Accommodating Eden

The classical oral rhymes and hand clapping games of the African American traditional nursery rhymes are set down as poetry in this brilliantly written poetic narrative. Ensuring its survival, Bobby Ray transmutes the oral traditions into enduring poetry and establishes its place in Black Folk Art. Narrated from the perspective of a modern day urban youths, "Accommodating Eden" yearns to simplify his heart and mind through popular culture and childhood poetry. As the story regresses from adolescences to childhood, from the clean garage floor of a mechanic shop to the dirty vacant lot used as a playground, Bobby Ray's two protagonists Bookie and Willie struggle all their lives inside a failed love story. Willie wants to be the exception in his neighborhood, and Bookie believes that there is as much dignity in being a working-class man as there is in being the educated exception. Satirical and foretelling, "Accommodating Eden" reveals the pseudo-promises of heart broken lovers.