Revolution Remembered — ‘Epilogue of a King’ Reading Jan. 17 In Waco By Poet Laureate Rayfer Earl’e Mainor, Congressional Honoree

WACO Award-winning poet/writer Rayfer Earl’e Mainor will present “Epilogue of a King,” on Thursday, Jan. 17, at 5:30 p.m., in the Texas Life Annex (1000 Washington Ave.) for Community Race Relations Coalition’s first quarterly meeting of the year.

Mainor wrote and copyrighted the composition as a youngster on April 8, 1968 (almost 40 years ago) just four days after the slain civil rights leader, Dr. Martin Luther King, was assassinated.

Poet laureate Mainor has been acknowledged and honored in the U.S. House of Representatives for his body of work in a literary field.

“Epilogue of a King” continues the legacy of Dr. King in description of an incredible demonstration of his character, and his courageous stance against injustice. It has been said that Mainor’s poem “captures moments in time, moods and memories, and to hear and experience this reading can be very inspiring and deeply rewarding. The poem itself promotes basic human good qualities it promotes the character and ideals and principles of Dr. King.”

It has further been stated that “the aim and goal of this very important and significant composition is to foster and advance tolerance, and non-violence, and justice and equality. The efficacious and eminent words fo this poem provides inspiration and a guiding light toward peace and freedom.”

The general public is invited to this meeting to experience the words in poetry, as expressed by the poet, that not only celebrate the life and death of a person of great character, good and high repute, but Mainor’s critically raved vignettes render, represent, and reflect esteem, honor, regard, and respect and dignity, that “all of us should aspire.”

Presidential candidate U.S. Sen. Barrack Obama joined a host of U.S. congressmen and women celebrating the poet laureate, in his own personal way. In a comminique Obama sent to Mainor on Nov. 6, 2007, he said: “Your work has inspired countless Americans and will doubtless continue to do so for generations to come…Poets laureate have a long and distinguished history of utilizing their craft to the betterment of our nation. Your contributions to the literary community are invaluable and I thank you for sharing in your gifts.”

Mainor is recipient of The Melvin B. Tolson Award “For Excellence in Creative Writing.” On Oct. 26, 1969, he became the youngest poet in the world to be named poet laureate “For Outstanding Works in the Field of Poetry and Contributions for Humanity.”

Mainor, who has been poet laureate of Langston, Okla. for 38 years, is the great-grandson of William “Buck” Manning, who led a group of freed slaves from Mississippi to Willow Grove, Texas, which is near Speegleville, about 136 years ago. Mainor’s grandfather, Arthur James Manning, was the first child born in Willow Grove, in 1878. His family, although free, faced adversity due to race.

In what has been described as a very “profound, penetrating, and poignant” piece of prose, Mainor’s “May 15, 1916” depicts one of the most atrocious public lynchings in U.S. history the beating, burning, mutilations, and lynching of an illiterate 17-year-old black farm