R.I.P. Roy McBride, "People's Poet"

According to this article in The Star Tribune, Twin Cities poet Roy McBride passed away on July 29th. He was 67.

From the article:

"He touched so many people," said friend Jeannie Piekos of Minneapolis. "It's not just poets or people from Powderhorn; he worked with people that were academics or taxi drivers who liked poetry."

McBride taught in Minneapolis and St. Paul schools, co-founded Poetry for the People and the Powderhorn Writers Festival, and worked for In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre.

"He was the community's best-kept secret," said Janis Lane-Ewart, executive director of KFAI Radio, where McBride was a frequent contributor. "He was a cult figure within the poetry community."

Earlier this year, filmmaker Mike Hazard of St. Paul released a 30-minute documentary on McBride called "A Poet's Poet." It will be shown at the Twin Cities Black Film Festival on Sept. 17.

"He was among our best [writers]," Hazard said. "He's widely regarded as the old master of spoken word in the community."

More on McBride's community impact:

He co-founded Poetry for the People, a group of local poets, and started the Powderhorn Writers Festival with Piekos in 1997 to bring artists together.

"He saw all of us as artists," said his wife, Lucinda Anderson.

Indicative of his egalitarian views, McBride made sure that everyone who entered the festival's writing contest won a prize, Piekos said. The event also boosted the image of a neighborhood that was known more for its crime rates.

"It just brought a community together, which is what all Roy's work did," she said. "He loved people and he had a great hope in art and poetry healing and bringing people together."

Amy Ballestad taught with McBride in Minneapolis and St. Paul schools, where she said he could mesmerize unruly sixth-graders with poems.

"Roy saw the beauty in every story," she said. "Kids, especially, really resonated with that."

Nine years ago, he moved to Osceola, WI with his family, where he discovered a passion for farming. He was diagnosed with Alzheimer's two years ago.