Next year marks the 50th anniversary of Broadside Press. This number represents several generations of poets who have shared Dudley Randall\u2019s vision of the written word as a living art form intimately connected to community and to self-determination.<\/p>\n
Two talented poets from the up-and-coming generation are Deonte Osayande and Lori E. Allan. Both authors are recent graduates of UDM. Each won awards in Dudley Randall Poetry Competitions and has read his or her work at numerous Broadside Press-sponsored events.<\/p>\n
Osayande\u2019s poetry has appeared in over a dozen publications. He is a powerful performance poet and the co-organizer of this year\u2019s Rustbelt Midwest Regional Poetry Slam. He teaches creative writing to inner city youth with the Inside Out Detroit Literary Arts Project.<\/p>\n
Allan\u2019s talents find expression in both visual and written art. She published her first chapbook this month, entitled \u201cYou Make Life Good For Me.\u201d She currently works with the non-profit organization, the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation.<\/p>\n
I am delighted to finish my postings on Dudley Randall by sharing their poems \u201cMasks\u201d and \u201cAbsence\u201d with you.<\/p>\n
You can see Osayande perform \u201cMasks\u201d by clicking on the following link: http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=ieTwvPEtlqs<\/a><\/p>\n Allan\u2019s poem can be found below.<\/p>\n I think you will enjoy their different images. Empty in the photos The strength of his arms Behind the bars, Struggle is the only thing Despite the chasm, The void is tangible; I house his vacancy in a cautious frame, passing it by when I have what I need and climbing inside when I see that I don\u2019t.<\/p>\n It is a black and white photo Next year marks the 50th anniversary of Broadside Press. This number represents several generations of poets who have shared Dudley Randall\u2019s vision of the written word as a living art form intimately connected to community and to self-determination. Two talented … Continue reading
\nRosemary Weatherston
\nDirector, Dudley Randall Center for Print Culture
\nAbsence<\/p>\n
\nis the shape of a man
\nwho has left a void
\nof himself.<\/p>\n
\nlifted the glass
\napart from the frame
\nas he climbed out of the situation.<\/p>\n
\nI am confined within
\nthe seventy-two percent
\nof African-American children raised
\nin single-parent homes.<\/p>\n
\nshowing up
\nin the house we live in,
\nthe food we eat,
\nthe look in my mother\u2019s eyes.<\/p>\n
\nI still hear the way he says my name.
\nHe had a photographer\u2019s urge
\nto stop and capture a moment
\nand never developed the photo.<\/p>\n
\nI hold it in my hands,
\nwondering if there is
\na significant difference
\nbetween who I am
\nand who I could have been
\nbecause of what he never was\u2014
\na father.<\/p>\n
\nthat I see in color.
\nIn his absence,
\nI see it all.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"