![]() He explains the contents of his poem then crafts an assertion at the very end to get that right amount of direct and compact. I believe Parker is very efficient at giving just the right amount when it is needed. Sometimes a poem needs to cram, to set things against each other in a tight space to create friction. This can make poetry harder to chew as it is so much in so little time. It begins, develops, and concludes a story usually in a small number of lines. Although the poem is full of tension, this image is the most packed and uses masterful language.Ĭontinuing to search through Parker’s poetry, I noticed he often ends his poems on assertions. The last lines (“his intentions are as bold as burnt crosses on Sabbath morning”) are stunning. It felt like straining, like not knowing what was going to happen, falling apart because of it, then coming to an open end, still unknowing, yet learned. As I read his poem “and in this nightmare a white supremacist tried to kill me,” I felt tension throughout the entire piece. Just from reading the titles of Parker’s voice, I get a feeling that he is an unapologetic voice who is more than willing to ask questions and interrogate to get the answers. Parker has judged for a poetry competition for the Campaign of Black Male Achievements and is a member of the Black Boy Fly collective, an artistic performance team. I personally connect to this aspect of Parker as a writer, as I too often write about the being Black and what the Black experience is to me. A lot of his work, written and in the literary community, involves speaking through the perspective of being a Black man and pushing the achievements of Black people. He has been champion to a number of poetry slams, worked as an editor in different publications, and is a Douglas Anderson graduate. ![]() From first glance, Jamal Parker is a very successful young writer.
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