Gratitude #1

Today I sat on a panel, called “Blacker than a hundred midnights”: Public History and Memory and the Souls of Blackfolk in the South”  with Nikky Finney, Randall Kenan, and Dr. Danielle Purifoy, moderated by Dr. Jennifer Larson here at UNC-Chapel Hill. It was a distinct honor to be a part of the conversation in such a distinguished and accomplished company.

I started my initial comments with this poem by Lucille Clifton:

why some people be mad at me sometimes By Lucille Clifton

which really set the tone for everything else I said. You really cannot go wrong with Ms. Lucille, her poetry just keeps on giving.

I have more gratitude to share, but I am going to let this sit here a moment.

Gratitude #0

Jati Lindsay on Lens

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.