Today I received two posters from Graywolf Press. They are for the Thomas Sayers Ellis book party at Howard University. His new book is THE MAVERICK ROOM. It's a must read for poetry lovers. The book party will take place at the Howard University Bookstore on March 16th at 4:30 PM. There is an interview with Thomas Ellis conducted by Charles Rowell in Callaloo # 27, No. 4. One of my favorite poems in THE MAVERICK ROOM is "All Their Stanzas Look Alike." I read it at Bennington back in January.

Another coin toss. You're the news editor and it's the day after the Oscars. What do you focus on? Another suicide attack in Iraq? We tend to see war as a distraction and the Academy Awards as the real battlefield. Who is going to win? Who lost again?
People die in movies and in real life too. Or is it the other way around? So Chris Rock goes to the Magic Johnson movie theaters and simply shows us what Kerry and Edwards were talking about during their entire campaign to get elected. Which America do you belong to? The one run by the Aviator or The Barbershop? So Foxx gave the same acceptance speech twice? Hmmm...sounds like Living Color. I like how animation is slowing creeping into the Oscar awards. I would suggest that the MC be a cartoon character in 2006. We know Rock won't be back. People are already dusting off Billy Crystal.

Snow in the area. Howard closed early because of the weather storm predictions. The guy who calls the weather must be the same guy who decides on the color of the terror alerts.

Something told me to go purchase Ravi Coltrane's new album. The album (IN FLUX) is dedicated to one of my very best friends- Zoe Anglesey. Zoe died on February 12, 2003. The last composition on Coltrane's CD is "For Zoe." Zoe was like a member of my family.
She was the first person I would call whenever I visited New York. She edited the anthology LISTEN UP! A collection of spoken word poetry that included Tish Benson,Ava Chin, Suheir Hammad,Jessica Moore,Tracie Morris, Willie Perdomo, Carl Hancock Rux, Mariahadessa Ekere Tallie, Saul Stacey Williams. The book has an introduction by Yusef Komunyakaa and an Afterword by Edouard Glissant. One book that should be reprinted is Zoe's important anthology IXOK AMAR GO: CENTRAL AMERICAN WOMEN'S POETRY FOR PEACE...women going forward with love without bitterness. The book was published in 1987 by Granite Press. It was the first bilingual anthology of Central American women's poetry. It included the work of 50 poets. One can find Claribel Alegria, Gioconda Belli and Daisy Zamora in this book of over 600 pages.

In my home office I created a small altar that has Zoe's picture, along with that of the late Reetika Vazirani. These women met for the first time when I presented them at an Ascension poetry reading together at the Folger Shakespeare Library in the late 1990s. Just before Zoe died we curated a visual art exhibit together in Baltimore. I can still see her daughter helping her around as we visited the studios of a number of Baltimore painters. I knew it would be one of the last things we would do together. When I think of Zoe I think of jazz. She was kind, gentle but fierce in her politics and love. She defined friendship for me. I recall how on 9/11 she was ill but still kept checking on my mother who lived a few blocks from The Towers. When Zoe died I wrote the following...

I would like to believe the music never ends; that everything is one note, one breath, given to us only to be given back.

I want to believe that Zoe is not dead. I want to believe somewhere she is working on another translation. This one a final gift for our hearts.

It seems as if too many poets are dying these days. I hope this is not a sign or omen. There are many types of cancer we must continue to confront and fight. I once called Zoe a literary abolitionist, and maybe it is only fitting that she leaves us during Black History Month. A reminder that our history consists of shared traditions and individuals who dedicate their lives to the service of others.

I think I must have also quoted Neruda:

I love you without knowing how, or when
or from where
I love you simply, without problems or pride
I love you in this way because I don't know
any other way of loving
But this, in which there is no I or you
So intimate that your hand upon my chest
is my hand
So intimate that when I fall asleep
it is your eyes that close

OK, please, please, please, tell me I don't have to listen to Alicia Keys while I'm trying to watch the Zora Neale Hurston TV movie. That's what I was listening to when I saw the promo the other night. This is why you might not want to turn books into films.Yes Alicia, we must all be falling. Can you imagine me doing a film about the Middle Passage and having slave women singing something by Billie Holiday? Soundtracks can also become tracks for your tears. I can see myself crying in March. I can see Halle running through the storm looking like a beach babe; or is it a James Bond movie again? 007, does that give me a license to shoot a movie before it's made?

I had a lovely morning with my friend Vige. We had breakfast at Left Bank on 18th Street. Why are folks going to the Diner when Left Bank is so much nicer? Better omelets and wonderful waiters. They make the omelets right at your table. An old friend Anita came into the place carrying a large pile of old newspapers. Back in the day we would sit around and talk politics. Anita is working on some issues dealing with Sudan. She was one of many friends I introduced Vige to. V is new to the city and loving it. We walked down to DuPont Circle and went to a bookstore, Melody record store and of course Provisions Library. We walked back to Columbia Road and 16th Street. So we spent about 10:30AM-1 PM hanging...
I purchased 2 CDS:Wyclef Jean - Welcome To Haiti Creole 101 and Ravi Coltrane's In Flux.

Here is an important site to visit before you think Black History month is over:

IN THE MOTION: THE AFRICAN AMERICAN MIGRATION EXPERIENCE: www.inmotionaame.org


The Oracle Set Foundation is presenting its 38th Annual Book Author Luncheon featuring Wil Haygood. Wil is the author of IN BLACK AND WHITE: THE LIFE OF SAMMY DAVIS , Jr.
The event will take place on Saturday, March 12, 2005. 11:00AM
Cost is $45.
Place: The University of Maryland Inn and Conference Center, 3501 University Boulevard East, Adelphi, MD 20783.

African Americans who have won the Oscar award:

1939 - Hattie McDaniel - GONE WITH THE WIND
1963- Sidney Poitier - LILIES OF THE FIELD
1982- Louis Gossett Jr - AN OFFICE AND A GENTLEMAN
1989- Denzil Washington - GLORY
1990- Whoopi Goldberg- GHOST
1996- Cuba Gooding, Jr -JERRY MAGUIRE
2001- Halle Barry - MONSTER'S BALL
Denzil Washington - TRAINING DAY

I've seen all the movies on the list except MONSTER'S BALL. One can find a similar theme running around in almost all these flicks. The black character exists in order to help the white person get their life together. The movies are about white people and not black people. All the black characters are playing supporting roles. None of the movies would be on my top film list. I don't think I could sit and look at Poitier or Goldberg in their roles again. I love Poitier as a person and respect his contribution to African American culture. I also love nuns when I meet them. I love ghosts but don't care too much for Whoopi. I never found her funny as a comedian.
Give me old Moms when it comes to black females making jokes.
My favorite black actor is Don Cheadle and has been for the last few years. I even loved the commercials he did for the NFL. I haven't seen HOTEL RWANDA but it's on the short list of things to do.
My favorite movie is still THE GODFATHER. Second might be WOMEN IN LOVE. These are films I can watch over and over. I watched FORREST GUMP last night and really enjoyed it. In terms of race relationships it's excellent. It's one of the few films in which a white character risks his life to save a black one.
Tonight I'll watch the Oscars because it should Rock.

THE LAST GAME

You think of the shots your son made and the ones he missed. You replay the last game and nothing changes, except the amount of time that is no longer there. You walk pass his room and realize the best part of your life was taking him to the playground or maybe it was him asking you. Your son takes the ball from your hand when you reach the park. You watch him dribble and then shoot. As the ball finds its way to the rim years pass and your hands now clutch a high school jersey, sweat wet from the last game. You turn, and take it down to the basement. You set the washing machine on cold. It's how you feel right now. You wish you were back in the park.
You want your son to throw the ball back to you. Maybe you could start all over again. Maybe you could lift him in your arms and whisper something about the love for the game. Maybe he would whisper back that he loves you more than this last one.

So my son's high school basketball career is over. He played a good game...an excellent first half with 9 pts. He missed two critical free throws after getting fouled in the second half. His team missed about 5 straight FTs from the line. You can't win without getting those "free" points. The good news is that the coaches from Widener University were there. That's the school that is really interested in my son...it's going to be his call. I like the folks at Widener...the emphasis is on academics as well as sports.

Earlier in the day I went to the bank. On Columbia Road I bumped into the photographer Jarvis Grant; an old buddy from the Howard dorm days. Jarvis was at the bus stop. I reached into my pocket and presented a coin to him. I told him, "Heads -you're Free, Tails and you're still a slave." I showed him both sides of the coin. Then I said "Call it in the air!" The coin came up heads. "You're free," I said to Jarvis.
"Whew...that was close," he said. I continued on down Columbia Road, looking back at Jarvis. Laughing like Fred Douglass. The coin back in my pocket. Livin' free in America ain't nothin but a coin toss.

So I asked my friend Naima in Philadelphia the following question:

Does racism exist in the forest if everything is green? Hmmmm.

I missed a morning breakfast meeting. It was a result of yesterday's snowstorm and changes to my schedule. :-( This evening I put together a new program schedule.

Two high schools in Virginia want me to visit and give a talk: Centreville H.S. and Lake Braddock H.S. I got back to folks with dates. I try to visit Braddock every spring. I love the people there.

I'll be interviewing Harry Belafonte on the morning of April 6th for an IPS radio program. Belafonte is the artist I really admire. The guy is # 1 for me. I'm really looking forward to sitting down with him.

Michon my producer for Humanities Profiled is contacting Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. We hope to do a television show with her around the Bill of Rights.
The tentative month is May.

So I have a number of upcoming programs I really need to read and prepare for.

I came home and in a pile of mail was a letter of acceptance from Hampton addressed to my son. It was fun to see him open it. In a couple of weeks he will have to sit down and look at these colleges and make a decision. Also in the mail was a package from a school in Louisiana...somewhere in Shreveport. I asked my son...are you going there? The school liked the tape of one of his games. They are requesting grades and SAT scores. I'll try to get that out next week. We have a meeting scheduled for Howard next week. It's all good.

I faxed my blurb to the University of Arkansas Press for a new book of poetics being edited by Maxine Kumin. The book will be published in Fall 2005.

It was sad to learn about the suicide bomb in Tel Aviv. I hope the peace process will continue to go forward. I recall sitting in a cafe in Tel Aviv just a few months ago...the owner trying to get me to return the next day for a poetry reading.

My friend Aida loaned me a small book of poems by a German couple. The title is LOVE- LUST- LOSS by Walter W. Holbling & Gabriele Potscher. I'll read it this weekend.

Tomorrow my son's basketball game is 4:30 PM. A win and we move into Sunday.

Vote for a writer. I had a chat with Rob Ramer (in MN) about the National Writers Union finding candidates to run for office on the local level. I think we should no longer sit on the sidelines and have the political realm be taken over by former athletes and entertainers. I can think of a number of writers I would vote for if their names were on a ballot. I think our issues are healthcare, unemployment, education, funds for public libraries, and the war. On the national level I think Toni Morrison would make an excellent senator. Can you see Pinsky back on the Hill- this time not as poet laureate but as a congressman? A very long time ago the City Paper in DC had me on the cover running for mayor. Ah...to be a poet like Neruda.

Another PBS film you might want to watch will air on March 29th. It's LET THE CHURCH SAY AMEN. The story of a storefront church in Washington, told through the lives of four of its members.

I thought Danny Duncan Collum's essay in the latest issue of Sojourners was very funny. It was his response to steroids. Here is an excerpt:

"Then there's Popeye himself, the first celebrity user of performance-enhancing substances. We all know that wasn't really spinach in that can. Judging from the way it pumped him up, it had to be some kind of designer steroid, or maybe some good old-fashioned human growth hormone. No doubt about it. Popeye was the orignal BALCO lab rat."

Oh...and Collum had this to say in the same piece:

"Maybe someday, in the not-too-distant future, today's chemically altered, semi-synthetic athletes will be replaced entirely by robots or, better yet, clones , and maybe no one will care."


Nathan Wright Jr died at the age of 81 this week. Advocate of Black Power. He chaired the first National Conference on Black Power in Newark, 1967. He was the author of BLACK POWER AND URBAN UNREST, as well as READY TO RIOT. Wright was the author of 18 books. He was the guy who popularized the term "empowerment." The term was first used in 1967 when Wright was testifying in favor of low-income housing legislation proposed by Senator Charles H. Percy, Republican of Illinois.


It looks like the snow might cancel my son's basketball game today. I received a note last night from one of the coaches of a school he is looking at. Big decision to make. I think it's so important to look at a college for quality education first and then their sports program. I'm also looking at where my son can improve as a player too. Will he fit into the program? How much playing time will he get in his freshman year?

Excerpt from a poem by Allison Joseph:

FOR THE LOVE OF THE GAME

Give me a man whith a quick first step,
with court vision that takes in all of me
a man who can play in the paint,
score from all over, finding my perimeter,
a man who can drive my lane.
Give me a man who makes his free throws,
ready to shoot two whenever I demand.
My interior defense isn't tough to crack,
I'm wide open, and I can handle the ball.
I don't care for monster dunks,
for slam-jam-thank-you-ma'am.
I'd rather have a man who can teach me
the delicate technique of the finger roll...

Allison Joseph is the author of SOUL TRAIN and IMITATION OF LIFE.

My son's team won last night in the first round of the WCAC tournament. They had a blowout victory against St.Marys Ryken. My son had 7pts in limited action. Next game is Friday against O'Connell. Time is 6:45 PM at Gallaudet University (800 Florida Ave, NE). I think the Washington Post might have O'Connell ranked as high as 4th in the area. I know they defeated my son's team by about 40 pts the last time they met. My son was knocked out of the game in the first quarter after a terrible fall driving to the basket. Rematch...4 games to a City Championship. Friday's game is the key game.

Snow coming this way and I feel like Bigger Thomas heading to a rooftop... I sent Karla Davis at the University of Minnesota my April lecture topic. I will be giving a talk there on April 21st. Topic: When Love Turns Into Letters: My Correspondence and relationship with June Jordan. I recently donated over 200 of June letters to the Givens Collection at the University. The letters are from 1975-1999.

I received a card from the Poets House in New York. Star Black is presenting "A Poet's Eye for Collage" from March 11-April 29th. Opening reception is Friday, March 11th. Star Black is a poet and photographer. I met her many years ago. The Poets House is located at 72 Spring Street,2nd Fl in New York. Here is their website:
www.poetshouse.org

The IPS/Muslim meeting at Howard went well. A good exchange of views...
I wish we had more people in attendance but I think a working foundation has been established. Building bridges and networking is critical if we are to create a better society and world.

I watched the movie DIRTY WAR on PBS. This is the 2004 film about British authorities tracking terrorists who detonated a dirty bomb in London. The film is interesting in terms of how woman are presented and the roles they play. For example an older woman (maybe from Pakistan) is responsible for noticing "strange" neighbors next door. She's the type of older woman I grew up seeing in Bronx windows. She told your mother if you were bad. Well it seems as if these women are still our first line of defense against everthing that's wrong with the world (which includes sometimes ourselves). The British woman who is the minister for London is just stupid and represents woman who shouldn't be given authority during times of crisis. Hmmm. Why can't men be this dumb too? One would come away thinking that the British woman is as guilty as the terrorists. Anyway, the film is good for how it explains the working of a terrorist cell. It shows how international this battle against terrorism is. But what about the dirty war? Well I always felt the long term effects is where the real danger is. Women who might be pregnant, folks having health problems years later, or just the psychological problems of survivors. The one thing we know is that because it's London the sick folks shown in hospitals near the end of the film have better health coverage than we do. We can't blame the terrorists for the fact that we don't. Oh, the discussion after the film was PBS nonsense. I believed it was staged at George Washington University. Some of the experts sounded as silly as the folks that were in the movie. Go figure. These folks should always wear a mask and have a secret way of contacting Batman in case of any emergency. Call me Robin.

Toy makers continue to go out of business. Children are losing interest as a result of video games, the internet, and cable television. Read today's article in the New York Times business section, "More Gloom on the Island of Lost Toy Makers." Section C1.

Reggie Roby dead at 43. :-(
I remember Roby punting the way Vick throws today. The guy could kick...some of those balls are still up there.
Are there any African American punters in the NFL today?

Mark Doty has a new book of poetry coming out in April. The title is SCHOOL OF THE ARTS.


"Art used to mean paintings and statues. Now it means practically anything human-made that is unclassifiable otherwise. This loss of a commonsense definition is a big art-critical problem..."
- Peter Schjeldahl, THE NEW YORKER (2/28/05)

Last night I watched MALCOLM X: MAKE IT PLAIN on Channel 22 (PBS/Baltimore). I'm always moved when I listen to Malcolm. This week marks the 40th anniversary of his assassination. Historian Manning Marable is working on a new biography of Malcolm X.
It will be published by Viking Press in 2008. Marable will comment on the missing chapters (3) of Malcolm's autobiography which was written by Alex Haley.

Tomorrow at Howard University I will be coordinating a meeting between the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) and members of the local Muslim community. I think it will present a wonderful opportunity to exchange views and ideas. It looks like quite a number of people will be attending. The meeting will take place at 2:30 PM in the African American Resource Center, Howard University, 3rd floor, Room 300.

I'm just back from a family evening at the City Tavern located in Georgetown. It's an exclusive private club. Family friend Mario treated my entire family to a lovely evening. It was fun. Good conversation and good food.


Earlier in the day I made sure my son's college application to Howard was in order.
It's one of the schools where he might consider attending. Right now it might be his second choice, I don't know. I paid the deposit and delivered an additional letter of recommendation. The only thing missing were his SAT grades. We sent that over this evening.

I had lunch today with Karen Dolan (IPS). A great woman with a wonderful sense of humor. We discussed IPS stuff and chewed our lunch.

A couple of emails from writers I like: Meri Danquah, Paul Beatty...

I received in the mail information about the upcoming Virginia Festival of the Book.
The festival takes place from March 16-20, 2005. I have two readings to give. Here is the festival website: www.vabook.org.

I've been back in touch with Dr. Joyce A. Joyce. She is editing an excellent faculty newspaper at Temple University. Whew...they could sell this thing on the newstand.
In the latest issue (February 15th) there is an very good essay by Aldon Lynn Nielson in which he writes about his relationship with C.L.R. James. It would be nice for Nielson to write more of these types of essays. The guy is a fantastic scholar but he also has an Oprah side.
Oh, on the front page of the Temple University Faculty Herald is a picture of Wilbert Jenkins. The guy is an associate professor of history at Temple. I must be getting old. I remember when he was one of my work study students. Way to go Jenk.

I have a couple of magazines to read before taking a nap: The New Yorker, Sojourners, The Progressive, In These Times and Black Issue Book Review.

7PM tomorrow night is African JumpBall at Gonzaga. My son's team begin their
tournament drive...
It's all about numbers. If they were to win their next 5 games they would be City Champs. Just 5 games. If my son can score double figures in his next 5 games...it's very possible. Any game in which he only has 4-6 points...then it's over. It will be his last high school basketball game. It's all about numbers. It's about words if you're a poet.