Visual/Concrete Poet, Rusell Atkins Eulogy by Jesse Rusell Brooks

 by Jesse Rusell Brooks

The Cleveland poet Russell Atkins, died at 98 on August 15, 2024

Introduction by Vallo Riberto:

The poet, Russell Atkins first came to my attention while curating a visual poetry exhibition titled Rule42 for the Bonita Museum, San Diego 2022. from the writer of this eulogy, Jesse Russell Brooks.  This eulogy is an extension of the essay Mr. Brooks wrote for the exhibition catalog. For years Russell Atkins, an African American poet, has written and published his work in relative obscurity in his home town, Cleveland Ohio. Although he was never fully recognized or celebrated until the end of his life, Atkins nonetheless had a very rich professional life with friendships and exchanges with such notaries as Langston Hughes and Marianne Moore. Both of these writers became advocates of his work. There is now ample information about the life and work of Russell Atkins on-line, with readings and interviews on YouTube.

Eulogy for  Visual/Concrete Poet, Rusell Atkins

Virginia State University has a small building that students fondly called "The Little Theatre". Perhaps it is now gone, though In 1991 as a young teen, I found myself following a group of avid readers into the dressing rooms of this space,  which were used to store boxes of printed matter that had yet to be cataloged by the campus library. Years of forgotten or disregarded treasures. Among these hidden gems—rags, zines, independent publications, piles of Ebony and Jet magazines, and chapbooks—I stumbled upon The Abortionist and The Corpse, 2 by Atkins published by The Free Lance Press.

What I found in those pages was unlike anything I had ever encountered from an African American writer. Until that moment I was fully committed and mesmerized by Antawn Artaud, and hypnotized by Maya Daren. These artists allowed me the doorway into the mysticism of stage, poetry, and cinema, but Russell gave me the same along with something Artuad and Daren could not~ a map to myself. That moment sparked a journey for me, a quest to seek out more of Russell’s work and anything else like it. 

Through his writing, I learned something profound, something I had never imagined: Black radicals could defy the conventions of text and grammar with the same courage and defiance that Rosa Parks showed in taking her rightful place on a bus. Russell did that for literature. And he didn't stop there. Atkins did the same for early American avant garde by publishing concrete poetry that emulated nature, spurning Anglo American publishing traditions while also rejecting the perceived duty to popular African American politics of that time. For me, this was far more radical than Baraka or Hughes. Russell overturned regulated methods of idealisms and literacy in support of re-discovering forms of suppressed idealisms and literacy.

He wasn’t just a writer; he was a pioneer of the avant-garde, breaking away from both traditional publishing norms and the political expectations of his time. His concrete poetry reflected nature and rejected constraints. Each word, each solo letter, each shaped line was an act of both rebellion and reawakening—a deconstruction, yes, but also a bold declaration of freedom from the conventional ideals that had long held sway.

40 years later, Mathematical Poet Kaz Maslanka reintroduced me to Russell's work. I found myself reading BIRDS and FOR A NEIGHBOR STRICKEN SUDDENLY—poems that seemed familiar yet distant. Slowly, I realized why: I had studied Russell’s work before, on my own, without any formal instruction. It struck me then how deeply his work had influenced me, even though it was never part of my formal curriculum. Thank god my education wasn’t confined to the classroom; it mostly unfolded in those hidden boxes in the dusty rooms of The Little Theatre.

Today, I’m deeply grateful that Russell's work found its way to me. Without those chapbooks, I might have remained bound by the traditional, Western conventions of literature and thought. But Russell freed me from that. His work, while not in textbooks, has become more enduring and impactful than the writings of many of his contemporaries.

I am honored to have known him, and I am forever thankful for the lessons his words and forms have taught me: I am human more than anything else. Rest in peace, Russell. You will always be remembered, not just for your radical approach to poetry, but for the profound impact you had on those fortunate enough to encounter your work. 

With respect and sincerity,

Jesse Rusell Brooks

Founder of The Film and Video Poetry Society and publisher of PermaStates.
Jesse Rusell Brooks worked on PermaStates with Atkins right before he passed away.