She used allegory to write her resistance. The first poem in the book is an ode to the imagination, and her work subtly celebrates female power. That didn't stop her from writing and eventually publishing the collection while enslaved. She was stolen-probably from Senegal or Gambia-when she was eight or nine and brought to the States where the Wheatley family purchased her. What should we know about Phillis Wheatley?
WATCH: Oprah Celebrates National Poetry Month.So the phrase "the difficult miracle" is a powerful reminder of where the African American poetic tradition began, but also the heights it's scaled. For example, another artist I feature in the anthology, George Moses Horton, composed poetry while in bondage. Enslaved poets like Wheatley faced nearly unimaginable obstacles. In poetry terms, what she was thinking was that in spite of the odds, we Black poets persist. It's a fitting description of the entire tradition, so I used it for the introduction to the African American Poetry anthology. "The Difficult Miracle" is what Jordan titled an essay she wrote about Phillis Wheatley, the first Black person to publish a volume of poetry, in 1773. It was June Jordan who first coined the phrase "The Difficult Miracle" to describe the African American poetry tradition. We talked about how he sees the current state of poetry, and what his book tells us about its history. Young, who was recently named Director of the National Museum of African American History and Culture, is also an acclaimed poet himself, as well the poetry editor of The New Yorker.
"It isn't just a renaissance of amazing writing, it's also a renaissance of the recognition of that writing. He points out that Jericho Brown won the 2020 Pulitzer Prize, and Pulitzers have also been awarded over the last 15 or so years to Black poets such as Natasha Trethewey, Tracy K. "There always have been great Black poets going back to Wheatley, but right now, not only are they writing more than ever, they're getting much more visibility, which is so important," Young says. Poetry is enjoying a renaissance, so it's fitting that Oprah Daily went to Kevin Young-the editor of a landmark volume, African American Poetry: 250 Years of Struggle and Song (Library of America)-to close out our month-long celebration of the form.
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