After James Brown died in 2007, Mary Weems put out this call for poems: "We grew up on James Brown’s hit me! When he danced every young Black man wanted to move, groove and look like him. Mr. Brown wasn’t called the hardest workingman in show business because he wasn’t. Experiencing a James Brown show was like getting your favourite soul food twice, plus desert. His songs, like black power fists you could be proud of and move to at the same time. When Mr. Brown sang make it funky we sweated even in the wintertime. Losing him was like losing somebody in our family. This is a shout out for poems about the impact James Brown had on our lives. Poems that will help people remember, honour, and celebrate his legacy. Don’t be left in a cold sweat, send us your old and new James Brown poems today."

The result is Say It Loud: Poems about James Brown includes work by Amiri Baraka, Thomas Sayers Ellis, Kelly A. Harris, Tim Joyce, Patricia Smith, George Wallace and a few dozen others.