Atlantic, Man Went Down

Abstract

Both “Atlantic” and “Man Went Down” were first drafted during Lena’s time at Boston University. Lena’s mother having been a dancer who trained with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, the music and choreography of Ailey’s Revelations has always been a great source of inspiration to her. This is proven particularly true in the poem “Man Went Down,” which is a story of memory, home, and spiritual return that alludes to Revelations’ “Wade in the Water,” as well as the Spiritual that lends the dance piece its name. “Atlantic” is an intergenerational story of Black womxnhood and emotional encumbrance. Matriarchs in many Black cultures carry both great stature and great burden, thus informing and complicating the dialogue surrounding what it means to be a Black (Atlantic) womxn in the digital age. “Atlantic” then locates itself amongst the writer/speaker’s memories of visiting the ocean as a child and how those memories transformed into adulthood.