HETTY JONES

How She Went

She got up and went. She took the blue dress. She took the shoes. She took the bag with the strap. She took the keys. She went out the door. She went down the stairs. She went into the street. She went to the corner. She went around the corner. She went. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/56230/how-she-went

Heavy

I have this weight in my pocket it’s a small stone with a hole in it it’s a piece of iron it’s a heavy key it’s a silver coin it’s a lead weight it’s a heart it’s a heavy heart it’s a heavy weight in my pocket I have this weight. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/56231/heavy

For Me

I want to be a small thing a little thing a tiny thing a thing that stays in a corner in a pocket in a drawer a thing that is not seen not heard not felt a thing that is just there. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/56232/for-me

The Day

The day was long. The day was short. The day was wide. The day was narrow. The day was bright. The day was dark. The day was cold. The day was hot. The day was full. The day was empty. The day was. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/56233/the-day

Ode to My Kitchen

It is not a big room. It is a small room. It is a room with a stove. It is a room with a sink. It is a room with a table. It is a room with a chair. It is a room where I cook. It is a room where I eat. It is a room where I sit. It is a room where I think. It is my kitchen. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/56234/ode-to-my-kitchen

PRÉSENTATION

Hetty Jones est une figure importante de la scène littéraire new-yorkaise associée à la Beat Generation et au Black Arts Movement. Née Hettie Cohen en 1934 dans une famille juive de Brooklyn elle a bravé les conventions sociales de son époque en épousant LeRoi Jones connu plus tard sous le nom d'Amiri Baraka. Ensemble ils ont fondé le magazine littéraire Yugen et les éditions Totem Press publiant des auteurs majeurs comme Jack Kerouac et Allen Ginsberg. Après sa séparation d'avec Baraka elle a poursuivi une carrière de poétesse d'écrivaine et d'enseignante. Son œuvre se distingue par une observation minutieuse du quotidien une économie de mots et une grande force émotionnelle. Elle a dirigé pendant de nombreuses années l'atelier d'écriture au centre de détention pour femmes de Bedford Hills partageant son engagement pour la justice sociale et le pouvoir libérateur de l'expression écrite. Son mémoire intitulé How I Became Hettie Jones apporte un éclairage précieux sur les coulisses de la bohème littéraire des années 1950 et 1960.

BIBLIOGRAPHIE

How I Became Hettie Jones, Grove Press, 1990.

Drive, Hanging Loose Press, 1998.

All Around Town, Hyperion, 1994.

Big Star Fallin' Mama: Five Women in Black Music, Viking Press, 1974.

The Tree that Grew to the Moon, Dutton Juvenile, 1994.