The Lost Etheridge: Uncollected Poems of Etheridge Knight

by Etheridge Knight

A new collection of the late poet's work, with many previously unpublished poems and a foreword by Yusef Komunyakaa.

Genres: Poetry

289 pages, Paperback

Published February 25, 2022

About the author

Etheridge Knight (April 19, 1931 – March 10, 1991) was an African-American poet who made his name in 1968 with his debut volume, Poems from Prison. The book recalls in verse his eight-year-long sentence after his arrest for robbery in 1960. By the time he left prison, Knight had prepared a second volume featuring his own writings and works of his fellow inmates. This second book, first published in Italy under the title Voce negre dal carcere, appeared in English in 1970 as Black Voices from Prison. These works established Knight as one of the major poets of the Black Arts Movement, which flourished from the early 1960s through the mid-1970s. With roots in the Civil Rights Movement, Malcolm X and the Nation of Islam, and the Black Power Movement, Etheridge Knight and other American artists within the movement sought to create politically engaged work that explored the African-American cultural and historical experience.

Reviews

[Craig Werner · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a book for readers who already know/love Etheridge Knight's work. (I met him a couple of times in the 80s in Mississippi/Memphis and carry with me the memory of his powerful presence and laugh--he gave a great reading/presentation for my students.). It brings together work that wasn't included in The Essential Etheridge Knight and one of the things I felt while reading his was that the Essential got it right. There really aren't poems here that feel like they should have been included. But this provides a larger sense of his process, the bits and pieces and thoughts that coalesced in the great work.

[Indiana Authors Awards]

On 19 January 1991, three months before his 60th birthday, a group of American and international poets gathered at the American Cabaret Theater in Indianapolis to celebrate Etheridge Knight’s life and art. But Knight was ailing physically: cancer was ravaging his lungs and he had not fully healed serious injuries from a hit and run accident in late 1988. For all in attendance that evening, the party must have also felt funereal. He didn’t make 60; we lost Etheridge on 10 March 1991.

The Lost Etheridge: Uncollected Poems of Etheridge Knight is a welcome reanimation of the poet’s voice. During his lifetime, Knight published five poetry books: Poems From Prison (1968); Black Voices From Prison [an anthology] (1970); Belly Song & Other Poems (1973); Born of a Woman: New and Selected Poems (1981); and The Essential Etheridge Knight (1986). Since his death, Knight’s legend and literary influence have grown, but his catalog has not...

Read Walton Muyumba's full review at: https://www.indianaauthorsawards.org/...

[Richard Propes · Rating 5 out of 5]

"The Lost Etheridge: Uncollected Poems of Etheridge Knight" is a collection for the Etheridge Knight diehards (of which there are many).

There are two poets who have significantly impacted my life - Charles Bukowski and Etheridge Knight. I discovered both while teetering on the edge of personal self-destruction, a period of trauma and drama triggered by the death by suicide of my wife, the death of my newborn, and the loss of nearly everything that meant anything to be.

I wanted to die, but I found meaning in the works of Bukowski and Knight and would be fortunate to spend some time with Knight and gathered with many others at American Cabaret Theatre where he would be honored less than three months before his death from cancer in 1991.

While my life experiences were different from Knight's, I found common ground in their rhythms and I found comfort in his words. I would eventually become one of the first recipients of the poetry prize at his namesake Etheridge Knight Festival of the Arts at Martin University (from which we both graduated).

With "The Lost Etheridge: Uncollected Poems of Etheridge Knight," editor Norman Minnick vividly brings to life Knight's voice including that voice we discovered in works such as Poems From Prison (his first collection that released almost alongside his actual release from prison), The Essential Etheridge Knight, and his Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award nominated Belly Songs & Other Poems.

Minnick presents not just the brilliance of Knight's voice but how it was developed. At times, The Lost Etheridge may feel incomplete through these verses found by Minnick from exploring archival materials at three different universities and by discovering other resources offering Knight's uncollected and unpublished work. "The Lost Etheridge" offers the depth of Knight's life journey and literary journey, a man and a poet progressing toward something with insight, intuition, remarkable intellect, and a surprising amount of humor.

As someone in ministry and yet also someone who has lived through a myriad of dark experiences, I've always resonated with Knight's ability to amplify both the light and the dark with equal vigor. There's something remarkable about Knight's tone here even in his developing pieces, a tone that is precise and disciplined yet raw and natural. Haiku was largely lost on me before Knight, yet here it's amplified and amplifies Knight's voice.

For those who love to read poetry aloud, it's nearly impossible to read Knight's poetry and prose without hearing Knight's voice. These are works easily read and easily read aloud.

I was enthralled by "The Lost Etheridge." It left me both deeply satisfied and reminiscent and also left me wanting more. It left me missing Knight and missing the opportunity to hear him read these works and share his stories because, indeed, there are so many stories behind these words.

Knight's legend has grown over the years. While he certainly won his awards while living, I'm not sure he was ever truly recognized as the icon of poetry that he deserved to be. While not from Indianapolis, this is where he would spend a good majority of his adult life and it is where he would pass away in 1991. His mural now rests on a downtown building and "The Lost Etheridge" reminds me just how much I continue to value the brief period when our paths crossed and his influence on my own life and writing would be planted where it remains still.

An absolute must for fans of Etheridge Knight, "The Lost Everything" is everything I wanted it to be and yet never quite enough.

[Sam Plauche · Rating 5 out of 5]

Etheridge Knight is just an insane writer, all of his poems force one to just…THINK. From political critiques, to personal anecdotes, to love poems that will make your heart quake he’s a poet everyone should be reading. What really moved me about this book though was his prose. His essays at the back of the book I found especially insightful. “The Oral Nature of Poetry” is one that I reread regularly and teach my students as his thoughts on simply how sound can effect your writing, and how that should be considered when putting pen to paper was amazing.