Weaving prose through history

Tampa's poet laureate doesn't just write poems, he records historic events.

By JANET ZINK, Times Staff Writer
Published October 14, 2007

TAMPA

In grade school, he sold love poems for a nickel to classmates looking to impress girls.

Fifty years later, his words go to more serious pursuits. They soothe a city grieving a fallen police officer. They mark the life and times of a housing project where three generations grew up. They tell Tampa's story.

As Tampa's poet laureate for 11 years, James Tokley has added a creative flourish to City Council meetings, swearing-in ceremonies for two mayors, groundbreakings, building openings and the demolition of the blighted Central Park Village public housing complex.

Tokley says he sees his job as being not just a poet, but a historian. His poems document Central Avenue, once the center of black culture in Tampa; the life and death of Tampa police Officer Lois Marrero; and the majesty of the city's cigar factories. His words are carved into stone at the site of a historic East Tampa school and at the base of a bronze statue in a downtown park.

"These are times for big poems," he says, noting that he tries to capture the divine essence of his subjects. "Disney is not a good example to go by."

Then-Mayor Dick Greco appointed Tokley to the position in 1996. Tokley later wrote a poem for him titled To My Patron. The two remain fast friends, and Greco was instrumental in getting Tokley to write and recite a poem for the inauguration of Gov. Charlie Crist.

"James Tokley is an extremely, extremely talented individual," Greco says. "I marvel at anybody who has a God-given talent."

Tokley, 59, grew up on a farm in Maryland and became enchanted with the written word as a boy when his mother read aloud to him. He was particularly taken with a story about a "cantankerous cat."

"That got caught up in my ear," he said of the alliterative phrase.

In college, he was inspired by the writings of Langston Hughes and Nikki Giovanni.

"I learned to write black-edged, sharp-edged poetry," he says. "I was angry! For no reason at all."

He moved to Tampa in the 1970s at the behest of his father.

"My dad said, 'I'd like for you to come, and I'd like for you to write the history of this place before it dies'," Tokley remembers.

The result was a collection of poems about Tampa's black neighborhoods and leaders, as well as pieces about the Hillsborough River and the Cuban community.

Tokley, a human resources consultant, served as Tampa's poet laureate without pay until last year, when then-City Council member Kevin White suggested directing $12,000 to the job from the money the city gives nonprofits.

"We were funding and paying a photo laureate for the city," White says. "Fair is fair."

Tokley says he'd like to see more Florida cities appoint a poet laureate, as have cities throughout the country, including San Francisco, Detroit, Philadelphia, Boston and Nashville. Many cities and states - about 40 states have a poet laureate - have created the position in the last 10 years.

Stephen Young, program director at the Poetry Foundation in Chicago, attributes the popularity of poets laureate to the appointment of the first U.S. poet laureate in 1986, which gave the position previously known as the Library of Congress' "consultant in poetry," more prominence.

"It's definitely given greater visibility to the job," he says.

The country's poet laureate, who earns $35,000 a year, has few specific duties. The current laureate, Charles Simic, is required to give an annual lecture and reading of his poetry, and promote the art form.

Young says he sees that as the ideal role for a poet laureate, rather than accepting assignments to write for groundbreakings and government meetings.

"Some poets are good at writing that kind of poetry. It's called occasional poetry. Others kind of shun those expectations," Young says. "My own feeling is that poets in general shouldn't agree to write poems on specific occasions. If the spirit should move them, that's one thing, but to have to write a poem about something is often a recipe for a bad poem."

Tokley, though, says he simply looks for the human aspect in whatever he's asked to write about. For example, his poem about the opening of a police district headquarters, titled Officers Friendly, focused on the importance of good relationships between police officers and the community.

Tokley says he would reject any request to write about a policy matter, as happened to St. Paul's poet laureate last year when the mayor asked for a poem for his annul budget address, which proposed a tax increase.

Tokley is now putting the finishing touches on a novel he started writing more than five years ago.

"If William Faulkner can make the transition from poet to prose writer, I can, too," he says.

He won't reveal details, saying only, that like his poetry, "It is anchored in Tampa culture."

Janet Zink can be reached at jzink@sptimes.com or 813 226-3401.

We should be glad to see it go!

What kept it here, God only knows

Where nights were lighted by despair

& Blues perfumed the midnight air

Forgive us, Lord, but you know it's so

We should be glad to see this place go!

I fear to go, but cannot stay

I hear the children hard at play

I smell the pungent night perfume

of Southern-fried-chicken, under a Tampa-moon

I see young men and women who -

if Truth were Beauty - they would sure be true!

Whose fitness-form & frame of face

Compete with the finest of the human race

Whose shoes have magic; limbs have style

Whose grin is akin to a pearly smile...

finessed with gold, in a life that's stark,

but rich with wonder, in Central Park!

Excerpts from Farewell to Central Park (An Introduction) by James E. Tokley Sr.

Two poems by James E. Tokley Sr.

Officer Courage

If courage made the measure

as to who was big or small

Then the officer we honor

was the tallest of them all

On a day that gave no quarter

- cramped and deadly, hand-to-hand -

This city's bravest daughter

cast a shadow, tall and grand!

For,

In the sacred line of duty

is the knowledge bitter-sweet,

that Death is a constant partner,

on a never-ending beat

And he sits there, smug and silent,

- grinning slyly, at your side -

And

If you're lucky, you'll go home, at night

And he'll thank you for the ride.

But the officer we honor, here

was not afraid to speak

the words of courage, "do or die"

that found Death's Angel weak!

O weep, you wearers of the badge, for the

one you cannot see

Then cease your weeping and rejoice

For, she stands, like a tall oak tree!

And where she fell, her sacred blood

has sanctified that space

And courage stands but five feet tall

And it wears an officer's face!

A Firefighter's Prayer

St. Florian, who intercedes

for firefighters most in need,

who hears the prayers that no one hears

except the ones who know our fears,

Protect the men and women who,

at risk of limb and life, renew

The pledge we made when we began:

To selflessly serve our fellow-man

Regardless of the dreadful blaze,

the blinding smoke or daunting haze

Nor flood nor fall nor dreaded blight

that seals upon the land by night,

Nor enemies who would do us harm,

I pledge my heart, my hands, my arms

to boldly rescue from despair

whomever I encounter, there.

Regardless color, creed or skin,

I'll answer all who call me in.

And when my time has come, at last,

May the fire bells toll, as I go past

May my axe be sharp and boots be clean

May my helmet be hung without a stain

And may the ones who have known me best

commend my soul to a fireman's rest!

St. Florian, receive my prayer

And may you guide me, in God's care!

*St. Florian, John of God, is patron saint of firefighters.