Furious Flower Poetry Conference @ 30

The Age of Black Poetry rides (and rises) on

(poet Evie Shockley reading at ‘Furious Flower #4 - 2024)

In 1994, when Dr,. Joanne Veal Gabbin convened the first Furious Flower Poetry Conference at James Madison University, I could not attend. I am a Bard and Barrister and back then I was nurturing both. My first book of poems was published and I was a young, ambitious poet in the world. I was also a public interest lawyer, learning my trade. I had my first job as a tenant lawyer in Washington D.C. and I had to cover a bunch of hearings that week. I didn’t fret.

It turns out that first conference convened by Gabbin was historic and has proved to be like a poem that refuses to end. Gwendolyn Brooks, Gabbin’s friend and the inspiration for the conference, was still alive and in attendance. All of the legends of African American poetry of the 20th century were at the conference and many of the genre’s future legends. I knew when my friends Joel Dias-Porter and Jabari Asim and others reported back about how uplifting the conference was, I would do my best to never miss another of these events.

The fourth Furious Flower Poetry Conference was held this past week at James Madison University and I was there. The legends were there, elder legends, rising legends, and younger poets ready to make their mark. E. Ethelbert Miller who I met in 1988 in Washington D.C. received a Lifetime Achievement Award as did the great Tim Seibles, Cornelius Eady, Elizabeth Alexander, Harryette Mullen, Patricia Smith, Niyi Osundare, Kwame Dawes, and Nikki Finney.

So many hot poets were at the conference. Poets writing great books, interjecting themselves into the academic world, literary corners, and underground scenes too often neglected. Evie Shockley, Terrance Hayes, Kwame Dawes, A.B. Spellman, and Gregory Pardlo (all the way from the Arab world) were all there. Danez Smith, Kenneth Carroll, and Yona Harvey were there. Jessica Care Moore, Gwendolyn Mitchell, Kate Rushin, Tony Medina, and Rita Dove were in the house. Hundreds of other poets of consequence.

There were panels, readings, and books for sale of every poet who was on a panel or who read their poetry. There was enough poetry to last all of us a few years and more. So many aspects of Black poetry were covered including Afro-futurism, the Black Arts Movement, Black women poets, and a reading by the many African American poet laureates currently at work all across the country.

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(author and poet, Joel Dias-Porter, Furious Flower #3 - 2014 - photo: Thomas Sayers Ellis)

I came to the conference in 2004 and 2014 and felt quite happy. I got to know many poets. I was able to talk to poets who are hard to talk to because their lives are so busy in the word. I sat next to Yusef Komunyaka (2014) for a panel and we chopped it up a bit. I had good moments with Everett Hoagland (2004) and connected with my mentor and the publisher of my first book, the great poet, Haki Madhubuti. On one of his panels, he shouted me out. It always feels great when poets you respect acknowledge you in some way.

Some have been to all of the conferences. Lenard D. Moore, the great North Carolina poet and haiku master, told me this past weekend that he had been to all four conferences. So has Joel Dias-Porter, aka DJ Renegade, who won an emerging poet award at that inaugural conference.

The conference has been so important and popular that Dr. Gabbin created the Furious Flower Poetry Center at James Madison University many years ago. It has become not just an important aspect of preserving and nurturing Black poetry but it is literally a force of nature now. The conference is every 10 years and by that point, the poets are ready for a re-charge, a global assessment, and a love fest. They want to see see each other so they can say: hey, how are you? Did I tell you I love you and your poetry?

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(writer/poet Ishmael Reed (left), poet Tony Medina (right) - FF - 2014)

When I returned from the 2014 Furious Flower Conference, this is what I posted on social media:

Some of my favorite moments from the Furious Flower Black Poetry Conference - 2014. Really a dope experience. Saw so many outstanding human beings, so many dedicated artists and intellectuals, so much hope and promise in one room. Legends, pre-legends, giants of the written word. (name some of your own, if you was on that planet this past week)

10. Haki reading “Don’t Cry Scream” like it was 1970,

9. Ishmael Reed dancing to “Flashlight” at the party

8. Keith Gilyard’s tribute to Quincy Troupe

7. Joel Dias Porter’s one hour oral essay on “masculinity” as we walked through the campus

6. Duriel Harris calling for the water to be turned back on in Detroit just in a random conversation;

5. Cornelius Eady on guitar sounding like Josh White (WOW) as he sang, read poetry, etc.

4. Lorna Goodison telling me I look like Derek Walcott.

3. Elizabeth Alexander’s reading (dope)

2. Cedric Tillman singing and reading his poem, “Lily of the Valley.”

1. Thomas Sayers Ellis and band doing the do…

I could have posted 50 more moments about 2014 and 50 plus about 2004. In 2024, it was special again. There are so many memorable poems and moments. Too many. The most important thing is the institution building.

A home for Black poetry worldwide in the United States of America. Joanne Gabbin’s vision to pay tribute to her friend Gwendolyn Brooks has cascaded into something brilliant and eternal. There is now 30 years of history in our rearview and more in front of us Black poets and poets in general (Yes, there were non-Black poets at the conference loving it).

One of the missing components of the 1960s and the cultural - political struggles was many of the important institutions did not survive. This is why Furious Flower is so important in the long term. It is not the only thing but it is something. And that something proved again in 2024 that it is something quite powerful and uplifting. Most of all, it proves that something like it can be done and done again and again and get better and better.

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WATCH:

1994 Conference Excerpt