I secretly published another book earlier this year, just for funzies. âTwas a journey that stretched my creativity, caused me to ponder my Blackness, and offered a case study of what happens when I hyperfixate. đ
It all started over winter break last year. It was well past my normal bedtime, and I lay in bed reading one of the OG books on copywriting.
I was curious to learn what people thought about the book in the present day, so I made my way to the Amazon reviews. In the comments, people warned other readers not to buy this particular Kindle version of the book because it was riddled with typos. I learned the book was in the public domain.
This sparked a frenzy of Google searches.
What did it mean for a book to be in the public domain?
Who could publish books in the public domain?
What books were entering the public domain in 2023?
And thatâs what introduced me to Langston Hughesâ second book of poetry, Fine Clothes to the Jewâmore on that title later.
I couldnât locate any modern reprints, and most original editions I found were hundreds of dollars.
So I set about bringing these poems, which are inspired by the blues, back to life as a standalone collection of poetry. It was a labor of love, which involved:
Transcribing poems from photos and poetry databases
Hunting down a beat up version of the original book on Etsy
Realizing that many of the poems on the internet had been mis-transcribed and didnât include the original spelling of some words, which changes the experience of the poems
Having conversations with two of my Jewish friends about the original title
Selecting two of Hughesâ essays to accompany the poems and to contextualize the collection in its time of publication
Writing an essay contextualizing this work of poetry in the modern day
Designing the front and back cover, which features an archival photograph of Langston Hughes taken around the same time he published Fine Clothes
Creating 10 digital illustrations to go throughout the book.
Stepping up my Adobe Illustrator game
Formatting the book and getting it set up for distribution
If that sounds like a lot, it was. Itâs also exactly the kind of project that I find enjoyable. There were point where I thought, âDid I just essentially write a college essay for fun? Yes, yes I did.â
This is The Process Report, but Iâm not going to walk you through the ins and outs of each step. Iâd rather share what completing this project allowed me to process.
Black-Jewish relations
I mentioned earlier that the book was originally titled Fine Clothes to the Jew. Hereâs an excerpt from the essay I wrote as the preface to the book:
The original title made me squirm even as I read it at the tail end of 2022. It feels almost fated that this work would enter the public domain after the year weâve had. A year when Kanye West threatened to go âdeath con 3â on Jewish people, Kyrie Irving tweeted a movie supporting extremist Black Hebrew Israelite ideology, and antisemitic incidents in the States are at an all-time high.Â
Fine Clothes to the Jew references a line in Hughesâ poem, âHard Luck.â And the line in the poem references a colloquialism used by Black folks at the time. When you were low on money, youâd take your best clothes to the pawnshop. Many of these shops in Harlem were owned by Jewish families.Â
The essay continues with a short exploration of Black-Jewish relations as well as an explanation of what made the book so controversial in its day. The title isnât actually what made waves back in 1927.
I wouldnât have been able to write that essay without talking to two of my Jewish friends. We talked about antisemitism, racism, how itâs entrenched in the fabric of America, how we see it show up in our own experiences.
These conversations probably wouldnât have happened without this project as an anchor. Because of this project, Iâm seeking out more rich, nuanced conversations like this in my life.
As for the title, I ultimately changed it to Gather Up Yoâ Fine Clothes (find it here and here), a line from the same poem as the original title. It captures both the joy and the hardships Hughes explores in his poetry. One could just as easily gather up their fine clothes for a night of dancing as for church or a trip to the pawnshop.Â
My own relationship to Blackness
Fine Clothes was controversial in its day, not because of it its title but because of its portrayal of Black folk. It didnât only showcase what W.E.B. Du Bois called the Talented Tenth. It also included prostitutes and drinkers and poor folks and gamblers.
As I read the poetry and Hughesâ two essays I chose to feature, âThe Negro Artist and the Racial Mountainâ and âThese Bad New Negroes: A Critique on Criticsâ, I was forced to contend with my own relationship to Blackness.
Hughes rails against respectability politics and the ways in which the Black middle class pretends proximity to whiteness will save them. Poring over those essays shook loose some residual internalized white supremacy.
Iâve also adopted a quote from âThese Bad New Negroes: A Critique on Criticsâ as a motto of sorts.
âMy poems are indelicate. But so is life.â
These words invite me to break down the respectable, good girl facade Iâve built so that I can enjoy the full poetry of life.
My creative identity
Iâve always shied away from calling myself a creative, though Iâve always written, danced, and played.
Towards the end of last year, I decided to start embracing my creative identity. I practiced having a creative point of view and bringing it into the world, knowing that not everyone would understand it.
I wanted the cover of the book to feel vibrant and fresh. Though the collection is nearly a century old, the themes are as relevant as ever. The cover needed to reflect that.
Illustrating the book stretched me. I had certain constraints. I would print the book in black and white. I had limited skills in Illustrator.
But I welcomed the chance to practice getting an idea out of my head and onto paper. I drew inspiration from Aaron Douglasâ silhouetted style. Douglas illustrated covers for several Harlem Renaissance authors. I wanted some pieces of the illustration to feel almost too big, too much, just as the original readers of the book felt. And ultimately, I wanted to reflect the themes of each section of the book.
One of my favorites is the illustration I developed for the Beale Street Love section. Below is the illustration and the poem of the same name. (TW: Domestic violence.)
I wonât win any awards for these illustrations, but, through creating them, I learned more about Illustrator and myself.
Why Iâm sharing now
I didnât initially share about the book because I didnât want to distract people from the launch of Inner Workout. Then, I didnât share because it felt vulnerable. It still feels vulnerable. This process ended up being more personal than I imagined it would be.
But thatâs why I created this space, to hold the interests and explorations that donât fit in the box of âTaylor the self-care lady.â To document my process while Iâm still in it, learning, growing, and developing.
Final thoughts
At the beginning of this report, I said I did this project just for funzies. Thatâs 95% true. I do also make a couple dollars each time a book sells. Itâs the tiniest bit of passive income. since Iâm not planning on advertising it.
My dream for this project is that it would somehow get incorparated in to a high school class. If you know any high school English teachers, Iâm happy to share the PDF version for free!
Ok, thatâs it. This is what I do for fun. Read a book of poetry a million times. Attempt to give it a new life. Deepen skills. Have unexpected conversations. Ask myself the difficult questions. Mostly for funzies.đ€
If you want a copy of your own, you can find it here and here.
WOW, WOW, WOW!!! What a labor of love!! And such deep work through the process. I see so many connections to your self-care/inner workout work through this project - such deep work throughout this process. I will be sharing this with the high school teachers Iâm in contact with. Also, will a Kindle/ebook version become available at some time? (I donât know what the logistics/cost look like for that).
This is so inspiring. Can't wait to dive in and read! Also can relate to the desire to write a college paper for fun... :)