Toni
Asante Lightfoot
is a graduate of Cave Canem African American Writer's Workshop and a teacher
of writing workshops. This whirlwind of a woman is co-founder of the poetry
collective the Modern Urban Griots. She is a leader in the national arts
organization, Blackout Arts Collective. Ms. Lightfoot was President of
the African American Writers Guild, founded by Marita Golden. In November 2002 Lightfoot
became the Business and Outreach Manager Guild Complex in Chicago.
Lightfoot has authored several books including two collections of poems entitled Kiss My Ears Like Jazz and Unearthing Me.
What Inspires Toni Asante Lightfoot?
All the artists who fought for an won battles regarding social justice.
I sit back and wonder what I can do that will be as effective and affect so
many as Gwendolyn Brooks, Frieda Kahlo, Eleanor
Roosevelt and my mother. On a smaller scale which is what I specialize
my writing towards I am inspired by the little stories that cause paradigm
shifts in people. Oh yeah, a shot of rum on a Trinidadian beach does
wonders for my muse. Come join me sometime.
(Photo and portions of bio. excerpted from the
Guild Complex)
Lightfoot's poetry has been anthologized in literary magazines, newspapers and the following books:
Role
Call: A Generational Anthology of Social and Political Black Literature
and Art
Click to order via
Amazon
Editors Tony Medina, Samiya A. Bashir and Quraysh Ali Lansana
Format: Paperback, 500pp.
ISBN: 0883782391
Publisher: Third World Press
Pub. Date: February 2002
What is the role of today's emerging young artists in the current struggle for equality and justice? How do the voices of the neXt generation define the issues and politics of today?
Role Call is just that. It's a role call of a new generation of Black writers and artists. It is an exploration of our current cultural landscape in poetry, fiction, essays, visual arts and theater-on-the-page. This groundbreaking anthology is the litmus test--and a call to arms--of a generation grown fat on the limited freedoms won by the civil rights struggle. Role Call takes on issues of race, sexuality, education, nationalism, spirituality, AIDS, globalization, hip hop and the rise of the prison industrial complex. Role Call is a journey through the tropics of black rage, black love and black fire.
360' A
Revolution of Black Poets
Click to order via
Amazon
ISBN: 1888018127
Format: Hardcover, 232pp
Pub. Date: September 1998
Publisher: BlackWords, Inc.
At poetry slams, in coffee houses and cafes, on spoken word CDs, and even featured in Hollywood movies, a new and exciting renaissance of Black poetry is emerging out of the oral tradition of African-American culture. 360': A Revolution of Black Poets presents the cutting edge of this poetic firestorm sweeping across America.
Featuring five pages per poet, 360 presents forty established and emerging Black poets in an anthology of contemporary verse. Stylistically there's everything from rap-like performance verse to haiku, political rants to lyrical love songs, narrative tales to personal meditations. 360 is a treasure map of Black poetry.
360 is published in conjunction with a two-day series of poetry readings, workshops, and film screenings at the Baltimore Museum of Art (Sept. 11, 1998) and the University of Maryland-College Park (Sept. 12 1998).
| Dream #42 (after 3 shots of southern comfort and two manhattans) harriett and sojourner are talking in the parlor while frederick is burning teacakes in the kitchen all are loud and discussing what freedom looks like i'm laughing too hard too write down what they are saying a dead robin is sitting on her nest above the broom closet when out of nowhere bull conner bursts through the front door wearing safron robes singing stevie wonder's saturn no one ever gets back to the conversation of what freedom looks like everyone's just singing in the distance bombs explode and get louder with each verse until a rolling cloud of debris comes through the house and we all run out the back door being built by clarence thomas but when we get to the yard we see the trade centers falling toward us bull connor taps me on my shoulder leads me to the basement where ghandi, king, and eric williams are making bombs out of cotton and rum harriett creaks down the stairs behind me saying it's time to wake up while spike lee walks sojourner to a butterfly chair no one is singing and no one can remember seeing what freedom looks like Toni Asante Lightfoot 2001 |
Related Links
Lightfoot interviews Mervyn Taylor on fyah.com
http://www.fyah.com/lightfoot.htm
14th & U POEM
http://washingtonart.com/beltway/lightfoot.html
Four Poems as published at Ishmael
Reed Publications
http://www.ishmaelreedpub.com/lightfootpoems.html
Various photos from 360' A Revolution of Black Poets Event
http://events.aalbc.com/360_sights.htm
Lightfoot at the
The 17th
Annual Celebration of Black
Writing
February 16 to 18,
2001 Philadelphia, PA
