“Black memory is not limited to traumatic resonances of the past,” writes Badia Ahad-Legardy. “Nor are they constituted only through or in relation to histories of violence.”
One of the most joyful experiences of 2021 for me was tuning into a Verzuz battle between R&B groups Earth, Wind & Fire and the Isley Brothers.
For the uninitiated, Verzuz is a pandemic webcast pastime that matches groups or musical artists against each other. Think the internet version of what the late legendary DJ Herb Kent did weekly on the radio with his “Battle of the Best.”
For more than three hours on the night of Easter Sunday, we listened to classic discs from the two groups while the audience kept score. Earth, Wind & Fire jams conjured backyard barbeques. The Isley Brothers’ quiet storm melodies inspired romance. The delight of hearing decades-old songs that my parents had exposed me to, such as “Can’t Hide Love” and “Footsteps in the Dark,” warmed me and brought back child
Contributors’ Notes
Hussain Ahmed is a Nigerian poet and environmentalist. His poems and translations are featured or forthcoming in
Poetry,
AzonaL,
Sara Backer’s first book of poetry,
Such Luck (Flowstone Press, 2019), follows two poetry chapbooks:
Scavenger Hunt (dancing girl press, 2018) and
Bicycle Lotus (Left Fork, 2015). Her honors include the 2019 Plough Poetry Prize competition, eight Pushcart nominations, and fellowships from the Norton Island and Djerassi Resident Artists Programs. She holds an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts, lives in New Hampshire, and reads for the
Maine Review. Point,
Marianne Boruch’s tenth book of poetry is
The Anti-Grief (Copper Canyon Press, 2019). She has written three essay collections about poetry, most recently