Song for Almeyda and Song for Anninho
Gayl Jones
- “Jones’s
- great
- achievement
- is
- to
- reckon
- with
- both
- history
- and
- interiority,
- and
- to
- collapse
- the
- boundary
- between
- them.”—Anna
- Wiener,
- The
- New
- YorkerFrom
- the
- highly
- acclaimed
- author
- of
- Corregidora
- and
- The
- Healing—two
- epic
- poems,
- the
- love
- songs
- of
- fugitive
- slaves,
- set
- in
- 17th-century
- Brazil;
- continuing
- the
- unforgettable
- journey
- told
- in
- Gayl
- Jones’s
- masterwork,
- Palmares
- (2021)Gayl
- Jones,
- the
- novelist
- Toni
- Morrison
- discovered
- decades
- ago
- and
- Tayari
- Jones
- recently
- called
- her
- favorite
- writer,
- offers
- 2
- books
- in
- one
- with
- this
- volume
- of
- poetry.
- Jones
- renders
- the
- saga
- of
- Palmares,
- a
- foundational
- tale
- in
- the
- annals
- of
- colonial
- terrorism
- and
- Black
- resistance,
- in
- verse,
- told
- in
- the
- voices
- of
- the
- characters
- in
- her
- epic
- novel
- Palmares.In
- the
- late
- 17th
- century,
- the
- fugitive
- slave
- enclave
- of
- Palmares
- was
- destroyed
- by
- Portuguese
- colonists.
- Amid
- the
- flight
- and
- re-enslavement
- of
- Palmares’s
- inhabitants
- emerges
- the
- love
- story
- of
- Almeyda
- and
- Anninho.
- In
- Song
- for
- Anninho,
- Almeyda
- moves
- between
- a
- dark
- present,
- in
- which
- she
- is
- once
- again
- enslaved
- and
- abused
- by
- a
- terrible
- captor,
- and
- memories
- of
- her
- lover,
- Anninho,
- whom
- she
- believes
- to
- have
- been
- killed.
- Song
- for
- Almeyda,
- released
- now
- for
- the
- first
- time,
- is
- told
- in
- the
- voices
- of
- Anninho
- and
- his
- fellow
- warriors.Fans
- of
- Corregidora
- (one
- of
- the
- New
- Yorker’s
- “Best
- Books
- We
- Read
- in
- 2020”
- picks),
- which
- tracked
- the
- legacy
- of
- enslavement,
- and
- Palmares
- will
- especially
- appreciate
- these
- verses.
- Brimming
- with
- intimacy,
- history,
- and
- revolution,
- the
- poems
- collected
- serve
- as
- a
- declaration
- of
- decolonial love.
