| Furious
Flower A Video Anthology of African American Poetry 1960-95 "The time cracks
into furious flower This series preserves for students, faculty and the general public a landmark conference Furious Flower: A Revolution in African American Poetry 1960-95 celebrating the continuity of Black verse from the Harlem Renaissance through the Black Arts Movement of the '60s to the hip-hop influenced poetry of today. The event was dedicated to Gwendolyn Brooks, an inspiration to Black poets for over fifty years, taking its title from a line in one of her poems. Conference organizer and series producer, Dr. Joanne Gabbin, explains why African American poetry is both furious and flowering: "It's a poetry of grace and rage, of identity and struggle, combining beauty and political activism." The Furious Flower video anthology furthers the same scholarly agenda as the conference: to place Black poetry squarely in the canon of 20th century American verse. "We're fifty years behind," poet and critic E. Ethelbert Miller warned. "We need to have our work assessed not just as 'protest poetry' but as we would any great literature." This six hour series consists of fifteen to twenty minute self-portraits of twenty-six individual poets arranged into four "video volumes" under the rubrics Elders, Warriors, Seers and Initiates. They mix stirring public readings by each writer with informal conversations with fellow poets and critics. They discuss their work in terms of historical continuity and disjuncture, oral and written traditions, Southern versus Northern experiences, but above all, within the rich matrix of African American vernacular culture. Furious Flower offers students and the general public an essential compilation of African American poetry at the end of the 20th century offering a unique chance to sample its rich diversity and to meet the men and women behind it. It provides nothing more or less than these poets in their own words revealing the eloquence and commitment of three generations of African Americans verse. VIDEO VOLUME I: ELDERS (114 Minutes) Samuel W. Allen
with Jerry W. Ward, Jr. This video volume introduces readers to the poets who laid the groundwork for today's Black poetry renaissance and mentored many of the younger voices represented in this series. These writers, many of whom began writing during the '40's provided the wisdom and strong literary voice which brought Black verse to new heights of competence and maturity.
VIDEO VOLUME II: WARRIORS (114 Minutes) Amiri Baraka
with Askia M. Touré The Black Arts Movement swept through the 1960's as the lieterary arm of the Black liberation movements of those years. It defined a strong Black cultural identity and waged a war for literary self-determination. In this video volume these veterans read from work which stirred a generation and discuss the achievements and unfulfilled hopes of their movement.
VIDEO VOLUME III: SEERS (114 Minutes) Rita Dove
Following the Black Arts Movement, the poets who began publishing in the 1970's felt free to broaden the scope of African American poetry. While retaining the same political commitment, they extended their vision into new regions, exploring personal, sometimes taboo subjects and imbuing traditional forms with a contemporary intensity.
Elizabeth
Alexander This final video
volume highlights the younger poets who repreent the promise and diversity
of Black poetry in the 1990s. As they read and discuss their work, we
see how themes which emerged in the three previous video volumes are
being re-worked and expanded as Black poetry prepares for the 21st century.
Black
Literature and Theater
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"Furious
Flower offers an invaluable resource for understanding and teaching
African American poetry. These conversations and readings do justice
to the vitality and creativity of the poets featured and give us an
open window into the poetic process among black Americans. . .I recommend
Furious Flower without reservation." "A vibrant demonstaration
of contemporary African American poetry at its performance peak. It's
a treasure for those who love poetry and those who teach it." "Without a doubt,
the most valuable tool any teacher of African American poetry could
envision. . . I can't believe that anyone will ever again teach this
work without using these videotapes." "A rich anthology,
brimming with the sights and sounds of major African American poets.
. . You learn much about the poets' sense of vocation, tradition and
mission."
Free Facilitator Guide Shipped with Purchase Price:
$195
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Furious
Flower is nothing less than a video anthology of African American
verse during the last half of the 20th century. This invaluable reference
work offers intimate portraits of twenty-five leading poets, each reading
and discussing their own work. It offers concise introductions to such
important contemporary African American writers as Poet Laureate Rita
Dove, Amiri Baraka, Sonia Sanchez and Nikki Giovanni and Michael Harper.
More than that, Furious Flower offers viewers hours of pleasure listening
to some of the most impassioned and powerful poetry ever written in
America.
