Poet Laureate

E. Stanley Richardson

E. Stanley Richardson is an American Poet, Actor, Playwright and Producer. He is the Founder and Director of ARTSPEAKSgnv Inc., the North Central Florida Youth Poet Laureate Program, and the Bard & Broadside North Central Florida Poetry Festival. He is the author of the 2017 award-winning book of poetry, "Hip Hop is Dead - Long Live Hip Hop. The Birth, Death and Resurrection of Hip Hop Activism". Mr. Richardson is the Inaugural Poet Laureate of Alachua County, Florida (2020 - present).

Poet laureate and citizen scientist combines art and health

Poetry Readings

Poem Reading at Lake Forest Elementary School Playground Dedication

Reading of "EDEN"

Readings of "Century Oak" and "An Elegy for Black Bodies"

Reading of "Make Me Wanna Holla"

E. Stanley Richardson, Poet Laureate — Alachua County Poet Laureate, E. Stanley Richardson

Poems

AN ELEGY FOR BLACK BODIES
1867 - 1924
Truth And Reconciliation.
Alachua County, Florida

Your favorite pastime

Bonfires and

backwood

family gatherings

beneath

the live oak canopy

sprawling confederate ivy

the smell of sweet magnolia

and

burning flesh

permeate

our history

die hard

die hard your heroes

the old southern

maestros

who strummed

the swinging rope

emittiing

the strange

familiar sounds

of the peculiar

instruments

played down south

in dixie

killing us

but i wasn't

there!

we were all

there!

just as we are all

here

bound by our

systemic

assembled together

not by happenstance or

accident

but by a divine

power

much greater than ourselves

urging spirits

ghosts of

bystanders

terrified,

afraid, quiet, complicit, loud , boastful

howling

innocent

taken

dazzled by strangness

enthralled by the spectacle of

dangling black bodies

suspended in

atrocity

blowing in the breeze of

white supremacy

you

revelled in our terror

our inherited

horror

trauma passed down as gifts

carved into us

you

took

pieces of us

souvenirs

you

took

pieces of us

heirlooms

relics of our

comingled existence

but i wasnt

there!

we were all

there!

just as we are all

here

today

in this place

at this hour

we confess

we seek

a collective

mending

we seek

to heal

historical wounds

we seek

atonement

recompense through our reconning

forgiveness through our efforts

we grapple with

deeds

we struggle with

words

inadequate language

with each utterance of your name

victims of sanctioned violence

acknowledge your humanity

taken

given

honor you with hymns

lifted

up from the backbone of our

blues

celebrate you in our mourning

give reverence to your eternal spirits

we vow

never

to repeat such atrocities again

you

who have waited too long for

bid you

your

descendants

solace

may your souls rest

in everlasting

peace

- E Stanley Richardson

CENTURY OAK ___ A Conversation With A Tree

As I walked by

The Tree

…. Cried out

Why don't you hold me anymore

Sit beneath my shade

We barely ever talk

Like we once did

100 years ago

I know

You blame me

For being

Deep inside

Hidden

In the blind spot of memory

All of

Our

Pent up

Pain

Must Feel

I know

You blame me

Because,

If I

Had not been

They

Would not have

Dangled

Your Brother

Your Sister

Your Father

Your Mother

.... From my limbs

There would be

No blood

On my branches

I would

Only brown

... Like you

With green hair

Without tinge

With

No hint of red

My wood

Please forgive me

Had I known

If I could

... I would have

Plucked myself

The Root!

- E Stanley Richardson

___ Make Me Wanna Holler

bah dah dee dop!

bop bop bah dah dee dah!

make me wanna holler

throw up both my hands

make me wanna holler

throw up both my hands

mother mother

there are too many of you crying

brother brother brother

there are far too many of you dying

you know

got to find

a way

my country tis of thee

sweet land

of liberty

of thee

i . .. i . i ... i

i was thinking

if the poet sings

will it make the suffering

more real

if i

composed a concerto

instead of a poem

arranged an orchestra

put the pain to music

could you

then

feel

the rhythm scream

if i

resurrected

not

the son of man

but

marvin gaye, bo diddley, tom petty

and

we sat in a holy circle

singing

willie green's blues

my baby

ain't got no shoes

healthcare

would you then

dare to care

but the poet

the poet doesn't

sing

the poet

poems

as did

the prophets to the kings

when covid came

a plague

marching

its acapella death song

laid bare our ugly

underbelly

rolled us over

onto

our exceptional

systemic side

showed the world

how we live

how we die

how we

fall

through

huge gaping holes

that

you consider

cracks

showed the world

how we live

how we die

disproportionate

essential

less privileged

workers

indigenous

black and brown

the other side of town

redlined over eons

stacked

tuna

in a tin

unable to escape

death's breath

its six feet tentacles

when covid came

knocking

at our

toil and scuffle

/ this ain't

living

ghosts of the uninsured

gone too soon

to woe

and dust

haunt us

from the other side of

soup lines

just below

the poverty

index

give us healthcare

expand medicaid

give us healthcare

if you care

to have no concept of

terror

the sickening

unknown

what holds tomorrow

today

made all too real

the cost of your child's next meal

weighed against

the price of a

pill

to have to choose

horror

something heavy

thick and wicked

this way

wails

in the halls of

injustice

just outside

the lawmaker's

chamber

you severed your soul

to spite

your neighbor's

getting

righteousness wallows

disbelief

citizens

citizens poor

sick

and dying

petition powers

for

relief

brazen neglect

a life

grief

/ this ain't

living

give us healthcare

give us

healthcare

expand medicaid

render us

aid

give us healthcare

you

care

if you care

to do

the human thing

the good thing

the right

thing

empathy

decency

compassion

all

that is

required

without politics

without political party partisan

antics

without debate or

hate

without dispise

peering through

racist eyes

though I fear

there in

lies

the rub

_____________________________

___ The Big Picture

A long way

from Mohawk Valley

A young spirit going back

to the natural world

To nest in a wetland

A creek between

two lakes

A home

to create

To trace human figures on canvas

Capture complex ___ shadows

The Light

Pouring like

Gold over nature's

Green

A symphony of hues

Open

Air

What it feels like

To be here

In this

Place

To witness

The angle of

Sunset

Like no other

To discover

Friends worth fighting for

Seventeen Sisters

__ Sampson Point

Cypress Island

__ Little Hammock

Burnt Island

__Grassy Point

and

Twenty Brothers

To be

Gifted a glimpse of the coming

Nightmare and

Trauma

What the land must feel when dug into by the uncaring

Claws of

Commerce

To wonder

What will the shoreline look like in

one hundred

Years

To see

The big picture

When reminded

Just how much a dollar costs

A mother

Lion

In her

Den

To defend

A creek between

Two lakes

___ Fare Thee Well Commissioners

To be
Or not to be

To Hutch
Or not to. Hutch

To Byerly
Or not to. Byerly

These have been
Our questions
For
Many many many many many many many
Years

Tis true

_ Some

A few

Have wondered
Painstakingly pondered
Just what to do
With these
Two
Commissioners

__ Our elected
Petitioners

Of our
Legislative
Good will

Until

Such a day as
Today

Bitter sweet

Shall I
Repeat

Bitter sweet

Bitter bitter bitter
Sweet

To friend and foe
Alike

__ Though
The latter
Bid you
Take
A hike
much sooner

___ I suppose

But
Make no mistake
Be assured
There are
Those

Who
Enthusiastically commend
You

So
__ Commissioners

Fare Thee Well

And
As far as I can tell

The only question
That remains
Is

Now
Who
Will provide
You

Your
Backup
Material?

___ Bread And A Song

Before sixteen nineteen

Seventeen

Seventy

Six

What if

This thing that ails us

We cannot fix

Though I fear

We may not survive

Another

Near death experience

How denial grows

Reluctant

swallow

A fishbone caught

history's throat

We need bread

__ We need bread

We need bread and

Song

Glory Glory Hallelujah

__ Glory Glory Hallelujah

Since

I laid my burden

Down

____

Before _sixteen nineteen

Before

Sixteen

Nineteen

Seventeen

Seventy

Six

What if

This thing that ails us

We cannot

Fix.

__ On this side of

Creativity

What if__

The theory of

Relativity

Resides in the weary words of a sharecropper's Sanctified

Song

Sincerely

Sung

Glory Glory Hallelujah

__ Glory Glory Hallelujah

Since I laid my burden

Down

Plays on the radio

inside the cockpit of a deuce and a quarter

__ Trues and Vogues traveling

North on

Interstate seventy five

Toward the Florida Georgia

Line

In search of the

Einstein

Rosen

Bridge

Take exit

Equals

Square

There

__ Keep right

Follow that glorious beam of light

And proceed through the wondrous

Wormhole

Another dusty road to

Damascus

To be ministered by fire

Kneel

__ Kneel at the feet of the beautiful

Magician

And

Collectively we all

Petition

For a

Divine

__ Do-Over

Moreover

__ A Radical Love

A radical

Love

That cannot be tricket by

Hate

At the count of three

Open the

Floodgate

One

Two

Three

Snap out of it!

Meanwhile

__ Back on

Earth

If only

_ Love

If only love

Smiled

Lifted a finger

Held a homeless hand

Helped a

Neighbor

Plant a frozen heart

In the warm soil of an

Organic

Community

Garden

To grow flowers again

To push

Upward

__ Anything but

Daisies

Why not

Daisies

Yes

Daisies or

Daffodils

Because

__ To love

To love is to truly

Live

Love is

Why

We're

Here

Glory Glory Hallelujah

__ Glory Glory Hallelujah

Lay

Our

Burden

Down

_____________________________

SANKOFA _SISTER

Oh Sankofa__

"Oh Sankofa High on the heavens

You soar My soul is soon

To follow you

Back to yesterday's moon

Will it remember me?

Back to yesterday's sun!

It will rekindle me!

Rekindle the spirit

Into tomorrow and high on the wind.

Sankofa flies Again and Again"

This is not the end

Amen

But

Ever

Learning

Constant

Beginning

Excavation__ Of

Uncovering

Of Truth

and

Reconciliation

A reconnecting with our past Altered

Distorted

And Forgotten Selvesa

A gathering of songs

A hymnal of collected voices Whispered in the wind

A gift given

Amen

Of history's telling

A treasure to be shared amongst us

Amen

She

__ Who sifted

Througyh recollection

Lifted

Memory's

Hushed and

Heavy

Stones

Unrolled our

Hidden

Scrolls

And Read

Our

Words

Aloud.

Amen

She

__ Who encouraged us

To listen

To honor each note Of

History's

Howling Symphonies

Dared us to dance The Ancestors'

Sacred

Dance.

Amen

She

__ Who showered us with her radiance

Shined a joyous glow

She

who empowered us

Helped us to know

The Way Back is

The Way Forward

Amen

This is not the end

Amen

But An

Ever

Learning

Constant

Beginning.

Amen

Sankofa Sister

Flies

Again

And

Again

Sankofa Sister

Flies

Again

And

Again

_____________________ Ase'

THE PERKINS' HOUSE
Alachua County, Florida
Truth And Reconciliation / Dudley Farm

And the truth

And the truth shall make us

Free

Tell the truth

Tell the truth shame the devil

But

What is truth ?

The question The question

Pontius

Pilate

Posed

Quid Est Veritas ?

There are

Alternative truths

But only Truth

Truth

Reconciled here

By a house

How candle light leans

Into History

What has entered and

What exits

Doorways

How the floor

Creaks

is how an old house

Speaks

The wood

The windows

Wind and

Sorrow

how the joists beam hope and promise

Of what awaits

Tomorrow

The thoughts and prayers

Of what

Mantle holds

Above

What wishes

Danced in the fireplace

The children's laughter

Still lingers

in the

Loft

The toil and

Timber

Does the tin roof

Remember

Each season's

Sound of rain

The living

The striving

The surviving

The joy and the pain

Something

Built in bondage and

Emancipated

Fashioned into

Family's

Home

Here and now

Memories

History yet still

The Perkins' House

Stands

E Stanley Richardson

05/04/2024

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Arts Council

Poet Laureate

​​​​​​​​​​​​​E. Stanley Richardson

Poetry Readings

Poem Reading at Lake Forest Elementary School Playground Dedication

Reading of "EDEN"

Readings of "Century Oak" and "An Elegy for Black Bodies"

Reading of "Make Me Wanna Holla"

Poems

AN ELEGY FOR BLACK BODIES 1867 - 1924 Truth And Reconciliation. Alachua County, Florida

CENTURY OAK ___ A Conversation With A Tree

___ Make Me Wanna Holler

___ The Big Picture

___ Fare Thee Well Commissioners

___ Bread And A Song

SANKOFA _SISTER

THE PERKINS' HOUSE Alachua County, Florida Truth And Reconciliation / Dudley Farm

E. Stanley Richardson

AN ELEGY FOR BLACK BODIES
1867 - 1924
Truth And Reconciliation.
Alachua County, Florida

THE PERKINS' HOUSE
Alachua County, Florida
Truth And Reconciliation / Dudley Farm