Thomas was a graduate of Queens College in New York with a B.A. in English Literature, and minor in History & Communication Arts (Radio and Television.) He pursued graduate work towards an M.L.S. at the Pratt Institute. During his years in New York, he joined the Umbra Workshop, and was one of the youngest members. The Umbra Workshop drew young writers to the Lower East Side of New York City in search of their artistic voices. It served as a crucible for emerging black poets, among them Ishmael Reed, David Henderson and Calvin C. Hernton. The workshop was one of the currents that fed the Black Arts Movement of the '60s and '70s, the first major African-American artistic movement after the Harlem Renaissance.[6]
Naval service
From 1968 to 1972 Thomas served in the U.S. Navy, attaining the rate of 2nd Class Petty Office (E-5) Radioman. He served in Vietnam (in-country); attended Navy schools for electronics, radio, and Vietnamese language; had experience as a platoon leader, radio and computer operator, master-at-arms, and supervisor of civilian employees. He was honorably discharged in 1972.
In 2000, he published Extraordinary Measures: Afrocentric Modernism and 20th-Century American Poetry, his overview of the work of James Fenton and Amiri Baraka, among others.[1]
Death
Thomas died in July 2005 at Texas Medical Center Hospice from emphysema.
Works and publications
Thomas, Lorenzo (1972). Fit Music. New York, NY: Angel Hair Books.
Thomas, Lorenzo (1973). Dracula. New York, NY: Angel Hair Books. OCLC84114955. Published in an edition of 300 copies by Angel Hair at the Poetry Project, St. Marks Church In-the-Bowery, N.Y.C.
Thomas, Lorenzo (1975). Jambalaya: Four Poets. Reed, Cannon & Johnson.
Thomas, Lorenzo; Farber, Jim (cover art) (2003). Chances Are Few (2nd ed.). Berkeley, CA: Blue Wind Press. ISBN978-0-912-65277-1. OCLC53004628. Expanded second edition (of 1980 original publication) collects new poems, and includes an introduction by the author
Thomas, Lorenzo (1988). I Cudda Had A V-8: Poetry and The Vernacular(PDF). New York, NY: The Poetry Project, Ltd. A lecture delivered on April 7, 1988 as part of the Poetry Project's 1988 Symposium, Poetry of Everyday Life
Thomas, Lorenzo (2000). Extraordinary Measures: Afrocentric Modernism and Twentieth-Century American Poetry. Tuscaloosa, AL: University of Alabama Press. ISBN978-0-817-31014-1. OCLC42080108.
Thomas, Lorenzo (2004). Dancing on Main Street: Poems (1st ed.). Minneapolis, MN: Coffee House Press. ISBN978-1-566-89156-1. OCLC54065671.
Thomas, Lorenzo; Nielsen, Aldon Lynn (2008). Don't Deny My Name: Words and Music and the Black Intellectual Tradition. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press. ISBN978-0-472-09892-7. OCLC179794180.
Early Prizes
1963 - Dwight L. Durling Prize in Poetry, John Golden Award for Creative Writing
1966 - Poets Foundation Award
1973 - Committee on Poetry grant
1974 - Poets Foundation Award
1974 - Lucille Medwick Award
2000 - Foundation for Contemporary Arts Grants to Artists award
^Rowell, Charles H. (February 1981). "Between the Comedy of Matters and the Ritual Workings of Man: An Interview with Lorenzo Thomas". Callaloo (11/13): 19. doi:10.2307/3043810. JSTOR3043810.