It’s been awhile since the last Eclectique Interview. This will be the second interview with a poet. That’s Sarah Browning, director of D.C. Poets Against the War and Split This Rock Poetry Festival. Sarah is also author of Whiskey in the Garden of Eden (The Word Works, 2007), and co-editor of D.C. Poets Against the [...]
Many moons ago, I had this wish to go to New York and have Andy Warhol do my portrait. It never happened and I’m sure there are apps that can give one a Warholic hue. Friends at Busboys and Poets have collaborated with the recent National Gallery retrospective of Warhol’s “Headlines” work in what’s call [...]
CLASS STRUGGLE WITH WINGS Birds fighting for food near my bench. Why do I feed them crumbs? From E. Ethelbert Miller’s The Ear Is An Organ Made for Love Download the collection of poems from this link. Listen to the interview about the poems, the process, the life observations on this link for WPFW-FM’s “On [...]
Gil Scott-Heron was the reason rap didn’t stick for me. People anticipated Gil’s next poetic and prophetic message in spoken or melodic rhymes like hot buttermilk biscuits out of the oven. Always a feast in days of famine. We also have to give props to Scott-Heron’s collaborator and fellow Lincoln University classmate Brian Jackson who [...]
The late great Gospel music artist Rev. James Cleveland’s “Peace Be Still” captures my thoughts surrounding recent events from Tucson to Tunisia, and also the observance of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birth. This past week, poet Nikki Giovanni made a visit to DC. My first introduction to her writing (as a child) was the [...]
Project 60 Friday, November 19, 1:30 PM Gelman Library, George Washington University The Special Collections Research Center at GWU’s Gelman Library will honor E-bert! — that’s E. Ethelbert Miller on the first day of his 6th Inning (read 60th birthday). When Ethelbert invited me to moderate the panel of family and friends on his writers [...]
The Emergence and Legacy of African American Basketball Conference November 12 – 13 FREE and open to the public Presented by: Tinner Hill Heritage Foundation, DC Basketball Inc., Howard University Department of Health, Human Performance & Leisure Studies, the Humanities Council of Washington, D.C, The Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture, and [...]
Everyone’s got their marching shoes on and heading to Washington, DC. Next one up, One Nation October 2nd. The purpose: Jobs, Justice, and Education for All. Who can’t get with that? Who’s behind this one? The list is so long, it’s best to state who and interests the partners represent: WHO WE ARE We are [...]
Inside the Beltway is quite exciting this time of year for all the best reasons…and this just scratches the surface. Sunday, September 5, 6 PM Graywolf Press and CAS/51 celebrates the publication of SKIN, INC. – Identity Repair Poems by Thomas Sayers Ellis (see the eclectique interview with Ellis) CAS/51 510 Randolph Street, Washington, DC [...]
From Reginald Dwayne Betts: Please check out the news of the first reading for my newly released poetry book, Shahid Reads His Own Palm. It’s a special mother’s day edition reading, and I’d love to have some friends come out. The paperback of A Question of Freedom will also be available. WHAT: The Nine On [...]
