In 1971, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Gwendolyn Brooks was not deemed qualified to lecture at Roosevelt University in Chicago.

Twenty-three years later, she is the inspiration for "Furious Flower: A Revolution in the African American Poetry," a gathering on the campus of James Madison University of more than 35 of the most important African American poets today.

The common thread in those stories related at a press conference Thursday is Dr. Joanne Gabbin, a professor of English at JMU and the visionary who brought this conference to fruition.

When Gabbin's supervisors said she could not ask Brooks to speak at the Chicago school more than two decades ago, Gabbin "decided at that moment that Gwendolyn Brooks would come to speak at every place I taught."

Having kept her promise at each of the four stops in her teaching career, Gabbin decided a greater tribute was needed. Hence "Furious Flower," a conference for poets to lecture, read poetry and exchange ideas in one of the first conferences ever to be devoted exclusively to African-American poetry and criticism.

The conference's name, which comes from a line in one of Brooks' poems, is "a wonderful metaphor for poetry, especially the kind of African-American poetry that's been written in the past 30 years," said Gabbin in a press release. "It's a poetry that's beautiful, like a flower, but it's also furious in its energy, its dynamism and in its propensity toward activism and change."

That energy has brought many of the best- known practitioners to Harrisonburg.

"Because of who Joanne has gathered, we have a major opportunity, one that cannot be ignored," said E. Ethelbert Miller, director of the African-American Resource Center at Howard University. "We can definitely get the word out about our poetry. But we also have the rare opportunity to interact, to share ideas, and to show that the art form is still alive."

Joanne M. Braxton, a poet and professor at William and Mary, said "I bet Joanne Gabbin has heard more than once `This is less than my usual honorarium.' " But once Braxton heard the collection of people who would be attending, she had no problems accepting less money.

Same with Miller.

"Something like this will probably occur only once in my lifetime," he said. "It requires funding, institutional support, and someone with a vision of something powerful. It was definitely something I could not miss." The conference has received letters of support from JMU President Ronald E. Carrier, Gov. George Allen, and President Clinton.

Brooks and Rita Dove, poet laureate of the United States, will give keynote speeches today Friday, Sept. 30 ]from 1-2:45 p.m. in Wilson Hall, followed by poetry readings by Dolores Kendrick, Nikki Giovanni, Sterling Plumpp and Eugene Redmond.

Tomorrow Sat. Oct. 1 a critics' roundtable will be held 9:30-11:30 a.m. in Grafton-Stovall Theatre. More poetry readings will be held from 2-5 p.m. in Grafton-Stovall.