Poems Written in the Same Place Decades Apart: The Chicory Revitalization Project

Abstract Since 2018, the Chicory Revitalization Project (CRP) has used vernacular poetry published in Baltimore’s Chicory magazine (1966–1983) as the centerpiece of a public humanities project. Chicory existed at the intersection of the liberalism of the War on Poverty, which funded it, and the radical esthetics of the Black Arts Movement, which inspired it. After digitizing the magazine, the CRP has used Chicory as the basis of poetry workshops, public events, a traveling exhibition, and a new magazine. Through our work, we have come to see the vernacular poetry in Chicory as emotional history and the basis for intergenerational dialogue in the present. More accessible than canonical poetry, vernacular poetry reflects its historical moment through emotion. Building on this emotional connection, we encourage young writers and activists in Baltimore to engage in intergenerational dialogue with the poems and project stakeholders. When we read, interpret, and respond to poems written in the same place decades apart, an essentially civic question arises: What has changed or not? What is the role of place-based art in social justice?