Jimmy's Blues: Selected Poems

by James Baldwin

A collection of poetry echoes many of the themes and lyricism of Baldwin's essays and novels

Genres: Poetry, African American, Fiction, African American Literature, Race, Classics, American

75 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1983

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Works of American writer James Arthur Baldwin, outspoken critic of racism, include Go Tell It on the Mountain (1953), a novel, and Notes of a Native Son (1955), a collection of essays.

James Arthur Baldwin authored plays and poems in society.

He came as the eldest of nine children; his stepfather served as a minister. At 14 years of age in 1938, Baldwin preached at the small fireside Pentecostal church in Harlem. From religion in the early 1940s, he transferred his faith to literature with the still evident impassioned cadences of black churches. From 1948, Baldwin made his home primarily in the south of France but often returned to the United States of America to lecture or to teach.

In his Giovanni's Room, a white American expatriate must come to terms with his homosexuality. In 1957, he began spending half of each year in city of New York.

James Baldwin offered a vital literary voice during the era of civil rights activism in the 1950s and 1960s.
He first partially autobiographically accounted his youth. His influential Nobody Knows My Name and The Fire Next Time informed a large white audience. Another Country talks about gay sexual tensions among intellectuals of New York. Segments of the black nationalist community savaged his gay themes. Eldridge Cleaver of the Black Panthers stated the Baldwin displayed an "agonizing, total hatred of blacks." People produced Blues for Mister Charlie , play of Baldwin, in 1964. Huey Newton, co-founder of the Black Panther Party, defended Baldwin.

Going to Meet the Man and Tell Me How Long the Train's Been Gone provided powerful descriptions. He as an openly gay man increasingly in condemned discrimination against lesbian persons.

From stomach cancer, Baldwin died in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France. People buried his body at the Ferncliff cemetery in Hartsdale near city of New York.

Reviews

[leynes · Rating 4 out of 5]

REVIEW (2024):
Jimmy's not the best poet but I love his poems anyway. Favorites include: "3.00 a.m. (for David)" (!!!), "Imagination" (!!!) and "Amen". I was prompted to reread his collection of poetry through attending the "What would James Baldwin do?" festival in Berlin – a celebration of his 100th birthday and the lasting impact of his work – which focused on his poems (an unusual but much needed choice) on the first day of the festival. It was super interesting to hear how his poetry can be translated into different languages, or how daring Baldwin's choice was to publish his openly homosexual and -erotic poems amidst the AIDS epidemic etc. etc. So many new perspectives. I loved it!

Also, Baldwin's poetry is meant to be read OUT LOUD. It makes such a fucking difference, you cannot imagine. You can truly tell that he was raised by a Baptist preacher and preached himself in his youth!

The panel discussion I attended focused on Baldwin's poetry in translation, and Baldwin's newest translator into German, Christian Filips, was in attendance as well as Logan February, a wonderful poet and member of the James Baldwin Collective who contributed essays to the new German translation of Jimmy's Blues. I loved hearing all of their different versions of Jimmy's poems in English, it illustrated so well how subjective poetry in particular is. My favorite discussion was the one surrounding one of my favorite poems, "Imagination". The original English text goes as follows:

Imagination
creates the situation,
and, then, the situation
creates imagination.
It may, of course,
be the other way around:
Columbus was discovered
by what he found.

Brilliant, right? One of the translations Filips offers goes as follows:

Einbildungskraft
erschafft den Moment,
und dann der Moment
die Einbildungskraft.
Gut möglich auch,
dass es andersrum sei;
Entdecker des Kolumbus
war das Ei.

Absolutely fascinating, as it's such a free translation, yet gets the gist across. Other possible translations included: "Kolumbus wurde aufgedeckt", "Kolumbus wurde gefunden", "Kolumbus gefangen in seinem Ausguck". Also the title "Imagination" got different translations varying from "Einbildungskraft" to "Ausmalerei" and "Verbilderung". Gosh, I love languages.

I also wanna quote "3.oo a.m. (for David)" in full because it's hard to find online:

Two black boots,
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ on the floor,
figuring out what the walking's for.
Two black boots,
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀now, together,
learning the price of the stormy weather.

To say nothing of the wear and tear
on
⠀⠀ the mother-fucking
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀leather.

Uff. Gosh, it's sexy, isn't it? I know Baldwin never put a label on himself when it came to his sexuality (though the world remembers him as gay) but this is such an openly queer poem, it's a breath of fresh air. I just love it so much. It's so daring, given that it was written and published amidst the AIDS epidemic and raising homophobia in Western societies. In terms of translation I loved the translation of "figuring out what the walking's for" to "wie läuft gehen nun zustande?", as well as the panelists' different ideas for "the mother-fucking leather", as that cuss word isn't that common in German: "scheißgeiles Leder" or "gottverficktes Leder" were popular choices. In regards to the poem, Logan February also spoke of the issued with queering translation and queerness and translation (February and Filips both identify as queer) as only having one translation of a text is somewhat authoritative. Therefore, the two advocated for having multiple translations of the same poem in order for the spirit of the original to live on and actually be up for interpretation. February also read one of their own wonderful poem during that point of the discussion, as it was a response to Baldwin; a remarkable line that struck me: "use me / as a my language does".

Another favorite quote, apart from the lines of "Imagination" and "3.00 a.m. (for David)", comes from "Staggerlee wonders: "My days are not their days. / May ways are not their ways. / I would not think of them, / one way or the other, / did not they so grotesquely / block the view / between me and my brother." Uff.


REVIEW (2017):
Woo hoo! After reading a lot of mediocre to downright bad poetry in the last few days, I am happy that James Baldwin still remains a light in the dark. I will shout it from the rooftops until I die: James Baldwin is brilliant and deserves more attention.

I know that he is well-loved in some circles, but I bet only few people even know that he did not only write essays and novels, no, he also wrote poetry. Not much of it, sure... but the few poems we have ooze intelligence and quick-wittedness.

Get out of town.
Get out of town.
Get out of town.

And don't let nobody
turn you around.

During his lifetime (1924-1987), James Baldwin authored seven novels, as well as several plays and essay collections, which were published to wide-spread praise. However, Baldwin’s earliest writing was in poetic form, and Baldwin considered himself a poet throughout his lifetime. Nonetheless, his single book of poetry, Jimmy’s Blues, never achieved the popularity of his novels and nonfiction, and is the one and only book to fall out of print – which is just a damn shame.

Jimmy's Blues , only a selection of his poetry, includes 17 of his poems, and in them he really isn't pulling any punches. Known for his relentless honesty and startlingly prophetic insights on issues of race, gender, class, and poverty, Baldwin is just as enlightening and bold in his poetry as in his famous novels and essays. I would even argue that he is even more relentless in these poems – he doesn't shy away from calling people out and using quite explicit insults. It was really refreshing to see this dare-devil side of the younger Baldwin.

My favorite poem is Staggerlee wonders, a long narrative poem about racial injustice and the reality of the black man in America.

1

I always wonder
what they think the niggers are doing
while they, the pink and alabaster pragmatists, 
are containing 
Russia  
and defining and re-defining and re-aligning 
China, 
nobly restraining themselves, meanwhile,
from blowing up that earth
which they have already 
blasphemed into dung:

[…]

The natives will have nothing to complain about,
indeed, they will begin to be grateful,
will be better off than ever before. 
They will learn to defer gratification
and save up for things, like we do. 

Oh, yes. They will.
We have only to make an offer
they cannot refuse

This flag has been planted on the moon:
it will be interesting to see 
what steps the moon will take to be revenged 
for this quite breathtaking presumption.

I appreciate it so much that Baldwin stresses, in almost every single work of his, that the United States of America as they are today were build on Native blood. He is condemning gun violence – a topic that is, frustratingly, more relevant than ever – and in general he is just calling out the hypocrisy of white folks:

No, said the Great Man's Lady,
I'm against abortion,
I always feel that's killing somebody.
Well, what about capital punishment?
I think the death penalty helps.
 
That's right.
Up to our ass in niggers
on Death Row.
 
Oh, Susanna,
don't you cry for me!

He is also dissecting the damaging consequences of a society who considers themselves color-blind, a society who is unwilling to face the harsh truth, a society unwilling to accept their crimes. I honestly got goosebumps reading this first poem. You can really feel Baldwin's anger and frustration. For the first time I felt that he was closer to Malcolm than he was to Martin (which is saying something because the older Baldwin was all for finding your love for your oppressor).

Quite a lot has been going on 
behind your back, and, 
if your phone has not yet been disconnected, 
it will soon begin to ring: 
informing you, for example, that a whole generation, 
in Africa, is about to die, 
and a new generation is about to rise,
and will not need your bribes, 
or your persuasions, any more: 
not your morality.

I have been literally hollering throughout the whole poem but the passage that made me scream the loudest was:

your innocence costs too much
and we can't carry you on our books
or our backs, any longer

Hot damn, James, his words really are his greatest weapon... like how am I going to carry on living life with these words ingrained in my mind???

The other poems weren't nearly as strong as Staggerlee wonders but in them Baldwin was still able to showcase his skill, not only of writing beautiful verses but also of composing poignant punchlines.

Let's take for example the poem Song in which Baldwin threatens the white man:

I'm going to tell God
how you treated
Me:
one of these days.

HOLY SHIT! Is there a better way to call out the hypocrisy of the Christian Church as an institution. No? Yeah, didn't think so. The young Baldwin was so motherfucking ruthless and I am all here for that. I am really sad that this anger didn't translate to all of his pieces of fiction and nonfiction. And it's not the case that Baldwin's poetry is exclusively about his anger, no, there are many moments of tenderness in which he talks about the strength and unity of black communities and that they're all in this together.

Unsurprisingly, homosexuality is also a theme in his poetry. He talks about the shame and guilt that go along with it, and how blacks are still struggling to accept homosexuality as natural. In general, he is talking about many day-to-day struggles that black people in his community faced. Women considering prostitution in order to provide for their family. Black bodies being criminalized and incarcerated. The struggle of believing in God, a better life, believing in anything for that matter.

In conclusion, Baldwin is just brilliant and you'll never forget him and his words of wisdom [and anger] once you let him into your heart. Big fat recommendation from me! Give Baldwin's poetry a shot!

[Elizabeth☮ · Rating 4 out of 5]

James Baldwin is one of my favorite writers. I fell in love with him after reading "Sonny's Blues" in an American lit course in college.

This is a strong set of poems that cover racism, the pitfalls of love and just being human.

I loved reading Baldwin's words in a different genre.

[Book2Dragon · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have loved James Baldwin's books. He emigrated to France to live, and is honest about the treatment of African-Americans and gays in America. These poems were published in England first then in the USA in 1986 (if I am reading the copyrights correctly.) They are poems of some anguish and longing. I prefer his prose, but that doesn't mean these are not great poems. I wonder that they have not been made into Rap or hiphop (or maybe I just don't know.) So, a good book of awareness.

[Khadija · Rating 3 out of 5]

Time is not money.
Time
Is
Time.

And the time has come, again,

to outwit and outlast

survive and surmount

the authors of the blasphemy

of our chains.

At least, we know a

man, when we see one,

a shackle, when we wear one,

or a chain, when we bear one,

a noose from a halter,

or a pit from an altar.

We, who have been blinded,

are not blind

and sense when not to

trust the mind.



Time is not money.

Time is time.

You made the money.

We made the rhyme.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my first time completely reading anything from James Baldwin. I promise I will read more. After reading his poetry, I actually feel incredibly interested in his prose. Jimmy's Blues just feels like such a good starting place for me.

The style of the poems feels like a blend between more modern styles more common today, with more classic styles that aren't used quite as much anymore. The blend is perfect, lyrical, captivating. I didn't love every poem, but I was especially fond of Munich, Winter 1973; The Giver; and Confession.

I definitely recommend this for anyone looking for good poetry, or anyone looking to try out some of James Baldwin's work.

[Brent · Rating 4 out of 5]

Remarkable: my first reading of Baldwin.
Recommended.

[L O G A N]

Fav lines

- Even our names are hand me downs
- The brightest hour we will ever be occurs just before we cease to be
- Imagination creates the situation, and, then, the situation, creates imagination
- If letting go is saying no, then what is holding on saying?
- Is it true that love is blind until challenged by the drawbridge of the mind?
- Wonder baptized me
- the entire Amen poem (last poem of the book)

[Vanessa Fuller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Still relevant today. I can't help but wonder how some of this would translate into hip hop / rap as lyrics.

[Khepre · Rating 4 out of 5]

Journey through Baldwin 1: This was an amazing collection of poetry that gave me a look at the 20th century racism through a first person lens.

[Reem · Rating 4 out of 5]

"of all the ways there are,
this must be the most dreadful
way to be alone."

[Courtney · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first half of this collection seems to emphasize Baldwin's affinity for social commentary. While his novels are enriched by his passion for social issues and identity politics, the poetry sounds a little too strident. The poems that focus on interpersonal dynamics and relationships are much more engaging, in my opinion. It's also possible that the micro-oriented poetry has just aged more gracefully than its macro counterpart. Regardless, I love Baldwin's prose and reading his poetry was a worthwhile experience.

[Crystal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredible! James Baldwin is truly a master of all literary forms. So many don't even know he was a poet, but it's evident in the rhythm of his prose and his care with every single word. "Staggerlee wonders" opens the book and is staggeringly bold and beautiful. He's just as relentlessly honest, insightful, and occasionally biting as he is in his prose and essay.

[Melody · Rating 4 out of 5]

My first time reading any of Baldwin's poetry. I really liked this. It's sharp and tough. He asks hard questions and imagines dark things. Race, identity, love, hate. I enjoyed this immensely in part of how strong and critical his voice is of... well, damn near everything.

[RK Byers · Rating 5 out of 5]

i'm depressed. i just read my last previously unread Baldwin (that wasn't co-authored). oh well. if music can still be made without Marvin Gaye, i guess there'll always be other writers to read...

[Annette Boehm · Rating 3 out of 5]

A new translation might be good. This was published in the 80s and some of the choices the translator made would be made differently now, I think.

[Nic · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Time is not money.
Time
is
time.
And the time has come, again,
to outwit and outlast
survive and surmount.”

[M.W.P.M. · Rating 3 out of 5]

The darkest hour
is just before the dawn,
and that, I see,
which does not guarantee
power to draw the next breath,
nor abolish the suspicion
that the brightest hour
we will ever see
occurs just before we cease
to be.

- The darkest hour, pg. 36

* * *

Imagination
creates the situation,
and, then, the situation
creates imagination.

It may, of course,
be the other way around:
Columbus was discovered
by what he found.

- Imagination, pg. 36

* * *

1
Some days worry
some days glad
some days
more than make you
mad.
Some days,
some days, more than
shine:
when you see what's coming
on down the line!

2
Some days you say,
oh, not me never - !
Some days you say
bless God forever.
Some days, you say,
curse God, and die
and the day comes when you wrestle
with that lie.
Some days tussle
then some days groan
and some days
don't even leave a bone.
Some days you hassle
all alone.

3
I don't know, sister,
what I'm saying,
nor do no man,
if he don't be praying.
I know that love is the only answer
and the tight-rope lover
the only dancer.
When the lover come off the rope
today,
the net which holds him
is how we pray,
and not to God's unknown,
but to each other - :
the falling mortal is our brother!

4
Some days leave
some days grieve
some days you almost don't believe.
Some days believe you,
some days don't,
some days believe you
and you won't.
Some days worry
some days mad
some days more than make you
glad.
Some days, some days,
more than shine, witnesses,
coming on down the line!

- Some days (for Paula), pg. 45-47

* * *

1
Although you know
what's best for me,
I cannot act on what you see.
I wish I could:
I really would,
and joyfully,
act out my salvation
with your imagination.

2
Although I may not see your heart,
or fearful well-springs of your art,
I know enough to stare
down danger, anywhere.
I know enough to tell
you to go to hell
and when I think you're wrong
I will not go along.
I have a right to tremble
when you begin to crumble.
Your life is my life, too,
and nothing you can do
will make you something other
than my mule-headed brother.

- Mirrors (for David), pg. 62-63

* * *

No, I don't feel death coming.
I feel death going:
having thrown up his hands,
for the moment.

I feel like I know him
better than I did.
Those arms held me,
for a while,
and, when we meet again,
there will be that secret knowledge
between us.

- Amen, pg. 75

[Allye · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was astounded how still-relevant so much of this was right off the bat. much of the first poem, Staggerlee wonders, read like it could have been written today. Baldwin sees white america so clearly and is so incisive in his writing about both white people and the effects of whiteness and race as constructs, even if he doesn’t outright phrase it that way. he also touches on sexuality and queerness in a homophobic world—Guilt, Love, and Desire are anthropomorphized in a particular favorite. even with these serious topics, I found myself chuckling at one point (I did not expect the word “fart” to show up in this collection!)

a common thread through everything I’ve read of his so far is a deep compassion while not pulling any punches about both interpersonal and societal cruelty & oppression, and that’s just as present in this book of poems. a master through and through in any form.

[Josha Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading this as someone who wasn't around in Baldwin's time I didn't get every reference in this poetry collection. The references I did get were well done.

I loved the poem A Lover's Question because I love the framing of black Americans as the lovers. It displays the frustration that people feel as a result of injustice almost as a scored lover. Also, viewing the treatment of black people in America as an abusive relationship (with someone loving their abuser despite their mistreatment) creates a visceral image.

I hope that those who read that poem can what Baldwin was saying and have it inform how they treat others.

[Eleanore · Rating 5 out of 5]

"If they cannot claim it, if it is not there,
if their empty fingers beat the empty air
and the giver goes down on his knees in prayer
knows that all of his giving has been for naught
and that nothing was ever what he thought
and turns in his guilty bed to stare
at the starving multitudes standing there
and rises from bed to curse at heaven,
he must yet understand that to whom much is given
much will be taken, and justly so:
I cannot tell how much I owe."

[alireine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Je trouve les poèmes très inégaux dans leur qualité et leur originalité, mais Staggerlee est époustouflant, et j'ai une tendresse particulière pour le dernier poème : Inventory/On being 52.
Avoir la version originale en anglais aux côtés de la version traduite est très appréciable pour vérifier si un mot qui me fait tiquer vient de la traduction ou de Baldwin lui même (ces "mec !" dans Cantique de Noël par exemple, qui remplacent "man !")

[Jesse Schroeder · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Perhaps
one must learn to trust
one’s terror:
the holding on
the letting go
is error:
the lightning has no choice,
the whirlwind has one voice.”

(From “Conundrum”)

Baldwin is piercingly serious and haltingly whimsical, sometimes in the same line. Always a driving undercurrent of passion and futility, his poems read as his prose - challenging, beautiful, classic.

[Steve · Rating 3 out of 5]

I won't try to speak to the relevance of these poems in today's world, since there are many people who are better qualified to do that. I can say that there's a strong voice to them, personal and reflective.

[Abbas Alrufaye · Rating 5 out of 5]

WoW, Baldwin wrote a poetry!! it so easy to understand the meaning from the phrases and line and you can imagine the world through these lines. Baldwin needs more attention to his work or may be need a school to teach his ideas and his great inspiration.

[Nathan Frechette · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading this made me love poetry again.

[Kiprop Kimutai · Rating 3 out of 5]

I quote whole sections of poems, to get back to, whenever I need to.

[Mark Ward · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 really

[Megan Mellino · Rating 5 out of 5]

I mean, what can one say about James Baldwin that hasn't already been said? Simply put: this collection of poems was so beautiful, and I enjoyed it a lot.

[Vee · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wide range of subjects and styles on display in this one, everything from epic to mundane. Guilt, Desire and Love was one of my favorites.

[Meredith · Rating 3 out of 5]

i really wish i liked it more, but i think it comes down to really disliking rhyming poetry in general (and rhyming free-verse in specific)