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Washington photographer Mignonette Dooley is the wife of one poet and a friend to countless others, so it is no surprise that she dreamed of capturing DC area poets through her lens. “I admire the craft,” she says. “Poets do something that photographers do, and that’s being able to distill a moment.” Earlier this year, she mentioned her idea to Abdul Ali, host of WPFW-FM’s “Poets’ Corner.” He suggested that they curate an exhibit devoted to showcasing some of the city’s poetic voices. The result: “Washington Caravan,” a diverse exhibit of photography, poetry and biography that features over 20 established and emerging poets from DC, Maryland and Virginia.
Many poems in the exhibit reflect the poets’ different experiences in the city. Poems from Cliff Bernier and Derrick Weston Brown alternately celebrate and lament the changes that have taken place on U Street. Other poets write about persons and events of significance to the city, such as Rose Solari’s memorial to Shirley Horn and Carolyn Joyner’s meditation on President Obama’s election night.
In addition to headshots, Dooley captured images of several poets’ hands bearing a personal object of poetic significance. Maritza Rivera Cohen, author of “A Mother’s War,” selected the dog tags that she wore while her son completed two tours of duty in Iraq.
Alan King chose a microphone signed by hip-hop artist Pharoahe Monche, which neatly echoes his poem “Cipher,” also on display. “I chose the microphone because it represents the different open mics where I met a lot of DC area poets,” says King.
Cohen and King were among over 50 poets and art lovers who stopped by the American Poetry Museum’s Anacostia Gallery on June 20 for the opening reception. “We were trying to create a portrait within a portrait,” Ali told the attendees during his remarks. “Mig was doing a portrait with the photographs of the poets, the different colors, the different nuances of Washington, DC, poetry, and I wanted on the page to see what the poets were actually saying.”
The exhibit’s name pays homage to “The Negro Caravan,” a landmark anthology of African-American literature edited in 1941 by Howard University professors Sterling A. Brown (who became Washington’s first poet laureate) and Arthur P. Davis. “In the same way as ‘The Negro Caravan’ featured writers of that time who now are giants in the literary community, these are also really talented emerging and established writers,” notes APM Executive Director Jon West-Bey.
Two groups are underrepresented in the exhibit: young people and East of the River residents. Taylor Johnson is the only poet under 21, while Fred Joiner, who also hosts “Intersections” (APM’s monthly reading series), is the sole Ward 8 resident. His poem “Song for Anacostia” developed one Sunday morning as he walked to service at Union Temple Baptist Church. “Being here in this community has given me a lot of inspiration,” says Joiner. “The poem basically comes out of just noticing that dynamic that it’s a real community here and trying to give some poetic structure to that experience.”
Ali points out that “Washington Caravan” is intended as a sample, not a complete catalog, of the DC poetry scene. “I hope that people will get an idea that there are people of different ages, different generations, native Washingtonians, people who’ve moved here,” he states. “I’m hoping that they can find a moment that they have lived themselves in one of these poems.” He and Dooley look forward to adding more poets to the caravan over time.
Even with the need for more poets from the community surrounding the museum, this exhibit demonstrated APM’s magnetic ability to attract artists to Anacostia from around the city. “It’s a draw because there’s nothing else like this anywhere in the city,” remarks Kim Roberts, editor of the online “Beltway Poetry Quarterly”and one of the featured poets.
“Washington Caravan” and APM are one of the many opportunities East of the River residents have to enjoy cultural offerings close to home. Visual artist and Ward 8 native Anais Washington expressed pride in having “this much art open to the public without fees or having to have transportation or to heavily organize. You can really walk down the street.”
“Washington Caravan” is on display through September at the American Poetry Museum, 1922 Martin Luther King Jr. Ave, SE, Washington, DC 20020. The gallery is open Tue-Sat from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. and by appointment. For more information, please call 202-249-0253 or visit www.americanpoetrymuseum.org. |
