A Poet’s Poet
The Life and Legacy of Naomi Long Madgett (1923 - 2020)




Naomi Long Madgett, Poet Laureate of the City of Detroit since 2001 and recipient of the 2012 Kresge Eminent Artist Award, is the author of eleven books of poetry and two textbooks and editor of two anthologies. Her poems appear in numerous journals and more than 180 anthologies both here and abroad. Several have been set to music and publicly performed. Her career as a published poet spans more than sixty years. In 1980 Lotus Press, Inc. was recognized as a 501(C)(3) organization specializing in the publication of books of poetry of high literary quality. Naomi continued to serve as publisher/ editor until 2015 when Lotus Press merged with Broadside Press, becoming what is now Broadside Lotus Press.
“It was only when I gave myself away...
...that I began to find myself. Service, I have learned, is where true happiness lies. It has provided me with a compassion that I didn’t have in my youth. It has permitted me to walk in the shoes of many and feel the warmth of their feet as well as the pebbles that injure them. I have found that cheerfulness, kindness, and helpfulness bring as much joy to the ones who extend them as those who receive them—perhaps a great deal more.”

“Woman With Flower”
1965
I wouldn’t coax the plant if I were you.
Such watchful nurturing may do it harm.
Let the soil rest from so much digging
And wait until it’s dry before you water it.
The leaf’s inclined to find its own direction;
Give it a chance to seek the sunlight for itself.
Much growth is stunted by too careful prodding,
Too eager tenderness.
The things we love we have to learn to leave alone.
FEATURED BOOK
You Are My Joy And Pain
"The Starlit Poetry of Naomi Long Madgett"FEATURED BOOK
You Are My Joy And Pain
"The Starlit Poetry of Naomi Long Madgett"
The reader will know after reflection that he or she is in the presence of a master.
Herbert Woodward Martin
Author of The Shape of Regret (Wayne State University Press, 2019)Even with the evidence of over a half-century or more of first-rate poetic artistry by Madgett, this collection is a breath-arresting surprise and delight.
Bill Harris
2011 Kresge Foundation Eminent ArtistThis work is a blessing that assures that the range, depth, profundity of her voice, and complex subtlety of her poetics will continue to impact, nourish, and advance literary vision.
Melba Joyce Boyd
Author and Distinguished University Professor and Chair of the Department of Africana Studies at Wayne State UniversityLove's blossoming thrills, passionate commitments, and painful demise form the arc of Naomi Long Madgett's You Are My Joy and Pain and reflect a lifetime of love. Honesty, wit, and formal dexterity undergird these poems.
Terry Blackhawk
Author of One Less RiverFEATURED BOOK
You Are My Joy And Pain
"The Starlit Poetry of Naomi Long Madgett"Poetry reading
“City Nights”
“Midway”
1959
I’ve come this far to freedom and I won’t turn back
I’m climbing to the highway from my old dirt track
I’m coming and I’m going
And I’m stretching and I’m growing
And I’ll reap what I’ve been sowing or my skin’s not black
I’ve prayed and slaved and waited and I’ve sung my song
You’ve bled me and you’ve starved me but I’ve still grown strong
You’ve lashed me and you’ve treed me
And you’ve everything but freed me
But in time you’ll know you need me and it won’t be long.
I’ve seen the daylight breaking high above the bough
I’ve found my destination and I’ve made my vow;
So whether you abhor me
Or deride me or ignore me
Mighty mountains loom before me and I won’t stop now.

Midway was first published in Freedomways in 1959, but I think I wrote it in 1958. The poem grew out of a discussion with a friend that acknowledged that the Supreme Court desegregation ruling, which legalized racial justice for the first time, led to the determination of Black people to move forward and never again accept the status quo.