Tag Archives: poetry

Poems by Gil Scott-Heron

Cover for "Now and Then" by Gil Scott-Heron with a photo of the author in front of a chain-link fence

Now and Then by Gil Scott-Heron

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Gil Scott-Heron was a poet, writer, and musician whose work in the 1970s was a major influence on rap and hip-hop. Now and Then collects many of his poems and other writings. If you’re familiar with him, it’s got well-known song/poems like “Pieces of a Man,” “Whitey on the Moon,” and “The Revolution will not be Televised.”

Scott-Heron wrote biting social commentary and had a clever sense of wit. If you’re not familiar with him, though, this collection probably isn’t the best place to start. His delivery was fantastic, and many of these pieces were meant to be heard. I’d start with the albums Pieces of a Man or Winter in America, collaborations with the musician Brian Jackson. For those who already know Scott-Heron’s work, this collection but has many excellent poems, and I discovered several new gems.

Poems published at ONE ART!

I’m very excited that three of my poems were published today in the online journal ONE ART: a journal of poetry: “My Aunt When She Drank Scotch,” “Memory of My Grandfather,” and “My Mother Loses Me at the Department Store.”

As proud as I am to see these poems in such a fine journal, alongside poet laureates and other poets much more accomplished than I, I’m a little uneasy at their publication, as I know from past experience that people will inevitably ask me whether they are “true,” if these events really happened as I depicted.

The poems grew from my work with the marvelous poet Judith Harris, who I first met when I took her workshop at the Writer’s Center in Bethesda. She encouraged us to mine the past—not to document it but to find feelings and perceptions that could be crafted into poems that others could relate to. So they began with memories and impressions, but shouldn’t be taken as a chronicle of the past. This isn’t memoir; it’s poetry. But there is truth to them, and hopefully they feel true to you. I hope you enjoy them.

You can find them here: https://oneartpoetry.com/2021/10/15/three-poems-by-harrison-bae-wein.