On February 16, 2017, The Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Arts’ Third Thursday series featured native Chicagoan poet Phillip B. Williams.
Per usual, the event was preceded by a jazz trio as well as an open mic featuring seven volunteer readers.
Event coordinator Ken Autrey gave an opening statement alluding to the controversy in Washington, D.C. surrounding federal funding for arts programs.
“For funding, we’re…indebted to the Alabama Council of the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts, and in these times, it’s particularly important that we cherish these funding organizations,” Autrey said.
After the open mic, Autrey gave a brief overview of Williams’ life and work, praising his poetry.
“I don’t know of any other poet, young or established, who writes with the kind of energy and fluency in this collection [Williams’ poetry collection Thief in the Interior].”
Williams read mostly selections from Thief, but also included a few new poems.
He also remedied the mood between readings with lighthearted humor, acknowledging the heavy topics and imagery that populate his work.
“I like to crack jokes between my poems because my poems are very dark,” Williams said, “but a lot of things we love because they are dark, or because they are the antithesis of darkness, which only makes darkness more necessary.”
Upcoming Third Thursday features include Marci Calabretta Cancio-Bello on March 16 and Sandra Beasley on April 20.
Third Thursday events will temporarily halt starting in May and resume in August, due to the planned renovations to occur in the museum over the summer.
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