What to know! Emerging, essential voices elevated in brilliant Iowa documentary releasing in weeks

When Caleb Rainey is on, he relegates other forms to communication to the stockpiles of convention. He’s on the edge with this, man, and I want more.

(The above trailer for the film “The Negro Artist: A Poet And His Impact,” is what a first look is supposed to be — a taste of the power of the full film, which I have seen in its entirety. It debuts later this month, and will soon be scheduled for what I hope is a full calendar of showings in Iowa and beyond.)

The Early Review

The a-ha moment struck like spring lighting on the groovy 1970s couch, just a hop, skip and a few blocks from the Simpson College campus. I could read! What a discovery for this little kid in Indianola, Iowa. I can read! The world opened up and swallowed me in all its wonder and pain. I was connected to millions, make that billions, through the written word. It’s perhaps the most empowered I’ve felt — that realization of fledgling literacy, of the beginnings of a lifelong pursuit of the deployment and absorption of words and ideas. The written word on the page. What gloriousness.

A half century later, Caleb Rainey hit me with a lightening storm. The written word, film, speechwriting for politicians and wedding toasts, screenplays and online screeds. Yes, yes, I understand. I’ve swam in those waters. But here, near the shores of Lake Okoboji in northern Iowa at Julie Gammacks’s writers’ retreat was Caleb Rainey, a spoken-word-poetry artist who fully inhabited this pioneering medium of communication. The medium meets the man. The way he wielded words, with force and kindness, swinging from curiosity to certainty, from hope to pain, but always, always truth, truth.

I’ve not seen anyone use language like this, drop words, fast phrased, and then, dramatic pause, with a nuclear ferocity. When Caleb Rainey is on, he relegates other forms to communication to the stockpiles of convention. Just as the wildfires Rainey has stirred in the brain’s cerebrum subside, wham!, he sizzles in a mind-bending swirl of emotional electricity to the frontal lobe. This medium. This man. He’s on the edge with this, man, and I want more

Well, now we have more, in the form of a brilliantly developed documentary on Caleb Rainey, his art, his purpose, from filmmaker Nik Heftman, an Emmy Award-winning journalist.

Here is how Heftman describes his project:

The Iowa-centric documentary follows the story of Caleb Rainey, a spoken word poet with artistic roots in eastern Iowa. His poetry and community service efforts are bolstering the arts across the state of Iowa. We are deep in post-production. We need your help with the associated costs. 

If you’ve met Caleb Rainey, you understand why his poetry is nothing less than essential. If you haven’t, catch his next show. You’ll never forget it: Caleb's official website

The documentary is a completely independent effort for The Seven Times with no political backing or affiliation.

How you can help

To contribute, please follow this link to Heftman’s Give Butter: CLICK HERE

Contributors will receive a producer credit on the film. This is your chance to become a part of Iowa history.

(Douglas Burns, founder of The Iowa Mercury and a fourth-generation Iowa journalist from Carroll, is a member of the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative. Read dozens of the most talented writers in Iowa in just one place. The Iowa Writers' Collaborative spans the full state. It’s one of the biggest things going in Iowa journalism and writing now — and you don’t want to miss. This collaborative is — as the outstanding Quad Cities journalist Ed Tibbetts says — YOUR SUNDAY IOWA newspaper. )