Reading through the folio dedicated to the work of Ted Joans (1928-2003) in Poetry, September 2026, I felt a lacerating underwhelmedness, hollering to myself that I was not the right person for his work to be important to. The work seemed nobly driven but inchoately realized in my hamstrung view. Then, as I went along, I began to get a scraped-fingernail purchase on some of it, which made me feel more important. (Go figure.) Rest in greater prominence, Ted Joans, and thank you.

Following are highlights from two texts; the third is complete.

This one amused me because someone has recently asked that the Atlantic Ocean be renamed for himself. 

…
Atlantic, big blue black wet
woman of water
I know your real name
this name I’m proud to reveal
I free you from that slave name Atlantic
AFRICAN OCEAN! AFRICAN OCEAN!
(From “The African Ocean”)

Timbuktu wasn’t just a name for him, Ted Joans actually traveled there. A spate of phrasemaking around the letter “U” came from it. This is a selection:

Unique breath of worm
Ulcer march out of scrotums
Ugly as an organized coathanger
Umpire to vulture bowels
Ultimatum braided in sweat
Upside up melon slicer…
Urchin of everything sharp…
Urban comb with bent teeth…
Upstair in basement of minds…
(From “Unsurpassed U of Timbuktu”)

The following text figures in the portfolio as a reproduction of the pamphlet page on which Joans published it. The illustration has graphics that the poet provided. I’ve typed the text scrupulously exactly as it appears in the illustration. Here as in other poems Joans makes lively use of dialect.

There it is
yep uh huh
that’s it
there is no doubt about it
uh huh
that’s it
yes siree
Man this is it
the real thing
uh huh
no shit
here uh huh
no lies now
here it is
the real bit
uh huh
a fact
yep yep
right before the eyes
a truth
uh huh
reality
Well I be damn
here uh huh now this is it Uh Huh uh huhuh huh uh
huh uh huh THE COLORED WAITING ROOM
(Complete text of “Uh Huh”)

(c) 2026 JMN — EthicalDative. All rights reserved