Remembrance and joy. Legacy and Consciousness Transitions… History and ancestral beginnings Enjoy the poetic nuances of Phylise Smith.   Her words move in a lyrical dance of words. Feel her flow. Halloween Halloween night, in a persona I’ve never become I bewitched and twitched wearing a black and orange striped elevated hat spider web marked cape, charcoal knee high black boots. And carrying a tiny broom made of dead leaves. When I was a child  Pulsating black lights glimpsed through house doors smiling wide. Streaming organ music fake howls, yells, signaled candy would flood my wrinkled paper sack. Puff it into a brown balloon piñata  of chocolates, marshmallows, caramels, suckers amid occasional cigarettes thrown in by adult pranksters. Long ago, candy was my Halloween. Whether my costume was a princess, comic book figure, pirate, ghost, fairy, witch- it didn’t matter In play, these roles were ribbons in my hair. ...

(Left to Right)  bill berry, jr. CEO/Publisher, aaduna Inc., Terry Quill, musician, "Jumping Joe"  Joe  Whiting, musician, Featured Readers:  Karen Faris, Charles "Seabe" Banks, Vanessa Johnson, Doug Curry, Bernie Williford/music accompanist for Vanessa) and  Howard Nelson Once a year on the fourth Thursday of May, selected and invited poets, writers and musicians come together for a special evening of sharing their creative gifts that are delicately and fiercely wrapped in words and notes in the spirit and legacy of the ongoing impact of the Harlem Renaissance. Audience members came decked out in flapper dresses, glittering bow ties, and sharp and hip caps and hats marked by a frivolity of spirit and attitude that morphed to attentive listening as the music cascades for bodily movement, and the words reign a multitude of emotions and topics that challenge and enlighten. It was not planned to be a gala affair…it just happened that way.  ...