Poet, editor, and author of The Architecture of Language: Poems; James Baldwin: The Legacy; and Miles and Me: A Memoir of Miles Davis. He became the first Poet Laureate of California in 2002. He studied at Grambling State University on an athletic scholarship. After dropping out of school, he entered the U.S. Army and lived in France. While in France, he met author and philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre, who inspired him to become a writer.
