In The News | Why Poetry Matters Now With Hartford’s Poet Laureate

Connecticut Public Radio, April 9, 2021 — April is National Poetry Month. It’s a time to celebrate poets and their craft. So we asked Hartford’s poet laureate, Frederick-Douglass Knowles II, if he would share his talent and his thoughts about why poetry matters, especially right now. 

Knowles is Hartford’s inaugural poet laureate, named in 2018. He’s a professor of English at Three Rivers Community College in Norwich and the author of BlackRoseCity. He’s also a recipient of the Nutmeg Poetry Award and the 2020 Connecticut Office of the Arts Fellow in Artist Excellence for Poetry and Creative Non-Fiction.

Here is the poem he read during the interview.

How Many Fanatics In the Cosmic Realm of Roller Skating Actually Overdosed on Rhythm and Speed?

I laced my shiny black boots
and dashed to the boy’s bathroom
to christen fluorescent green
Zingers in lukewarm water,
assuring my wheels an extra grip.

Disco lights flickered like electronic
Christmas trees. Huge box speakers
dangled from the ceiling blaring
Michael Jackson’s “Thriller:”

It’s close to midnight,
something evil’s lurking
in the dark, under the moonlight…

Vincent Price hypnotizes
ambitious roller boogies with
the funk of forty thousand years.

Saturday nights belonged
to the skate gods; we, obedient
zealots circling their shrine.

Wilbert rolled in reverse,
sporting blue Dickies
and a crisp white polo T
embroidered skate guard.
Though he never benched
anyone for speeding.

Phillip Marshall owned
the only pair of triple
jump-bar skates ever seen
in the Rose; shiny, crisp blades

reflecting psychedelic hues
of turquoise, green and gold
that mesmerized white girls
as they floated past waving
blonde locks of allure.

Pete fancied an old
wheel for a toe stopper;
cool, the way he’d cut
his ankles screeching
his plump frame to a halt.

An exhilarated Chanise
offered me five dollars
for a blind couples’ skate.
I did the math, two slices
of pizza, a coke and some
chips for two songs: deal.

Allison, was the economically
advantaged out of the group
who dished out her allowance
for Pole Position tournaments.

And I, was the Shoot The Duck King,
the undefeated Chipped Tooth Champ.

When Afrikka Bambaata’s
“Planet Rock” hit the turntable
we’d drop conspiracy theories
on who shot J.R.?

And wager how many laps
one of us could achieve
before Rolo, the by the book
guard, blew his whistle.

We ignored the shrieks.
No time for rules.
Only time for speed.

More whistle-blowing
and then, Rolo’s pointed
finger. His direct order
to get off the floor
and sit by the office.

Damn! I got kicked off again.
eight laps into “White Lines,”
Melle Mel’s prophetic hook
shouting to a skate feign on
the verge of od’ing to don’t
don’t don’t don’t don’t don’t
do it ba ba ba ba ba ba baby!

Too late.

During my 10 minute suspension,
I contemplated how many fanatics
in the cosmic realm of roller skating
actually overdosed on rhythm and speed
in a world of bliss and 80’s pop music?

Times up.
I pressed my black
toe stopper firmly
into the carpet,
assuring me a solid
thrust back onto the floor.

 

— By Lori Mack, Connecticut Public’s Morning Edition host

The original article can be found here: “Why Poetry Matters Now With Hartford’s Poet Laureate”

 

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Hartford Poet Laureate to deliver Commencement address at Three Rivers on May 22, 2019

Three Rivers Community College is pleased to announce that Frederick-Douglass Knowles II, Hartford Poet Laureate and associate professor at Three Rivers, will be the keynote speaker at the College’s fifty-fourth commencement ceremony, which will take place on Wednesday, May 22 at 5 p.m. outdoors on the campus green.

“Frederick-Douglass’s community activism, appointment as Hartford’s inaugural poet laureate, and close ties to Norwich made him a natural choice for Commencement Speaker,” said Three Rivers President Mary Ellen Jukoski. “We are honored that he will be speaking and fortunate to call him one of our own.”

Frederick-Douglass Knowles II is a poet, educator and activist involved in community education. He is the inaugural Poet Laureate for the City of Hartford. In this role, he promotes awareness and appreciation of poetry, spoken word, and writing in Hartford; and endeavors to instill pride in the community. His collection of poetry, BlackRoseCity was featured at the 2018 Association of Writers & Writing Programs. Knowles’ works have been featured in the Connecticut River Review; Sinkhole Magazine; Poems on the Road to Peace: A Collective Tribute to Dr. King Volume 2; The East Haddam Stage Company of Connecticut, The 13th Annual Acacia Group Conference at California State University, Lefoko magazine, and Fingernails Across the Chalkboard: Poetry and Prose on HIV/AIDS from the Black Diaspora by Third World Press. His poem “Mason Freeman Cuts Jenkins Down,” has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize.

Knowles is also an Associate Professor of English who has taught at Three Rivers for 11 years in the English and Communications Department. He also teaches classes at a local prison as part of the Three Rivers Community College Second Chance Pell Grant program. In addition to serving as the Three Rivers representative on CSCU’s Students First Consolidation Committee, he co-founded the Men Against Domestic Violence Artistic Expression annual event which consists of music, poetry readings and performances, and a live artist painting.  Knowles also chairs the TRCC Community Involvement Committee.

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Associate Professor Frederick-Douglass Knowles II named Hartford’s First Poet Laureate

Three Rivers Community College is excited to share that Associate Professor Frederick-Douglass Knowles II has been named Hartford’s First Poet Laureate. In this role, he will promote awareness and appreciation of poetry, spoken word, and writing in Hartford; and endeavor to instill pride in the community.

Three Rivers President Mary Ellen Jukoski congratulates Knowles on the appointment saying, “This is a wonderful honor for Professor Knowles. We take pride in his positive achievement and wish him continued success on this auspicious occasion.”

On his accomplishment, Knowles says, “I am truly grateful for this opportunity. My grandmother, Marjorie Sloan Bell Knowles, was a Hartford native and this gives me a chance to extend my family roots. My goal is to bridge the gap between literary and performance poetry with a literacy campaign that will stretch into schools and the Hartford Public Library system. I want to stress what a role poetry has played in my life and how it led me down this path of authorship, leadership, professorship, and civic activism. It is so important to follow our passions, and it has led to this monumental moment in my life.”

Knowles is an Associate Professor of English who has taught at Three Rivers for 11 years in the English and Communications Department. He also teaches classes at a local prison as part of the Three Rivers Community College Second Chance Pell Grant program. In addition to serving as the Three Rivers representative on CSCU’s Students First Consolidation Committee, he co-founded the Men Against Domestic Violence Artistic Expression annual event which consists of music, poetry readings and performances, and a live artist painting.  Knowles also chairs the TRCC Community Involvement Committee.

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