“There are poets in these hills,” said James E. Tokley Sr., looking out at his audience. He was surrounded by poetry-lovers from SPC and the local community, all gathered to hear him read at the Allstate Center’s first poetry night on November 18th.
As the first official poet laureate of Hillsborough County and the City of Tampa, Tokley was an inspiring speaker who welcomed each audience member as a fellow lover of the written word. Calling them “beloved,” he beckoned them closer, constantly reminding them that they, too, had poetry inside them. “Next time I come, you’ll be sitting here,” he said, indicating his position of honor. “And I’ll be sitting there [in the audience].”
His wife, Joanna, had suggested he tell a story about each poem before reading it. Some anecdotes were witty and light-hearted, detailing his experiences as a young poet; others discussed why we must write about tragedy and suffering, even when it can feel “too painful” to explore.
“For years I was on the Board of Directors for the St. Petersburg Holocaust Museum,” Tokley said. “One poem [I wrote] frightened me because it frightened them.” Called The Survivor, it describes an encounter between a concentration camp survivor and the Nazi who tortured him. Although some told him the poem was “too painful,” Tokley said he knew that only meant he had to do it. “I finally got to read it, and people cried,” he said. The poem ultimately celebrates the triumph of the human spirit and God’s grace, despite unspeakable suffering.
For the Allstate Center, Tokley was an especially meaningful speaker because he is a police trainer as well as a poet. “I’ve trained thousands of men and women with a badge,” he said. Many of his poems feature law enforcement officers, because he says he wants to “write about the men and women I love.”
His impact on these young police officers is remarkable. At the end of the reading, one man stood up and thanked Tokley for inspiring him to become a poet. As a graduate of the Allstate Center’s police academy (Class 104), C.C. Clark said he’d met Tokley during his training years ago, which inspired him to pursue his love for poetry. After embracing, Tokley invited Clark to read one of his poems, called “Through God’s Eyes.”
Once again, Tokley reminded his audience that they, too, had poetry inside them—an encouragement that may lead some, like Clark, to become the next generation of poets.
Fast Facts about James E. Tokley:
- He is the first official poet laureate for the City of Tampa and Hillsborough County
- His work has been showcased as part of the White House Millennium Exhibit and selected as the inaugural poems for mayors and governors
- His poems have been performed along with the Florida Symphony Orchestra
- If you go to the Hillsborough County Courthouse, you’ll see one of his poems etched in stone