Kevin Powell | A Poem for Evangeline & Other Songs

About this episode

The Free Library of Philadelphia Foundation presents a night of words and conversation with Kevin Powell With this, his 17th book and his 4th poetry collection, Kevin Powell further cements his legacy as one of the most celebrated political, cultural, literary, and hip-hop voices in America. A Poem for Evangeline, And Other Songs, is a series of tender and skillfully constructed love letters to his wife, yes. But it is also a sensitive and sacred poetic manifesto for humanity, for America. Be it hate or violence in all forms, mental health, family, history, childhood traumas, the meaning of manhood, or his profound longing for peace, Powell channels forebears like Lucille Clifton, like Federico García Lorca, like the purple cadences and skylight hues of our kinfolk. The result is a poetry book for our times, yes, but also for the times not yet imagined. Kevin Powell is one of the most celebrated political, cultural, literary, and hip-hop voices in America. He is a GRAMMY-nominated poet, a human and civil rights activist, a journalist, a filmmaker, a former two-time candidate for the United States Congress in New York City, and a public speaker who has been to all 50 American sta