Entertainment

Maine Man to Explore Final Resting Places of Poets in South

Published

11 years ago

June 1, 2015

In this Thursday, May 28, 2015 photo, an Edgar Allan Poe bobble-head rests on the dashboard of a utility van dubbed “Dedgar the Poemobile,” driven by its owner, Dead Poets Society of America founder Walter Skold, left, in Freeport, Maine. Skold will take the van on a 16-state, 10-week tour to document the final resting places of 90 poets in the Deep South. (AP Photo/David Sharp)

David Sharp, ASSOCIATED PRESS

FREEPORT, Maine (AP) — A former teacher who travels the country to document the final resting places of poets is looking forward to calling attention to African-American poets on a tour of the South and elsewhere.

Black poets have been writing about injustice and hardship since the days of slavery, and the theme rings true today, given the recent unrest surrounding police killings of black men, Walter Skold said.

“African-American poets have been going through the same turmoil. They’ve been right there. They’ve chronicled the great sorrows and successes that African-Americans have had,” he said.

Skold, who is the founder of the Dead Poets Society of America, intends to reach a milestone of the 500th grave during the 16-state, 10-week pilgrimage, which kicks off Saturday in Baltimore at the grave of Edgar Allan Poe before moving into the South. For the trip, he’s visiting 90 graves, including those of 47 state poets laureate across the region.

Fifteen African-American poets include Albery Whitman, who was born a slave, spoke out against the treatment of the Seminoles in Florida and was dubbed the “poet laureate of the Negro race.” He’s buried in Atlanta.

Others include Arna Bontemps, a Louisiana-born poet who was part of the Harlem Renaissance and is buried in Nashville, Tennessee; Robert Charles Benjamin, who’s buried in Lexington, Kentucky, where he was shot in 1900 while trying to get blacks to register to vote; and Melvin Tolson, Liberia’s poet laureate, buried in Guthrie, Oklahoma.

One of the more offbeat poets is Sun Ra, who’s better known as a musical composer and performer who espoused a “cosmic philosophy” and claimed to be from Saturn. He’s buried in his home state in Birmingham, Alabama.

Jericho Brown, who leads poetry workshops at Emory University in Atlanta, said there’s a diversity of viewpoints and experiences among black poets that defies any single narrative. But there are cultural influences, like Missouri-born Langston Hughes’ use of the rhythms of jazz and blues in his poetry, he said.

“Being black affords you the opportunity to see things that others might not be able to see, to give you experiences that others may not have,” Brown said.

Skold, 54, of Freeport, is a poet himself. He travels in a souped-up box van dubbed “Dedgar the Poemobile,” with a whimsical portrait of Poe on the side, solar panels on the roof and a single bed inside. When he’s done with this trip, he plans to finish a documentary, “Finding Frost: Poets and The Graves.”

He sometimes sleeps in graveyards to get the best light for photographs and video that he uses to document the graves. But he says he has never communed with the ghosts or spirits of bards.

“I feel a connection to the poets, but it’s a historical one,” he said. “The whole nature of my project has become celebratory. It’s not something that I see as morbid at all.”

His adventures were nearly cut short in 2010, when he suffered a heart attack in New Jersey after visiting Walt Whitman’s grave.

After a hospital stay in Princeton, he traveled to the nearby grave of Henry van Dyke, author of the poem that begins, “Joyful, joyful, we adore thee,” to play his harmonica and offer a prayer of thanks that he’s not yet a dead poet.

___

Follow David Sharp on Twitter at https://twitter.com/David_Sharp_AP

The story has been corrected to restore dropped word in a quote from Jericho Brown to say: “Being black affords you the opportunity to see things that others might not be able to see, to give you experiences that others may not have.”
Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Oakland Post: Week of August 12 – 18, 2026

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of August 12 – 18, 2026

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August 15, 2026

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Misty Copeland Shapes Ballet’s Tomorrow

THE POSITIVE COMMUNITY — Misty Copeland will curate the 2026 Joyce Ballet Festival, a two-week event in New York City from August 4-16. This role allows her to influence the future of ballet by showcasing a wide range of dancers, choreographers, and companies. The festival will present both established and contemporary works, blending classical traditions with new artistic expressions.

Published

1 week ago

August 9, 2026

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Misty Copeland at the 2026 Met Gala, wearing fashion in theme of "Costume Art" Date 4 May 2026, 19:39:21

This summer, Misty Copeland will step into a different kind of spotlight. Instead of taking center stage as a dancer, she will help determine what audiences see onstage as curator of the 2026 Joyce Ballet Festival. Taking place August 4 through August 16 at The Joyce Theater in New York City, the two-week celebration will bring together dancers, choreographers and companies representing a broad spectrum of ballet. The festival gives Copeland an opportunity to share not only her appreciation for ballet’s traditions, but also her vision for its future.

Copeland understands better than most how powerful a ballet stage can be. Her historic career with American Ballet Theatre changed the conversation about representation in one of the world’s most traditional performing arts. When she became the company’s first Black woman to reach the rank of principal dancer, her achievement carried significance far beyond a personal milestone. It gave young dancers of color a new image of what was possible and challenged the industry to reconsider who belonged at the center of ballet.

That history informs the perspective she brings to the festival. Copeland has spent much of her career moving between performance, mentorship, advocacy and storytelling. Her curatorial role allows her to bring those interests together by creating a program that does not treat ballet as a museum piece. Instead, the festival presents dance as an evolving language capable of carrying classical traditions into new cultural and artistic territory.

Audiences will encounter a mixture of established works and contemporary creations during the festival. Classical ballet vocabulary will share space with choreography that pushes dancers toward different physical, emotional and theatrical possibilities. The result is intended to give audiences a broader understanding of the art form while demonstrating that tradition and innovation do not have to be competing forces.

The lineup also provides an opportunity to see dancers from different artistic environments. Performers connected to organizations including American Ballet Theatre, New York City Ballet, Paris Opera Ballet, Houston Ballet, Dance Theatre of Harlem and Complexions Contemporary Ballet are among those represented in the festival. Each company carries its own history and artistic identity, making their participation part of a larger conversation about the many ways ballet can be performed and interpreted.

The presence of Dance Theatre of Harlem is particularly meaningful within the larger story of Copeland’s career and the evolution of Black representation in ballet. Founded during a period when opportunities for Black dancers were severely limited, the company helped demonstrate that excellence and classical training could flourish in a Black cultural environment. Its legacy continues to influence dancers and audiences, making its connection to a festival curated by Copeland especially resonant.

The program also reaches beyond a single definition of contemporary ballet. Choreographers with different backgrounds and artistic philosophies contribute to an evening that can move from recognizable classical structures to works shaped by modern dance, theater, popular culture and new approaches to movement. That diversity reflects a generation of artists who increasingly see ballet not as a rigid vocabulary but as a foundation from which they can explore.

For New York audiences, the festival offers something that is increasingly valuable: the opportunity to experience outstanding dancers in an intimate setting. The Joyce is known for presenting dance in a theater where audiences can see movement and artistry up close. That environment can make a familiar ballet work feel newly personal while allowing experimental pieces to communicate with unusual immediacy.

Copeland’s role as curator also sends a message about the importance of artistic leadership. The people who select performers and choreography help determine which stories receive attention and which artists receive opportunities. By bringing a range of voices into the festival, Copeland is using that responsibility to broaden the conversation around ballet. Her choices can introduce audiences to artists they may not otherwise encounter while encouraging longtime ballet followers to look at the form from a different perspective.

The 2026 Joyce Ballet Festival ultimately arrives at an important moment for the art form. Ballet is carrying centuries of tradition into an era defined by changing audiences, broader representation and increasingly adventurous choreography. Copeland’s festival reflects that transition. For two weeks in August, The Joyce will become a meeting place for the familiar and the unexpected—a celebration of where ballet came from and a preview of where it may be going. And with Misty Copeland helping shape the conversation, the future of ballet promises to be as expansive as the dancers who are defining it.

Based on reporting by The Positive Community.