Ever heard
the sound
of goodbye?
The way a door closes.
The way a deer looks.
The way a busted bird sings.
The ending of the world.
The wailing of
a hollowed heart."
I read this beautiful book a while ago, and wanted time to digest its story and reread some parts. I have now done that and am ready to tell you about it. It's Kwame Alexander, and it only makes me admire him more for his poetry and his storytelling prowess. He is joined in this venture by Mary Rand Hess, his collaborator on Animal Ark (National Geographic for Kids, 2017). To say it is impressive work is an understatement, to be sure.
Blade wants his own life, away from his dysfunctional family. His mother has been dead for ten years, his sister is leading a life that makes him uncomfortable, and his father is an aging rock star, fueled by adoration, drugs and alcohol. Blade's life has been fueled by some of the same things, in an effort to impress his father and make he and his band mates laugh:
"Rutherford was too busy
kissing his ego
to notice.
I tasted it once,
twice, and
a few more times,
trying to find
that sugar sweet.
But, it wasn't sweet.
It was salty
bitter
and it coated
my mouth
in numbness.
I woke up
in the ICU
frightened
and embarrassed
by my father,
who sat by
my bedside
crying
in handcuffs."
Blade has a strong musical predilection, but does not appreciate the lifestyle his father's notoriety generates. It spawns bitter arguments within the family. In one such battle with his sister, she reveals a stunning and heartbreaking secret.
"You ungrateful little -
You're right, you aren't like any of us, Storm yells.
AGREED!
You ever wonder why
you're a shade darker
than everybody in this family?
Why your hair is curly and ours isn't.
Why you play that soft stuff,
And we're Hard Rockers?
STORM! Rutherford screams. Don't listen to her, Blade.
You don't want to be a Morrison,, little brother? Well, here's
the kicker, you're not. You were never one of us, and you
never will be ... You're adopted!"
The first 124 pages! 320 to go ... and go you will, plunging forward to learn all you can about this family, the repercussions of the revelation, and the search that challenges, uplifts, and leads to purpose in Blade's life.
Filled with music and lyrical language, Kwame Alexander and Mary Rand Hess create an ode to music and life, family and finding oneself within it, and journeying to a new and better understanding of what it means to be Blade Morrison. It is such a wondrous development of character in first person poetic verse, replete with variety in musical genres and an aching knowledge that music is, and will always be, his first love.
"At the top
of a mountain
across a rainforest
in the middle
of the bush
it seems
I have figured out
the dream
and discovered
that what I've been
searching for
has been inside
of me
this whole time."
Get out your pencil, make a playlist for the music cited, and listen to that list as you take the book up a second time to see all you missed when you read it first.
Of writing Solo, Kwame says:
https://youtu.be/hzJX7c2VwlQ
and here's a song written by Kwame for Solo, and performed by Randy Preston:
https://youtu.be/qekgoGHkoHg
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