The Second Stop Is Jupiter

by upfromsumdirt

What if N. K. Jemisin or Ishmael Reed wrote Frankenstein, or if Kara Walker originally illustrated the works of the Brothers Grimm? What if, instead of modern superhero figures, the Black Panther characters as depicted by Ta-Nehisi Coates were figures of mythology, taught alongside the Greco-Roman pantheon? Divided into three sections―"I Don't Know Who Needs To Hear This But," "The Girl With The Frantz Fanon Tattoo," and "The Underground Rubaiyat"―this collection of mythological, Afrofuturist, and surrealist poems addresses a literary void resulting from the structural violence of slavery and segregation. This collection invites readers to interrogate the motifs of canonical poetics alongside historical and contemporary interactions real and imagined.
Drawing inspiration from African and Diasporic narratives, these poems evoke the surrealism of African author Amos Tutuola as much as they do English author Lewis Carroll. The Second Stop is Jupiter is a deep engagement with the cultural narrative, populated with Black hero figures who will fuel the imagination. upfromsumdirt invites us to ask, what if , with characters and poetic motifs rooted in existing narratives of Black life and fable. Titles like "The Death of Olympia" and "The Three Sulas" set the tone for this collection to manifest a Pan-Africanist poetics entwined with themes of Classical Romanticism.

Genres: Poetry, Science Fiction

144 pages, Paperback

Published September 5, 2023

Reviews

[Nick · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have a couple of books that I re-read every year. Now this is on the list. There’s so much to love here, but I’d say that Tangerine Tubman, The Hero with An African Face, and Spaceship for Sale really pushed all of my buttons in the right way.

This collection made me feel the same feelings I felt the first time I heard The Love Below, or watched Space is the Place. Future me is gonna be happy with present and past me for having this in my life.

[E.D.E. Bell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I did this book a slight injustice by just reading it.

So I'll try to do it a little more justice by telling you why that is.

I already knew, from my first glimpse at the front matter, what sort of a book this would be, what sort of a writer puts this much *time*, thought, and love, into only the matter before the matter.

But honestly? You could read this book for the rest of your life. Every passage holds depth and wonder and nudges you to thought in wit and context and multi-entendre. I could see the human layers, the anger layers, the love layers, and I've read enough Black stories now I could even see a few of those layers, enough to see how many other layers I could not see. And all arranged with rich musical sensibility, a symphony for your soul.

You could read this book every day for the rest of your life, and find something new, feel something new, have a new thought onto yourself.

Or, like me, you could read it and feel inspired by a world worth fighting for. In every life.

The book was wonderful, start to finish. I especially connected with The Three Sulas and Tangerine Tubman.

My deepest gratitude to umfromsumdirt for his art and for sharing it.