This is the very first anthology by the Muntu Poets - a forgotten voice in the mid to late 60's in the city of Cleveland - was an entity that was a product of its time. There were no membership cards or applications to fill out or any barrier to be a Muntu Poet. It was a fluid entity that existed for people in the area waiting to be exposed to poetry and to the technicalities of writing poetry. For the most part, the majority of the poets were young, movement conscious, energetic and upset with the status quo. There wasn't anyone who was laboring under any illusions about our plight. Everyone expressed themselves in different ways I'd say. The poets read all over the place, including in other states, for the better part of 67/68 under the banner of Muntu. The workshop took place once a week at a place on Superior Avenue and Ansel Road on the second floor of the building. There were folks present who were poets before the workshop and people who were there just to check out what was going on. There was an eclectic group of styles present. The voices of dissent were the loudest and it was this group that raised their voices everywhere they went. In their view, there was nothing pretty or funny about the circumstances Black people were in. They were the only group of poets in the city doing that. They felt that everyone else was putting honey and perfume on shit. The poets who had a similar outlook were the ones who usually read together at various venues around the country. The last time that the group officially met was on July 23rd of 1968 at 10518 Elk Avenue. That day, (the beginning of the Glenville Riots) was what the Muntu Poets predicted was coming. Most of the poets continued to write and now they have gathered to write another anthology 47 years after the first was written. This anthology is a tribute to Russell Atkins and Norman Jordan who were the leaders of the powerful group of writers.

The Muntu Poets Of Cleveland

Literature & Fiction

Atkins, Russell

Poetry

Uptown Media Joint Ventures

Poetry. African &amp; African American Studies. Edited by Kevin Prufer and Robert E. McDonough. "Russell Atkins is a phenomenon, and his writing is phenomenal. Its existence requires us to simultaneously rethink the received histories of the avant-garde and of African American literature, and to reconsider the limits of post-war poetry entirely."--Craig Dworkin "This sheaf of anti-Wordsworthian scherzi by Russell Atkins is a pharmaceutical-grade delight--'the laughter that hags.' From the manifesto which opens this volume to the noiry/Sublime poetry dramas which close it out, Atkins's feats and sleights prompt (in me) a Bacchantic response. It's like when, driving eastbound thru Cleveland on the I-90, at the height of summer, you reach that point where you have to either make a sharp right turn at full speed or drive directly into the lake. For a brainsplitting second, suspended in Atkins's poetry, I feel myself slip the binary, buck airborne &amp; soar up over Erie's dazzling, fatal face. This is the sheerest of stuff, and the best."--Joyelle McSweeney "There have yet to be made the proper comparisons between Paul Celan and Russell Atkins--in form, in syntax, in intention, and yes, in content. This book shows that Atkins remains a poet whose eye is as sharp as any blade that cut through the 20th century, and readers who have yet to experience his writing deprive themselves of actually seeing the blood that runs through us all. That blood is dark. It is necessary."--Jericho Brown

World'd Too Much: The Selected Poetry of Russell Atkins (Imagination)

Ohio State University Press

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Books by Atkins, Russell

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Atkins, Russell. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The Muntu Poets Of Cleveland

World'd Too Much: The Selected Poetry of Russell Atkins (Imagination)