The Devil's Garden Author:Adrian Matejka Using musical allusion and metaphor, juxtaposing history and autobiography, Matejka navigates a triracial identity. In these poems, having too many heritages means having no heritage at all. As a result, cultural identifiers_be they afros, war paint, or William Shatner_take the place of identity. Vibrant narrative lyrics use image as riff, sylla... more »ble as note, to improvise on a personal history severed from tradition.Betwixt and BetweenMiscegenation_s capitol
is the mule. Not quite horse,
almost donkey. No useful
erection to speak of.
In any unnatural concoction,
somebody_s got to take
the blame. Freud would say
credit the mother if props
are necessary.
Mulattos
are human mules_half
black, most times more
than half white_misogynous
on a good day. All the while,
impotent between tribes.
Blame: gift of the exotic,
like Hendrix opening
for the Monkees, or Othello
key holed by Iago. Blessed
be he with the hybrid vigor
of melanin, arrested between
the sun and the sun.
"Reading Adrian Matejka_s amazing debut, I was left with the feeling that American Poetry was at last beginning to catch up with early twenty-first century American life. He has written the first serious songs from a world that_s about to make itself felt and known."_Cornelius Eady« less