Cultural Exchanges Only! No Refunds!

I found "Cultural Exchange" to be the poem that resonated with me the most this time around. As an artist, I appreciate the symmetry of this work, how it begins with two lines with thirteen syllables each, giving us the sing-song rhythm of the "lovely Lieder." I also enjoy the alliteration of "dust of dingy" and "scratchy sound." And who could not enjoy saying "Leontyne" over and over with its melodic strains wafting through the kitchen where the collard greens are cooking? But what else is cooking in this poem? We are immediately set aside from the rest of the world by being placed into the "Quarter of the Negroes." Quarter has so many implications as a chosen word. Not only does it mean "living space", it also implies something not quite whole. This small space to which black society has been relegated, not unlike the ghettos of the Jews during the shoah. It also means, in the context of war, protection: when the enemy is offered quarter. The poet is both protected in this quarter and constrained within it. Open the door to this quarter and you hear the lovely strains of music. Leontyne is singing and soul food is cooking. The gentle stewing even feels gentle, soulful, and like home.  And yet, this peaceful quarter is interrupted by the knowledge that one must find the "colored" laundromat. And will your skin color rub off? Hughes punctuates the awkwardness of this question with an awkward syntax: "They asked me if my blackness/Would it rub off?" sounds much more unusual than "They asked me if my blackness/would rub off." Yet this is not what Hughes has chosen. Why?

My issue with the work comes from Hughes' description of "the COLORED HOUR." In this hour, the poet plays out the fantasy that black culture has supplanted the white culture and the tables have been turned. The poet's anger and sarcasm is displayed here (and rightfully so) yet his suggestion does not solve any problems. It only changes the identity of the oppressor. I think Hughes explanation of the COLORED HOUR is quite comical and interesting. In fact, I love thinking about the white mammies and how they are sometimes "buried with our family." The plot line resembles that of the Planet of the Apes in which animals turn the tide against their human oppressors. However, much like the movie, Planet of the Apes points out that the species of the oppressor doesn't matter. It's the model that matters. In the oppressor/oppressed model, there must always be a winner and a loser, a have and a have not. For this reason, Hughes suggestion doesn't go the distance with me in creating a solution that will work toward solving the problem of racism. Of course, one must acknowledge that perhaps that is not Hughes' point. Perhaps this poem is about revealing the problem and not about solving it. But I feel that in the current state of our world, we must now move beyond the naming of the problem and into the solving of it if we are to make any progress at all.

--H. K. Rainey