This week students submitted their entries for UDM\u2019s annual Dudley Randall Student Poetry Competition. The competition began while Randall was a librarian and poet-in-resident at U of D.
\nHe served as its judge for several years\u2014one of the many ways he inspired our student writers.<\/p>\n
Those of us who know Randall primarily through his poetry and reputation as a publisher may be unaware of this aspect of his legacy–his extraordinary generosity with and support of poets of all ages and walks of life. Broadside Press\u2019s extensive work with community writers continues this legacy.<\/p>\n
In today\u2019s and tomorrow\u2019s posts I would like to share the work of three talented University poets whose work has been supported by Randall and Broadside Press.<\/p>\n
The first author, Albert M. Ward, is a University of Detroit alumnus and well-known Detroit poet, activist, and educator. He often speaks of the transformative effect it had on him as a young African American boy to visit Dudley Randall in the public library near his home where Randall worked.<\/p>\n
In Ward\u2019s poem, \u201cIf Grand River Were A River,\u201d we can hear echoes of Randall\u2019s love of our city.
\nWe hear, too, Ward\u2019s own rich, powerful voice taking us somewhere new.<\/p>\n
Rosemary Weatherston
\nDirector, Dudley Randall Center for Print Culture
\n\u201cIf Grand River Were A River\u201d<\/p>\n
There are no waterfalls on Dexter
\nBut when it rains
\nThe street shimmers like glass
\nAnd Oakman Boulevard
\nBecomes a rainforest,<\/p>\n
Blue and transparent
\nThe sky over Dexter
\nIs bright in summer,
\nThe sun washes the savannahs
\nAnd sidewalks in golden hues,
\nIn a barbershop on Dexter
\nI learned to play checkers.<\/p>\n
At Parkman Library
\nMy bicycle was stolen.
\nHad my African warriors
\nBeen with me,
\nWe would have drummed
\nOn our shields,
\nWalked through the tall grass
\nAnd found my bicycle.<\/p>\n
If Grand River were a river,
\nI would walk along its banks
\nFrom village to village,
\nIf Grand River were a river,
\nChildren could dance at water\u2019s edge,
\nDances of freedom.<\/p>\n
Grandmothers would say,
\n\u201cCarry these groceries, boys,
\nOne day you\u2019ll make fine young men.\u201d
\nWe\u2019d walk Dexter sometimes
\nTo Elmhurst or Fullerton
\nOr across Davidson to Clements
\nAnd Pasadena,
\nHad lots of friends on
\nEwald Circle and Kendall.
\nThe grandmothers would tell stories
\nAnd give us lots of fifty cents.<\/p>\n
I remember that summer of \u201c67,
\n43 people died they said,
\nA civil disturbance,
\nBusinesses burned on 12th Street,
\nHouses in Pingree,
\nTanks chewed up the alley
\nBehind the garage of my Aunt Sweet,
\nLooters running through her backyard
\nTerror, smoke and ashes,
\nNot to be denied . . .<\/p>\n
If Grand River were a river,
\nTrees would grow rich and lush
\nLike baobobs, their roots thick,
\nIf Grand River were a river,
\nI would be free.<\/p>\n
Woodward and the boulevard, market place Where villagers and neighbors come To trade, to greet, I see watercolours of silk And broadcloths, women With their bundles walking, The Elders with their sticks.<\/p>\n
Mt. Kilimanjaro is greater
\nThan the Fisher building
\nWith snow like crystal,
\nSilver at its crest,
\nThe sun sleeps there
\nWhen the moon is round and full,
\nEast or west of Woodward . . . I am home.<\/p>\n
If Grand River were a river,
\nElephants could drink from it
\nAnd I would wash my clothes
\nAmong its stones.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This week students submitted their entries for UDM\u2019s annual Dudley Randall Student Poetry Competition. The competition began while Randall was a librarian and poet-in-resident at U of D. He served as its judge for several years\u2014one of the many ways … Continue reading