Is the world ready for another Furious Flower?

Yes, says Joanne V. Gabbin.

"Furious Flower: Regenerating the Black Poetic Tradition," to be held Sept. 22-25 at James Madison University, will build on the 1994 conference, "Furious Flower: A Revolution in African American Poetry."

"It was a watershed event in 1994," says Gabbin, the JMU professor who coordinated the event. "It helped define African American poetry in the 20th century."

The 2004 conference, Gabbin says with confidence, will "help set the agenda for the next five decades."

"Just as many of the 1994 poets had been writing and speaking since the black arts movement began in the 1960s, poets will present here who will still be writing and major voices in 2040," she says.

The four-day conference has quite a range of events, including poetry readings and discussions, quilt and photo exhibits, dramatic productions, music concerts, special dinners and more.

Gabbin expects about 500 people to attend the various conference events.

"If you only come to one session you'll be satisfied," says Gabbin.

Big Impact

The 1994 conference gave birth to JMU's Furious Flower Poetry Center, produced a four-volume video anthology that's been used in the United States by 700 colleges and universities, and launched the careers of numerous young poets.

Also, Gabbin edited and wrote two books, "Furious Flower: African American Poetry from the Black Arts Movement to the Present," a collection of poetry, and "The Furious Flowering of African American Poetry," a collection of essays and interviews with poets.

"When people talk about Furious Flower, they talk about it in iconic proportions that I never expected," says Gabbin.

It started out with one poet.

"We were trying to honor Gwendolyn Brooks by inviting her to campus," says Gabbin. "Then we invited a few of her friends and it grew."

The conference title was taken from a few lines in Brooks' poem, "The Second Sermon on the Warpland": "The time/ cracks into furious flower. Lifts its face/ all unashamed. And sways with wicked grace."

Laureates at this week's conference include Rita Dove, Pulitzer Prize winner, former poet laureate and consultant to the Library of Congress; Sonia Sanchez, American Book Award winner and National Endowment for the Arts award recipient; Nikki Giovanni, NAACP Image Award winner; Amiri Baraka, poet laureate of New Jersey and a founder of the black arts movement; and Lucille Clifton, National Book Award winner and Pulitzer Prize nominee.

Emerging young poets include Kevin Young, whose first book was selected for the National Poetry Series; Major Jackson, recipient of the 2000 Cave Canem Poetry Prize for the Best First Book by an African American Poet; Sharan Strange, whose collection, "Ash," was the 2000 Barnard New Women Poets Prize; and Thomas Sayers Ellis, co-founder of the Dark Room Collective and prolific writer.

Literary critic Houston A. Baker, Jr., will give the keynote address at 1:15 p.m. Thursday at Wilson Hall. Baker, who has taught at Yale, the University of Virginia and the University of Pennsylvania, is the Susan Fox and George D. Beischer Professor of English at Duke University. He is also the editor of American Literature, the oldest and most prestigious journal in American Literary Studies.

What's Happening

Furious Flower held a pre-conference event at the home of Shenandoah Shakespeare.

"The Bard Meets Black and Unknown Bards," an original production written and directed by JMU alumni, Eric Quander and Daniel Bryant, debuted Wednesday at the Blackfriars Playhouse in Staunton. The musical drama deals with Shakespeare's sonnets intersecting with black verse from the Harlem renaissance and the black arts movement of the 1960s.

Of course, poetry readings will be continuous. A reading 8 p.m. Thursday in Wilson Hall will feature Nikki Giovanni, Lucille Clifton, Kevin Young, Naomi Long Madgett, Haki Madhubuti and E. Ethelbert Miller.

A Laureate's Circle at 1:30 p.m. Friday in Wilson Hall will feature Amiri Baraka, Rita Dove, Dolores Kendrick, Eugene Redmond, Sonia Sanchez and Askia Toure.

The Poetry Jam at 10:30 p.m. Friday at the College Center will feature readings set to the music of Joel Dias-Porter's Liberation Song Quintet.

Other conference highlights include:

Furious Flower Art Opening and Reception will be held at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at Taylor Hall's room 405 with the unveiling of the Furious Flower Quilt, made by Atlanta-based artist Malaika Favorite. The quilt features profiles of 24 renowned black poets that form a flower. It will remain on exhibit throughout the conference.

A quilt exhibit that opened Sept. 12 will continue to be shown through Oct. 16 at five locations. "Continuities and Innovations: African Signs and Symbols in African American Quilts of Virginia" is being featured at the Virginia Quilt Museum, the 150 Franklin Street Gallery and JMU's Leeolou Room in the College Center, all in Harrisonburg, and the Woodrow Wilson Birthplace Museum and the Booker T. Washington Community Center, both in Staunton.

The Chocolate Chips Theatre Company will bring a poetry writing workshop for children to the conference on Friday morning. The company, under the artistic direction of Nora Brooks Blakely (daughter of Gwendolyn Brooks), offers Afro-centric theater to children and workshops that encourage reading and writing. About 40 teens from the Valley are expected to participate.

The conference finale, at 8-10:30 p.m. Saturday in Wilson Hall, will feature musical performances by Fertile Ground and Full Moon of Sonia. Baltimore-based Fertile Ground performs music described as "soul and jazz with Caribbean roots." Full Moon of Sonia, a new venture for Sonia Sanchez, will feature the poet reading her words against a backdrop of funky music.

All events are free and open to the public, says Gabbin, but getting tickets is recommended. For information on tickets, call 568-2694.

For the full schedule of Furious Flower events, see the Web site at www.jmu.edu/furiousflower.

Contact Luanne Austin at 574-6292 or laustin@dnronline.com.

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