In
the office of his North Oakland home, Ishmael Reed leans back in a
chair, folds his hands and begins to describe his life: "I'm 77 and I
have a job. Two actually," he says, smoothing his cloud of silver hair
for a photo shoot.
To say that's an oversimplification of his
career is a colossal understatement. Just out with his heavyweight,
421-page biographical and historical tome, "The Complete Muhammad Ali,"
the famed Oakland poet, playwright and author of 30-plus books is more
than the sum of his two current positions as Poet Laureate at the San
Francisco Jazz Center, and as lecturer at the California College of the
Arts. He's well known for his biting satire and critical works on
political culture and social oppression. During his long and ongoing
career, he's written countless boisterous essays, was nominated twice
for a National Book Award and was a Pulitzer finalist for a book of
poetry titled, "Conjure."
Yet
for all his accomplishments and accolades, Reed feels he's often seen
as part of the old guard these days, especially in East Coast literary
circles. He's revered, to be sure, and held up as a standard for young
writers. But having once been the darling of the New York lit scene,
he's now a mere mention in articles, and his newer works are rarely
reviewed.
"I feel I'm seen as something of a journeyman boxer," he
says. "Someone who had a couple of championships in the past, but whose
career is on the decline. Somehow, it seems it's OK to still engage in
ageism these days."
At the same time, Reed is a smash hit as a global
literary force, welcomed in European and Asian countries with eager
arms. His books, including the novels "Mumbo Jumbo," "Reckless
Eyeballing" and "Juice!" have been translated into several languages. He
just returned from a June trip to China where his play "Mother Hubbard"
was performed -- directed by his wife of 40 years, Carla Blank, a
choreographer, director and author in her own right. And in May, Reed
was honored in Switzerland, and performed with his daughter, poet
Tennessee Reed, and members of the Swiss Jazz School. Yes, he plays
piano too. Plus he maintains an online literary magazine called Konch,
and his own website at
www.ishmaelreed.org, and is working on a new book of poetry, a book of essays and two novels.
"I've
become sort of a global writer," he says. "Things have become so
politically correct in this country, so I've had to go abroad to express
myself."
A busy man
Here
at home in North Oakland, Reed rises at 4:30 every morning and writes,
writes, writes, sometimes working in his office -- where every wall is
insulated with a thick blanket of books, many of them his own -- amid
file cabinets, an Apple desktop computer, an exercise bike and a
high-tech TV that scares him because "it tells me what I want to watch,"
he jokes. Sometimes he writes at a desk downstairs, the room dotted
with African masks and Chinese lanterns from the couple's many travels.
He and Blank have lived in this white-shingled Cape Cod since moving to
Oakland in 1979.
California poet Juan Felipe Herrera, who was
named who was named U.S. poet laureate in June, says he was mesmerized
early on by Reed's writing. "His 'Calafia' poetry anthology is a seminal
collection of the poets of this state," he says. "I did not know what
he was up to then, now I know -- he was envisioning this cauldron of
many voices that sing to us every day as we go about our lives."
Many
of Reed's winning words are embedded in the Bay Area for future decades
to come. Quite literally. Artist Mildred Howard's work at the Richmond
BART station features a Reed poem incised into a 40-foot wall of faceted
steel. Another poem, "When I Die I Will Go To Jazz," is installed on
the north gate of the San Francisco Jazz Center. And a line of his famed
poem, "Let Oakland be a City of Civility," written for Jerry Brown's
1999 Oakland mayoral inauguration, is emblazoned on a mural in Reed's
neighborhood. It reads, "Let Oakland be a city of civility. Let each
citizen treat other citizens with good will and generosity."
Literary
icon Ishmael Reed discusses his latest book, "The Complete Muhammad
Ali," at his home in Oakland, Calif., on Thursday, July 30, 2015.
(Kristopher Skinner/Bay Area News Group)
Reed's own
comparison of his career to that of a "journeyman boxer" is quite apt
given his new Ali book, and the fact that his hard-hitting writing style
has previously been likened to Ali's boxing techniques. The book is the
culmination of a project he's been working on for several years. It
moves way beyond biography, using Ali as "a human mirror for the
sixties, as a cautionary tale for the seventies," Reed writes in the
introduction. The book incorporates a history and critique of the sport
and the business of boxing, in addition to the influence of Elijah
Muhammad and the Nation of Islam on Ali amid the atmosphere of the 1960s
civil rights movement.
"Most of the Ali books out there have been
written by groupies and fans, or by those who make him out as a
villain," Reed says. "My book is sort of down the middle."
Author
Ron Jacobs, who recently reviewed the book for the CounterPunch website,
has called Reed, "one of the English language's most important
contemporary writers."
"There is no other living writer who says
what he says in the manner he says it," Jacobs says. "I wish more people
paid attention."
Contact Angela Hill at
ahill@bayareanewsgroup.com, or follow her at
Twitter.com/GiveEmHill.
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