Archive Post
Isaac Black, an MFA graduate of Vermont College, has work published or forthcoming in journals like the Beloit Poetry Journal, Boston Literary Magazine, Callaloo, Fjords Review, Pittsburgh Poetry Review, Obsidian, Modern Poetry Quarterly Review, San Pedro River Review, and Spillway. He's also a recent Solstice finalist for the Stephen Dunn Prize in Poetry (2017 & 2018), winner of the Joy Harjo Poetry Prize from Cutthroat Magazine (Cornelius Eady as judge), and the 2020 Black History Month finalist for the Columbia Journal. Prior awards include the Gwendolyn Brooks Literary Award for fiction and Broadside Press Award for poetry (Black World ). A Pushcart (7 times) and Best of the Net nominee, Isaac's a recipient of poetry fellowships from the New York State Creative Artists Service Program (CAPS) and New York Foundation of the Arts. He is the author of the African American Student's College Guide (John Wiley & Sons), and founder of a major college help organization.
poem for stevie
we thought we had to grieve thee in ‘73
I almost died myself in that post cointelpro season
six days after inner visions was released
on the road to the next gig
your life was almost erased
for four days God quieted your spirit
as angels fed you grace
when your power of speech returned
from what doctors called a coma
you spoke of higher ground you visited
while gone from us
summarily, the car accident
was no accident
my God, Steveland hardaway morris judkins, little stevie now wonder
the things we’ve viewed in your seventy revolutions
we are a witness in your Jordan stream of consciousness;
brown v. the board of education –let’s see, was that up or down?
a rosa parks frown as she sat down
sparked us to get up, stand up for our rights
zebra check in san Francisco no
stop and frisk is a global phenomenon
the bombing of the move house in philly
the elevation of crack cocaine helped along
by reagan’s henchman oliver north
neighborhoods decimated while the potent drug
ensnared sly, marvin, richard pryor, huey newton
countless numbers known and unknown
we’ve witnessed it all through the filter of your songs|
which gives us the will to carry on
your fingertips reach for a place in the sun for us
this world was made for all men, heaven help us all, superstition, higher ground, living for the city, innervisions, skeletons, village ghetto land, heaven is 10 zillion light years away
even now you must be writing a dirge for the dread covid
blast it master stevie
blast it
happy birthday to ya
Thurman Watts is a writer and a founding member of the Nairobi Poets. His poetry has been published in the Pan-Africanist and Black Creation magazines. The subjects of his published print media pieces include Peter Tosh for Players Magazine, Hugh Masekela for Cadence Jazz Magazine, and Funk Queen Betty Davis for the San Francisco Chronicle.
In 2017, he wrote several vignettes for the film documentary Oakland’s Evolutionary Blues…West Oakland’s Musical Legacy. The film was produced and directed by Chery Fabio. Current projects include editing a book by musician Bill Summers, assisting Lester Chambers of the Chambers Brothers with his memoirs, and writing the biography of Cecil Holmes, the sole Black executive at Casablanca Records.
Watts is also a co-founder of the Scribes of Heru Writers Collective which seeks to help writers improve their chops through a Zoom workshop setting. Much of the literary work of Thurman Watts can be accessed at www.teasefurorscribendi.com.
