Urban Life Experience Book Discussion Series

  Eady , Cornelius: Brutal Imagination: Poems       Although this book is only slightly over 100 pages, the impact is huge. There are two cycles of poems, the first is from the point of view of a phantom young Black man who Susan Smith claimed kidnapped her two children, after she had actually drowned her children. The second cycle, called The Running Man Poems deals with a character based on reality, but whose legend is bigger than the person.     Brutal Imagination was a finalist for the National Book Award for Poetry in 2001 , and both cycles of poetry have been adapted into theater productions , led by Jazz composer Deidre Murray. In fact, Cornelius Eady, himself, leads a jazz trio, in addition to being a poet. This book is his seventh published collection.    Cornelius Eady Trio    Twelve of us met on Saturday, April 27 th for our book discussion. As we usually do for National Poetry Month, we took turns reading the poems aloud.      I began by reading “Charles Stuart in the