Front and center on the brilliant blue-lit stage, Kalamu ya Salaam drums his fingers against a wooden podium, silencing the audience of nearly 400 at a Furious Flower conference poetry reading on Thursday.

His taps transform into a booming, rhythmic beat.

The gray-haired man quiets his cadence and gazes into the audience in Wilson Hall at James Madison University.

"For the white folks who don't understand, the sound of the drum soothes the savage beast," the renowned poet and critic says. Some jump to their feet in applause.

Amid laughter and cheers, Salaam's drumming quickens.

"You've got to clap. You've got to scream," he says. "These folks are use to delivering poetry to a receptive audience. You don't have to feel proper tonight."

Salaam introduces the six poets. Some read as few as three poems, others nearly a dozen.

Brenda Marie Osbey lead the night with her poem "The evening news." She finished with "Suicide City" about her home in New Orleans.

Lucille Clifton read some from her new book, "Mercy." While her poems drew standing ovations, the professor at St. Mary's College of Maryland garnered more reaction with her commentary.

"If poetry can do anything it can say to others 'you are not alone,'" she said following a poem about childhood abuse from her father. "It can speak to others who have not yet found their voice."

Nikki Giovanni followed, reading "Ego Tripping."

As she neared the poem's final lines, dozens in the audience stood and recited with her, "I mean … I … can fly/ like a bird in the sky..."

The evening's tone turned political as Haki Madhubuti took the podium and talked of current events and the importance of the arts in schools.

He read "Art," a poem that spurred chant-like interaction with the audience.

Stories of friends were featured in E. Ethelbert Miller's work, "The Equator" and "The One," a poem he finished the day prior.

Up-and-coming poet Kevin Young read several shorter poems from his new collection, "Jelly Roll: A Blues."

In a tribute to the comfort he found in food following his father's death in the spring, Young read "Ode to Pork" and "Ode to Homemade Wine."

The three-hour program, Salaam said, was well received.

"You get some of these heavy hitters and you throw them up here and just let it go."

Contact Kelly Jasper at skyline@dnronline.com

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