#33 Ark of Bones- Henry Dumas

#33- Ark of Bones- Henry Dumas

Echo Tree is a collection of Dumas’ short stories recently printed as a part of The Coffee House Press Black Arts Movement Series. The series has reprinted unavailable works seen as important in our collective history, especially those works that deal with authors or subjects that go overlooked by main street histories.

Henry Dumas is such as author. As described in the introduction of this collection:

“As best we know from circumstances that remain unclear, on May 23^rd, 1968, while seated unarmed in a Harlem subway station, a thirty-three year old father, husband, teacher, and emerging writer named Henry Dumas was confronted by a New York City Transit policeman who, in what must have been a case of mistaken identity or imagined provocation, summarily shot him dead”

I guess what’s old is new again (or never changed). We were robbed of another great mind, so I think it’s particularly important to celebrate the great works that he left behind and remember the authors that were never safe enough to make it into our high school English textbooks.

Written in a colloquial style, Ark of Bones is an allegorical masterpiece.  What starts out as a lazy walk down the Mississippi turns into a deeply religious adventure.  Fish-hound goes down to fish and is being followed by local mysterious outcast, Headeye.  Headeye is the holder of a mojo bone, or a keybone which has many in town intrigued, all except Fish-hound.  Headeye says it’s like Ezekiel’s valley of the dry bone and belongs to the people of God.

As Fish-hound fishes, Headeye holds the bone as he wades in the suddenly rising water.  A storm comes up, an improbable Ark appears in the river and the two are escorted to it on a row boat.  “I figured maybe we was dead or something and was gonna get the Glory Boat over the river and make it on into heaven.”

Upon the Ark, Fish-hound sees it is full of bones and is told: “Son you are in the house of generations. Every African who lives in America has a part of his soul in this ark.” He acts as a witness as Headeye is anointed in a religious ceremony. He is chosen because he will never speak of what he has seen. A few days later, Headeye announces he is leaving, and Fish-hound never tells anyone of the ark.

Books can be written about the amount of symbolism and meaning is in this story.  And in fact whole schools of study existed in the 1970's following this story and Dumas’ other important works.  I’m sure I’ll read a few more of them soon.

Notable Passages: “I could hear the water come to talk a little. Only river people know how to talk to the river when it’s mad.”

“Some people say readin too many books will stunt your growth”

Rating: 8-9-9-10 Total= 36