Reconnaissance by Arna Bontemps

After the cloud embankments,
the lamentation of wind
and the starry descent into time,
we came to the flashing waters and shaded our eyes
from the glare.

Alone with the shore and the harbor,
the stems of the cocoanut trees,
the fronds of silence and hushed music,
we cried for the new revelation
and waited for miracles to rise.

Where elements touch and merge,
where shadows swoon like outcasts on the sand
and the tried moment waits, its courage gone--
there were we

in latitudes where storms are born.

         This poem, Reconnaissance by Arna Bontemps is a powerful poem written at the height of the Harlem Renaissance. The work reflects the strong sense of change that had engulfed Harlem, and the rest of the nation during this momentous period of U.S. history.  

         In the first stanza Bontemps sets up a mood of anticipation by writing “after the cloud embankments the lamentation of wind” here the poet makes it as if weather and nature its self is parting in the wake of the metamorphosis taking place. Later Bontemps describes his people’s prideful demands for change by writing “Alone with the shore and the harbor we cried for the new revelation.” This stanza deeply connects with the HR theme of determination to fight oppression.

       The poet ends the piece with the lines “there were we in latitudes where storms are born” by finishing Reconnaissance like this Bontemps alludes to the ‘storm’ of change he predicts for the future.