We Rode the Rhythms as One offers readers an immersive journey into the life and legacy of one of America’s most unorthodox and inspiring poets. More than just a literary analysis, this book captures the pulse of Etheridge Knight’s life, weaving together interviews, personal essays, letters, and critical pieces to form a vivid and multifaceted portrait. Through the voices of poets, scholars, students, and Knight himself, the book underscores the profound intersections of race, art, politics, and personal survival, revealing how Knight forged poetry from his struggles and shaped a community of voices from diverse backgrounds.
Knight’s story is one of transformation—an odyssey from hardship and incarceration to artistic prominence—anchored by his unwavering belief in the power of poetry to unite and heal. This comprehensive volume is also a historical and cultural exploration, situating Knight’s work amid the Black Arts Movement, the Civil Rights Movement, and the ongoing fight for social justice. Readers will find themselves drawn to Knight’s unfiltered voice, his reflections on Black identity, and his insistence on making poetry accessible to all—whether through intimate letters or reflections on the sociopolitical climate that shaped his art. Suitable for poetry enthusiasts, scholars, and general readers alike, We Rode the Rhythms as One invites us to reconsider Knight’s enduring impact and the vital role of poetry in reflecting and reshaping human experience.
Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments
List of Figures
Chronology
Introduction
Norman Minnick
Chapter One
Etheridge Knight
Elizabeth Alexander
Etheridge Knight: “can there anything good come out of prison”
Nicole Poletika
Introduction of Etheridge Knight at the Library of Congress
Gwendolyn Brooks
Chapter Two
1966–1979 “ESCAPING INTO DREAMS AND SOFT WORDS”
from Profiles in Prison
Bob Schmidt
Poets Necessary… Even Here
William Healy
Lend Me Your Ear: To the Man Who Writes Unsigned Hate Letters (September 1968)
Etheridge Knight
A Review of Poems from Prison
Jewel C. Latimore
from Dynamite Voices I: Black Poets of the 1960s
Don L. Lee
from Broadside Memories: Poets I Have Known: Etheridge Knight
Dudley Randall
An Interview with Etheridge Knight (Part 1)
Charles H. Rowell
Selected Letters
To Sonia Sanchez, Nov. 7, 1968
To Gwendolyn Brooks, Nov. 17, 1968
To Gwendolyn Brooks, Nov. 26, 1968
To Gwendolyn Brooks, Dec. 21, 1968
To Dudley Randall, Feb. 27, 1970
To Mari Evans, March 13, 1970
To Mari Evans, March 30, 1970
To Dudley Randall, April 5, 1970
To Mari Evans, July 20, 1970
To Mari Evans, Aug. 16, 1970
To Dudley Randall, Aug. 16, 1970
To Galway Kinnell, April 11, 1975
To Robert Bly, July 26, 1975
To Galway Kinnell, Oct. 11, 1975
To Robert Bly, Dec. 14, 1975
To James Wright, Dec. 26, 1975
To Galway Kinnell, Oct. 12, 1976
To James Wright, Oct. 26, 1976
To “Folks,” Aug. 3, 1977
To Donald Hall and Jane Kenyon, Nov. 15, 1977
To Gerald Cunningham, March 20, 1978
To James and Annie Wright, June 23, 1978
To Galway Kinnell, Sept. 12, 1978
Chapter Three
1980–1999 “THE WOLF IS HOWLING AT MY DOOR”
Born of a Woman: New and Selected Poems
Patricia Liggins Hill
An Interview with Etheridge Knight
Lou Camp
Black Cats: The Essential Etheridge Knight
Raymond R. Patterson
Learning a Language: Etheridge Knight
Donald Hall
from Freedom & Confinement: An Interview with Etheridge Knight
Elizabeth Gordon McKim
Tough Eloquence: Poetry for the Free Peoples
Yusef Komunyakaa
“How / be / Thee, goode Lady?”: Etheridge Knight’s Love Songs to Women
Miriam DeCosta-Willis
The Creative Influence and Cumulative Effect of Incarceration on the Works of Etheridge “Bushi” Knight
Levi Frazier
Etheridge Knight: Making Up Poems
Haki R. Madhubuti
The Poetry of Etheridge Knight: A Reflection of an African Philosophical/Aesthetic Worldview
Joyce Ann Joyce
Selected Letters
To Elizabeth McKim, Jan. 18, 1981
To Elizabeth McKim, July 13, 1981
To Elizabeth McKim, July 18, 1983
To Amiri Baraka [no date]
To June Jordan, July 14, 1984
To Ossie Davis, Nov. 27, 1984
To Robert Bly, April 10, 1985
To Elizabeth McKim, Jan. 12, 1986
To Walter Bradford, Feb. 6, 1986
To Elizabeth McKim, Jan. 2, 1987
To Robert Bly, Nov. 21, 1989
Chapter Four
2000–2023 “BRING BREATH, BODY…”
Free Singers / Be: On Etheridge Knight
Susan Neville
Feeling Fucked Up: The Architecture of Anger
Reginald Dwayne Betts
“God—his uniqueness:” Donald Hall remembers Etheridge Knight
Michael Collins
In Remembrance of Etheridge Knight: A Valentine
Debra Kang Dean
The Space Between Everything
Terrance Hayes
Drop a Notch the Sacred Shield
Christian Wiman
Bibliography
About the Author :
Norman Minnick is an Assistant Professor of English at Marian University. He is the author or editor of many books, including Advice for a Young Poet (2020), Elizabetheridge: A Memoir in Poetry (2023), and The Lost Etheridge: Uncollected Poems of Etheridge Knight (2022).
