Take it to the Man

Programme Running Order

DAVID NELSON (THE ORIGINAL LAST POETS), Are You Ready? (Extract) Read by Edson 0:25

KENNETH REXROTH (1905-1982), Thou Shalt Not Kill (Extract) Read by Jeremy 0:45

W H AUDEN (1907-1973), Epitaph on a Tyrant Read by Patrick 0:30

ELIZABETH BISHOP (1911-1979), Patience of an Angel Read by Isabel 1:05

JEREMY TOOMBS, Yardstick Read by Jeremy 1:10

ISABEL WHITE, Ben ik niet een Vrouw? (Am I not a woman?) Read by Isabel 0:30

EDSON BURTON, Eucharist (Part One) Read by Edson 0:45

PATRICK CHANDLER, Return to Sender Read by Patrick (echoes by Isabel) 0:45

JEREMY TOOMBS, Jude the Obscure Read by Jeremy 1:00

GWENDOLYN BROOKS (1917-2000) (The Blackstone Rangers), Gang Girls Read by Isabel 1:10

JEREMY TOOMBS, On Looking at a Statue of Abraham Lincoln… Read by Jeremy 1:20

EDSON BURTON, Liberty Had a Baby Read by Edson 1;10

ISABEL WHITE, Mother Parks, Take Your Rest Read by Jeremy 2:00

JEREMY TOOMBS, Worked Up, Trouble Read by Jeremy 0:45

GWENDOLYN BROOKS, Riders to the Blood-Red Wrath (Extract) Read by Isabel 1:10

JEREMY TOOMBS, That Time (or Competitive by Nature) Read by Jeremy 1:30

EDSON BURTON, Witness Read by Edson 1:15

ILYA KAMINSKY (1977 -), What Are Days Read by Patrick 0:15

EDSON BURTON, Eucharist (Part Two) Read by Edson 1:00

ISABEL WHITE, Cuttings Read by Isabel 0:30

JEREMY TOOMBS, Ki Jai Read by Jeremy 2:15

EDSON BURTON, Bastion Read by Patrick 1:50

STERLING ALLEN BROWN (1901-1989), The Strong Men Read by Jeremy and Edson 0:30

PATRICK CHANDLER, The Ninth Wave (Part One) Read by Patrick 2:40

EDSON BURTON, Play It Again Sam Read by Edson 2:45

ANNE SPENCER (1882-1975), Black Man O' Mine Read by Isabel 1:00

PATRICK CHANDLER, Island of Strangers Read by Patrick 2:20

HELEN MORT (1985 -), Division Street Read by Isabel 1:10

MICHAEL ONDAATJE (1943 -), Rat Jelly Read by Jeremy 0:40

GIL SCOTT-HERON (1949-2011), Whitey on the Moon Read by Edson and Patrick 1:20

ISABEL WHITE, Roe Vs Wade Revisited Read by the Company 1:45

LINTON KWESI JOHNSON (1951 -), New Craas Massakah Read by Edson 4:30

WILLIAM MORRIS (1834-1896), The Voice of Toil Read by Isabel 1:30

PATRICK CHANDLER, The Ninth Wave (Part Two) Read by Patrick 1:10

LANGSTON HUGHES (1901-1967), Brass Spittoons Read by the Company 1:30

GIL SCOTT-HERON (1949-2011), The Revolution Will Not Be Televised Read by Edson and Patrick 3:00

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS & COPYRIGHT

W H Auden & Ilya Kaminsky are published by Faber & Faber; Elizabeth Bishop published by Chatto & Windus; Gwendolyn Brooks performed today by consent of Brooks Permissions, Chicago USA; Sterling Allen Brown published in the US by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; Langston Hughes by permission of the Estate of Langston Hughes and International Literary Properties LLC, published in the UK by Penguin Random House; Linton Kwesi Johnson by permission of the author, published by Penguin Random House; Helen Mort published by Tall Lighthouse (her collection ‘Division Street’ published by Chatto & Windus); David Nelson, The Original Last Poets - their work appears on Motown’s Black Forum label, this poem also performed by Nina Simone at the Summer of Soul festival in Harlem in 1969 (released on DVD by 20^th Century Studios); Michael Ondaatje published in the UK by Jonathan Cape; Kenneth Rexroth published by Copper Canyon Press; Gil Scott-Heron published in print in the UK (Gil Scott-Heron – ‘Now and Then’, Canongate); Anne Spencer published on the CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform.

POETS' BIOGRAPHIES

W H AUDEN (1907-1973), Epitaph on a Tyrant

British-American poet Wystan Hugh Auden is one of Britain’s best known poets, his prolific output appearing on screen (Night Mail, Four Weddings and a Funeral) as well as in print. His work is noted for its stylistic and technical achievement, engagement with politics, morals, love, and religion. Auden spent time in Berlin before moving to the USA in 1939, becoming a U.S. citizen in 1946, whilst retaining his British citizenship. He also wrote plays with his friend Christopher Isherwood and won copious awards including the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1947. His work is published in the UK by Faber & Faber.

ELIZABETH BISHOP (1911–1979), Patience of an Angel

Bishop was an American poet and short-story writer. She was Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 1949 to 1950, winning (amongst many awards) the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1956. She was noted for her ‘miniaturist’s attention to detail’. Battling poor health for much of her life, she received little formal education. Bishop was greatly influenced by the poet Marianne Moore, who became a lifelong friend. She was also a painter, and travelled extensively, notably in South America with her partner, architect Lola Soares. Her work is published in the UK by Chatto & Windus.

GWENDOLYN BROOKS (1917-2000), Gang Girls & Riders to the Blood-Red Wrath (The Blackstone Rangers)

Gwendolyn Elizabeth Brooks was an American poet, author, and teacher. She too was a Pulitzer Prize winner, the first African American to do so. A lifelong resident of Chicago, she was appointed Poet Laureate of Illinois in 1968, and became U.S. Poet Laureate for the 1985–86 term. In 1976, she became the first African-American woman to be inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Drawing on her experiences of inner-city life, her poems range in style from traditional ballads and sonnets to blues influenced free verse. Her work was championed by (amongst others) Richard Wright and Langston Hughes. Performed today by consent of Brooks Permissions, Chicago USA.

STERLING ALLEN BROWN (1901-1989), The Strong Men

Part of the Harlem Renaissance artistic tradition, Brown was an American professor, folklorist, poet, and literary critic. Visiting professor at both Harvard and Yale, his students included Toni Morrison, Stokely Carmichael, Kwame Nkrumah and Ossie Davis. Brown published his first book of poetry ‘Southern Road’ in 1932, exhibiting a natural gift for dialogue, description and narration. His work included pieces of authentic dialect and was influenced in content, form and cadence by work songs, blues and jazz, often dealing with issues of race and class. As a member of the NAACP, Brown served on the organization's advisory board and worked with other notable Harlem Renaissance writers including W.E.B. Du Bois, James Weldon Johnson, Langston Hughes, and Walter White. His work is currently published in the US by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

DR EDSON BURTON 

Burton is a poet, dramatist, curator and historian.  His radio credits include supernatural trilogy ‘Deacon’ starring Don Warrington (available on audible); promenade and site specific theatre work includes ‘Ithaca Axis’ (2013) poetry/theatre show ‘Curry Goat & Fish Fingers, Frederick Douglass dramatization an Abolitionist Returns (2018), game show themed ‘The Edge’ (2018), ‘Anansi & the Grand Prize (2019). He has appeared in Hairy Bikers series ‘Pubs that Made Britain’ (2015), ‘Books that Made Britain’, ‘Bristol Sin City’ (2016), ‘Lost Civilizations Series 1: The Remains of Slavery’ (2017) ‘Britain’s Most Historic Towns: Georgian Bristol’ (2019) He is author of poetry collection (Seasoned) and co-author of ‘What’s Your Trinity Story, Vice and Virtue’ (2018). Edson is a member of Bristol’s History Commission, the film programming collective ‘Come the Revolution’ and ‘Queer People of Colour Collective Kiki Bristol’.

PATRICK CHANDLER Return to Sender, Island of Strangers, The Ninth Wave

Patrick is a Latvian-British poet raised on the Baltic tradition of oral storytelling and folk singing, and the Western "counterculture" of the sixties. They have harnessed this tradition to create compelling imagery in their work. A relative newcomer to the poetry realm they are nevertheless a talented wordsmith, showing great promise, active in the local poetry open mic scene in and around Bristol.

LANGSTON HUGHES (1901-1967), Brass Spittoons

James Mercer Langston Hughes was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist from Joplin, Missouri. An early innovator of jazz poetry, Hughes is best known as a leader of the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s, alongside his contemporaries: Zora Neale Hurston, Wallace Thurman, Claude McKay, Countee Cullen and Aaron Douglas. Dropping out of university, he wrote prolifically for The Crisis magazine (the official magazine of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People - NAACP). His first poetry collection, “The Weary Blues”, was published in 1926. From 1942 to 1962, as the civil rights movement gained traction, Hughes wrote an in-depth weekly opinion column in a leading black newspaper, The Chicago Defender. “Brass Spittoons” by Langston Hughes is used by permission of the Estate of Langston Hughes and International Literary Properties LLC.  His work is published in the UK by Penguin Random House.

LINTON KWESI JOHNSON (1951 - ), New Craas Massakah

(to the memory of the 14 dead)

Linton Kwesi Johnson is a Jamaica-born, British-based dub poet and activist. One of only three living poets and the only black one, to be published by Penguin Modern Classics. In 1963 he and his father came to live in Brixton, London, joining his mother, who had arrived as part of the Windrush generation shortly before Jamaican independence in 1962. Most of Johnson's poetry is political, dealing mainly with the experiences of being an African-Caribbean in Britain, police brutality, British foreign policy and the death of anti-racist marcher Blair Peach. Johnson's poetry makes clever use of non standard Jamaican patois which he often recites over a dub reggae rhythm. Today’s poem, taken from his Penguin collection “Mi Revalueshanary Fren” tells of the New Cross house fire that killed 13 young black people aged between 14 and 22, on 18 January 1981. No one has ever been charged in connection with the fire, inquests recorded open verdicts. His work is published in the UK by Penguin Random House.

ILYA KAMINSKY (1977 - ), What Are Days

Kaminsky was born in Odesa, Ukrainian SSR, (now Ukraine) to a Jewish family. At age four, he lost part of his hearing due to illness. He began to write poetry as a teenager; his family was granted asylum in the United States in 1993 due to antisemitism. Kaminsky is a poet, critic, translator and professor. He is best known for his poetry collections Dancing in Odesa and Deaf Republic, both written in English, which contain visceral accounts of life in war zones. A long-time editor at Words Without Borders and Poetry International, he has also edited the Ecco Anthology of International Poetry. He is published in the UK by Faber & Faber.

WILLIAM MORRIS (1834-1896), The Voice of Toil

As a supporter of essayist and critic John Ruskin, Morris was a hugely influential textile designer, poet, artist, essayist, writer and socialist activist, most often associated with the Arts and Crafts movement. He was also a member of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, developing close friendships with artists and poets Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Algernon Charles Swinburne, and Edward Burne-Jones. He founded the Socialist League in 1884 after an involvement in the Social Democratic Federation (SDF). His work is much published, today’s poem being from a collection by Redwords.

HELEN MORT (1985 - ), Division Street

Amongst many awards, Mort is a five-time winner of the Foyle Young Poets award, winning the Manchester Poetry Young Writer Prize in 2008. In 2010, she became the youngest ever poet-in-residence at the Wordsworth Trust, Grasmere. She has been shortlisted for the Picador, Costa Book Awards and the T.S. Eliot Prizes and won the Norwich Café Writers' Poetry Competition with a poem called "Deer". She has appeared on radio programmes such as The Verb, Poetry Please, and Woman's Hour. Individual poems have been published in the New Statesman, the Sunday Times, as well as the magazines Poetry Review, Granta, The Rialto, Poetry London, The Manhattan Review, and The North. This poem was published by Tall Lighthouse, but her collection ‘Division Street’ is published in the UK by Chatto & Windus.

DAVID NELSON, THE ORIGINAL LAST POETS - Are You Ready? (Extract)

The Original Last Poets (one of several iterations) were formed on May 19, 1968, the birthday of Malcolm X, in East Harlem, New York City. The line-up included Abiodun Oyewole, Gylan Kain and David Nelson; they were one of the earliest influences on hip-hop music. Their work appears on Motown’s Black Forum label and this poem was performed by Nina Simone at the Summer of Soul festival in Harlem in 1969 (released on DVD by 20^th Century Studios).

MICHAEL ONDAATJE (1943 - ), Rat Jelly

Booker Prize winner Philip Michael Ondaatje is a Sri Lankan-born Canadian poet, fiction writer and essayist. His career began with poetry in 1967, publishing The Dainty Monsters, and then in 1970 the critically acclaimed The Collected Works of Billy the Kid. He is probably best known as the author of The English Patient (1992). Since the 1960s, Ondaatje has been poetry editor for Toronto's Coach House Books. Ondaatje is a founding member of the board of the Griffin Trust for Excellence in Poetry. His poetry is published in the UK by Jonathan Cape.

KENNETH REXROTH (1905-1982), Thou Shalt Not Kill (Extract)

Kenneth Charles Marion Rexroth was an American artist, poet, translator, and critical essayist. He is regarded as a central figure in the San Francisco Renaissance and was dubbed "Father of the Beats" by Time magazine. In the 1930s, Rexroth was associated with the Objectivist movement, much of his work being classified as ‘erotic’. Rexroth, a pacifist, was a conscientious objector during World War II, and was often to be found selling Italian anarchist newspapers at the City Lights Bookstore in San Francisco. His work is published by Copper Canyon Press.

GIL SCOTT-HERON (1949-2011), Whitey on the Moon, The Revolution Will Not Be Televised

Gilbert Scott-Heron was an American jazz poet, singer, musician and author, best known for his spoken-word performances in the 1970s and 80s. His work fused jazz, blues, and soul with lyrics relative to social and political issues of the time and is considered a major influence on hip hop music and neo soul. Scott-Heron was active until his death, in 2010 releasing his first new album for 16 years. He received a posthumous Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2012. He is also included in the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) and was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, as a recipient of the Early Influence Award. We feature two of his best known poems in this event. His work is published in print in the UK (Gil Scott-Heron – ‘Now and Then’, Canongate).

ANNE SPENCER (1882-1975), Black Man O' Mine

Anne Bethel Bannister was a poet, teacher, civil rights activist, librarian, and gardener. She was a prominent figure of the Harlem Renaissance, one of three African American women included in the highly influential Norton Anthology of Modern Poetry (1973). With her husband Edward, she ran a regular salon whose guests included Langston Hughes, Marian Anderson, George Washington Carver, Thurgood Marshall, and Martin Luther King Jr. The majority of Spencer's work was published during the 1920s; through her poems she touched on topics of race and nature, as well as themes of feminism.  In the latter half of the twentieth century, much of Spencer's lost work was found and published by other poets. Her work is published on the CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform.

JEREMY TOOMBS (1978 - ), Yardstick, Jude the obscure, On looking at a statue..., Worked up trouble, That time, Ki Jai

Illinois born, Kentucky raised, Bristol resident, Jeremy Toombs is a traveller, teacher, musician, spiritual human, soon to be father.  You can feel the influence in Jeremy’s poetry, you can feel the freewheeling jazz, the immediacy of the words, the touch of technique that harks back to that notable tribe of his countrymen, but there has always been more to Jeremy Toombs than that. His collection ‘Ten Thousand Things’ is a spiritual and physical travelogue taking us from Kentucky to England via Alaska, Korea, Thailand, India. From the delicate opening of Han Shan to the Stokes Croft Riot. From Immortality Blues to Hangover Meatbelly. Packed with musicality, spirituality, jazz, blues, a thirst for and a love of life, people, nature and in particular the teeming streets of Asia. He is published by Burning Eye books.