47.525 --> 0:40:50.206
our Revolution 250 gear.
0:40:50.367 --> 0:40:51.807
So thank you again to our
0:40:52.047 --> 0:40:53.588
Chris Bethany White and Danielle Lake
0:40:59.224 --> 0:41:00.943
the verse of Phyllis Wheatley Peters.
0:41:00.963 --> 0:41:02.284
Thanks to all of our listeners.
0:41:02.344 --> 0:41:05.085
And so if you are in one of these places,
0:41:05.686 --> 0:41:09.726
send us an email, Brasilia, Bangkok,
0:41:10.306 --> 0:41:14.047
Dublin, Kingston, Jamaica, or Kingston,
0:41:14.068 --> 0:41:14.947
Massachusetts,
0:41:15.088 --> 0:41:17.148
and all places between and beyond.