Freeman's: Family

John Freeman, John Freeman

• Publisher: Grove Press
• Year: 2016
• ISBN:
  9780802190444
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Literary Collections
• Index: Literature

A diverse anthology of new fiction, essays, poetry, and photography exploring the subject of family from this "illustrious new literary journal" (Vogue.com). Following his acclaimed debut issue of collected writing on the theme of "Arrival, " the renowned editor and critic John Freeman circles a topic of constantly shifting definitions and endless fascination for writers: family. In an essay called "Crossroads, " Aminatta Forna muses on the legacy of slavery as she settles her family in Washington, DC—a place where she is routinely accused of cutting in line when she stands next to her white husband. Award-winning novelist Claire Vaye Watkins delivers a stunning portrait of a woman in the throes of postpartum depression. Booker Prize winner Marlon James takes the focus off absent fathers to write about his mother, who calls to sing him happy birthday every year. Novelist Claire Messud's writes of the two four-legged tyrants in her home; Sandra Cisneros muses about her extended family of past lovers; and Aleksandar Hemon tells the story of his uncle's desperate attempt to remain a communist despite decades in the Soviet gulag. With outstanding, never-before-published pieces of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry from literary heavyweights and up-and-coming writers alike, Freeman's: Family collects the most amusing, heartbreaking, and probing stories about family life emerging today.

Lost Letter #1: From Phillis Wheatley, of Boston, to Arbour Tanner, of Newport August 16, 17702

HONORÉE FANONNE JEFFERS

HONORÉE FANONNE JEFFERS is a poet, a fiction writer, a critic, and the author of four books of poetry, most recently The Glory Gets (2015). She is the recipient of fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Witter Bynner Foundation through the Library of Congress, and she is an elected member of the American Antiquarian Society. Honorée teaches at the University of Oklahoma.

Dear Sister:

I shiver at the other chance,

that had I not waited for my mistress

to take her midday rest, there would

be no wonder: my new friend.

Had I not disobeyed her word—

her concerns for the flames in my chest—

and stolen from the kitchen—

I would not have found you.

Even the coughing overtaking me

in the street was a benediction.

How God anoints us even in the midst of madness!

[dark coming over the water i was naked

but unaware of shame my mistress taught me

that God hates a bare body now all men frighten me]

Your two names a comfort, though how shall I spell you?

“Arbour,” an astounding, shady grove that protects.

“Obour,” the name of “stone” in your homeland.

Until I decide, I have turned to Apostle Paul:

As slaves and women, we speak the same words.

Once, there was distance that kept

tongues hopeless. Now, we are blood,

no division between us.

[you have my mother’s face i lie and say i cannot

remember but sister i do i do know her name]

I am your very humble servant,

and I pray, your long-time friend,

Phillis

2. The poet Phillis Wheatley is the first African-American woman to publish a book. Kidnapped from Africa in early childhood and sold to a family in Boston, Massachusetts, Wheatley maintained a years-long friendship with another enslaved black woman who lived in Newport, Rhode Island, Obour (or Arbour) Tanner. No one knows how the two met.

Lost Letter #2: From Obour Tanner, Newport, to Phillis Wheatley, Boston October 5, 1770

HONORÉE FANONNE JEFFERS

Dear Sister:

Before your letter, no one gave a care

for my name. Spell me how you wish,

for you have surely saved me.

That day we met, so much despair.

I walked to the pier on my errand—

on the right side of the ci...