Howard Austin, Carl Sandburg, Gwendolyn Brooks and Kevin Stein. Until 2020, these were the only individuals previously honored with the designation of Illinois Poet Laureate. Angela Jackson, named by a special Illinois Poet Laureate Search Committee as the fifth Illinois Poet Laureate, is an award-winning poet, novelist, and playwright. She was a special Zoom meeting guest of the Chillicothe Public Library on April 21 for a reading of her poetry and an interactive discussion centering on her newest collection, More Than Meat and Raiment, published in January.

“We were really excited for the opportunity to host the Illinois Poet Laureate through the Illinois Humanities Road Scholars Speakers Bureau, which makes a wide variety of high-quality programs and presenters accessible to organizations like ours,” said Catherine Barnett, programming director for the Chillicothe Public Library. “When we saw that Angela Jackson was on the speaker roster this year, we leapt at the chance to invite her to present here during National Poetry Month– not that poetry is ever out of season.”

Born in Greenville, Mississippi and raised on Chicago’s Southside, Jackson was educated at Northwestern University and the University of Chicago. She is a key figure in the Black Arts Movement and is the author of Voo Doo/Love Magic (1974); Witness! (1978); Shango Diaspora: An AfricanAmerican Myth of Womanhood and Love (1980); Solo in the Boxcar Third Floor E (1985); Dark Legs and Silk Kisses: The Beatitudes of the Spinners (1993); And All These Roads Be Luminous: Poems Selected and New (1998); Where I Must Go (2009); It Seems Like a Mighty Long Time (2015); Roads, Where There Are No Roads (2017); A Surprised Queenhood in the New Black Sun: The Life and Legacy of Gwendolyn Brooks (2017); and Comfort Stew (2019).

“Angela Jackson’s poems dwell in fervid topographies of family and myth, heart and tongue,” noted past Illinois Poet Laureate Kevin Stein. “Her lines bristle with the melody of conversation and soulful blues, her voice unwaveringly human.”

Yet, according to Jackson, 71, hers is far from a household name.

“It’s my pleasure to get a chance to be heard,” said Jackson, who has been contracted to provide just four other such virtual readings in 2022 through the Illinois Humanities Road Scholars Speakers Bureau. “I’m not the most well-known poet. So I am glad to be able to read.”

For the better part of an hour Jackson offered readings and interpretations from her four volumes and three chapbooks of poetry, often delving into personal recollections and stories from her youth on Chicago’s southside and racism in society.

“When I think about poets who have been more lauded and successful, I don’t think they have dealt with racism as directly as I have,” Jackson said in response to an audience query about racism’s influence on black poetry. “They may have talked about being African-American but not directly and, more to the point, they talked more about (the) inside of white culture.”

Jackson said she carefully selects the cover artwork for her publications from submissions by black artists. Each cover holds relevance to the content of her collections of poetry, including

the artwork for More than Meat and Raiment, which was crafted by visual artist and fellow poet Krista Franklin.

“Frederick Douglas is in the window, and he believed that freedom was achieved through reading. You can see (on the cover) that the father is teaching the son how to read. The (cover) collage is about freedom and moving towards freedom, and I think this book is about freedom. There is a lesson learned that people can be enslaved by their worst selves, so freedom is in being your best self,” said Jackson.

Other poems in the book are about contemporary black life and roadblocks to freedom, according to Jackson. “An epic poem near the end of the book is about the Black Life Matters movement and the murders of young black men, and women, by police. These are impediments to freedom. Frederick Douglas wrote of freedom that slavery impacts not only who is enslaved, but that those who are doing the enslaving are also enslaving themselves,” she said.

Barnett said she brushed up on Jackson’s poetry in advance of hosting the event, which attracted both an in-person (viewers at the library) and online audience.

“I had the pleasure of reading some of Ms. Jackson’s poetry, and it’s gripping enough as words printed on a page. But to be able to hear her interpret and perform her poems during the event added such rich dimension. She has a wonderfully expressive way of reading, which brought out the voices of her characters and the tone and music of the words so effectively,” said Barnett.

“It was also interesting to hear her reflect on parts of her own story and the inspiration behind some of her poems. If I could have stopped the clock and extended the Q&A portion of the program, there were a lot more questions on my list to ask her about her craft and her experiences. As one attendee put it, she’s the kind of person you just want to sit down in your living room and talk with.”

To become Illinois’ fifth Poet Laureate Jackson submitted a self-promoting essay and a short video, and also delivered samples of her work to the special committee. Three finalists were selected for review by Illinois First Lady MK Pritzker, who selected Jackson to represent Illinois.

Here are links to Jackson’s entire April 21 Zoom meeting and poetry reading held at the Chillicothe Public Library:

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