 Cannon was a mentor to many writers including Eileen Myles, Norman Ohler and Paul Beatty.In 2013 he was featured with curator Lydia Y. Nichols in an artist talk about Black bodies and migration for Curator's International.In 1990 Cannon was visiting the Nuyorican Poet's Cafe with Hammons when he was inspired to create "A Gathering of the Tribes" first as a literary magazine to document the vibrant culture that was happening in the Lower East Side.