Psychedelic Literature Bio and Online Writings Page

C. Liegh McInnis is a poet, short story writer, Prince scholar, retired instructor of English at Jackson State University, co-founder of the JSU Creative Writing Program, the former publisher and editor of Black Magnolias Literary Journal, and the author of eight books, including four collections of poetry, one collection of short fiction (Scripts: Sketches and Tales of Urban Mississippi), one work of literary criticism (The Lyrics of Prince: A Literary Look at a Creative, Musical Poet, Philosopher, and Storyteller), and one co-authored work, Brother Hollis: The Sankofa of a Movement Man, which discusses the life of a legendary Mississippi Civil Rights icon. He is also a former First Runner-Up of the Amiri Baraka/Sonia Sanchez Poetry Award sponsored by North Carolina State A&T. He has presented papers at national conferences, such as College Language Association, the National Council of Black Studies, the Neo-Griot Conference, and the Black Arts Movement Festival, and his work has appeared in numerous journals and anthologies, including Obsidian, Black Fire--This Time Vols 1 and 2, The Southern Quarterly, Konch Magazine, Bum Rush the Page: A Def Poetry Jam, Down to the Dark River: An Anthology of Poems on the Mississippi River, Black Hollywood Unchained: Essays about Hollywood’s Portrayal of African Americans, Asymptote, The Pierian, Black Gold: An Anthology of Black Poetry, Sable, New Delta Review, The Black World Today, In Motion Magazine, MultiCultural Review, A Deeper Shade, New Laurel Review, ChickenBones, Oxford American, Journal of Popular Music and Society, Journal of Ethnic American Literature, B. K. Nation, Red Ochre Lit, and Brick Street Press Anthology. In January of 2009, C. Liegh, along with eight other poets, was invited by the NAACP to read poetry in Washington, DC, for their Inaugural Poetry Reading celebrating the election of President Barack Obama. He has also been invited by colleges and libraries all over the country to read his poetry and fiction and to lecture on various topics, such as creative writing and various aspects of African American literature, music, and history.

For further reading, the following articles by C. Liegh can be found on the internet.

Analysis of Kiese Laymon's Heavy

"Thoughts after Reading Twenty-Five Collections of Black Poetry in Twenty-Five Days"

"For my People" as the Fulfillment of Margaret Walker Alexander's Literary Manifesto"

Excerpt from "Prince as Civil Rights Archetype"

"We Be Purple Hippies: A Poem 4 His Royal Badness"

Review of Kalamu ya Salaam's The Magic of JuJu:
Appreciation of the Black Arts Movement

"On Ferguson to a Former Student"

"The New Afro-Mississippi Writers"

"The Importance of Teaching Diversity in World Literature"

"Cadillac Records Review: Blues as Secularized Spirituals"

"Review of Get on Up: There's More to Being Brown and Black than Meet's the Eye"

"The Pros and Cons of Mainstream and Self-Publishing"

"Penning the Revolution": The Afro-Mississippi Literary Movement Oxford American

"The Complete Oxford American Ten Interview"

Poems by C. Liegh and other Afro-Mississippi Poets at OA

"Review of Prince's AOA and PlecElec: When Is Change
Visionary and When Is Change Selling Out?"

"Excerpts" from The Lyrics of Prince: A Literary Look

"An Analysis of Eddie Allen’s Low Road"

"Prince's The Rainbow Children Reaches for a Higher Musical Mantle"

"What Makes Me Sad: Brief Comments on Prince's Transition"

"Earth Tones: The Eclectic Preciseness of M.U.G.A.B.E.E."

Who or What Does The Help Help? A Review

A Response to "Unschoolers Learn What They Want, When They Want"

"Bad Parenting not Same-Sex Marriage Is the Essential African American Issue"

"Thoughts from Conversations about Nikki Giovanni's Reading at JSU"

"What Happens When Society Does not Realize the Innate Socio-Political Nature of Art?"