Hey everybody this is a review of my new book .  Give me some feedback. 

I Am Not a Slave, So I Write
A Collection of Thought-Provoking Poems

Willie James Harvey

ISBN: 1-4241-3541-9

Publish America

63 pages

When I read I Am Not a Slave, So I write, I felt a wide range of emotions.  Yes, the poems are indeed thought-provoking, and some of them will make many readers uncomfortable.  And they should!  They also show the self-awareness of the author who expresses his faith, strength, determination, and pain through poetic words and verses that may or may not rhyme.  Although I appreciated the meter and style, I found myself concentrating on what the author was saying about himself and his life. He is teaching, and readers of this book are his students. 

First, I would like to address the title. In his introduction, Mr. Harvey discusses how he has been inspired by Langston Hughes, Maya Angelou, Toni Morrison and others who were given the opportunity to have their voices recorded on paper.  Printed words will live on forever, giving these people a form of immortality on earth. Sadly, the author also mentions slaves whose voices were forever silenced because they were forbidden to learn to read or write.  Because of this, there is valuable information that is lost to all mankind forever; this is a loss that we should all mourn.  But, thank God, there has been progress and the voice of Willie James Harvey has a place in history through the words he writes. Whether 100, 1000, or 1,000,000 people read his book, it is a voice of power and freedom. This is why the title of the book is so important to him. It is also why it should be important to all of us.

The author addresses many topics in his poems that deal with his struggles as a black man.  In many selections he seems to be reaching out to the white man, wanting him to understand the everyday injustices that the black man has endured.   

On page 37, there is a poem that I found especially touching:

A Slave's Song

Yesterday I cried all night

Not because I'm Black

Or the things I lack

Nor because a slave

Told me God was white,

But because I'm afraid

The slave might be right.

New story

Same song

If God is white

Where do I belong?

There is such honesty in this small but powerful book.  In the beginning of the book I found a few insignificant errors, but the last chapter is not to be looked at in terms of grammatical errors.  He writes as a free spirit, conveying his intimate thoughts as he analyzes himself, not caring that we readers are there with him. The author doesn't want editing, but rather understanding as to where he has been and where he is going.  His life has been tough and complicated because he is black; however, rather than trying to hide his feelings and using his experiences as an excuse for failure, he has embraced them so that he can move forward.  Mr. Harvey refers to his poetry as rain that he hopes will produce an abundance of tolerance. He makes a powerful statement when he says that the only way America is going to reach its full potential is through all races working together.

Willie James Harvey is a man who has a great capacity to love, as proven by the way he describes his feelings toward family members.  Though, at times, I feel his frustration—even bitterness—I understand that only by addressing these issues and declaring his freedom to write could he move forward and make the world a better place for himself and future generations.  He tells Black Americans that they must rise up and live the dream of Dr. Martin Luther King.  On a personal note, I want to add that, as a white American, I am ashamed of the things that our ancestors did to our black brothers and sisters. It is beyond my comprehension that they (we) could have been so unfeeling, so ungodly.  I realize that, although things are better, we have a distance to travel; I also believe that only the love of God will enable us to quickly span that distance so that all of us see color only as a beautiful difference in His creation of human beings. Only in Him can there be true repentance, an end to prejudice, and forgiveness.

This is an important book written by a black man who dares to share his innermost feelings on paper.  Willie James Harvey is an excellent poet, and I hope he continues to write thought-provoking selections.  Purchase I am Not a Slave, so I Write, and read it with an open mind! Though readers may not agree with all of his political viewpoints, they should be grateful that the voice of this author has not been silenced.

Bettie Corbin Tucker

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