Tuesday, February 17, 1987
Page 6
Daily Nebraskan
An
lefejrfiaiiirimgm
Is
Poetiy &m a pidsdDn cell
Etheridge Knight writes for blacks and for all Americans
By Kevin Cowan
Staff Reporter
Editor's note: The following
interview took place after a
reading by poet Etheridge
Knight on Feb. 3 at UNL.
The cell door closed behind Ethe
ridge Knight in 1961. Between then and
1908 Knight realized his calling to po
etry. As a result, while serving his
seven-year sentence, he became the
proud author of two books.
Upon first impression, in his blue
and white crocheted stocking cap and
suede coat with "Life begins after
death" embroidered on the back,
Knight could be mistaken for just
another large, black transient. But
when Knight pours out his first free
verse poem, even those most skeptical
bend an ear to listen.
"Hard Rock was known not to
take no shit from nobody. And he
had the scars to prove it . . . The
word was that Hard Rock wasn 't
a mean nigger anymore. The doc
tors had bored a hole in his head
. . . as we waited " (to find out if
Hard Rock was still mean) "we
wrapped ourselves in the cloak oj
his exploits ..."
Excerpts from "Hard Rock"
As he read a few of his earlier poems,
a translucent view of the prison and its
captives moved freely about the crowd.
Poetic visions of inmates (like "Hard
Rock") or tribulations cast upon him
self and his race for the gut thrust of
his prose.
"Run sister run, the boogey
man comes. And what do I do. I
boil my choose on a twisted spoon
and dance like an angel on the
point of the needle, I sit counting
syllables like Midas gold. I am
not bold. I cannot give a hold to
the demons and convince them
away from your black belly so
I grab for air sing my song.
Revolution turned
Castro's dream, reality clash
By Ken DiMaggio
Staff Reviewer
Portrait" by
"Fidel: A Critical
Tad Szulc
More than 25 years ago Fidel Castro
marched into Havana a triumphant
hero. He still wears the olive drab uni
form, the black, shiny combat boots
and the green army cap. And of course,
he still retains his most famous feature
his beard. But it is no longer the
shoe-polish black of his youth. It has
started to turn gray. And for many of
Castro's critics, so has his revolution.
In his biography, "Fidel: A Critical
Portrait," former New York Times
reporter Tad Szulc does not overlook
the sclerosis that permeates contem
porary Cuba
Mismanagement pervades Cuban
industry. In 1985, half of the soft-drink
and beer bottles produced in Havana
were unusable and had to be destroyed.
Expensive imports deteriorate on Cuban
piers because of government snafus in
unloading ships. Absenteeism remains
high among Cuban workers. Self-censorship
is routinely practiced by Cuban
writers and artists.
Meddling with a neighbor
But unlike many of Castro's critics,
Szulc is aware of the revolution's con
tributions and America's complacent
and meddling relationship with its
Caribbean neighbor.
Cuba has one of the highest ratios of
doctors per patients in the world. Each
year, thousands of Cuban doctors and
health officials leave Cuba to perform
free medical care in impoverished
countries. And Cuba is no longer an
economic and cultural colony of the
But the air cannot stand my
singing long. "
Verse from "The Violent Space
or What To Do When Your Sister
Sleeps Around For Money"
Knight's poetry clearly reflects his view
of a face worn weary with adversity. As
does the poetry that fills his well-worn
satchel. The poems he read, written by
others, bullseye blacks' struggle. This
though aside, Knight says he is speak
ing to all America.
When asked about this seemingly
contradictory statement, Knight said,
"Poets speak to their own people. My
primary audience is black people, but
generally I'm speaking to Americans."
Ironically, most of the audience was
white.
Since his release, Knight has tra
veled all over the country. His liveli
hood has been his reading and the sale
gray
United States. After Cuba was pro
claimed an independent republic in
1902, the United States became the de
facto sovereign power, replacing Spain.
The Piatt Amendment literally made
Cuba a U.S. protectorate. Under the
amendment, the United States could
send troops during times of political
unrest in Cuba and maintain its pres
ence on Cuban soil for an indefinite
Book Review
time. In 1906, 1910 and 1917, the Uni
ted States sent in the Marines to
occupy several Cuban provinces. Even
when the amendment was revoked in
1934 under Franklin D. Roosevelt's
Good Neighbor policy, Cuba's sover
eignty was never independent of the
United States.
From Machado to Batista, the United
States supported brutal dictatorships
so long as they served American inter
ests. Given this unequal and exploitive
relationship, the two countries were
heading for a collision with or without
Fidel Castro. But when Castro became
the new power in 1959, neither he nor
the Eisenhower administration could
tell how damaging and hostile rela
tions between the two countries would
prove to be.
Chatting with Castro
Szulc was able to speak to Castro
about the Bay of Pigs invasion imme
diately after it occurred in 1961 and in
a series of interviews conducted in
1985. In 1961, Castro gave Szulc a tour
of the battlefield at Playa Giron, the
beach where one arm of the invasion
took place. Szulc describes Castro as a
young, exuberant military commander
.X ' J .
John BruceDaily Nebraskan
of his books. He has had several resi
dences at various universities, but
says, "I try to stay away from that."
Knight plans to continue traveling
all over the United States.
"I'm different from my contemporar
ies," he said. "I really ain't got the urge
to go to other countries. I'm not sure if
the communication would take place.
Ya know, I speak American."
Knight feels that poetry is too hard
to translate, even on the page.
Maybe he has a point. Knight's poe
try, laden with slang, would give even
the best translator a coronary. The
implications of his work would be diffi
cult for other cultures to derive. Espe
cially after translation.
Knight's poetry, as another poet at
the reading put it, is an "open your guts
and pour" poetry. Between the words
and Knight's loud voice, a disinter
ested spectator can become an avid
follower in one reading.
resting, "his foot on the wreckage of a
Brigade B-26 bomber" and "expansively
waving his cigar." In 1985, Szulc spoke
to Castro at his office in the Palace of
the Revolution nearly 23 years after
living through the Bay of Pigs, the mis
sile crisis and the continuous hostile
conditions faced by the United States.
There is no doubt in Castro's mind that
Kennedy had misgivings about order
ing the invasion, and on the President's
assassination, Castro was sorrowful,
saying, "I really felt a profound pain
the day I received the news of his death
it shocked me. It hurt me, it sad
dened me to see Kennedy brought
down."
Castro a victim
But it is also worth noting that Cas
tro himself was the victim of many
attempted CIA assassination plots in
the '60s and '70s. Even had Castro been
assassinated, his revolution could not
be dislodged. When the last of Batista's
government fled on Jan. 1, 1959, Cuba
had finally taken control of its own
destiny and would never let its power
ful neighbor take it away.
When Castro began his guerrilla war
in the Sierra Maestra in 1956, he did it
without the support of Cuba's main
stream political parties including
the Communist party. With only a cou
ple of hundred rebels, Castro was able
to defeat a Batista army of 20,000. But
the peasant support that Castro had
made up for his lack of numbers. In
conversation with Szulc, Castro repeat
edly emphasizes that he does not
export revolution. Deteriorating social
and political conditions are what create
revolutions. And this is what seems to
elude many Americans and prevent
them from understanding Castro and
his revolution today.
Amerika ' waichcMe
social, political trash
By Charles Lieurance
Senior Reporter
Editor's note: This is part
one of a continuing analysis
of the ABC miniseries "Ainer-
Just before the TV series "Amer-
ika-'began Sunday night, MTV
broadcast "The Red Nightmare," a
Defense-Department paranoia film
narrated by Jack Webb and made
- 1
during the height cf McCarthyism.
Here's the plot: Jerry, a hardworking
joe, lives in mid-America with his
wife and three kids in a tacky sub-
urban home where they are all dclsr-
iously happy, eating pot rost and
watching "Servant Lilko." He struts
to take his liberties for granted. He
stops :ing to rTA i:;eetJr.:;s, city
council meetings zr-A iho like
l:::cau::3 ailcr a hard dry's work,
hi'd Kit er 3 1 jv.::r cr v;;.ch TV.
A ' " ? '" 1
b ceres J.dc
:re? American ver.
V.'elb
i: 'wHas sis hz is about to
"lV2jC
rrya
,f,.-.o
: tiav j.tb.3 ha.tit he lirCS vCiS
in beeches Cemr.ur.iet. Ills wife
and chilJrrn become kirjl lie can't
take the Irats to Sunday schosl to
teach them Ec.r.eco:Jlcc.srs about
God and country because ths church
has been turned in to a state
museum. His cideet da:;;htcr is
packed cf to a state f:m to v.crk.
The rug rats are sent U) stale
schools.
Eventually, all-America: Jerry
snaps and is taken before the Franz
Kafka Memorial Tribunal where Lis
wife rats on him. He is convicted
without a proper hearing taken cut
and shot. Juct before the execu
tioner (a stone-faced foreigner)
drills Jerry, Jerry breaks into his
last words, foaming at the mcuth
about a free country and liberty and
justice, for all. Mercifully, the exe-
cutioner pulls the trigger before
Jerry starts singing "The Star
Spangled Banner,"
I have dreams like this too. Mine
usually involve the CIA tapping my
phone because I subscribe to too
many left-wing newr.pr-rs, mistak-
ing a conversation 1 have with a
heal grocer for the inception of
Cornhuskers on NETV
Two locally produced specials focus
ing on competitions featuring UNL
athletic teams highlights this week's
programming on the Nebraska ETV
Network.
Some of the best collegiate track
and field teams in the nation face off in
the "Husker Invitational Track and
Field Meet," airing Sunday at 2 p.m.
Videotaped Saturday at the UNL Bob
Devaney Sports Center's indoor track,
the two-hour sports special features
highlights of the Husker competition
against opponents from Brigham Young
University (BYU), Kansas State, Ohio
State, Tennessee, the University of Las
Vegas and the University of Southern
California (USC).
Sportscaster Bob Cullinan will be
the announcer for the sports special,
with track and field authority Dick
Railsback providing color commentary.
"Husker Track and Field Meet,"
funded in part by Nebraskans for Pub
lic Television, Inc., is produced by the
sports and special events unit of UNL
Television. Steve Alvis is senior pro
ducer of the special, Jim Carmichael is
director, and Barb Hanson is unit
director.
Rivaling Nebraska football for na
some internal anarchist revolution,
bursting into my home at night, tak
ing me to a dark room in a ware
house district, grilling me under
bright lights for 10 hours and then
taking me out into a cornfield, tying
my hands behind my neck and
snowing me nmu uiui m uie uui-k
of the head.
Araenfca is tcday .
- But this colum n is about the ABC
miniseries "Amerika." What's im
1 l,llrlntl,.1 1.
mediately nouiTauu: vuuui us
never-never land is that it resem
bles so closely the America we live
in. If I didn't know better I'd swear
writer, director and producer Donald
Wrye was trying to say that if the
Communists tock over tomorrow,
only hard assed political windbag
and the filthy rich would even
notice. I here s still a farm crisis,
not enough to eat and suruvaiist
groups barricaded in rural areas.
The power is still in the hands cf the
few. There are one cr two ncre
tanks in the streets t::t, try, that's
the beauty cf American tyranny:
There don't lv:i to Iz tr.:.!,s in tha
street. IV-Iico, seeLl wc.'.ers and
ncre r..!:ec tio th? v.crk cf saver: I
t3.r..i3, and Jeiiy can. s . . I Vi-iuc
V
a ty
turn3 djin ui crA.t.vO. lvCv.
tank treats are bill en city sir
1
la,
But let's ljy c.T the fA'Alcs and
get to the meat and potatoes, as
Jerry would say. Is it coed TV? Yes,
so far "Arcnka" is fairly tcp notch,
The characters ere uncharcct eristi-
aren't refugees from seep c paras cr
down-and-out stars on the come
back trail.
T,'f. rf't Tfl t.-t 4'-'ri
The Russians spit out semi
prcf:; nd quotaUes like "survival is
pcv.wr v;Ithot dcma" ar.d, cn the
subl et cf the ncn-viclent invasion,
"you lc:t your country before we
even get hers." The latter line is
spoken by a Russian Caicial to an
American who has thrown in his
cards to maintain .seme semblance
of order in his small community of
Milfcrd, Neb. (actually Tecumseh),
as they watch a group of Omaha
punk rockers try to trash a police
car.
' So"Amerika"ismorethanwat ch-
atle. In fact, if it weren't so socially
and politically disgusting, I might
even grant that the first ni;,!;t was
one cf the best pieces cf TV I'd seen
: in years,
I vvi;.;h it v, ere n't so. Rut it is.
tional respect and prominence is the
UNL men's gymnastics program. The
grace and excitement of national-caliber
gymnastic competition is presented in
a two-hour special on Feb. 28 at 9 p.m.
on "UNL Men's Gymnastics."
The Nebraska team, a perennial col
legiate powerhouse, faces another leader
in the gymnastics field, the University
of California-Los Angeles Bruins, in a
meet videotaped Jan. 22 at the Devaney
Sports Center.
Hosting the program is sportscaster
Bob Cullinan, with color commentary
provided by former Husker gymnastics
standout Jim Hartung.
"UNL Men's Gymnastics" is funded
in part by Nebraskans for Public Tele
vision, Inc., and is also produced by the
sports and special events unit of UNL
Television. Alvis is senior producer of
the gymnastics program, Carmichael is
director, and Hanson is unit director.
Another upcoming program of inter
est on NETV:
Julie Blane leaves Richard and the
tour in episode five of "Lost Empires"
on "Masterpiece Theatre," airing Mon
day at 7 p.m. "Masterpiece Theatre" is
telecast with closed captions for
hearing-impaired viewers.
