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“I felt like there was an opportunity to
show unexpected moments of individ-
ual and collective resistance in the con-
text of this time period,” he said. “In do-
ing so, I was able to add dimensionality
to our understanding of these people.”
Jess hopes that his poetry will give a
voice to people whose voices have been
ignored throughout history.
“Telling their stories seemed like an
opportunity to be in conversation with
them,” he said. “As I share the stories of
the past with people in the present, I
try to see the ancestral line of creativity
and of perseverance that we still mani-
fest today.”
At the poetry reading, Jess shared po-
ems which told the stories of African-
American performers, such as Bert
Williams and George Walker, who
performed in minstrel shows. White
men often put on blackface to mock
African-Americans, but Williams and
Walker used the minstrel show to create
empowerment from degradation.
Jess tore a page out of his book to show
the audience how the poem, “Bert Wil-
liams/George Walker Paradox,” could
be folded and twisted to be read in new
ways.
“I want people to deconstruct my book
to reconstruct the history of these peo-
ple,” he said.
Jess shared other stories of John Wil-
liam “Blind” Boone who lost his eyes
to encephalitis at the age of six months.
Because of his prodigious memory and
ways to talk to each other instead of
refusing to listen to each other or ig-
noring each other. For positive change
to happen, there has to be an accord of
people who are in imperfect ally-ships.”
Jess says that poetry can help people
begin a journey towards understanding
and empathy.
“It’s important to see people as full hu-
man beings and not just for their ideol-
ogy or their ethnicity or their gender,”
he said. “I think one thing that litera-
ture has the opportunity to do is allow
us to see the complexity of the people
around us. That’s when poetry is doing
humanitarian work.”
Jess says that he hopes his poetry en-
gages people with the forgotten stories
of the past to create a better future.
“I think about it in terms of filling out
the gaps of history to help us understand
ourselves better,” he said. “Perhaps that
tiny microcosm of understanding will
add some weight to the idea that we’re
all human beings. Perhaps that is some
work toward a fuller understanding of
each other.”
perfect pitch, he could play any piece he
heard. Jess also told the story of Henry
“Box” Brown who mailed himself to the
North in a two-by-four crate. He spent
his life reenacting his escape and per-
forming as a mesmerist.
“These are fascinating and incredible
stories,” Jess said. “When you say ‘his-
tory’ to people, they start to fall asleep,
but when you say the word ‘story,’ they
start to pay attention.”
Such was the case when Jess shared the
story of Millie and Christine McKoy,
conjoined twins born into slavery. The
sisters were shipped from town to town
as a freak show attraction. Jess wrote
their story as a syncopated sonnet en-
titled “Millie-Christine: On Display.”
Millie’s words are found on the left col-
umn, Christine’s on the right. The poem
can be read from left to right, right to
left, top to bottom, or bottom to top.
Jess created this unique form to show
how the sisters lived and performed
in unison. In the poem, the sisters say,
“Our wondrous oneness exists.”
Jess says that it is often hard to have
faith in reconciliation, but unity and
understanding come by seeing the hu-
manity in every person.
“I think that any time a large group of
people can come together in accord in a
positive way, that would be wonderous
oneness,” he said. “One of the ways that
we do that is by seeking the complex-
ity in the people around us and finding
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