Affrilachian poet Ricardo Nazario y Colón has two new books coming out in the relatively near future. One book will be out between now and the end of the year: “Of Jíbaros and Hillbillies,” from Plain View Press, for 35 years now an independent literary pubisher in Austin, Texas. Jíbaros were the hill people, Puerto Rico’s hillbillies, a working class of people who worked in the sugar and tobacco fields. The term jíbaros can have a negative or positive connotation. It represents people who are the cuture’s backbone, but it could mean maybe those who are too impressionable, I’m not sure. With his sense of humor, and his diverse cultural understanding, the poet has a book here I look forward to reading. I’ll keep you posted. A second interesting-sounding book, a chapbook that contains about 30 poems, is called “Orseito: The Moor of the Bronx” and is due out by February 2011.

Lexington, KY— Randall Horton, Kamilah Aisha Moon, and Jeremy Paden comprise the fifth induction of members to the Affrilachian Poets. The group will celebrate its twentieth anniversary with the first Affrilachian conference and writing retreat in 2011. Details to come.

The Affrilachian Poets have been writing and thriving in Appalachia and beyond since 1991. The term, “Affrilachia,” was coined by Frank X Walker as testament to the cultural and physical connection to the Appalachian Region from writers of color.

A group of friends and colleagues who eventually called themselves the Affrilachian Poets initially met in the Martin King, Jr. Cultural Center at the University of Kentucky. Ten years later, the AP’s were the subject of the documentary “Coal Black Voices” which broadcast on PBS, and the word “Affrilachia” is now an entry in the Oxford American Dictionary.

Known for work that pays homage to family, social struggle and relationships to rural and urban landscapes, among the Affrilachian Poets are award-winning authors, academics, and activists. Group members have edited the anthologies America! What’s My Name?, The Ringing Ear: Black Poets Lean South, founded the literary journals Torch: poetry, prose, and short stories by African-American women, Pluck!: the Affrilachian Journal of Arts and Culture, and the independent publishing houses, Mythium and Blacoetry Press.

Collectively the AP’s have published a total of twenty-five titles, with six collections set to be released between 2010-2011.To learn more about the history of the Affrilachian Poets and individual members, please log on to www.affrilachianpoets.com.

Upcoming Dates for the Affrilachian Poets:

Frostburg State University; Frostburg, MD (Sept. 18, 2010) “Born and Bred”; Lexington, KY (Sept. 28, 2010) Association of Writers and Writing Programs Conference; Washington, D.C. (Feb. 4-5, 2011)

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) — An unknown scribe who goes by the name “The Midnight Poet” is leaving bits of prose on the doorsteps of some Morgantown homes.

City police Lt. Harold Sperringer says the poems written on scraps of paper don’t appear threatening. In fact, the writer appears to be trying to sway recipients’ minds on a variety of topics.

Sperringer said the poems are “hard to explain” and they “don’t make a lot of sense.”

The notes started appearing on porches last month in the city’s first and second wards. So far police have collected several, but Sperringer says some residents have thrown them away.

One poem entitled “Life Goes On,” muses on the passage of life and ends by encouraging recipients to be “Be humorous, have some fun.”

Another reads:

“I begin to grasp

“The unbearable lightness of being

“As I recognize the inadequacy of language

“Pustules of raw emotion

“Remain dulled with grammatical confinement

“And benevolent features

“Harden with the crux of conformity

“– The Midnight Poet”

Nathan Miller received a couple letters in July. He said he found them on his front porch.

“They don’t seem that threatening,” Miller said, adding he doesn’t like the thought of someone walking onto his porch in the middle of the night.

Sperringer says police have stepped up patrols in the neighborhoods where the poems have been found.