Collected Poems
Published in honor of the centenary of Hayden’s birth, this luminescent volume reaffirms the beauty and power of his poetry, from his 1962 collection, A Ballad of Remembrance, to American Journal, the last volume published before his death in 1980. As esteemed critic and biographer Arnold Rampersad (Ralph Ellison, 2007) writes in his afterword, Hayden gravitated to books as a poor foster child in Detroit, hampered by and bullied for his severe myopia. Initially inspired by Countee Cullen, he studied with Auden, and those two mentors represent the primary forces in Hayden’s work: his profound soundings of African American history, his passion for the English language, and what Rampersad describes as his “transracial philosophy.” Hayden addresses slavery with ringing empathy and protest in “Middle Passage” and “Runagate, Runagate,” examines black stereotypes with poignant sharpness in “Aunt Jemima of the Ocean Waves,” and pays tribute to Malcolm X. Hayden also writes flashing, sinuous, and spiritual lyrics about nature and views Americans from an extraterrestrial’s investigative perspective. An enlightening and exciting reclamation of an essential American poet of suffering and radiance. --Donna Seaman