QL:P Special Guest: Avis D. Matthews  The constant themes of my life have been family, music, and words. I am the second of four children and part of two pretty large, close-knit families who are several generations deep in the African-American communities of Prince George’s County, Maryland. My early exposure to, and love of, poetry came partly through songs – the hymns I heard in church; the popular songs played on the radio; as well as the collection of jazz, sacred, R&B, and musical theater recordings my parents had in our home. There were always books at home, including old textbooks, the World Book encyclopedia, some African-American biographies, and -- the one that stands out in my memory -- the Book of American Negro Poetry, which was edited by James Weldon Johnson and first published in 1922. I had learned about some of t ...