Black Que(e)ries: Original Poetry Chapbook

by Beaux Hardin

I had the privilege of conducting research during the summer of 2024 after being granted the University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences’ “Summer Undergraduate Research Award”. The objective of my research was to explore how poets of the American Black Arts movement (the literary area in the Civil Rights Movement) and from La Negritude movement in North Africa, use their colonized language to express their culture and identity; to uplift themselves as a part of international “Black Pride” and then to exercise what was learned. I’ve applied what I’ve found through an implementation of 10 poems in both English and French. A variety of black French poets and their writing from the La Negritude movement were looked at, specifically slang and nontraditional french. In reference to what the context of La Negritude brings to race literature, C.L.R. James, a scholar on La Negritude, wrote that “Negritude is what one race brings to the common rendezvous where all will strive for the new world of the poet’s vision”. And conversely, black poets from the American Black Arts movement and their literature were looked at, specifically their African American Vernacular English. From there, I’ve compared what I’ve found and seen what is similar between the two–what connects a people across an ocean.

As a black queer individual, the pieces were written on the topic of black pride, celebration, and experience. This project culminates in a total of 20 poetry pieces in French and English–neither piece will be translated into the other, therefore the inherent meaning of the poems will change when read in both colonized languages. Some poems are in English and in French with the sentiment of what is said clear in both languages; there is no need to translate any writing into the other language. Some poems have * that denote extra information that can be found at the bottom of the page, others do not and leave the mystery of what is said up to the readers. The point of publishing this chapbook is to have money generated from black voices to go back to the black community; all proceeds will go to North African organizations that support and advocate for black education like the “Morocco Foundation” and an American organization that funds, supports and advocates for black education like NABSE.

I have the utmost appreciation to have been granted this opportunity to create this project with the funds and support from the College of the Arts and Sciences at the University of Kentucky. I would not have been able to have the courage to write these words if not for my family, friends, and community to whom I dedicate this writing to. And this chapbook would not be in your hands if not for the phenomenal Dr. Jeorg Ellen Sauer, French professor at the University of Kentucky, my mentor.

Thank you for reading and I implore you to fully savor what is said and live for a second in between what is read.

*Note due to format conversions, it is best to read this text laterally/horizontally.

24 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 31, 2024