Latest / Legacy Living with Dr. Gloria Burgess / Gwendolyn Brooks - US Poet Laureate - Part 1 | Episode #383

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Gwendolyn Brooks - US Poet Laureate - Part 1 | Episode #383 · Legacy Living with Dr. Gloria Burgess

0:21
Hello, and welcome to today's show, Legacy Living, Make Your Life Count.
0:28
I'm your host, Doctor Gloria. Gloria Burgess, international leadership expert and
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trusted advisor. Welcome to Legacy Living, Make your Life Count. I'm so
0:44
glad you join me today. I want to give a big thank you to
0:49
those of you who are listening. I also want to give a great,
0:52
big shout out to all of you listening around the world. I'm delighted and
0:57
so grateful that you tuned in. I hope you are enjoying a fabulous day
1:03
today and that you're having a fantastic week, because, you know what,
1:07
in the grand song of the universe, life is so very short. It's
1:14
short, sweet and very precious. So I hope you're making a difference in
1:19
your own life because when you do, you also make a difference in somebody
1:26
else's life. Now, a lot of us, a lot of folks really
1:30
want their life to count for something, but they don't know how to do
1:36
it, or they don't know where to begin. So they ask me,
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doctor Gloria, how do you do that? How do you make your life
1:45
count? Well, it's really very simple, very simple. You make your
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life count day by day, step by step, moment by moment, every
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single day, three sixty five twenty four seven. Now, I'm going to
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say much more about that later on, but right now it is time to
2:10
just relax and listen in. That's right, it's time to hit the pause
2:16
button. It's time for today's episode, which is all about the power of
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one. Now, I want you to imagine that we're in the same room.
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Ah maybe it's your kitchen or living room, and I'm sitting right across
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the table from you. I'm pouring you a cup of tea or coffee,
2:40
and we are about to have a cup, a small cup, a dose
2:46
of what matters. So again, today's focus is all about the power of
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one, the power of one person who can be the difference, who makes
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the difference in someone else's life. Now, today's episode is focused on one
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of my favorite people on the planet. Her name is Gwendolyn Brooks. Her
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life is what legacy living make your life count is all about. Now,
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most of us know miss Brooks as a marvelous poet. I know her as
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a kind, gentle, smart, and fiercely caring human being. For me,
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she was one person who made a difference in my life. And you
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know how some people, some folks just show up at just the right time
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in your life. Well, that's exactly what happened for me, Miss Brooks,
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showed up and really made a difference at a time in my life when
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I needed it. Now, I know all of you want to make a
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positive difference in our world, to make your life count, to make your
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life matter. But sometimes you're just kind of scratching your head and you're not
4:12
sure how to make that happen. You might find yourself thinking, well,
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you know what, I'm just one little person. What can I possibly do
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to make a difference in my own or somebody else's life. It's kind of
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hard to understand just how much impact one person can really have. Now,
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Fortunately, I've met many people who've made a difference for me, many people
4:39
who showed up at just the right time, and that person has made such
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a difference in that particular season of my life. Now, sometimes the season
4:51
was just for a minute, it was a very short season in my life,
4:56
and yet their impact rippled out far beyond them. The few months or
5:00
weeks, or or days or even a few hours that I was graced by
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that person's presence Gwyendolen Brooks was one of those individuals who made a difference,
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who made a significant difference in my life. She was there at just the
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right time, at just the right place, in just the right season of
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my life. In fact, I had the good fortune to meet Miss Brooks
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not once, but twice, and on both occasions, although they were years
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apart, her impact on me was positively profound. Now I'm going to share
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a bit about my life changing encounter with her and the remarkable difference she made
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in my life. But first let me tell you more about this amazing artist
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and poet and humanitarian. Gwendolen began writing and publishing when she was very,
6:08
very young. By the time she was eleven years old, she had published
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four poems. That's pretty impressive. Before she turned thirty, she achieved national
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acclaim for her poems, a collection of poems called A Street in Bronzeville A
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Street in Bronsville. In nineteen fifty, when Miss Brooks was thirty three years
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old, she became the first African American poet to win the Pulitzer Prize.
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Now, she won this prestigious prize for her book of poems called Annie Allen
6:49
Gwyendolen Elizabeth Brooks was born in Topeka, Kansas. When she was still a
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baby, her family moved to Chicago during the Great Migration. Miss Gwendolen remained
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in Chicago for the rest of her life. Her writings reflect the rhythms and
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melodies and cadences of her neighbors and her neighborhood. Like so many African Americans
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coming of age during this time in the United States, Miss Brooks experienced the
7:25
bitter sting of bigotry and racial prejudice. Her experiences shaped her and they fortified
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her. In fact, her writing reflects the social forces that prevailed at that
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particular time in the United States. So who is Gwendolen Brooks? Now,
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I'm not talking about her accomplishments. I'm asking who is this person? As
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you might imagine, when I was doing the research for this episode, I
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came across many publications that listed Miss Brooks's amazing achievements, But I found only
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a precious few that captured the essence of the person, this unique human being,
8:18
and only a handful that captured the Gwendolen Brooks that I knew. Now
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I'm talking about Gwendolen Brooks. The woman, the woman who looked like she
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could be one of my neighbors, the woman who was gentle yet fierce.
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I mean, this Gwendolen could have been one of my aunties. The woman
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who had a heart for young people, a heart for school children and gang
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members who should have been in school but whose lives were lived in the streets,
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A heart for those who lived their lives behind prison bars. This is
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the woman I knew, you see when I heard her voice. When I
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heard her read her amazing poems, I realized Miss Gwendolen's voice could have been
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my voice. I mean, she echoed my love, my love for the
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sweet, sweet music of language, my love for the colorful, imaginative music
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of words. She echoed my love for people, my love for justice,
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not for justifew, but justice for all. My love for standing up for
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those we love, standing with those who have no one else to stand with
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them. My love for telling stories of people who may not be able to
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tell their own story. I met Gwendole and for the very first time in
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a classroom. That's right, a classroom. I met her in my high
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school classroom in ann Arbor, Michigan, in mister Kerrigan's ap English class Right.
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I remember how miss Gwendolen looked, how she stood. I even remember
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what she had on her feet and on her head, right. I remember
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she had this little head rag on. You know, we call it a
10:28
gailey, right, or a head rag in the neighborhood, right. And
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she had these little kids sneakers on with little white socks that rolled down,
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okay, like little anklets. And there in that classroom I heard her read
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probably her most well known poem, a poem called we Real Cool. And
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when she read that poem, I thought, oh, oh, Mercy,
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oh, I want to do that. I want to write like her.
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I want to be like her. Little did I know at that time in
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my life that I actually could be her, I could actually be a poet,
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a published poet at that In part two of this podcast, I'm going
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to share that poem with you, we Real Cool, the poem that opened
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my eyes to my new realization that I could be a published poet. Right
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now, I'm going to share part of another poem, and this poem is
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called Negro Hero. Miss Brooks wrote this poem during a time in our history
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when those two words negrow hero, especially those two words spoken side by side
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absolutely arrested us. Those words spoken together stopped us dead in our tracks.
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Negro Hero. If she were still alive today, I don't think miss Brooks
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would be at all surprised that some of her words are still quite arresting now.
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Before the poem begins, right after the title, Brooks writes that the
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poem is to suggest a person by the name of Dorry Miller. Dorry Miller,
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the Dorry Miller she writes about here is an African American war hero in
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World War II. Miller was a young kitchen attendant who went above and beyond
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his station and over and above the call of duty. When the United States
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of America was attacked at Pearl Harbor, mister Miller was honored as a hero
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for his role in taking up arms against Japanese soldiers. Here is the opening
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verse, the very first stanza of Miss Brooks's poem, Negro Hero. I
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had to kick their law into their teeth in order to save them. However,
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I have heard that sometimes you have to deal devilishly with drowning men in
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order to swim them to shore, or they will haul themselves and you to
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the trash and the fish beneath When I think of this, I do not
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worry about a few chipped teeth. I'm going to read that stanza again.
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Now, remember this is to suggest this African American war hero from World War
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Two, Dory Miller Negro hero, I had to kick their law into their
14:39
teeth in order to save them. However, I have heard that sometimes you
14:46
have to deal devilishly with drowning men in order to swim them to shore,
14:54
or they will haul themselves and you to the trash and the fish beneath.
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When I think of this, I do not worry about a few chipped teeth.
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So this poem demonstrates one of the hallmarks of Gwendolen's poetry, and that's
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her ability to imaginatively write from the point of view of somebody else. Now,
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somehow she's able to sense into another person's life, imagining their thoughts,
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their feelings, their loves, their hatreds, their world. In poem after
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poem after poem, Brooks writes in her signature style. Another one of my
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favorite poems is called A Bronzeville Mother Loiter's in Mississippi. Meanwhile, a Mississippi
16:03
Mother burns bacon. Yes, that's a title. A Bronzeville mother loiters in
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Mississippi. Meanwhile, a Mississippi mother burns bacon. In this exquisite narrative poem,
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Brooks brings us into a landscape of the lives of two women who experience
16:25
their own horrors. After the brutal murder of Emmett Till. Brooks says,
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I couldn't have any rest until I wrote about that. I couldn't rest until
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I had done something, done my kind of something. Now, most folks
16:48
who know about the history of the United States know about the tragic killing of
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Emmett Till, a fourteen year old black boy. What you may not know
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is that Miss Gwendolen had a son too, a son who at that time
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was also fourteen years old. And the way she wrote about Immit Til demonstrated
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her exceptional writing and poetic skills, as well as her many layers of emotional
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intelligence, as she portrays Carolyn Bryant's state of mind after her husband's acquittal for
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Emmitt Till's murder. Murdered by Miss Bryant's husband for allegedly making a pass at
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her, Miss Brooks says, in writing poetry, you are interested in condensation
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so you don't try to pull all of a particular impression or inspiration onto a
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single page. You distill poetry is life distilled. In her writing, Miss
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Brooks draws her impressions and inspirations from everyday life, everyday life. As poet
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Elizabeth Alexander reminds us, it's hard. It's hard to think about Gwendolen Brooks
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in the past tense right, for she seemed to focus her writing in response
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to what is happening now. And so she's been dead now for many years,
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but she still seems to be with us even now. Miss Gwendolen here
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with us now. And you know what, She shows up in many different
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ways. One of the most powerful ways she shows up is through the voices
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of other poets. Now, let's just think about this. We would not
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have a Lucille Clifton or Nikki Finney, or a Rita Dove or Tiamba Jess
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or Cornelius Edy or toy Derricott or Elizabeth Alexander, Natasha Truthway, Hayes,
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Davis, Kyle Dargan, Tara Bett's, Amanda Gorman, and I dare say
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dozens of other poets African, American and otherwise we would not have these poets
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or their poetries without Gwendolyn Brooks. That's the power of one person, the
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one person who so impacts the lives of many, many, many people,
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and the ripple effect is positively astounding. That's the power of poetry in motion.
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Years ago, when I was working with high school students, when they
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were in search of a poet with a strong sense of narrative and a strong
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sense of language, a wonderful, strong, powerful sense of imagery, of
20:19
sight and sound and smell and touch, they would inevitably turn to the poetry
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of Gwendolen Brooks. It was in these poems that they learned about love,
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about tenderness, cruelty, compassion, hatred, perseverance, defeat, faithfulness,
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fear, vainglory and victory. It was in Miss Gwendolen's poems that my students
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learned about voice, the poet's voice as well as her own voice. In
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another one of my podcasts, I pay a tribute to poet doctor Maya Angelo.
21:11
I share in that podcast that she could have been one of my elders
21:15
in the community. I grew up in a community of folks I called my
21:19
personal village. Well you know what, the same is true about Gwendolyn Brooks.
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Being in that classroom with her all those years ago, and then meeting
21:30
her again at the Dodge Poetry Festival just a few short months before she died.
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Or reading her poems now is kind of like looking in a mirror.
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The words she uses in her poems, the words she used during our conversation,
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that rich, resonant sound of her voice, her sense of humor layered
22:00
with paradox and irony. The way she hosted and treated people. I remember
22:10
at the Dodge Festival there must have been one hundred and fifty maybe two hundred
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people in line to have her sign books or to simply say thank you now.
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Some folks were there for more than that. They wanted a conversation,
22:25
right, They wanted a few brief sentences with this queen of a woman.
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They wanted a small cup of what matters well, you know what. No
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matter how long the line or how long the wait, she treated you as
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if you were the only person in line, the only person present among all
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those poetry loving souls. I also remember, from where I stood, way
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back in the line, that Miss Brooks seemed to be pulling out book after
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book from someplace near her chair. And I also remember seeing her slip a
23:04
book into the hands of a number of people that she spoke with. Well,
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when it was my turn to have her sign my books, I noticed
23:12
that the title of the book that she kept pulling out of the little box
23:17
beside her chair was called Primmer for Blacks. And yes, she slipped one
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of those books into my hand as well. Now I don't recall she grabbed
23:27
my hand, or if I grabbed hers, but I recall a moment when
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I had her hand in mine, a moment in time that remains fresh and
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vivid. In that tent, holding her hand, in that tent filled with
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people, I could actually imagine her as one of the many people in my
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community. The way she smiled like hot sunshine beaming down on red clay dirt,
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The angle of her head, the way her eyes just seemed to peer
24:10
at you through her classes, the way she sat that same little cloth on
24:15
her head, the way she reached for a book, The way she made
24:22
you feel like you were the only one in that big old tent, the
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only one who she was content to be with. In that moment, time
24:37
stood still. Even now as I recall that autumn evening in New Jersey.
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There I am at the front of the line, alone with Gwendolene, alone
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in the midst of a crowd. Even now, I can imagine myself in
24:57
the same room with her, sitting right next to her, at the same
25:02
table, sharing stories, a cup of tea and a few good poems,
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laughing and remembering good times as our plates steam with sweet potatoes, collared greens,
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and corn bread, the same kind of meal she shared with one of
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her adoring mentors, Langston Hughes, another amazing poet whose impact on Gwendolen's life
25:30
and my own life was profound Even now, So Gwendolen, we lift you
25:44
up and we celebrate you. We celebrate you during National Poetry Month and every
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single day. We celebrate you from making the invisible visible, your compassionate artistry,
26:02
and your marvelous gifts of being awake to life and turning life the good,
26:08
the gracious, the ugly, the tragic into astonishing works of art.
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To you, we express our deep, deep gratitude. We thank you for
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showing us the power of poetry in motion and what the power of one person,
26:32
of one person who lives their life to make a difference is all about.
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Now, that's exactly what we talked about earlier, right, and I
26:41
promise to say more about how you can make your life count. So here
26:48
we go. You can make your life count by being there for someone who
26:56
simply needs the sweet, precious fragrance of your press. All right, So
27:00
what does that mean? Well, maybe they just need you to listen.
27:07
Maybe they just need you to listen to them talk about their day or how
27:11
their mom is doing, or maybe they need to talk about their relationship with
27:15
their thirteen year old son or daughter and they don't want to just talk with
27:21
anybody. What they really need is you. Why Because you listen, You
27:30
listen with a smile in your heart. You listen without having to jump in
27:34
and give advice. You listen because you really care. You can make your
27:42
life count by the simple loving things you do for someone else. You could
27:48
make your wife a couple of her favorite tea, not because she asked you
27:52
to, but because you know it's her favorite and because you know her love
27:56
language. Or maybe you put on her favorite music. Or maybe you go
28:02
for a nice long walk with her, not because you need the exercise,
28:07
right, but you go just because because you love her. You can make
28:14
your life count by taking fifteen or twenty minutes, thirty minutes to go through
28:18
your closet this week, right, maybe today, and you can pull out
28:23
your gently used shirts or blouses, you're gently used sweaters and slacks and fold
28:30
them and take them to your local goodwill or thrift store. There's somebody out
28:34
there who needs those gently used clothes. You can take whatever extra money you
28:42
have to buy some food, right, a few extra cans of peas or
28:48
beans or rice to donate to your local food bank. You can read a
28:55
story to a child. Did you know that to a little girl or boy?
29:00
Attention is spelled l O v E. To make a difference, you
29:07
don't have to do anything fancy or extraordinary. You don't have to wear a
29:11
cape, you know, be a superheroin or a superhero. You just have
29:17
to have a heart full of love and you simply serve people without any expectation
29:22
of return. You could pick a handful of fresh herbs from your deck or
29:29
your garden and give them to a neighbor. Hey, you can bake a
29:33
batch of cookies and take them to a nursing home. Okay, and be
29:37
sure to give some to your mom when you visit her, be sure to
29:41
give some to the staff. Also, you could call a friend just because.
29:48
And when you write a note to someone, be sure to include a
29:52
few stamps or a bag of tea. My sister calls my mom every day
29:59
just to say hello and to tell her how much she loves her. When
30:03
I call my mom, I love to sing songs with her, the song
30:07
she sang as a little girl. Now sometimes she can't remember my name,
30:12
but she remembers those songs. And sometimes I read to my mom because she
30:18
loves stories, she loves to hear scripture, she loves to pray. Right,
30:25
So what's my point? Simply this, You can make a difference with
30:29
what you already have. You can make a difference by showing up as who
30:33
you are day by day, every day of your life. You make a
30:40
difference by being grateful for who you are, being grateful for family, for
30:45
friends, for neighbors, for co workers, by counting your blessings. And
30:52
we can go beyond simply counting our blessings by being a blessing. Not too
31:00
long ago, I was teaching a class. This was a class for leaders
31:04
who want to take their faith into their work, not as pastors or rabbis.
31:11
These leaders want to take their faith into the nonprofit sector, into the
31:17
education sector, right into the corporate sector, into the civic sector. Now
31:25
these people, these leaders work as police officers and firefighters, as agency directors
31:30
in mental health, as leaders on our school boards. They are leaders in
31:37
the military. They're educators who work with our youth. Now, all of
31:41
these folks are all about making a difference. I say all of this because,
31:48
just like you and me, sometimes they get so focused on making a
31:52
difference in someone else's life, guess what they tend to forget about themselves.
31:59
That's what happens when you're focused on serving, when you're focused on passing it
32:05
on, when you're focused on giving back. So, if you're like me,
32:10
born to serve, we must remember that one of the best ways to
32:15
make a difference is to take good care of yourself first, so that you
32:22
can serve with a healthy body, mind, and soul. How we live
32:29
is how we serve, right. How we live is how we serve or
32:32
teach, or parent or lead in any aspect of our lives. So let's
32:38
remember to take good care of ourselves every single day. Three sixty five twenty
32:45
four seven. All right, now, if you missed any part of this
32:55
week's episode, you can listen to the recording at your convenience. You can
33:00
even listen on the go. Check us out at www. Dot talknetwork Radio
33:09
dot com. That's www. Dot Talknetwork Radio dot com. And remember to
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put this at the end of dot com Forward Slash Hosts, Forward Slash Legacy
33:23
Living. Got it all right, Www Dot talknetwork Radio dot com. Forward
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Slash Hosts, Forward Slash Legacy Living. If you want to be the change
33:37
you seek, be sure to listen to this podcast again and again and again,
33:44
and be sure to tell somebody. You can find me on iTunes,
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Audible, Alexa, SoundCloud, iHeart, tune in, Spreaker, dot Com,
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Talk Network Radio, and so many other You can learn more about my
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work and Legacy Living. Make your life count by visiting the Gloria Burgess website.
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That's g L O R I A. Gloria Burgess b U R G
34:14
E S S dot com. Now, as I've mentioned before, if you
34:21
love to be inspired, you can subscribe to my inspirations right on my website.
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You just scroll down a little bit look on the right sidebar until you
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see the place to add your email address to subscribe to my weekly inspirations.
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It's that simple. Each week you get a lovely photograph and a very short
34:42
quotation that inspires you. You can also find me on LinkedIn or Facebook,
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and on Facebook you can find me at Facebook dot com forward slash d r
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dr for doctor Dr Gloria Burgess, pH d d forward slash. You can
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also hear and see me by visiting the ted x site and listening to one
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of my ted talks. All right, so just type in my name to
35:12
find me there. Now. Before I close today, I want to thank
35:19
each of you once again for tuning in for allowing me to share a bit
35:22
about my journey with what Legacy living is all about, not just living and
35:28
learning, but living and learning and serving so that you make a difference in
35:35
your own life and in the lives of others. It's about being on purpose,
35:40
being on purpose every single day. Three sixty five twenty four seven.
35:47
Legacy Living is a powerful way to make your life count. I'm your host,
35:54
doctor Gloria Gloria Burgess, and this has been Legacy Living. Make your
36:01
life count. Please join me again next time for another episode of Legacy living.
36:09
Make your life count now. Don't just count the days in your life.
36:15
Make the days in your life count. That's what legacy living is all
36:22
about. Have a fantastic day and remember make the days in your life count.
36:32
God bless that's our show today. I'm your host, Doctor Gloria Gloria
36:51
Burgess. I hope you'll join me again next time. Until then, don't
36:58
just count the days in your life. Make the days in your life count.
37:02
That's what legacy living is all about. Here's to you. Have a
37:07
fantastic day and be sure to make it a yes kind of day. Remember
37:14
to celebrate the music of your life. Make the days in your life count.