Poets from Indiana, Etheridge Knight
Black revolutionary poet, drug addict, poet of the people, Korean War vet, intellectual, member of the the Broadside Quartet--Etheridge Knight was a complicated figure. And yes, I know he was born in Mississippi and grew up in Kentucky. I know he bounced around the U.S. for a while in mythic poetic fashion and hung out with the likes of Amiri Baraka, Haki R. Madhubuti, Nikki Giovanni, the one-and-only Gwendolyn Brooks, and Sonia Sanchez, whom he was married to for two years. Yes, I know he's one of the titans of the Blacks Arts Movement. But he made his home in Indianapolis, got a college degree later in life there, made friends, mentored young poets, battled his addiction, and eventually died there. They even just put up a mural to him in Indy at the Chatterbox jazz club.
Here's a sample from one of my favorites. You can find the entire poem on the Poetry Foundation.
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