Close reading of Dark Prophecy: I sing of Shine

Since I'm a part of the amazing group presenting on Etheridge Knight this Tuesday, I just decided to do a close reading of a poem we are not covering in our presentation. This book is filled with so many gems, it was hard to choose, so I blindly flipped through and happened to stop on one that I love, Dark Prophecy: I sing of Shine. Let's dissect it a little.

And, yeah brothers
while white / America sings about the unsink
able molly brown
(who was hustling the titanic
when it went down)
I sing to thee of Shine

Etheridge starts the poem by earning credibility with his audience. He does so by talking in very relaxed conversational tones, addressing his audience with familiarity. Also, he gives the reader an early glimpse of how much he knows about the situation by name-dropping and giving an aside in parenthesis about what Molly Brown's actions were on the Titanic. The parenthetical use make it seem as if Etheridge is giving us insider information that we are privy to only because we are interacting with him. Then he proceeds to tell us that it is Shine who will be his focus, although the white people never mentioned him & gave all of their attention to Molly Brown. This polarizing tactic is likely to make his audience (assuming that it would be geared towards a black audience?) would be more likely to listen to, be empathetic of and believe this story about this black man who couldn't get any attention before because he was overshadowed by a white woman. the stoker who was hip enough to flee the fucking ship and let the white folks drown with screams on their lips (jumped his black ass into the dark sea, Shine did, broke free from the straining steel). Yeah, I sing to thee of Shine Here, we get a little bit of info on who Shine was. He was a worker on the ship, a stoker is the person who tends to the furnace on large ships. Etheridge continues with his use of conversational jargon to put the reader at ease. I feel as if he intentionally used the words "broke free from the straining steel" to parallel an image of enslaved people chained in shackles. This would also gain empathy and support for Shine if he's seen as someone who was caught up in struggle and broke free.

and how the millionaire banker stood on the deck
 and pulled from his pockets a million dollar check
 saying Shine Shine save poor me
 and I'll give you all the money a black boy needs—
 how Shine looked at the money and then at the sea
 and said jump in muthafucka and swim like me—
 and Shine swam on—Shine swam on—
and how the banker's daughter ran naked on the deck
with her pink tits trembling and her pants roun her neck
 screaming Shine Shine save poor me
 and I'll give you all the pussy a black boy needs—
how Shine said now pussy is good and that's no jive
 but you got to swim not fuck to stay alive—
 And Shine swam on Shine Swam on—

 How Shine swam past a preacher afloating
 on a board crying save me nigger Shine in the name of the Lord—
 and how the preacher grabbed Shine's arm and broke his stroke—
how Shine pulled his shank and cut the preacher's throat—
And Shine swam on—Shine swam on—

SO here we have the main action unfolding in this poem. Etheridge is such a storyteller. His poems create narrative arcs that etch such complete story lines. In all of the above lines Etheridge focuses on the three main things used to lure black men into temptation. Money, women and the promise of some sense of salvation from their current troubles, whatever the consequences may be. Shine decided to save himself by himself instead of depending on others, the very ones who probably paid him absolutely no attention or respect as a worker on the ship. I wonder why Shine murdered the preacher though. I feel as if Etheridge used this line to make a statement about his lack of trust of religious leaders. He has other poems that speak about how much he abhors hypocrisy....so maybe the preacher is the only one who gets his throat slit because of his occupation.

 And when news hit shore that the titanic had sunk
Shine was up in Harlem damn near drunk—

 The underdog rose to the top at the end of this poem. The black man survived the fatal sinking ship,and was safe (and sound??) drunk at the bar. Lol. I laugh, but there's an undercurrent of sadness with this ending as Shine does not drown in the icy water...but he drowns his sorrow away in liquor.