Afro Psalms

Afro Psalms is a collaborative effort between 20th century illustrator Grant Reynard and Charles Fort (poet). In 2001 the Museum of Nebraska Art discovered several works by Reynard in its permanent collection. Reynard created many pieces on the theme of African American life in the first half of the Twentieth Century. Museum administrators decided to build an exhibition around these prints, and they accepted Fort's proposal to write poems creating a context for the images in the artworks. Fort responded with a sonnet redoublé.

A sonnet redoublé is a sequence of fifteen sonnets. Each line of the first sonnet serves, in order, as the last line of one of the following fourteen sonnets. The first sonnet, sometimes called the texte, serves as a kind of supply depot for the rest of the lines.

"Afro Psalms" is currently part of ARTreach, the outreach program of the University of Nebraska at Kearney, which allows it to tour Nebraska, reaching rural areas where fine art and poetry don't often travel.