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THE MICHIGAN DAILY

Wednesday, February 19, 1969

THE MICHIGAN DAILY Wednesday, February '19, 1969


poetry and prose

De licacy in a

By KIRK HAMPTON
"I died in 1960 from a prison A
entence and poetry brought me "
iack to life." Thus Etheridge
Knight, a newly discovered and
newly published black poet, ex-
lairis how 'he came t write.
Yesterday, in the UGLI Multi-
>urpose Room, Knight read sev-
ral selections from Poems from
Prison - a thin volume written
During a six-year sentence in
ndiana State Prison. He -also
ead two unpublished poems
vritten . since that time.
The reading begins a weekly,
eries planned by the English
department to which such poets'
as Dudley Randall, Ken Smith,
Walter Clark, and Donald Hall
have been invited. If the poets
who read in the weeks to come
approach Mr. Knight in the
>ower, subtly, and immediacy
of their message it will be a most
mjoyable series indeed. Knight
ends to draw from his' hard
aid often brutal life experiences
to produce glass-clear, prosaic-
sounding poetry which falls'
roughly, I suppose, into the Walt
Whitman vein. Yet he is, like

all poets of great talent, unlike
any other, and he conveys his
delicate yet vital images in a
special simple way which can
be felt only by hearing or by
reading him.
In nmost respects the reading
did not 'quite 'do' jusitice to the
poetry, although his weighty
and relentlessly cool diction did
have a hypnotic power that a
more inflected and traditional
manner would have lacked.
Some weakness in a first reading
must be forgiven, and perhaps
my having read the poems be-
forehand prejudiced me. He was.
never dull, and the hour passed
quickly, punctuated by his clear
and refined images ("The fall-
ing snow flakes/Can not blunt
the hard aches nor/Match the
steel stillness.") and by bursts
of warm wit ("Making jazz
swing in/Seventeen syllables
AIN'T/No square poet's job.").
Knight, who is working on a
novel now, and who by all evi-
dence should be an excellent
prose stylist, may be the most
graceful of the new black goets.
Not as biting as Randall, nor so

prisoner s
vitriolic as Alhamisi, he always whichi
maintains an existential .s- his bes
tance-a coolness-such that read. I
even his ugly images are deli- ing (o
cate. At worst the poems lack should
intellectual depth or mime should
cliches. Yet this fault appears
only . rarely in Knight's work, his fut
which is always tinged with the ly be e
intelligence a n d likeability liant.

cry
mark his personality. At
t he is a sheer delight to
f you weren't at the read-
r even if you were} you
buy his book, and y u
by -all means watch for
ure work, which will -ure-
xcellent, and possibly bril-

cinema
Starting in Genesis I
By JAY CASSIDY
Experimental films demand of the viewer a different set of ex-
pectations in the way of entertainment. When you go to see Chaplin,
you expect to laugh, when you go to see Warhol, you expect to be
intensely bored. And when you go to experimental student films you
should expect less than what is advertised for.
GENESIS I, playing at the League tonight is such a collection.
Although somewhat ambitiously described as "the finest experimental.
and documentary films produced by exciting and new student film-'
makers," it does, in fact, include some nice films. Some of it will bore
you, but that should be part of your "experimental student film view-
er expectations." This reviewer only saw a selection of the- show but
can say that if the whole show contains the variety of the selection,
then it will be very enjoyable.
But the thing which hurts the most is the program notes. Take
for instance the film "Son of Heatwave." The program notes read:
"A carefully woven series of inter-reacting comedic episodes that
satirize campus life and television." But the fihh is just terrible. It
contains little sketches that aren't very funny and make you say; "I
knew that was going to happen." If you read the notes before seeing
the films, you will be disappointed as they create the wrong set of
expectations.
Three of the films, "Untitled," "Now that the Buffalo's Gone,"
and "7362," are from Ann Arbor Film Festivals of a few years ago.
The films that won the festival then are a lot different than films
that will win this year's festival. Experimental films get dated quickly,
since people are constantly experimenting.
So go see these films, they are a good representative of what is
good and bad. Don't read the program notes before seeing the films,
and if you see the Ann Arbor Film Festival, you'll see where all that
experimenting has led.
... _ . _ _ _

APPLE FILMS pesanqs a KING FEATURES woduc"n
(G) Genera! UniteArtists
Audiences
Added: Bunny & Claude" Cartoo
"y Copers"-Sa unt
Opens TONIGHT!
Ate P

TODAY s M
& 9:10 PM.


4-M

S

Hollywood tinsel
(Contiinued from Page 8) simply (and honestly) referred to,
made, too. Burton's wife is sick, her as "the hooker from Madrid."
so he cancels at the last minute. And Tuesday morning you go
Hutton, the director, guts out a home. You can't believe the
long story on suffering in Holly- amount of money MGM spent
wood, about living on less than could possibly pay off. Yet the
$1000 yearly for five years, abcut woman from the Detroit Free
,finally Making It and not wanting Press who is sitting next to you
some kid with an 8 mm camera on the plane tells you MGM in
and a couple of movie courses be- Las Vegas in February was noth-
hind him to take away his job. ing like Twentieth Century Fox in
The last official interview-and Tunis, Paris, and London in Oc-
this, as everything else, is obliging- tober.}
ly laced with several complimen- And one week after you get
tary helpings from- the MGM home, MGM invites you down to
liquor cabinet-is with German- Miami next Sunday-they've got
born Ingrid Pitt. She has maybe another film to see.
five lines in tl e film, but she is -
being "introduced." So she gives
an interview, although she has H ELD OVER FOX EASTERN THE
little else than large breasts and F J1
the perfect foreign starlet accent. I 3R D WEEK run
She has no discernable talent, and 375 No. MAPL
her credits consist of some B-
films done in Spain, Hutton had PARAMOUNT PICTURES
1 IA SHE fiLM

0.

vCAMPUS

-ENDS TONIGHT-
"CAPRICIOUS SUMMER"
Plus: "REPULSION"
Shows at 6:40 & 8:00 P.M.

Etheridge Knight

The Daily needs reviewers-
especially dance reviewers. If
interested please send your
qualifications and/or a sample
or your writing to.
Leslie Wayne
The Michigan Daily
420 Maynard Street
~L OROR- -O

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