Get Your Ass in the Water and Swim Like Me: African-American Narrative Poetry from the Oral Tradition, Includes CD

by Bruce Jackson (Editor)

First published in 2004. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Genres: Poetry, Anthologies, Folklore

264 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1974

About the author

Bruce Jackson is an American folklorist, documentary filmmaker, writer, photographer. He is SUNY Distinguished Professor and the James Agee Professor of American Culture at the University at Buffalo. Jackson has edited or authored books published by major university presses. He has also directed and produced five documentary films.

Reviews

[Fabio · Rating 5 out of 5]

warning: VERY crude language and every page is full of things someone would find offensive. Approach it (or not) the way you would the toughest gangsta rap record you've heard.

The first time I was introduced to this raw dirty and incredibly cool poetry was with Schoolly D's "Signifying Rapper," as the only soundtrack of Abel Ferrara's Bad Lieutenant (a version no longer available on demand because Led Zeppelin sued over the "Kashmir" sample).

I thought "The Signifying Rapper" was the coolest twisted wisdom story I had heard and has stayed with me ever since, so you may imagine my surprise when I discover that it had its roots not only on eastern stories but in a whole genre of raw gallows humor poetry from a black oral tradition, collected meticulously in this volume.

This book is a goldmine. Iy was a recommendation from no less than David Mamet in his masterclass, and it has proved one of the most entertaining and raw street poetry I've ever come across. Now I know where Dolemite really came from, btw.

If you are offended by bad language or looking for positive role models and want to avoid any black culture that has anything to do with prison, drugs and prostitution, please don't pick this book up. If instead you are the kind of adult who can enjoy stories about clever double crossings and incredibly creative language in things like the fairy tales about the sexual prowess of the greatest cheats that ever lived, you will not be disappointed.

It's something to be preserved, not for role models (we have poets such as Langston Hughes and James Baldwin for that) but as example of what great bardic imagination can do in the face of the oppression and terrible circumstances, call it an example of what Cornell West termed tragicomic hope in the face of dehumanizing hate.

[Beth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating poetry handed down by oral tradition , with everyone putting their own personal and regional twist on the telling. Author gives academic view of this history and sheds some light on how it was passed down. Really fun read, cw for foul language for those who mind.

[Miami University Libraries]

King Library (2nd floor) | PS477.5.T6 J3