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Poetry Event Featured In New Project |
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| by JOSEPH T. O'CONNOR | |
| Daily News-Record | |
October 27, 2005 |
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| The Furious Flower Poetry Center has released a new documentary, "Furious Flower II: The Black Poetic Tradition," which was set to premiere Oct. 27. The film, consisting of three 60-minute programs, focuses on the 2004 Furious Flower Conference, where black poets read pieces and spoke about their effects on contemporary poetry. The film gets at the heart of contemporary poetry, said Joanne Gabbin, director of the Furious Flower Poetry Center at James Madison University, where the conference was held. "Poetry is a medium by which people reveal themselves to themselves," Gabbin says. The Format The documentary's format includes discussion and example segments that explain to the viewer how poets apply the creative process to the art of poetry. Interspersing one-on-one conversations with on-stage performances, the film gives viewers a look into written and oral traditions, rhyme, vernacular and other literary devices that have lead to current-day poetry. The film consists of three programs that explore such things as the historical context of Furious Flower poets, the literary link between black poets in different countries and the poets' political movements. The Importance "Most schools cannot afford to bring in these poets," Gabbin says. "Now, in high schools and colleges all over the country, teachers will be able to stick in a DVD and allow students to hear Major Williams speak." Or Houston Baker or Rita Dove or any of the more than 40 groundbreaking contemporary poets who showed up at the 2004 conference. Now the film, based on the conference, can offer insight and understanding to those who would otherwise not see and hear where contemporary poetry is headed, Gabbin said. The Trend Langston Hughes was the first recorded-performance poet, using a jazz band as the backdrop for his poetry readings in the 1920s. Then came Jane Cortez in the '70's. Today it seems to be trend in contemporary poetry, a trend that JMU's Furious Flower Poetry Center has harnessed, Gabbin said. Performance poetry is the idea that the genre can involve more than words. Speakers at 2004 Furious Flower Conference used emotion, rhythm and voice to bring their words alive. "The conference was really a remarkable thing," Gabbin says. The Center "The time cracks into furious flower. Lifts its face all unashamed. And sways in wicked grace." - Gwendolyn Brooks Gwendolyn Brooks' 1968 poem, "The Second Sermon on the Warpland," inspired the first Furious Flower Poetry Conference in 1994. Gabbin deemed the conference, which she started, a success, and in 1998, the first Furious Flower documentary was made. It focused on four generations of poets and the influences they had on each other. In 1999, Gabbin started the Furious Flower Poetry Center and, along with assistant Elizabeth Haworth, has been giving back to the world of poetry ever since. "Furious Flower II: The Black Poetic Tradition" is available through California Newsreel (www.newsreel.org). |