Misc

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A five minute reading for Black History Month, Valentine’s Day, and my new collection

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In honor of Black History Month, Valentine’s Day, and the publication of my new collection, here is a five minute reading from said the Frog to the scorpion and one other poem.

Poems read in the video (the first four appear in said the Frog to the scorpion):

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Fevers of the Mind Poetry Showcase

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As a few people are aware, one of the projects I'm currently working (yes, I said “one of…"“) is a collection of ekphrastic poems: I’m expanding Dust & Ashes into a full-length collection.

To that end, I've spent a good part of the summer visiting a bunch of art museums in three different states (so far) to balance the literary art responses with some visual art. Some fruits of that labor were published today in Fevers of the Mind. Here is the link to the poems:

Five New Poems at Rigorous Magazine

The following five (5) poems were just published at Rigorous Magazine .

  • “Little Africa” ~ a school poem

  • an open letter to the young man on the subway platform, looking back, hurt and disgusted ~ for when “whistling Vivaldi?” isn’t enough

  • honesty in advertising ~ exactly what the title says

  • the conversation with my pastor, after she posted my bail ~ midrash

  • exposure therapy ~ being an ally takes different forms

They seem to like me over there and I’m happy to be featured on their pages again.

“Condolences On The Passing Of Your confederate Monument”

The Writing Process

  • Step 1. - Be pissed off

  • Step 2. Write

  • Step 3. Submit at 12:30 am

  • Step 4. Have an acceptance letter by 1 am

And such is the tale of the publication of my (brand) new poem “Condolences On The Passing Of Your confederate Monument,” currently up at The New Verse News.

Finding a little bit of dark humor in the midst of utter business as usual bullshit in this country.

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Three Poems in Poemeleon

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Poemeleon has accepted three of my poems for their TRUTH/Y Issue:

 

  • “an open letter to the school resource officer who almost shot me in my class” ~ reprinted from Gravitas and Teaching While Black


  • "an open letter to the poetry editor of [name withheld on advice from counsel]” ~ a true (enough) story


  • "…and who is my neighbor?" ~ the “Parable of the Good Samaritan” retold for our #movement times.

Three poems at Rigorous

The good folks at Rigorous have seen fit to publish three more of my poems, all ekphrastic in nature:

  1. “essay for history B”

    [inspired by thanks Langston Hughes’ “Theme for English B”]

  2. “an open letter to an american institution”

    [inspired by Ted Kooser’s “Fort Robinson”]

    and

  3. [Say the blues were apocalyptic— Black]

    [a sonnet inspired by James Cone’s The Cross and the Lynching Tree]