Below the poem, see details of a special online reading event with Leonard A. Slade Jr.
Neglecting the Flowers
By Leonard A. Slade Jr.
I work until
midnight, checking
students’ paper,
kissing the moon
until cocks crow.
I write in corners
where silence
speaks loudly
and words drip
honey,
sweetening the
days filled with
sorrow. They say
I labor too hard,
teaching and writing,
neglecting the
flowers
struggling
for growth
at home.
Source: Sweet Solitude: New and Selected Poems, SUNY Press, 2010
ONLINE EVENT
Campus Conversations Presents: An Afternoon of Poetry with Dr. Leonard A. Slade Jr.
Professor Slade will hold an online poetry reading, then take questions and answers.
12:30 p.m. Monday, December 5
Free.
Registration via Zoom: https://albany.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_I8tYdswuQAqhI4StiVNhZw
Leonard A. Slade Jr. is a former professor of Africana Studies, adjunct professor of English,
past director of the Humanistic Studies Doctoral Program and the Master of Arts in Liberal Studies Program, and Citizen Academic Laureate at the University at Albany.
He has been published in many journals and magazines and is the author of more than 20 books of poetry, including Jazz After Dinner; Triumph; Another Black Voice, A Different Drummer; Fire Burning; Pure Light; and For the Love of Freedom.