The poems of Cornelius Eady (2001) in Brutal Imagination are broken into two sections. In the first section EadyÆs persona is the black man invented by white consciousness, particularly the black criminal invented by individuals like Susan Smith, Charles Stewart, and white American invention (Stepin Fetchit, Buckwheat, Aunt Jemima, etc.). The second section, entitle The Running Man Poems, illustrates the barriers in white, racist society that often tear apart the black family and defer the dreams of black youth. Throughout this collection of poems Eady makes on point crystal clear; White America has a need to create an ôotherö on which to posit negative qualities, an ôotherö that is most often a black person.
Two of the main themes in this collect pervade most of the poems included. The first is that the idea of the black man as criminal is one that stems from white projection. The second is that barriers of racism and prejudice continue to thwart opportunities for black youth and are destructive to the black family. The audience for these poems is both white and black readers. It is for white readers to self-examine the ways in which white people often project negative, even monster-like qualities onto black people simply because they are black. It is for black readers to help gain a deeper insight about the ways in which barriers to success are social constructions most often erected by white Americans.
The first theme is played out in the poems in the first section of the book. In Birthing, EadyÆs (2001) narrator writes: ôI am not me yetàI am just an understandingö to demonstrate the difficulty in breaking free from white stereotypes (53). In Press Conference and other poems devoted to the lie of Susan Smith that a black man took her children, EadyÆs (2001) narrator explains: ôAnd this is my life now, / I am a faint hum behind / The sensation, the blur of doubt / At the cor
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