70
2017
NORTH CAROLINA L I T E R A R Y RE V I E W
FINALIST, 2017 JAMES APPLEWHITE POETRY PRIZE BY LENARD D. MOORE
Chopping Weeds Chopping weeds in the sun-beaten cornfield, I worked with my stern great-grandmother. It was wise to look down at the ground: the field was scorching and snakes might slither. In the windless afternoon I wiped sweat but kept steady with the sun on my face; it lurked about the skin. I looked amazed. Down the rows I considered ancestors.
© DAVID C. DRISKELL; COURTESY OF DAVID C. DRISKELL CENTER, 20172009.18.041. PURCHASED FROM THE DAVID C. DRISKELL COLLECTION.PHOTOGRAPH BY GREG STALEY; COURTESY OF DAVID C. DRISKELL CENTER AND THE UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND, COLLEGE PARK
My nose sampling the hot air kept me right – the field’s edge red with raspberries that waited to be picked, ripe with sun. Up those long rows I trudged, spilling song. I wanted all my weeding well done, in this field just off that rocky road. I pulled so many ears of field corn as much as the cornstalks could yield.
Sunburst, 2009 (paint and ink on paper, 13.5x10.75) by David C. Driskell
DAVID C. DRISKELL grew up in Forest City, NC. He studied at Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Maine and has a BA from Harvard University and an MFA from Catholic University. He is currently Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the University of Maryland, where the David C. Driskell Center for the Study of Visual Arts and Culture of African Americans and the African Diaspora was established in his honor in 2001. His paintings can be found in such major museums as the National Gallery of Art and in private collections around the world. His scholarship in the history of art includes numerous books and over forty catalogs for curated exhibitions, including, in 1976, “Two Centuries of Black American Art: 1750–1950,” a seminal exhibit that laid the foundation for the field of African American Art History. In addition to many other awards and honors, he is cultural advisor and curator of the Cosby Collection of Fine Arts. In 2000, he was awarded the National Humanities Medal by then President Bill Clinton. In 2007, he was elected as a National Academician by the National Academy. See another of the artist’s works in NCLR 2012.
LENARD D. MOORE, a native of Jacksonville, NC, received the 2014 North Carolina Award for Literature. He has taught at North Carolina A&T, North Carolina State University, Shaw University, and currently, the University of Mount Olive. He has served as President of the Haiku Society of America. His poetry has previously appeared in NCLR 1996 and 2004, among many other venues.