The Iowa Writers Retreat is a wondrous thing. An opportunity to break with the mundane, to bask in the sunlight of bright sons and daughters of the Word. Words written, spoken, felt, crafted, aided, abetted, and lived.
At last year’s retreat I was giving a presentation describing my process as a writer of words and music. There were perhaps 20 people at the session most of whom I did not know (yet). You never know who’s out there listening. What they might be receiving from what you’re giving. I do know that it is your duty to give the truth without regard for how it may be received.
After the presentation was over, a slender young man with a wide smile came forward..…..to ask questions. Sabur Mohammed is his name and so curious was he that he reminded me of me as a young wannabe journalist. Seeking to know how to ask the right questions! Hungry to know the way of the interview. More than music, more than words, seeking to understand the essence of Story!
That was a year ago.
Yesterday at the Saturday version of the Des Moines Art Festival I witnessed a collection of truly brave, new voices (including Sabur) seeking, challenging. Tough and tender talking ‘bout everything from poems to pythons to peer acceptance to pure redemption.
Sabur Mohammed, The slender young man with the wide smile approached me last summer at Okoboji with a request to stand next to my old fire. It took a few weeks (months?) before we actually met but when we did, we began “trading fours” like ‘Bird and Diz’ at a late night 1940’s jam session.
Yesterday, however, the son broke through the clouds. Spreading ‘son shine’ to the assembled. As Sabur’s truth emerged, the finger snaps and ‘amen’ choruses arose from the audience. An audience vibrating sympathetically with the finely articulated words and rhythm emanating from the stage. Not with rage but with an eye (and an ear) toward horizons of realization releasing pent up frustration. Darkness dispelled and compelled to disperse as words, woven into verse told the truth as Lymon might have seen it.
Sabur Mohammed, the young man who approached with a question was now a partner in teaching. A son of Hip Hop digging on the fathers of Bebop. A line unbroken finding his place in the Caravan of forever.
Before yesterday, he was a student. Today, I report on the emergence of a teacher. His was a short, but meaning-full lesson from a griot of the future. Listen well, listen between the lines as he honors his mentors (including our friend Caleb Rainey, The Negro Artist). This tradition of truth-telling endures, thrives and drives us into a new reality. A prosperity of thought, if you will.
No better way to transcend the Trumpian than to immerse ourselves in the words of truth as rendered by the youth. Thanks to the Des Moines Arts Festivals’ Literary Arts team for bringing in such a diverse collection of present and future giants for us to enjoy. From pythons (thanks Paul) to poetry, it was a wonderful respite from the mundane.
Iowa Writers’ Collaborative
Below is a list of the members of the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative. Please support their work by sharing and subscribing. Paid subscribers are invited to attend real-time events and occasional Zoom calls among our writers. Your support keeps this reader-only supported service going.
IOWA WRITERS’ COLLABORATIVE
The Roster of Writers
Nicole Baart: This Stays Here, Sioux Center
Ray Young Bear: From Red Earth Drive, Meskwaki Settlement
Laura Belin: Iowa Politics with Laura Belin, Windsor Heights
Tory Brecht: Brecht’s Beat, Quad Cities
Dartanyan Brown, My Integrated Life, Des Moines
Doug Burns: The Iowa Mercury, Carroll
Jane Burns: The Crossover, Des Moines
Dave Busiek: Dave Busiek on Media, Des Moines
Iowa Writers’ Collaborative, Roundup
Steph Copley: It Was Never a Dress, Johnston
Art Cullen: Art Cullen’s Notebook, Storm Lake
Suzanna de Baca: Dispatches from the Heartland, Huxley
Debra Engle: A Whole New World, Madison County
Daniel Finney, Paragraph Stacker, Des Moines
Arnold Garson: Second Thoughts, Okoboji and Sioux Falls
Julie Gammack: Julie Gammack’s Iowa Potluck, Des Moines and Okoboji
Joe Geha: Fern and Joe, Ames
Jody Gifford: Benign Inspiration, West Des Moines
Rob Gray: Rob Gray’s Area, Ankeny
Nik Heftman: The Seven Times, Los Angeles and Iowa
Beth Hoffman: In the Dirt, Lovilia
Iowa Capital Dispatch, an alliance with IWC
Dana James: Black Iowa News, Iowa
Chris Jones, Chris’s Substack, Iowa City
Pat Kinney: View from Cedar Valley, Waterloo
Fern Kupfer: Fern and Joe, Ames
Robert Leonard: Deep Midwest: Politics and Culture, Bussey
Letters from Iowans, Iowa
Darcy Maulsby: Keepin’ It Rural, Calhoun County
Tar Macias: Hola Iowa, Iowa
Alison McGaughey, The Inquisitive Quad Citizen, Quad Cities
Kurt Meyer: Showing Up, St. Ansgar
Vicki Minor, Relatively Minor, Winterset
Wini Moranville: Wini’s Food Stories, Des Moines
Jeff Morrison: Between Two Rivers, Cedar Rapids
Kyle Munson: Kyle Munson’s Main Street, Des Moines
Jane Nguyen: The Asian Iowan, West Des Moines
John Naughton: My Life, in Color, Des Moines
Chuck Offenburger: Iowa Boy Chuck Offenburger, Jefferson and Des Moines
Barry Piatt: Piatt on Politics Behind the Curtain, Washington, D.C.
Dave Price: Dave Price’s Perspective, Des Moines
Steve Semken, The Pulse of a Heartland Publisher, North Liberty
Macey Shofroth: The Midwest Creative, Norwalk
Larry Stone: Listening to the Land, Elkader
Mary Swander: Mary Swander’s Buggy Land, Kalona
Mary Swander: Mary Swander’s Emerging Voices, Kalona
Cheryl Tevis: Unfinished Business, Boone County
Ed Tibbetts: Along the Mississippi, Davenport
Jason Walsmith, The Racontourist, Earlham
Kali White VanBaale, 988: Mental Healthcare in Iowa, Bondurant
Teresa Zilk: Talking Good, Des Moines
The Iowa Writers Collaborative is also proud to ally with Iowa Capital Dispatch.
