The Black Automaton and Unexplained Presence

The Black Automaton was almost poetic in its structure, yet were not held together in any sort of specific scheme.  Kearney used plenty of sensory and concrete language to evoke emotions possibly relating to black struggle and problems associated with this society and black people.  I enjoyed the erratic scheme of this collection of poems, and they were very effective in conveying each of their messages.  Though they were trite in length, they were powerful in that each poem had a different theme, idea, and layout.  The poems that caught my eye the most were "From Voltron", and "Tallahatchie Lullaby, Baby", due to their unique layouts.  "Tallahatchie Lullaby", Baby interested me with its use of rhyming as well as alliteration, while "From Voltron" used an odd and erratic layout that was aesthetically pleasing.

Unexplained Presence used a short story style of narrative in its collection, yet was very descriptive in nature and very powerful as well.  This collection also deals with the strife of black people and deals with the black character as a whole in each story.  The description at the beginning that served as an intro stated that: "Black figures in Eurocentric literature, film, and visual art are rarely presented without being given a distinct, racialized function (Bryant 1)".  This is shown throughout each story, as the African American protagonists are all distinctly racialized in their language, habits as well as their issues.  This collection of stories effectively conveys the role of African Americans in all types of media and explores their role in storytelling and how adding race can affect the narrative.

I enjoyed both of these collections of poems and short stories due to their messages and their styles of narrative and structure.  I enjoyed The Black Automaton the most because I was captivated by the use of language and the aesthetic beauty that was associated with it.  It proved the effectiveness of the African American style of writing, and while it was somewhat confusing, the message throughout the collection was consistent.