Visionary Vibes: A Blog by Aberjhani

Taking a Multimedia Approach to Surviving the Year 2020 and Preparing for 2021

11/1/2020

A shortage of compelling topics to address via books, blog essays, podcasts, fine art, photography, electronic gaming, and other creative media has not been among the traumatizing events unleashed upon humanity in the year 2020. Painful history-altering occurrences have, however, included the following: a very stubborn and deadly COVID-19 pandemic, the resulting economic crisis, further evidence of climate change in the form of murderous fires in California, riots in cities across America in response to #2ManyLivesGone2Soon, and political unease in the face of an uncertain future.

Detail from artwork titled "Blue Rose of Remembrance for Black Lives Gone Too Soon" by Aberjhani.

Incorporating reports on important public happenings into ongoing projects has long been among the better practices at Bright Skylark Literary Productions. It goes back at least as far to the days of my former AXS National African-American Cultural Arts column when I created art graphics for my news stories. Articles sometimes included original poetry to enhance editorial impact. Where the year 2020 is concerned, the following steps have been taken:

To help combat the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, Bright Skylark added face masks to the line of products offered through its Fine Art America storefront.
To help correct social injustices generated by systemic racism and other forms of oppression, the book Greeting Flannery O’Connor at the Back Door of My Mind underwent a timely revision and launched officially in September. Artwork supporting the same goal was posted on Fine Art America.
The Conversations with the World Blog Series launched to encourage dialogues on unifying as well polarizing topics to help bridge the gap between the two.
A previously dormant Facebook author account was reactivated to increase engagement with people concerned about deteriorating social conditions and help identify ways to improve the same.
Works of art presented as tributes to victims of COVID-19 and diverse frontline essential workers were made available at Fine Art America.

Although taking the above steps did not erase the different social, political, and environmental ills currently dogging the world, I like to think they contributed to the process of helping move things in a better healthier direction.

Aberjhani

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More Thoughts Unspoken on Flannery O’Connor: Conversations with the World 104

9/28/2020

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This installment of Conversations with the World takes a new approach to the series by switching from well-known quotes to an additional excerpt from my “Thoughts Unspoken on Flannery O’Connor” lecture. The text will be followed by links to different articles and essays currently examining O’Connor’s depiction of race in her work and how racial bias possibly influenced her personal behavior or attitudes towards African Americans:

“My goal is not to offend but to encourage consideration. Anyone even slightly familiar with Flannery O'Connor’s work knows she was not a woman to bite her tongue. And I’m not talking just about the words she placed in her characters’ mouths. So I'm pretty sure that just like she did not bite her tongue in service to her vision, she would have preferred that, on this particular occasion, I not bite mine. In fact I’m not just pretty sure. I’m absolutely certain because of reasons which will become clearer when I read a couple of passages from Greeting Flannery O’Connor at the Back Door of My Mind.

“This book about the literary cultures and histories we choose to sustain––and the ones which we either aggressively erase, or passively let vanish. In my examination of these ideas, I present three memoir narratives. The first is called ‘Days of Midnight Madness.’ It deals with some fun and not-so-fun times as a bookstore manager hosting book signings with John Berendt and Lady Chablis. The second narrative, titled ‘On Genius and Exile,’ focuses on writer James Alan McPherson’s relationship with his hometown. And the third narrative is the one I will be discussing and reading from today.

“When you read her letters and notice how strongly she defended her ideas, it becomes apparent that having Lupus did not stop her from being a fighter. That’s another way of saying she was a fierce communicator who tackled some very complex issues in ways women were not expected to deal with such topics in the 1950s and 1960s. We’re talking about such things as: the terror of one war after another, racial tensions in America and around the world, the impact of the industrial revolution on American values, the dynamics of intergenerational relationships, the evolving role of women in American society, and spiritual conflicts in a world, seemingly, more devoted to material and intellectual concerns. Those were huge issues which O’Connor tackled in bold innovative ways.”
--(Excerpt from 2020 lecture by Aberjhani canceled by COVID-19)

Greeting Flannery O’Connor is now available at a variety of online booksellers, including: Barnes & Noble, Amazon, and Books-A-Million. While it does share certain points of discussion with the noted in-progress conversations regarding O’Connor, it also reaches beyond those specific concerns. To learn more about one of the most significant discussions in contemporary letters of a major American author, please check out the following:

Weighing in on an Important Discussion

Aberjhani
Harlem Renaissance Centennial

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Launch Schedule for Greeting Flannery O'Connor at the Back Door of My Mind

8/30/2020

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Detail "Greeting Flannery O'Connor at the Back Door of My Mind" poster art featuring quote from poem "History and Prophets' Prerogatives." Artwork by Aberjhani now available on Fine Art America and Pixels.com.

Working around the different restrictions imposed by the coronavirus pandemic set back the publication of Greeting Flannery O’Connor at the Back Door of My Mind in more ways than I could have anticipated by almost 6 months. Let’s face, production under these circumstances is a big issue for everybody. The intense events and mounting urgencies of #TheYear2020, however, reemphasized repeatedly the need to keep pushing forward and get the job done. So with the help of a few friends I have done exactly that and am pleased to announce the date of the planned global launch for the title is Labor Day September 7.

Some of you know already that a soft launch recently kicked off with 3 events: 1) the Greeting Flannery (GF) book info page published at Bright Skylark Literary Productions; 2) corresponding artwork posted for sale at Fine Art America and Pixels.com; and 3) fun-type trivia and quiz questions posted on Goodreads.
Here’s the current extended schedule of planned launch events:

Schedule of Events

SEPTEMBER 1 - 30: GF artwork available at 35 percent off using PROMO Code GFGJZH at Fine Art America and Pixels.com. Prints so far include “Converging Grace” with and without quotation text; and, a mixed media visual incorporating the cover of the book into a collage composed of different symbolic pieces. Please Note: THE IMAGE SEEN WITH THIS POST IS A DETAIL FROM “CONVERGING GRACE” WITH QUOTATION TEXT (the quote being from the book and by me).

SEPT 1: Multi-language “Conversations with the World” series kicks off with focus on posters featuring in different languages quotes from my writings which have become, or which are becoming, parts of international dialogues on our human condition.

SEPT 1: New GF artwork posting on noted websites plus pages here on FB and at Bright Skylark.

Sept 4: Quote from GF posts at Goodreads.

SEPT 7: Selected excerpt from GF posts at Bright Skylark #Literary Prods Website.
SEPT 10-11: “Conversations with the World” series continues.

SEPT 15: “Thoughts Unspoken on Flannery O’Connor” excerpt from COVID19-canceled lecture posted.

SEPT 16: Greeting Flannery O’Connor at the Back Door of My Mind (ISBN 1-716-68481-1) book launches globally and becomes available online via diverse booksellers: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, etc.

SEPT 22: New GF #artwork unveiled on Fine Art America and on Pixels.com

SEPT 22: “Conversations with the World” series continues.

SEPT 29: Selected excerpt from GF posts at Bright Skylark Literary Productions Website.

SEPT 29: “Conversations with the World” series continues.

SEPT 29: More “Thoughts Unspoken on Flannery O’Connor” excerpt from COVID19-canceled lecture posted.

Like all calendars of events for launching major new works, this one is subject to change with additions or deletions but this is where we stand right now.
Thank you for checking it out.

Aberjhani
Author, Poet, Artist, Historian

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Poetry and the Pain of Elijah McClain’s Unjust Killing

7/6/2020

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Visions of a Skylark Dressed in Black poetry collection by Aberjhani .

Geographically, the killing of Ahmaud Arbery was closer than that of Elijah McClain because it occurred only an hour’s drive from where I grew up and where people who mean a great deal to me have family members. But for some reason McClain’s death, although it occurred all of 1,600 miles away in Aurora, Colorado, felt closer. I did not understand why until recalling two poems written more than a decade ago. The memory of both forced me to sit down and wonder how it was something written so far in the past was having such a powerful impact on my life in 2020.

The first composition is a song lyric titled “ELI-JAH” originally published in the first edition of the novel Songs from the Black Skylark zPed Music Player (sung by a character named Ruzahn), and later in the poetry collection titled Visions of a Skylark Dressed in Black. It is about a man who refuses to accept reports his brother has been killed so he keeps singing his name, Eli-Jah, to let him know he’s committed to finding him. The complete lyric is too lengthy for the purposes of this post but these are the last 2 verses:

Eli-jah!
My handsome, my twin
I long to see you again.
Is your heart
safe in love?
Did your war
ever end?
There’s a storm
in the mountains.
Here’s a cross
painted blue.
Lots of holes
in my shoes
but I’m still looking
boy for you,
yes I’m looking
brother for you.

Did I tell you
your son
keeps calling me dad?
Anything less
spins his mind
cold and sad.
In his eyes
shine pictures
of a long-ago you.
In my head
this cruel
unspeakable truth:
that we battled
and we cursed
and we spilled
each other’s blood,
we relished
our taste of hell
and strangled
heaven’s love.
People said all the time
we were strange that way.
Gave our smiles
to the moon
and our tears
to the day.
(Aberjhani ©2006)

The second text which surprised me with an unexpected emotional connection to McClain is 2 lines at the end of the poem “Vampire Song: The Last Bloodfeast,” also from Visions of a Skylark Dressed in Black. I recalled when writing the lines that they sounded strange and I changed them several times but always switched back because somehow they felt honest. Reading them, now, I’m stunned at how close they come to an image combination frequently associated with Elijah McClain: the violin and kittens, for his compassionate practice of playing for them on his lunch breaks. This is the quote from “Vampire Song”:

“Soft upon my right thigh, an oddly-colored kitten
meowed the melodies of angels playing violins.”

There is a possibility I’m making more of these parallels than I should and some might even argue I am forcing them where there are none. They would have a right to that belief.

Before identifying the subconscious links stirring within me such a strong response to the shooting death of McClain, I considered writing a blog titled Music for a Black Skylark in Mourning to express the lingering grief. So I looked for a music video with the words “Black Skylark” in the title and found two. Either one, I felt, could serve as a worthy tribute to McClain and believe he would have appreciated either. The one with which I’ve chosen to close is from volume 5 of the China Meditation Ethno Music Project and titled “A Black Skylark.”

Aberjhani

Author of Dreams of the Immortal City Savannah and co-author of Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance.

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Exploring the Wonder and Enigma of Flannery O'Connor (part 2 of 3)

12/19/2019

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From the time when her first short stories and novel were published, O’Connor was identified as a writer with a rare kind of gift. Her specific brand of genius allowed her to adapt powerful religious principles, aesthetic technique, and social observances to create highly original and often shocking literary art which leaned heavily toward the Gothic and grotesque.

She painted with words in the same manner she painted with colors. Stroke by carefully-rendered stroke, she created broken-soul characters who were oddly warped by the jarring impulses of their own scarred personalities, a condition which could make them as misplaced within the confines of their own skin as it could within society.

The Church of Hazel Motes’ Truth

One archetypal example is Hazel Motes, the anti-hero main character in Wise Blood described by Gooch as “a slightly demented saint in the making.” Motes could also be described as a prototype for any number of O’Connor’s characters driven by pain and confusion to rage against their perception of divine, or human, authority over their lives. Hazel Motes is bold enough to propose starting “the Church of truth without Jesus Christ Crucified.” His own ambitiousness and the ambiguities of human mortality inherent in anyone’s life defeat his intentions and ultimately lead to his destruction.

It is not only the daring with which O’Connor wrote such tales as Wise Blood that made her an exceptional writer but an ear for true-to-life dialect and a command of language that enabled her to bend narrative prose into lyrical poetry like this:

“The smokestacks and square tops of buildings made a black uneven wall against the lighter sky and here and there a steeple cut a sharp wedge out of a cloud.” Or the following: “The outline of a skull was plain under his skin and the deep burned eye sockets seemed to lead into the dark tunnel where he had disappeared.”

Such statements, beaded as they were with strong philosophical nuances, would make any writer in any language an exceptional one.

The N-Word Factor

For many African Americans, O’Connor is not an easy read because her fiction is very true to the Southern rural language of her times. That means the word “nigger” tends to flow like breath out of many of her characters’ mouths with such a total disregard for its social, political, or spiritual implications that their use of the word might prompt many a hardcore rapper to reconsider his or her fondness for it.

The degree to which O’Connor herself may have been racist is an issue biographer Brad Gooch does periodically address: “She had returned to settle in a society predicated on segregation and had taken on its charged voices and manners as the setting of her fiction.”

In short, from O’Connor’s perspective as a literary artist, to avoid racially derisive language, and in some cases customs, would have meant dodging an ugly truth rather than confronting it head-on. Moreover, readers should note she was far from being alone in this regard among white and black American writers in the previous century.

NEXT: Exploring the Wonder and Enigma of Flannery O'Connor (final part 3)

If you missed part 1 of Exploring the Wonder and Enigma of Flannery O'Connor and would like to read it Please Click Here.

Author

Aberjhani is a multi-genre author of history, memoirs, poetry, fiction, and journalism. His most recent book is Dreams of the Immortal City Savannah.

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Taking a Multimedia Approach to Surviving the Year 2020 and Preparing for 2021

Aberjhani

Contact Bright Skylark Literary Productions

More Thoughts Unspoken on Flannery O’Connor: Conversations with the World 104

Weighing in on an Important Discussion

Aberjhani
Harlem Renaissance Centennial

Contact Author of Greeting Flannery O'Connor at the Back Door of My Mind

Launch Schedule for Greeting Flannery O'Connor at the Back Door of My Mind

Schedule of Events

Aberjhani
Author, Poet, Artist, Historian

Poetry and the Pain of Elijah McClain’s Unjust Killing

Aberjhani

Contact the Author

Exploring the Wonder and Enigma of Flannery O'Connor (part 2 of 3)

The Church of Hazel Motes’ Truth

The N-Word Factor

Author

Aberjhani

Archives

Categories

Taking a Multimedia Approach to Surviving the Year 2020 and Preparing for 2021

Aberjhani

Contact Bright Skylark Literary Productions

More Thoughts Unspoken on Flannery O’Connor: Conversations with the World 104

Weighing in on an Important Discussion

AberjhaniHarlem Renaissance Centennial

Contact Author of Greeting Flannery O'Connor at the Back Door of My Mind

Launch Schedule for Greeting Flannery O'Connor at the Back Door of My Mind

Schedule of Events

AberjhaniAuthor, Poet, Artist, Historian

Poetry and the Pain of Elijah McClain’s Unjust Killing

Aberjhani

Contact the Author

Exploring the Wonder and Enigma of Flannery O'Connor (part 2 of 3)

The Church of Hazel Motes’ Truth

The N-Word Factor

Author

Aberjhani

Archives

Categories

Aberjhani
Harlem Renaissance Centennial

Aberjhani
Author, Poet, Artist, Historian