Episode 38: A Conversation with the Reflective, Dynamic, Profound Educator and Poet, F. Douglas Brown

Show Notes and Links to F. Douglas Brown’s Work:

Douglas Brown at Poets.org

Douglas Brown’s Website

Reading at Writer’s Resist 2020

Video-"Poetry and Discernment: An Ignatian Conversation with F. Douglas Brown"

 

Writers/Texts Mentioned and Allusions Referenced During the Episode:

 

Doug talks about growing up in San Francisco and being inspired the Bay Area literary and artistic scene, including the great Diane DiPrima, Bob Haas, and his own mother, an artist herself -at about 4:30

 

Doug talks about his father’s outsized influence on him, through his father’s charm, gregarious nature, and steadfastness-at about 8:00

 

Doug reads a poem, “Hard Uncles,” about his father, published in the Virginia Quarterly Review-at about 11:00

 

Doug describes reciting the above poem in his father’s home state of Mississippi at a couple of readings and how special the events were, as well as how “connection” is so crucial in poetry, as demonstrated by poet great Sterling Brown-at about 15:40

 

Doug talks about his mother’s big influence on him, including her artistic and creative nature-at about 17:40

 

Doug talks about the significance of his full name, passed down from his father, and of course, the iconic abolitionist, Frederick Douglass-at about 21:35

 

Doug talks about the genesis of his work based on Jacob Lawrence’s panels of Frederick Douglass, as well as the role of ekphrasis and the “muse” in Doug’s own work and study-at about 24:40

 

Doug shows some artistic renderings of Frederick Douglass and talks about how he views Douglass and how Douglass has influenced his own work-at about 29:00-33:00

(AROUND THIS TIME, THE AUDIO WOULD BE GREATLY ENHANCED BY BEING ABLE TO SEE THE VISUALS DOUG PUTS UP AND REFERENCES-THEY CAN BE FOUND AT ABOUT 32:50 ON THE YOUTUBE RECORDING HERE)

Doug talks about Natasha Trethewey and his admiration for her work-at about 32:00

 

Doug reads his poem based on Jacob Lawrence’s rendering of Frederick Douglass and his overseer: “Mr. Covey, Shall We Dance?”-at about 39:10

 

Doug talks about chill-inducing writers for him, including the dynamic and uber-talented Tongo Eisen-Martin, recently named San Francisco Poet Laureate, Ross Gay, Natasha Trethewey, Tracy K. Smith, Mahogany Browne, Doug’s frequent collaborator, Geffrey Davis, Terrence Hayes, and Kimiko Hahn -at about 43:30

 

Doug talks about the powerhouse writing collective Cave Canem and its history, mission and accomplishments, including its inception in 1996, founded by Toi Derricotte and Cornelius Eady-at about 47:00

 

Doug and Pete talk about the brilliant poets Jericho Brown and Amanda Gorman, who recently read at the Biden/Harris Inauguration, as well as Michael Cirelli’s help in advancing youth poetry-at about 50:45

 

Doug talks about Zero to Three, his award-winning poetry collection-at about 53:20

 

Doug reads “Epistemology of Laundry” and discusses its themes, particularly of the father-son bond-at about 58:20

 

Doug talks about the Sandra Bland Reading Series, including its ethic of downplaying the artist and lifting up the art, as seen with Amanda Johnston, Jonterri Gadson, Jericho Brown, and Mahogany Browne and their organization, Black Poets Speak Out-at about 1:03:45

 

Doug talks about his job and vocation as a high school educator and how he is able to integrate his art into the classroom-at about 1:10:30

 

Doug talks about some favorite texts to teach in his classroom, including the contemporary "To the Notebook Kid" by Eve L. Ewing, and Ocean Vuong’s “Someday I’ll Love Ocean Vuong”-at about 1:13:45

 

Doug talks about upcoming projects, including two essays coming out this spring, in the anthology Teaching Black and through the Langston Hughes Center-at about 1:18:00

 

Doug talks about his DJing and his music influences-at about 1:23:00

 

Doug talks about mixtapes and their importance in his current DJ crew, with their shared need for mourning lost loved ones, particularly by dedicating poems/music to parents-at about 1:24:30

 

Pete and Doug resist the “in my day” hip-hop attitude-at about 1:27:45

 

Pete shouts out the Dissect Podcast, an incredible analysis of one hip-hop album per season, through a “close read”-at about 1:29:35

 

Doug reads four sonnets that have been written recently, full of allusions and inspired by his DJ crew (sonnet is entitled “A DJ Spins the Blues”); he talks about the significance of the poem and how we honor our parents and their legends-at about 1:31:00