Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. went to Memphis twice in 1968, to assist the city’s striking sanitation workers. On his first visit, a demonstration turned violent and he vowed to return to help them do it right. Tragically, on his second visit, he was killed. The campaign in Memphis became known as the “I Am [...]

When I was a senior in high school, a long time ago, in Southern California, I had an English class in a basement classroom. It was a typing classroom meaning the desks were metal with huge electric typewriters taking up nearly the whole desk surface. There was just enough room for a stand-up typing book [...]

“The worst thing about getting old– is losing your words.” Tana Hicken as Vera, laments to her grandson, Leo, this particular sadness about aging. Amy Herzog’s play “4000 Miles” enters the space between a grandmother, presumably in her 70s or 80s, and her 20-something grandson. The Studio Theater has done a remarkable production of this [...]

We live in a world of a zillion blogs. Some rant, some merely crank out one opinion atop another. But the good ones, the truly reflective and insightful ones, stand out for their careful thinking, good writing, and humble assertions. Brian Gilmore’s “Chocolate City Review” has all this. It’s among the best blogs I know. Brian [...]

Forty-five years ago today, Dr. King was back in Memphis. He had been in the city weeks before to support the city’s black sanitation workers in their “I am a man” campaign. The black sanitation workers were on strike against the city’s unequal pay practices; they were paid less than their white counterparts doing the [...]

While some don’t celebrate Christmas or Easter, Passover or an Eid, April Fools’ Day is one for us all. If we’re honest, we have to admit we are all, at some point, very foolish people. We make decisions based on fleeting desires. We give in to ease and make choices which do not relfect our [...]

It is hard to imagine a world without Chinua Achebe. So, over the next couple of weeks, I will post some reflections here on the life, work, and death of this essential writer, Nigerian novelist Chinua Achebe. His death on March 21, 2013, last week, in Boston, is an enormous loss to the world of [...]

On this Good Friday, 2013, when North Korea threatens the world with bluster beyond its means, when Syria lurches into a second year of war, and countless other human failures seem to overtake us, I’m drawn to Pablo Picasso and one of his paintings which always gives me hope. Picasso’s “Studio (Pigeons)” painted in 1957, [...]

When a poet-friend “tagged” me for The Next Big Thing, I didn’t think I’d do it. It felt a little like a chain letter and I recall not liking the pressure chain letters contained. But I guess I’ve softened and come along to the point that I’m posting some reflections on the questions The Next [...]

To truly recite a poem, you have to know and feel the poem. That knowledge and feeling flowed abundantly yesterday at Washington D.C.’s Banneker Academic High School. They rocked their POETRY OUT LOUD program. I was honored to be a judge for the second time and I sat amazed at these students, their passion for [...]

I think of graffiti art as urban elegy. It’s the voice of the unheard, an epitaph of those who feel silent. As many readers of this blog know, Cool “Disco” Dan is a famous graffiti artist in Washington, D.C. who has been a subject in my poems. He began back in the 1980s and has [...]

I’m thrilled to say that my new book of poems, Gospel of Dust, will be available for pre-order shortly and will likely be released in mid-June, 2013. Main Street Rag Publisher M. Scott Douglas did a nice job with the cover. Through the help of the Library of Congress and the Birmingham Public Library, I found a [...]

I feel sorry for Alexandra Petri. She clearly doesn’t know the poetry world I know. Petri’s column, “Ode to an obsolete art” in the Washington Post, Saturday, January 26, 2013, requires a response. She calls into question the need for poetry. She suggests poets are vain and self-centered. But the main problem with her column [...]

It’s a tough question. It’s a question we can only answer if we admit that our country and the world must be better. It’s a question about directions. Because our present moment is not peaceful or just, the question is still essential: “Where Do We Go From Here? Dr. Martin Luther King‘s final book takes [...]

I have often been amazed at what can happen in a classroom. Today, again, was one of those remarkable days when something powerful takes place. The responsible party– Emily Dickinson. The unsuspecting students– three classes of eleventh grade boys, young men in appearance and intellect, but young and “not quite ready” for the shock Emily [...]

I don’t recall exactly how his work first came to my attention, but I’ve been moved and deepened by his thinking many times. Darnell L. Moore (Photo Credit: Tamara Fleming) is a scholar whose work navigates the dangerous areas of class, race, sexuality, and religion. While he considers many topics within those volatile subjects, his [...]

One of the rich joys of teaching, is the opportunity to talk with young people about some of the Big Questions humanity faces. I find it enlightening and hopeful to listen to them consider the questions that come with being human, especially when those questions are sparked by literature. This past semester, one of my [...]