News
Upcoming Events
Interview: March 21, 9 a.m., “On The Margin” WPFW radio 89.3 FM Hosted by E. Ethelbert Miller
Interview: March 21, 5 p.m. online www.gtownradio.com Hosted by Maleka Fruean, Germantown InfoHub
Launch:
April 2, 7:30 p.m. in conversation with Dr. Herman Beavers Free Library of Philadelphia Central, 1901 Vine Street
April 3, 7-9 p.m. Mad Poets’ First Wednesday Series with Taije Silverman, author of Now You Can Join the Others: poems
Community Arts Center, 414 Plush Mill Rd., Wallingford, PA
April 9, 4:30 p.m., Ursinus College, 105 Schellhase Commons 5th & Main Streets, Collegeville, PA
April 18, 7:30 p.m. Nerdacity Podcast airs
April 21, 7 p.m. Creative Conversation Podcast airs
May 1, 7:00 p.m. Moonstone Poetry Series with Debra Powell-Wright, Fergie’s Pub, 1214 Sansom St. Philadelphia, PA
May 16, 7:00-8:30 p.m., in conversation with Pheralyn Dove, Big Blue Marble Bookstore, 551 Carpenter Lane, Philadelphia, PA
NEW BOOK NEWS: MIGRATION LETTERS GETS THE YES
Short-listed for the Tenth Gate Prize from Word Works Press
Forthcoming in 2023 from Beacon Press
Great Migration Pentimento, #3
When your mother waved you off to college, she shrunk back
to Saturday nights in Atlantic City. Chicken Bone
Beach, heels in hand. Traveling to her sisters’
in Chester, the Bronx. Whooping at Woodside
Park. Peg Leg Bates’s place, upstate
New York. Southside Chicago,
maid-of-honoring her best girl. Uniformed
in Margate, small white hands, right
and left, clutching hers. Troop train
from Georgia, 1943. So few places summed
her up, classroom to bus doors
to vacuum. No curlicued claim to upward
bound credits. No classes. No dates
with Memphis lawyers. Her diploma pointed
outward: shorthand—maybe. Receptionist
absolutely — “just not quite right” for her.
Understudy for downtown retail, she sparkled
counters overmuch. Jitterbugged
up to the Sabbath day of praise.
Circulator of the borrowed bassinet,
snowsuit, sandbox. Cupfuls
of Clorox. Spotty clerical work. Never
permitted to shine without grope
or glare. Your witness. Her rally: that smile,
enough to swing Avon. Make food.
Make room. Mark homework.