Dudley Randall "gives us pause to consider what is good from our past"

There's a really nice write up about Detroit poet Dudley Randall by Larry Gabriel in this week's Metro Times. The remembrance was prompted by the publication this month of Roses and Revolutions: The Selected Writings of Dudley Randall edited by Melba Joyce Boyd and published by Wayne State University Press.

"As new political personalities grab for the reins of Detroit and seek to break with the past, Randall gives us pause to consider what is good from our past," Gabriel writes. "Boyd has done us a great service in bringing together many of Randall's disparate writings in one volume. Let's not forget him. He never seemed to forget who he was or where he was from. And he never wavered a bit in seeking justice."

Randall was at one time a librarian at University of Detroit Mercy (my alma mater). UDM now has The Dudley Randall Center for Print Culture, which is how I first heard of Randall's poetic legacy. In 2004 the Dudley Randall Center put out A Different Image: The Legacy of Broadside Press (Wayne State University Press), an anthology of poets published by the press founded by Randall. It's pretty much a must-have for anyone interested in the history of poetry in Detroit.

Also in this week's Metro Times: The Wonder Twins get all medieval on yer asses.