Ignorant Armies

Ignorant Armies
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“Grey and crying
Melodious strings of geese
Passing a graveyard”
—Richard Wright, Haiku 120
This Other Place

Baldwin tried to write—
“Ignorant Armies” about
their affair, a novel

One can only pause—
And imagine a novel
Like that so taboo

As shocking as Wright’s—
Murder in his “Native Son”
But many times worse

A rich white woman—
Married to a mulatto
Goodlookin kept man
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Her family shocked—
A wealthy heiress going
For a gay black man

The scandal it caused—
The sexual attractions
Murder, suicide

It flowed easily
The novel’s characters gave
Him a taboo form
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His own confused life—
His love affair with the young
Cute Wayne Lonergan

The seminal seeds—
Of “Giovanni’s Room” and
“Another Country”

But the Storyline—
Was too notoriously
Close to Baldwin’s life
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He’d reached an impasse—
His bohemian lifestyle
And Wayne’s murder-death

“Sex, Violation—
Homosexuality
Outlaws of the Night!”

How could he continue—
All these roles, classes &
Ethnic masquerades?

Fighting his Shame—
Unable to accept love
Freedom = Paradox?