The Metro: A visit from poet Brad Walrond and Detroit Poet Laureate jessica Care moore

What does “belonging” mean to you?

Maybe it’s being in spaces where you feel comfortable, or being surrounded by others with similar interests. No matter what “belonging” means to you, it’s a very human desire.

Like other nations, America has drawn internal lines, preventing people from belonging in its experiment.

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Poet Brad Walrond explores “belonging” in his latest book “Everywhere Alien.” Walrond is a poet, author, conceptual-performance artist, and one of the foremost participants in the 1990s Black Arts Movement in New York City.

He is also the first poet to be published by Moore Black Press, which was founded by Detroit’s Poet Laureate jessica Care moore.

To share more about “Everywhere Alien,” Walrond and Moore joined The Metro.

“Everywhere Alien” analyzes the idea of belonging and feelings of isolation. In the book, Walrond connects these main ideas and feelings and relates them to the African American community.

“It centers Blackness. But Blackness is a civilizational inheritance. It is the species, right? And then we have white supremacy. And it’s almost like…the world has conspired to alienate ourselves from our own humanity,” Walrond said.

Walrond got the inspiration for his book from his rich journeys and experience in New York City. More specifically, he got the meaning of his book from visiting underground movements in NYC, where he felt extremely immersed in the scene — yet alienated at the same time.

“It is like this uber surrealist, dimensional journey, and ultimately, it’s a journey inward,” Walrond described. “I think that’s what this notion of alienation and belonging has taught me — that the journey really is inside, and really capturing the contours of all the beings inside you — and finding the faith and the courage to live that as wildly and as boldly as you can.”

Walrond explained how his dream for every human being was to find and live out that journey inside themselves.

Moore also explained how Black Women Rock is coming to The Fillmore Detroit on Aug. 31 for its 20th anniversary.

“If you don’t have your tickets, it’s the baddest rock and roll concert in the world,” Moore exclaimed. “These women are legends, and they’re stars already. That’s not an emerging, emerging talent show. Just because you don’t know who they are doesn’t mean that we don’t know who they are. And if you haven’t seen the show, come it’s a great weekend, Labor Day weekend Fillmore, Detroit.”

Tickets for Black Women Rock are available at livenation.com and the venue box office.

More headlines from The Metro for Aug. 15, 2024:

• In politics, there are always people that need to be persuaded to your side or need convincing to come out and vote. One person doing a lot of that convincing is Lori Goldman. Lori is the founder of Fems for Dems, a group of progressive women organizing for Democrats in Southeast Michigan. She’s helped create the blue wave that’s washed over Oakland County this past decade. Goldman joined The Metro to discuss her theory of organizing and what Democrats need to do to turn out the vote in Oakland County.
• Earth Tones Concert at the Palmer Park Log Cabin returns this Sunday. The series brings people together in the park through music, arts and storytelling. Detroiter Wendell Harrison and the curator of the Earth Tones Concert series, Joe Darling, joined The Metro to discuss the show.
• We live in an era of fast fashion. Department stores and malls are closing all the time, but there is still one tried and true source for shopping in real life — thrifting. And that’s especially true now as this Saturday is National Thrift Shop Day. To talk about all things thrifting, Bri Stacy from Hamtramck-based Public Thrift joined The Metro.