Well Let's Commemorate, Then!

2004 becomes the significant benchmark for two outstanding American writers, Amiri Baraka aka Leroi Jones and Henry Dumas (posthumously). While Baraka is yet to appear in Asili, (we hope to remedy that soon), I, for one, will gladly pay tribute to the poet/writer who (along with Gwendolyn Brooks, Jean Toomer, Margaret Walker, Zora Neale Hurston, E.E. Cummings, Gregory Corso, Allen Ginsberg, Lawrence Ferlingetti, Al Young, Eugene B.Redmond, Ngugi Wa Thiongo, Chinua Achebe, Larry Neal, Maya Angelou, Camile Paglia, Etheridge Knight, Sonia Sanchez, Dudley Randall, Clarence Major, Quincy Troupe, Richard Brautigan, Joyce Carole Oates, Joyce Carol Thomas, Frederico Garcia Lorca, Jorge Luis Borges, Ken Wilbur, Dane Rudyar and every other writer I like, living and incorporeal) helped me shape my poetic voice. I am rather proud of my piece dedicated to Baraka, "The Making of A Poet," which I offer with love and respect.

Henry Dumas would have been 70 this year, had he not been struck down with the "peculiar" malady that has afflicted so many African American males -- the policeman's bullet. We feature one of his signature stories this issue "Six Days Shall You Labor" from the Good-by Sweetwater collection. Eugene B. Redmond reprises his tribute/acknowledgement after the story. This is a read you don't want to miss.

Al Young is back with masterful poetry from his volume, The Sounds of Dreams Remembered." All of the submissions are tight, taut, evocative and downright good. On the Road With Billie and his tribute to Ella Fitzgerald in "Prelude to A Kiss." are worth more than a cursory look. Peabody Award winner Quincy Troupe gives us three poems from his volume "Choruses." Check out "Gray Day In January in La Jolla," one of my personal favorites. Redmond vents in " Distance", reminisces on Baton Rouge and remembers his "Grandmother" all from his volume "The Eye in the Ceiling." Felix Morriseau-Leroy gives us the evocative poem, "Water" and the militant "Salute to Nicaragua." We are eternally grateful to the Morriseau-Leroy family for permission to keep the works of this great poet alive .

Geoffrey Philp opens his treasure trove of Florida poetry and gives six easy pieces from his several publications. I think his Everglades Litany is just outstanding. Check out also, "meditation on snake creek." The irascibly brilliant Preston Allen taunts with a not so tongue-in-cheek story " Ultra Cool Pimp Daddy!" Michael Hettich gets real personal and family oriented with five exquisite poems. I like "Some Gestures Might Contain A Life" a whole lot. Adrian Castro continues his mesmerizing tour de force "Cantos" from his volume "Cantos To Blood & Honey" this time giving us parts, IV, V and VI. Marc Awodey returns to give us seven wonderful haiku and serenyu. Clarence St. Hilaire is also back with four poems in French and English. Check out My Beloved Haiti and get some one to translate Merde for you if you don't speak French. R. Boyd Moorman gives one poem, Old Plane, an evocative piece. Evelyn Escoto continues to impress with three poems, the juvenescently erotic Gary Oldman, the dark and disturbing Glorified and the haunting I Can't Tell. They titilate! CM Clark is brilliant in her Asili debut with her impressive Desert Odyssey whose cascading images rise from the surface and upper level depressions of her stanzas and hit like hot and dry air masses. Oh, and check out In Principio Erat Verbum, no shabby piece of work, that one! Also new to Asili this issue is gifted poet Roy Morrison. We present four of his offerings. I really like Summer's First Day. Yours truly continues with the saga of the boy avatar, Shango, in Mo Juba Awo Shango. Things are beginning to heat up.