The Lurking Place

Explorations of love, ambition, and racial identity converge in this inspired if uneven story of a Black poet in the late 1960s, from poet, painter, and writer Major (Thunderclouds in the Forecast). Up-and-coming poet James Eric Lowell, 25, leaves New York City for Mexico with his new white girlfriend, Sophia, a budding anthropologist, for a life of creative contemplation. Sophia yearns to observe Mexican cultural practices and eventually moves into a commune, while James focuses on his manuscript with the hope that a published book will earn him a teaching job back in New York. As they manage their new lives among other English-speaking expats, both find themselves unsettled for different reasons, first in Puerto Vallarta and later in San Miguel de Allende. After James goes through a string of friends and lovers, he grows conscious of political unrest in Mexico and back home. He also thinks frequently about his Blackness in conversations about the Harlem Renaissance and the civil rights movement, identifying more with the peace promoted by MLK than with Malcolm X’s messages. He replies pointedly when white dinner guests naively ask him about nomenclature: “Afro-American or Black?” (“I prefer James, actually,” he says). While the episodic structure fails to cohere, James’s story becomes a rich meditation on how to portray Blackness in poetry. The author’s poetry is stronger, but this is worth a look. (Dec.)