Atim Oton -

Tai Allen, birthday guy

today I came home to my messy apartment filled with a sense of cheer. all day long “I feel free” rolled about my head–darn, I never got to see Eric Clapton live. but if I had i would have pretty much rolled about in “I feel free”. Mostly this is because I was getting my hair done by my stylist, a young woman I deeply admire. Nadia Vassell is one of the rare Black entrepreneurs in the very now gentrified Lower East Side. Tai Allen, a fine poet and designer is working on a beer/wine festival–people make money in all kinds of ways. Charmaine Bee, a terrific artist has her own Gullah Girl Tea on the side. Atim Oton now has four stores and is running around probably working on Store #5. I think all of these young(er) Black people are so smart, so energetic and disciplined and they make me pleased to alive to see them make a difference. They make me smile. They give me hope.

Someone sent me a link to a piece I wrote in 1998. It’s about poetry and how one could use poetry. Lorenzo Thomas urged me to write this essay. He is my poet/spirit being. I miss him. His encouragement kept me going when things went wrong. If he had not ask for this work, it would have been written. Enjoy.

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/learning/article/250738

One of the best things about being a poet is that I am also a reader and a listener. And like many other readers and listeners, when given the opportunity, I enjoy organizing readings. Atim Oton, an entrepreneur and in her own way community activist decided to open a “Pop Up” of her store, Calabar Imports, in Bed-Stuy near my home. So I took the opportunity to create WORDS SUNDAY. A Fall Schedule ended with a great reading by Gregory Pardlo from his brilliant second collection, Digest which recently won the Pulitzer Prize and Alexis De Veaux who’s amazing career includes poetry, fiction collections, and an important biography of Audre Lorde. The Spring events started with younger, emerging poets Terence Degnan and Soraya Shalforoosh. Soraya, while volunteering with Four Ways Books asked me to read for their series a week before 9-11. Poets are elephants, we remember especially the kindnesses of our colleagues. And the final event in June included Janice Lowe, who I asked to start the entire series; Tai Allen and Ekere Tallie–they were lively and we had a great conversation about the continuing influence of the Black Arts Movement. I am proud of my work as a curator and hope to do more of this part of my work. Some pictures from WORDS SUNDAY, Calabar Imports Bed-Stuy Pop-up Brooklyn New York.

Chat with Gregory Pardlo and Alexis De Veaux November 2014

Renato Rosaldo and Patricia Spears Jones chatting

Words Sunday, March 2015

June 7 event-first one w/ three readers. Janice Lowe was joined by Meredith Wright and Yahann, musicians and singers

Tag Archives: Atim Oton

what can I say, summer has been summer

on recent curation–WORDS SUNDAY