The Black Album

Before I read the poem, "The Black Album" my mind went straight to the Jay-Z cd which has this same title. But after reading the poem I began to make my own comparisions to the things in my own life that are black. But that was after turning on my Ipod to The Black Album itself and listening to the whole cd. I knew that Matthew Dickman's title was similar to the thoughts I had when he mentioned, "The more I listen to Jay-Z the more I'm reminded of Led Zeppelin." I like the line when he says, "And then there are the black keys Mr. Mozart bent into sound." This brought my mind to the many piano players such as Stevie Wonder, Scott Joplin, and Ray Charles. When mentions the moor my mind went to directly to "Othello" and how he was called moor because he was one of few black people amongst so many whites in that area during that period of time. I love the line, "I would take her to the mat like a wrestler." As a wrestler lines in story that actually relate to me, I like. So many times writers mention wrestlers in absolute wrong ways that do not imply to us. This specific line shows our strength and ability to handle ourselves in different situations, and I must say this is a great compliment to us. In this poem, Dickman does not stay on a specific topic although its called "The Black Album and it mentions many things that are black or imply black in either color or race. But the poem to me seems almost as if he was freestyling, where he came up with the title and then decided to write down things and ideas to related to the title.




~Jaaziah Bethea~