100Words
Just received copies of letters my grandmother wrote to Langston Hughes, “Lankie” to her. I didn’t know my great-grandfather played piano. I knew he was a caterer so I imagine getting a home-cooked meal at the Cowdery’s was a treat.
I only know my grandmother from her book of poetry. Among the letters is the one in which she tells Langston of her manuscript being accepted.
I’ve such a loneliness for her. She was all I wanted to be and didn’t know how to become and here she is talking to someone else. It’s not fair! She should have been mine!!
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March 5th, 2009 at 10:13 pm
Hello great granddaughter of Mae Virginia Cowdery! I stumbled upon your grandmother’s poetry that was reprinted, in part, in a collection by Maureen Honey. After I read those few poems, I searched far and wide and found a single copy of -We Lift Our Voices- at a faraway library. I copied the collection in full. Since then, I have completed a dissertation on Black Women Writers, 1890-1940, and one of the chapters focused on your grandmother’s work.
I have written a few brief bios on your grandmother, with what scant information I could gather, to keep her name out there.
Then, for the heck of it, I typed in her name to google and here you are, her granddaughter. Know that it is my desire to have your grandmother’s book republished for the world to know and love. It is, in my view, a shame that her work is not figured more centrally in the Harlem Renaissance.
I would love to hear from you!
Lorna Wheeler, PhD
Assistant Professor of English
Metropolitan State College of Denver
and online for:
Kaplan University
and
South University
lornawheeler@yahoo.com
March 5th, 2009 at 10:15 pm
PS: You wrote:
“I’ve such a loneliness for her. She was all I wanted to be and didn’t know how to become and here she is talking to someone else. It’s not fair! She should have been mine!!”
She is yours! Clearly, she is not the only wordsmith in the family.
March 10th, 2009 at 8:18 am
Dear Melanie,
I love your blog about Mae’s letters to “Lankie.” I will be reading them at the Beineke this spring and I’ll be thinking of you. Her spirit is definitely alive in you, so she is with you in that important way.
warmest wishes,
Maureen
March 28th, 2009 at 3:35 pm
Maureen, Thank You!!
I am sorry I have not got back to you before now. Just about to post a blog about my absence and I find you waiting for me. So glad someone else will be reading the texts, fingering the documents. I only wished I had had the foresight to keep the letters he wrote to her. Such are things in life… and why we become packrats and scrapbookers, yes?
Looking forward to hearing more.
Good reading!
March 28th, 2009 at 3:44 pm
Lorna, Welcome and thank you.
It’s funny that you found her book the same way I did. Found a poem in a collection of Harlem Renaissance writers (Nah… She can’t be in here… OH!), and then searched for her name (for a web design assignment and before we called it googling), and found her in a few special library collections.
I guess the only real difference is that I also have the sensory memory of sitting in her mother’s Mission armchair reading a poem while her daughter knitted. I ended up using one of the poems I read at that time as the opening for a paper I did on Herman Melville’s “Bartleby the Scrivener”.
As for republishing… I have thought of it. My brother republished an autobiographical work of my grandfather’s and I thought it fitting that the distaff side be represented also. Maybe it’s time to take that step.
See you in email!
April 2nd, 2009 at 8:00 am
Hi Meham,
I am a huge fan of Mae Cowdery having found her poems almost a decade ago and am actually in the process of finally beginning to write a play inspired by her life and work. I had no idea she ever had a family of her own. I’d always imagined the play would be more of a fantasy riff on her life rather than a faithful retelling since there’s very little biographical information out there about her, especially after she left New York. And I should know, I’m a librarian as well as a playwright, so ferreting out information is what I do. I guess, I’m wondering is if you’d feel comfortable talking to me about your grandmother. I still imagine the play I’m working on being more in the vein of the film “Looking for Langston,” in that it won’t attempt to factually trace her life, but any details that could fill in the picture would be most welcome. One of my favorite mental images of the Harlem Renaissance is the picture of her from “Crisis” magazine, I believe, in her suit and bowtie. Fabulous.
April 5th, 2009 at 3:48 pm
I would love to talk with you. Also, having a picture, you have more than I do! My mother’s things were lost when she died. You can reach me as meham@mmvhamilton.com
April 5th, 2009 at 8:46 pm
Hello Meham!
How delightful to hear from you and from the other admirers of your grandmother’s work. Have you ever seen that Crisis photo? I might have a copy of it that I can scan and send to you. I gave a talk at a conference on Mae V’s poetry and included a photo (copied from the Crisis 1927 Krigwa special issue from a microform). I am in the middle of unpacking, but once I find it, I will make a pdf and send it. Regarding getting your grandmother’s book republished, I think it would be a worthy endeavor. Perhaps Maureen has some thoughts?
Best,
Lorna