Crimson Stain: Poems Inspired by King's letter from jail, Real Life & a Facet of Blood Diamond Culture

Allen, Dee: - Writing has always been Dee Allen's creative outlet. Before walking on his present path as a writer, Allen wanted to be a comic book artist. Along with his drawings, backstories for his own characters and short stories were written. It wasn't until his early 20s that Allen took creative writing seriously. At 20, his ambitions changed. He wanted to become a Heavy Metal singer and worked with several bands singing & writing song-lyrics. None of them made it past the garage, due to "creative differences". The McCook Brothers-his three friends-noticed that he wrote song-lyrics from time to time and asked him to write love poems to impress their girlfriends. Those earliest poems were vague-not to mention terrible. Dee Allen had a better handle on poetry after reading books containing the real thing. From Hughes to Ginsberg, Allen learned the poetry-writing craft. By mid-1992, his work had gotten better. One night in December 1992, Allen gave his first live performance of a 3-page poem at a friend's birthday house party. Two musician friends talked him into it. The year 2000 was the start of 7 years of writer's block, brought on by throwing 6 notebooks in the trash, in a moment of rage. Brought on by one abortive poem with an amazing starting line. In November 2002, Allen left Atlanta by Greyhound bus and disembarked in San Francisco-America's #1 artist-friendly city. There, he experienced homelessness, squatting, evictions, activist work, subway fare evasions, arrests, college. At street marches, he'd formulate/roar original protest chants-but he still couldn't write. After reading King's Letter From Birmingham Jail for English homework, Allen wrote the required book report. Behind it, he wrote a new poem. Writer's block was finally broken and he felt creative again. Since that cold red letter day-February 21, 2007-hardcover notebooks were filled in with Allen's spilt ink creations. Those led to works being dispersed between numerous anthologies and his own poetry books, 8 to date. Dee Allen also performed on the mic again. At live venues and later, in cyberspace, as open mic participant and feature.