When I Waked, I Cried To Dream Again: Poems

by A. Van Jordan

A dynamic, moving hybrid work that celebrates Black youth, often too fleeting, and examines Black lives lost to police violence.  In this astonishing volume of poems and lyric prose, Whiting Award–winner A. Van Jordan draws comparisons to Black characters in Shakespearean plays―Caliban and Sycorax from? The Tempest , Aaron the Moor from? Titus Andronicus , and the eponymous antihero of?Othello―to mourn the deaths of Black people, particularly Black children, at the hands of police officers. What do these characters, and the ways they are defined by the white figures who surround them, have in common with Tamir Rice, Trayvon Martin, and other Black people killed in the twenty-first century? Balancing anger and grief with celebration, Jordan employs an elastic variety of poetic forms, including ekphrastic sestinas inspired by the photography of Malick Sidibé, fictional dialogues, and his signature definition poems that break down the insidious power of words like “fair,” “suspect,” and “juvenile.” He invents a new form of window poems, based on a characterization exercise, to see Shakespeare’s Black characters in three dimensions, and finds contemporary parallels in the way these characters are othered, rendered at once undesirable and hypersexualized, a threat and a joke.   At once a stunning inquiry into the roots of racist violence and a moving recognition of the joy of Black youth before the world takes hold, When I Waked, I Cried to Dream Again expresses the preciousness and precarity of life.

Genres: Poetry

144 pages, Hardcover

Published June 6, 2023

Reviews

[Blue · Rating 5 out of 5]

A. Van Jordan nudges the reader to explore the many ways Black youth can relate to Shakespearean writings..For example, there is Othello, Titus Andronicus, Place this play next to a student or your favorite cousin and feel the strength of meaning along with culture. While there is the atrocity of police brutality and young people who continue to become early martyrs, there is hope their stars will shine as sacrificial lights to brighten coming days. They can never be forgotten. Trayvon Martin, Tamir Rice, and the other murdered children were just beginning to sense their individuality.Ripeness for potential greatness, this book becomes a wonder wand.. One that taps into the beauty of passion.. "When I Waked, i Cried to Dream Again" will bring tears of rejoicing and tears of hope. for a better future..

[Mya Matteo]

"Bless the pains spared you, vicarious to you, passed down in your blood, carrying you through the dangers and the echoes of time."

[Deanna Whitlow · Rating 5 out of 5]

these are the sorts of poems that can breathe life into any room

[Andy Kristensen · Rating 3 out of 5]

A. Van Jordan’s When I Waked, I Cried To Dream Again is a disparate collection of prose that I had trouble fully getting into, mainly due to the nature of the collection and the way it’s organized.

The collection seeks to celebrate Black youth and innocence, examine the way that Black youth is often cut short by police violence in America, and expound upon the general Black experience in America, from the founding of the original colonies to the present day. Jordan also seeks to mix in Black Shakespearean characters throughout the collection, sometimes dwelling upon what happens to them in original poems, and other times writing prose passages about their fictional experiences, and he uses them as framing devices for several larger themes, with many of them pointing out the hypocrisy of White America. Jordan uses poems, fictional interviews, ‘definition poems,’ and longer prose passages to explore the topics, themes, and experiences he seeks to internally discuss and convey to readers, and it makes for an overall varied reading, allowing readers to experience many different kinds of writing.

And I think that’s where the collection felt a little lacking for me—while the topics and subjects of the collection are crucially important to examine in the increasing violence and racism of 21st century America, they’re oftentimes jumbled in with Shakespearean references and characters, and, if you aren’t that familiar with the characters themselves, a lot of the details and references go right over your head, and their impact isn’t felt in the way that Jordan would like them (presumably) to be felt. Combining pages of poems with a fictional interview transcript with longer definition poems and photographs from decades ago created a jarring reading experience that didn’t flow well in my opinion, and I felt slightly duped by the declaration of ‘Poems’ on the book’s cover. This collection is anything but straight poems, and I found myself having to readjust my expectations in terms of what I was reading.

Saying that, the poems themselves are phenomenally written, and the inclusion of other prose pieces makes sense, even if I didn’t personally enjoy the frequent switching between styles. I honestly feel like I’m missing a lot of what I’m supposed to be getting from this collection as well due to my limited experience with Shakespeare (I haven’t read or studied the Bard in over 12 years), and maybe my opinion would change if I was more familiar with the characters and plays mentioned. With how detailed and literary some of the passages and poems got, I wouldn’t necessarily call this a very accessible collection of poetry/prose, and I’m a little surprised a major publisher published this versus an academic or indie press.

Either way, this is a collection worth reading at least once and studying. While Jordan’s message is important and clear, the way it’s conveyed is a little scattered at times, but that does nothing to blunt the impact of the events, themes, and experiences shared within these pages.

Thanks to NetGalley, W. W. Norton & Company, and A. Van Jordan for the digital ARC of ‘When I Waked, I Cried to Dream Again’ in exchange for an honest review.

[Bree · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley and W. W. Norton & Company for providing me an ARC.

In this collection of poetry (although it is so much more than simply that) A. Van Jordan celebrates both Shakespeare and black youth, weaving these two things together to create a moving and lyrical journey about police violence and it's impact on young black boys especially.

The title jumped out at me instantly, and any fan of Shakespeare will recognise the iconic quote from The Tempest, in which Caliban laments having to wake up, and wishes to stay asleep, living in his dreams. As Van Jordan clearly compares the figures of Caliban from The Tempest to murdered black children by cops in modern-day America, it becomes clear that, like Caliban, do we not also wish to 'dream again'? For to be awake, to be woke, is, like the boy on the front cover, to look off into the distance and face a country that allows this to happen. Not just once, but again and again.

Bringing in Caliban and Sycorax from The Tempest, Aaron from Titus Andronicus, and the eponymous Othello weaves together history and the present day, evaluating how black men have always been defined by the white people who surround them. Van Jordan uses a new form of window poems here to dissect how characters like Caliban and Sycorax are othered, a technique that sings to his ability as a poet.

More than just poetry however, Van Jordan also fills his newest collection with the joy and roaring music of youth, creating life on the page by building on Malick Sidibe's photographs. By interweaving the black and white photographs among the poems, both poem and photo build on each other, creating a new kind of ekphrasis. Van Jordan also uses dictionary definitions to create poems that deeply analyse the meanings of words, digging deeper than the excepted dictionary definition and placing the word under new light. A total dissection. This leads to enlightening histories where the roots of America's past are laid bare.

This collection is truly something special, and I am sure I will find myself going back to it, and each time gleaning something new from it. The best poems are the ones that touch something deep down in my soul, and every single one in this collection did that for me.

[Julia Bucci]

from "Othello the Moor":
"Desdemona looks for you with a candle in the daytime,

but you still don't see her. You can't see her
when you can't see yourself. Only the whites

of the eyes of the whites see behind you.
Only the eyes of the Moor eyes the shifting of the day.

When proof appears, who appears behind the man?
Even a handkerchief, dyed in mummy, the color

of your own hand, reveals a foreign touch.
You want to touch the truth with your eyes,

so you can see the magic in the web of your wife.
But even your body, begrimed in beauty, can't be trusted,

if you don't trust your own life."

[Yolonda · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an incredible book of poetry! I had to re-examine my knowledge of Shakespeare actually re-reading The Tempest and reading Titus Andronicus for the first time. How could I have lived this long and not be aware of Aaron the Moor. This book required that I examine my own feelings on racial violence and the toil it takes on my mental well being. Also, the continued historic inhumanity of humans. How cruel we are! Though many painful scenarios are covered, there is an underlying current of joy, perseverance and love. Jordan suggests that we carry more history within us than we think we know and with creative writing he shows us. Highly recommended read!

[lids ☆彡 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I LOVE the variation in form, from ephkastic poems about a cultural youth movement in 1960s Mali to dictionary entries to a fictional conversation about a fictional manuscript. Each section builds upon the other, and I feel like I need to reread to get a better understanding of the book as a whole.

Since Van Jordan takes inspiration from/directly talks about Shakespeare’s Black characters, this book works best when you’re familiar with Shakespeare’s works, especially The Tempest, Othello, and Titus Andronicus. I didn’t know the last of the three, so the poems on Aaron the Moor were hard for me to fully understand.

[Laura]

This is fantastic. I do think I may have missed some of the true nuance and depth of this collection because I’m not the most familiar with Shakespeare, but this is still a super impactful and thought-provoking collection. The care and ache of continued murders of Black youth by police absolutely drops off the page. I found this compulsively readable and definitely made me think about historical representation has influences modern day perception.

[Lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely stunning.

[Jenna Murray]

DWS for Fall 23

[Jay · Rating 5 out of 5]

phenomenal collection.