Urbanbuzzmag.com
By Lucas
An Artist’s Duty
Nina Simone famously stated that an artist’s duty is to reflect the times in which we live. For those even slightly familiar with the artist’s legacy, that includes the roots from whence we came. Know your history to know your future. For all intrigued, and just in time for both Black History Month and Women’s History Month – Lin M. Ross’s Priestess in a Stained-Glass Cathedral offers poetic insight into the music, the activism, the loves, the life of the legendary Nina Simone. Lin M. Ross is a New Yorker, transplanted to South Carolina. (Just a state-shy of Tyron, North Carolina where Nina Simone was born Eunice Kathleen Waymon.)
Lin M. Ross is an oft-published poet, editor, a wordsmith, lyricist and a reviewer. The four-time novelist has had his works appear in numerous publications, including the following: African American Review, Black Writer, Catalyst, Dangerous, Essence, Free Lunch, Gypsy, Haight Ashbury Literary Review, Impetus, The Kenyon Review, Long Shot, The Moment, New York Daily News, Obsidian, Plastic Tower, Relix, Success, TV Guide, Vanguard, and Yammering Twits.
The author is an artist, both daring enough and caring enough to tell the truth, the whole-soul truth, and nothing but. He is adamant about shouting out to everyone who inspired him, whether he was struggling in obscurity or dancing in the golden light of acclaim; for, without the shimmering of reflective souls, Lin says, this world would be so much dimmer, sadder, less informed and a far less beautiful place. Welcome our new KeyPlayer author and poet Lin M. Ross. What a great tribute and body of work. Make sure you pick up your copy of Priest in a Stained-Glass Cathedral available on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Priestess-Stained-Glass-Cathedral-Lin-Ross/dp/1952081645
From the author: This book of poetry was inspired by the amazing and legendary goddess that is Nina Simone. The fact that she even existed is reason enough for her to be forever celebrated, whether in song, dance, theatre, film, literature, and yes, in poetry. In that spirit, I dedicate these words to the incandescently fierce and sometimes frightening force that was Nina Simone, and to the artistry of a soul clearly caught inside the turbulence of her time. – Lin M. Ross author of Priestess in a Stained-Glass Cathedral PUSH PLAY
