About Furious Flower IV: The Worlds of Black Poetry
Every ten years since 1994, Black poets from all over the world gather at the Furious Flower Poetry Conference. In 2024, 10 poets were honored with Lifetime Achievement Awards. We bring their voices, poems, and stories to you in Furious Flower IV: The Worlds of Black Poetry. Hosted by Lauren K. Alleyne, Executive Director of the Furious Flower Poetry Center at James Madison University.
E. Ethelbert Miller and Fred Joiner on who gets to be a Black writer, giving birth to a new generation of critics, and baseball.
Mentioned in this episode:
In Search of Color Everywhere: A Collection of African-American Poetry edited by E. Ethelbert Miller
Beyond the Frontier: African-American Poetry for the 21st Century edited by E. Ethelbert Miller
“Winter in America” by Gil Scott-Heron
“Party For Your Right To Fight” by Public Enemy
“Say It Loud – I’m Black and I’m Proud” by James Brown
“Today’s News” by Elizabeth Alexander
Giant Talk: An Anthology of Third World Writings edited by Quincy Troupe and Rainer Schulte
“Girlfriend” by Lori Tsang
Dynamite Voices: Black Poets of the 1960s by Haki R. Madhubuti
“Up and Down” by E. Ethelbert Miller
13 Nov 2024
“You didn’t know you would need this poem”
Harryette Mullen and Chet’la Sebree on hidden histories, the plagues we live through, and (ahem) “dick’s tight hat band.”
Mentioned in this episode:
“Elliptical” from Sleeping With the Dictionary by Harryette Mullen
Native Guard by Natasha Tretheway
Olio by Tyehimba Jess
The Age of Phillis by Honorée Fannone Jeffers
“Hotter Than July” from Regaining Unconsciousness by Harryette Mullen and Hotter Than July by Stevie Wonder
“Elegy for What Once Slept in a Cage” from Teeth Never Sleep by Ángel García
6 Nov 2024
“If that’s not cool, I don’t know what is”
Kwame Dawes and Ama Codjoe on young African poets finding their voices, the mistakes of English classes, and what Lionel Messi has to do with writing poetry.
30 Oct 2024
“You’re gonna have to grow some wings”
Nikky Finney and Danez Smith on “Negroes with guns,” underwater cameras, and getting out of our lanes as the temperatures rise.
Mentioned in this episode:
“Negroes With Guns” from Head Off & Split by Nikky Finney
Negroes With Guns by Robert F. Williams
“Topless in America” by Nikky Finney
“Nikky Finney on Pencils” from KYwriters on youtube.com
Lessons for Survival: Mothering Against “The Apocalypse” by Emily Raboteau
On Wings Made of Gauze by Nikkey Finney
Nikky Finney’s 2011 National Book Award for Poetry acceptance speech
23 Oct 2024
“The truth is the truth is the truth”
Elizabeth Alexander and Nicole Sealey on the treasures of archives, the work of a generation, and the resonant truth you feel in your bones.
Mentioned in this episode:
“Praise Song for the Day” from Crave Radiance: New and Selected Poems 1990-2010 by Elizabeth Alexander
“Tina Green” from American Sublime by Elizabeth Alexander
“Ars Poetica #100: I Believe” from American Sublime by Elizabeth Alexander
“Paul Robeson” by Gwendolyn Brooks
“The Trayvon Generation” by Elizabeth Alexander
“One Art” from The Complete Poems 1926-1979 by Elizabeth Bishop
“Hayden in the Archive” from Crave Radiance: New and Selected Poems 1990-2010 by Elizabeth Alexander
“Toomer” from Crave Radiance: New and Selected Poems 1990-2010 by Elizabeth Alexander
“Stokely and Adam” from Crave Radiance: New and Selected Poems 1990-2010 by Elizabeth Alexander
“In the Small Rooms” by Elizabeth Alexander
“In D.C.” Crave Radiance: New and Selected Poems 1990-2010 by Elizabeth Alexander
“Fugue” from Body of Life by Elizabeth Alexander
“Body of Life” from Body of Life by Elizabeth Alexander
“The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain” by Langston Hughes
From Slavery to Freedom: A History of African Americans by John Hope Franklin
“The Elders” Crave Radiance: New and Selected Poems 1990-2010 by Elizabeth Alexander
“Rally” from Crave Radiance: New and Selected Poems 1990-2010 by Elizabeth Alexander
“Five Elegies” from American Sublime by Elizabeth Alexander
“Personal History” by Adrienne Su
16 Oct 2024
“Make sure the trees talk back”
Niyi Osundare and Gbenga Adesina on talking to trees, the poetics of Yoruba, and carrying the weight of our fathers.
Mentioned in this episode:
“Invocation” from Green: Sighs of Our Ailing Planet by Niyi Osundare
The Eye of the Earth by Niyi Osundare
Death and the King's Horseman by Wole Soyinka
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
Painter of Water by Gbenga Adesina
Songs of the Marketplace by Niyi Osundare
“I Carried My Father Across the Sea” by Gbenga Adesina
9 Oct 2024
“What’s your story in the time that you’re here?”
Cornelius Eady with Clemonce Heard on jazz solos, memorializing Black deaths, and the whispers that filled his high school hallways after the first poem he ever wrote.
Mentioned in this episode:
“Gratitude” by Cornelius Eady from The Gathering of My Name
Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude by Ross Gay
“The Dance” by Cornelius Eady
“Atomic Prayer” by Cornelius Eady from The Gathering of My Name
“Father Figures” released October 10, 2022 by BBC The Documentary
“Perry” written and sung by Cornelius Eady with The Cornelius Eady Trio
The Poet and the Poem with Grace Cavalieri 2021 - 2022 series, episode with Cornelius Eady
“Rodney King Blues” by Cornelius Eady from The Autobiography of a Jukebox
“The Ghost, the Mountain” by Cornelius Eady
“Lexicon” and “Baraka Hates Phillis” by Cornelius Eady
“On Being Brought From Africa to America” by Phillis Wheatley
2 Oct 2024
"I hadn't planned on letting it sing"
Lorna Goodison and Shauna Morgan on time travel, Band-Aids, and how human beings are always capable of surprise.
Mentioned in this episode:
“Nanny” from I Am Becoming My Mother by Lorna Goodison
Mother Muse by Lorna Goodison
“The Idiot Boy” from Lyrical Ballads by William Wordsworth
“To Mr. William Wordsworth, Collector of Stamps for Westmoreland” from Turn Thanks by Lorna Goodison
“This Pastel on Paper Laid on Aluminium Portrait Shows” from Mother Muse by Lorna Goodison
“Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise“ from Redemption Ground: Essays and Adventures by Lorna Goodison
From Harvey River: A Memoir of My Mother and Her Island by Lorna Goodison
“Trash” by Barbara Gloudon for 1985/86 LTM National Pantomime
Controlling the Silver by Lorna Goodison
“Away Like Dust” by Shauna Morgan
“All Saints” from Mother Muse by Lorna Goodison
25 Sept 2024
"You will find yourself here"
Patricia Smith and Amy Alvarez on feeling smart, writing a way out of hate, and the poetry slam.
Mentioned in this episode:
“16” from Unshuttered by Patricia Smith
“Motown Crown” by Patricia Smith
Patterns of Poetry by Miller Williams
Incendiary Art by Patricia Smith
“Undertaker” by Patricia Smith
Inciting Joy by Ross Gay
18 Sept 2024
"Staggered by the fact of you"
Tim Seibles and Ariana Benson on alien life, Stevie Wonder, and the dreams of Langston Hughes.
Mentioned in this episode:
“Hope” from Voodoo Libretto by Tim Seibles
"Morning Where You Are" from Voodoo Libretto by Tim Seibles
One Turn Around the Sun by Tim Seibles
“Love’s in Need of Love Today” by Stevie Wonder
“Four Takes of a Similar Situation” from Hammerlock by Tim Seibles
6 Sept 2024
Trailer! Furious Flower IV: The Worlds of Black Poetry
Every ten years since 1994, Black poets from all over the world gather at the Furious Flower Poetry Conference. In 2024, 10 poets were honored with Lifetime Achievement Awards. We bring their voices, poems, and stories to you in Furious Flower IV: The Worlds of Black Poetry. Hosted by Lauren K. Alleyne, Executive Director of the Furious Flower Poetry Center at James Madison University.
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