The Water Will Rise, his compilation of poetry and essays penned during the past year, will be staged at 7 p.m. Saturday at Kilworth Manor, 109 Stratford. The turn-of-the-century mansion and its gardens, located in the historic Avondale District, will serve as a dinner theater.

Those with memories of the Uptown poet's first book, Sun-Primed, can expect some surprises.

The simple, home-spun images such as peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches and childhood memories of pecans and fruits at the Christmas dining table in his last book will give way to a harsh, weighty reality this time. His second anthology explores a world tormented by ills such as poverty, homelessness, inner-city degeneration and racism that invokes painful recollections of the lynching of black men.

Locke said he hand-picked actors Nicole Ford and Derrick Nash to recite his verses because of their "incredible oratorical skills and presence."

In its musical setting, the Mozartian sweetness of last year's production will be replaced by the soul-stirring wailing of Blue Mercy, a local blues band led by Diunna Greanleaf.

"This collection of writings is about issues on race, religion and politics; it's a little more edgier than my last batch of work," Locke said. "My last book was easy to digest, but this one deals with topics people often don't want to approach."

The night of poetry and music also marks the launch of Consortium magazine, a quarterly publication Locke describes as his "dream child" after two years in the making.

Profiling personalities and exploring productions, history and trends in literary, visual and performing arts, the first issue of Locke's magazine will feature jazz singer Nancy Wilson, Chicago poet Gwendolyn Brooks, the jazz scene in Japan and Gremillion & Co. Fine Art Inc., a contemporary art gallery.

With articles from contributors from across the nation, the magazine will be published on its interactive Web site Saturday, ensued by its print copy to be released in Houston in September. The first 15,000 copies will be given away free, Locke said.

"The magazine is going to be so diversified that everybody wants to read it," he said. "I didn't want to exclude anybody, but certain people are just going to be attracted to literature and arts. It caters to young people who are art-minded but is also conservative and academic enough to appeal to older adults."

A Kansas City, Mo., native who has lived in Houston for 18 years, Locke, 41, showed his interest in literature and arts at a young age. As a child, he took piano lessons and started writing poetry and children's stories at age 18.

"I fell in love with poetry when taking a creative-writing course back in high school," he said. "My teacher steered me that way, and I excelled in it."

Locke still keeps an early poem of his, whose page has the autograph and a line of critique from poet Thelma Hopkins, who visited his school and read her poetry.

"I'd be very disappointed if you don't read yours someday," Hopkins wrote in the critique.

Locke hasn't stopped writing poetry since. At Westminster College in Fulton, Mo., Locke was part of a student poetry group, an experience that helped him with the publishing of many of his poems in collective anthologies.

"Poetry is an easy expression of my thoughts, my life and of our society," he said. "It's an innocent way for people to digest an art form."

Locke said he finds poems in everything and everywhere he goes.

Ghost, a poem from his second book, was instantly inspired by pictures of historical figures hung on the wall of a restaurant as soon as he was seated for lunch one day. He took out his pen and quickly jogged down the revelation on the napkin.

"Ghosts are immortals/being said by mortals/eventually becoming immortals/to be said by mortals," the poem reads.

"People think ghosts are of the dead, but we the living are all ghosts ourselves; we are spirits having a human experience," he said.

Another poem, Just Poor, was conceived while he stopped to sit with a homeless man under a freeway underpass, he said.

"Most people only see the sickness and despair of the poor and homeless, but are not realizing that these people are human. Their circumstances don't diminish who and what they are," he said.

The cover poem, The Water Will Rise, graphically paints the cruelty of lynching:

"Strange fruit hanging from poplars and willows and my shattered heart sinks/there is a price to pay for flaunting dark beautiful skin/you become strange fruit."

However, the bleak picture he depicts is not to discourage, he said, but to encourage one to fight for changes.

In The Water Will Rise, America's history of lynching African-Americans serves as a reminder for young people of today to continue the struggle against racial inequality.

That courage, he said, was instilled in him by his mother, who was arrested in the 1960s while demonstrating at the whites-only counter with a group of black students at a Woolworth's store.

Locke lashed out at the apathy in the African-American community today that he said has allowed neighborhoods to degrade.

His essay, I ain't in it, calls upon African-Americans to "take the responsibility to take control of the neighborhoods, and not put blame on others."

"It's wrong to think `I ain't in it,' " he said. "I am, in fact, in it and responsible."

"Michael Locke offers a glimpse into his unique perception of reality," said Thomas Blanton, author of Letters from My Analyst. "Through his straightforward language and everyday themes, Locke's poems transform the most commonplace objects and situations into priceless treasures and unforgettable moments."

Tickets for Saturday night's program are $20, including refreshments. For details, call 713-866-1039 or visit www.consortiummagazine.com.

If you have a suggestion for a "Faces in the Crowd" profile, contact Gary Black at gary.black@chron.com, or send a fax to 713-220-7552.