I had the good fortune to be on a panel as part of the Mosaic Literary Conference a few weeks ago. Ron Kavanaugh has been a literary activist and warrior for the Black literary world for a long time. One of my first published writings was published in the pages of Mosaic Magazine, so it was an honor to be on this panel with such accomplished folks: Tai Allen (moderator), Janice Lowe, and Dimitry Leger.
With thanks to NC Poet Laureate Jaki Shelton Green and Timothy Crowley, I have a poem included in this cool anthology that just came out. So far, I only see it listed on Amazon, but you can ask your local bookstore to get it from Chapel Hill Press. For those who are local to Chapel Hill, check Epilogue and Fly Leaf.
This a picture of me when we first moved to Bamako, Mali, and had just started blogging at one of my other sites BOOM For Real Bamako.
I know my website needs a little updating. I am getting to it, please bear with me. In the meantime check a few links of me reading or talking about my work
While it is an honor to have any organization support or feature your work, this reading in particular was a distinct honor to be a part of because of what this organization means to African American Poetry in particular, and American Letters in general.
This program is in support of the newly published Furious Flower anthology, Furious Flower: seeding the future of african american poetryedited by Dr. Joanne Gabbin and Lauren Alleyne. My presentation starts at 49:03, but you will miss a poetry blessing if you don’t listen to the who thing.
This is a piece I did with the Sciences Po School of Journalism in Paris , France. Thank you to Pariesa Young for reaching out to me after finding my poem Currency.
The following link is a link to the business and economy program Marketplace, it airs on NPR. Thank you to Maria Hollenhorst for finding my poem Austerity on the Academy of American Poets website. I know some writers are used to a certain type of acclaim and recognition, but for me as a poet who does not have my own collection out in the world YET, it is an honor to have my poem on this website. It is hard to put in words.
Last but not least, is a reading I participated in with some other amazing writers to celebrate the publication of the Carolina African American Writers’ Collective’s new anthology All the Songs We Sing edited by Lenard D. Moore with an introduction by NC Poet Laureate Jaki Shelton Green. It was such an honor to not only be included in this anthology but also to be welcomed into the fellowship of the Carolina African American Writers’ Collective, so needless to say that my gratitude abounds. Thanks to Lenard D. Moore for welcoming me into the fold.
Join us for a celebration of the rich legacy of Black poetry as contributors to the third Furious Flower anthology, “Furious Flower: Seeding the Future of Black Poetry,” read from their work and share their thoughts on legacy as poetic practice. The event features poets F. Douglas Brown, Dominique Christina, Toi Derricotte, Alexis Pauline Gumbs, Terrance Hayes, DaMaris Hill, Tyehimba Jess, Fred Joiner, Nate Marshall, and Clint Smith, with a critical context by Meta DuEwa Jones, and remarks by Rita Dove, Parneshia Jones, and Joanne Gabbin. Register now and receive a discount code with your purchase of Furious Flower: Seeding the Future of African American Poetry
I have really been enjoying so much of the work coming out in Poetry Magazine; Don Share and his crew have done an amazing job in (re)making the magazine.
While I was reading this month’s issue I came across Nicole Sealey‘s poem And, even better was hearing her read it here. I was immediately reminded of Thomas Sayers Ellis’ poem, Or and how both of these poems use the conjunctions And & Or as sonic and meaning-making devices.
I am still trying to figure out everything going on in Sealey’s piece but it is such a nice and rich ride, but I don’t mind working my way through it.
People have all kinds of ideas and things to say about what poetry does and does not do. I hear people often quoting William Carlos Williams saying:
“It is difficult to get the news from poems yet men die miserably every day for lack of what is found there.”
I tend to disagree with the suggestion that you cannot get the news from poems, but I think that is conversation for another day.
Today I had the opportunity to use poetry in a manner that will empower people to do something for themselves and others. As part of Activate! IFC’s advocacy program I conducted a poetry workshop on writing poems of Self-Definition and Self-Determination. Activate! IFC serves populations experiencing homelessness, voter disenfranchisement and a range of equity centered issues. You can learn more about them here .
I had the privilege to listen to people telling their own stories and writing new ones that would be mantras for them to use as encouragement for themselves in dark times. I saw them offer encouragement to one another to share their stories and to advocate for themselves in their own words.
I had them writing short poems using the prompts “I am…” and “where I’m from…” that I got from Willie Perdomo. I was always so moved by Willie Perdomo‘s poems from Where a Nickel Costs a Dime because I the speakers in his poems sounded like people I knew.
I know that poems may not necessarily put a roof over some the workshop participants heads, but a poem could be the thing that moves them to advocate for themselves for more affordable housing or a livable wage, so I am thankful for that. If poetry can do that everyday I think poetry does a lot.
I have some changes and updates planned for my website, so please bear with me as I try to keep up with this thing alongside everything else in my life.
Thanks for your support for the faithful who come here looking for info about me and my work.
Over the years it has been so cool to see the work of so many poets who are friends, who I have met or whose work I just love on The Academy of American Poets website (and Poetry Foundation too).
To quite honest, I never thought anything I had written would find itself there. So you can imagine how beside myself I am with gratitude and jot that 2 of my poems Austerity and Currency are now on The Academy of American Poets’ website. One of those poems, Currecncy is included in The Next Verse Poets Mixtape Volume One: the 4 X 4 (Central Square Press) which you purchase here.
It’s been a long time since I have posted an update, but that is going to change soon. As many of your know I have been selected to serve as Carrboro’s Poet Laureate, soI am trying to figure out how to reconfigure this space to best keep you all informed and engaged about stuff that I am doing.
Stay tuned…
I have a recording of James H. Cone (Rest in Peace) and a bunch of other scholars and clergy speaking at Rankin Chapel for the book release of The Cross and the Lynching Tree, but I think I was between jobs at the moment and did not want to get the hardcover. Last week, I picked up a copy at my church at started to read it in preparation for my church’s pilgrimage to The National Memorial for Peace and Justice. I would have to go back to that time in my life and really reflect on my thinking, but Cone’s work is one of the main reasons why I am still a Christian or feel comfortable describing myself that way. His work gave me permission in a way to redefine and broaden how I conceptualized and lived my faith
While I am looking forward to the trip, I am approaching it with a certain amount of reflection and perhaps a bit of hesitancy, as I recently have also been reading a studying the book called My Grandmother’s Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies, which calls attention to the epigenetic and somatic effects that racialized trauma is having on us.
I am not sure I have much more to say other than I am ruminating on these works while also trying to handle the rush of the creative energy that I have been experiencing lately; so I just have to sit with where things are going and try to prepare for what’s next…I hope you will join me for the ride…Stay tuned
