When a member of the press once asked the iconic Bob Dylan who were some of his favorite poets, he replied with a list of the usual suspects - Allen Ginsberg, W.C. Fields and Charlie Rich - and one some may think of as less of a poet and more of a singer - Smokey Robinson.
For most baby boomers, Robinson became synonymous with what music critics and fans termed the Motown sound that came out of Detroit in the late 1950s.
Most members of Generation “X” surely know of Robinson and the Motown sound through their parents, but may also know of him and his poetry from a more current artistic platform, the HBO series “Def Poetry Jam.” I first saw Robinson recite a piece of work on the cable show that features various readings of original works written by poets from all over the United States. Robinson read the transcendent verse composition entitled “The Black American.”
Robinson, who became the vice president of Motown Records in 1961, met the label founder, Berry Gordy, in 1958 who was then writing songs for Jackie Wilson.
