Explore every episode of the podcast The Ethically Immoral Podcast
| Title | Pub. Date | Duration | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Volume Seven: Chapter Twelve - Our Conversation with Grace | 27 juil. 2026 | 02:11:37 | |
In Volume Seven: Chapter Twelve of the podcast, we welcome Hong Kong-born, Midland, Ontario-based poet and author Grace. Holding a double BA in English Literature and Psychology from the University of British Columbia, Grace is the author of The Language We Were Never Taught to Speak and her newest collection, Be Water, available now from Anvil Press. Our conversation traces Grace's creative journey from an avid childhood reader who eagerly returned home from weekly library trips with stacks of novels, to someone who initially found poetry uninspiring and imposed upon her in high school. She reflects on how discovering contemporary poetry, becoming immersed in Vancouver's vibrant literary community, and finding an early champion in the partner who became her first editor transformed poetry from an academic exercise into a deeply personal means of understanding herself and the world around her. Grace opens up about growing up in a family where emotions were rarely spoken aloud, explaining how poetry became the language through which she could process memories, identity, family history, queerness, culture, and belonging. We explore the surprising evolution of her debut collection, The Language We Were Never Taught to Speak, discussing how individual poems gradually revealed themselves to be part of a larger conversation, how publishing that first book validated her identity as a poet, and how writing it helped release her long-held fixation on the past. We also discuss finding confidence as a performer within Vancouver's spoken word scene, learning to embrace joy and playfulness in the writing process, and the evolution that led to her newest collection, Be Water. Grace shares how the new book feels less like a return to old wounds and more like a continuation of healing, exploring relationships, identity, and self-understanding from a place of greater compassion and emotional clarity. It's an honest and thoughtful conversation about creativity, healing, identity, and discovering that sometimes the language we're searching for is the one we learn to write ourselves.
Recorded Spoken Word Performances Featured Include: Joel Francois – Liars Fanta Ballo – Broken Hearts Crystal Valentine – Little Known Fact The Legendary Black Ice – Who Would I Be The Legendary Black Ice – Bigger Than Me | |||
| Volume Seven: Chapter Eleven - Our Conversation with Molly Peacock | 19 juil. 2026 | 01:59:14 | |
In Volume Seven: Chapter Eleven we welcomed Buffalo, New York-born, Toronto-based Poet, Essayist, Educator, Biographer, and Author Molly Peacock. She earned her BA from Harpur College at Binghamton University and her MA from Johns Hopkins University. She has served as president of the Poetry Society of America, founded The Best Canadian Poetry series after moving to Canada, and her literary papers are housed at the Binghamton University Library. Molly is the author of numerous poetry collections, works of prose, and the memoir Paradise, Piece by Piece. Her latest collection is The Widow's Crayon Box. In our conversation, we explore the creative foundation shaped by a family where books and writing were woven into everyday life. Molly reflects on her mother's voracious reading habits, her grandmother's lifelong practice of writing alongside the routines of daily life, and the teachers and mentors who encouraged her to think of herself as a writer long before she fully believed it herself. We also trace her evolution as both an artist and a person, discussing what it meant to become the first in her family to attend college, the confidence she discovered during her years at Johns Hopkins, and how formal poetry became less about following rules than finding a structure capable of holding life's most powerful emotions. Finally, we explore The Widow's Crayon Box, a collection born from the loss of her husband that reveals the many colors of widowhood rather than the single shade society often imagines. Molly reflects on the first twenty-eight days following his passing, the moment she realized she was beginning what she calls "the turn" into widowhood, and how the poems emerged naturally as a way to process grief, preserve love, and transform profound loss into art.
Recorded Spoken Word Performances Featured Include: Arantza Garcia – Recipe Book Ghetto Jedi The Poet – I Am Metaphor Ayanna Florence – Boy Calls Me Pretty Rundy Francisco – My Honesty Poem Alyesha Wise – Flowers | |||
| Volume Seven: Chapter Ten - Our Conversation with Isabelle Correa | 13 juil. 2026 | 01:53:49 | |
In Volume Seven: Chapter Ten of the Program, we welcome Poet, Educator, and Author Isabelle Correa for an in-depth and thoughtful conversation about identity, faith, family, healing, and the long, often complicated journey toward becoming a writer. Born in Moses Lake, Washington, Isabelle reflects on growing up in a household with twelve siblings, navigating feelings of loneliness despite never being alone, and being raised in a religious home where certain paths in life seemed predetermined. She shares how an early engagement, an unexpected change in direction, and a willingness to imagine a different future ultimately led her toward writing. Our conversation explores her beginnings in creative nonfiction and her eventual discovery that poetry offered something narrative could not. We also discuss reclaiming spirituality outside organized religion, writing through trauma without forcing resolution, and allowing flawed, vulnerable voices to exist honestly on the page. Along the way, Isabelle talks about the importance of writing communities, and how workshops, mentorship, and organizations like Gather Poets helped shape her development as a writer. We also discuss her forthcoming collection, Portrait of a Person Who Pushes Love Away in Fear of Losing It and Other Poems, and the winding path that brought her from Washington State to Mexico City. Recorded Spoken Word Performances Featured Include: A Glowing Poet – Love, Eventually Daniel Garwood – Hangman Shay The Poet – The First Time I Hated Myself Matt Capone – Some Love Shit Yex– Man Vs. Bear | |||
| Volume Seven: Chapter Nine - Our Conversation with Blair Trewartha | 29 juin 2026 | 02:09:09 | |
In Volume Seven: Chapter Nine of the Podcast, we welcomed Clinton, Ontario-born and London, Ontario-based Educator, Writer, Author, and Poet Blair Trewartha. The author of three chapbooks and two full-length poetry collections, including the recently released Half-Earth, Blair joins me for his first appearance on the program to discuss a collection more than a decade in the making. We begin by celebrating the release of Half-Earth, reflecting on the excitement surrounding its launch, the warm reception it has received, and what it means to finally share a new full-length collection twelve years after his Relit Award-shortlisted debut, Easy Fix. From there, Blair discusses how becoming a father fundamentally reshaped both his life and his writing, explaining how conversations with his two sons unexpectedly became some of the emotional foundations of the new book. Together, we explore how parenthood transformed his understanding of skepticism, compassion, mortality, and the uncertain future his children will inherit in a world shaped by climate anxiety and rapid technological change. Our conversation then turns back to Blair's creative beginnings. Growing up on a farm outside Clinton, Ontario, he reflects on the rural landscape that continues to influence his imagination and the lasting impact of the nearby Goderich salt mine. He discusses how the stories shared by family members and friends who worked in the mine left a deep impression, leading us into a discussion about the importance of listening, oral storytelling, and the fascination with other people's stories, which evolved into a desire to tell his own through poetry. Contact Blair: Recorded Spoken Word Performances Featured Include: Meccamorphosis – Penny Dreadfuls Leah V – Yours Mike Rosen – When God Happens Sonya Renee Taylor – My Body Is Not An Apology Steven Willis – The Hustle Speaks | |||
| Volume Seven: Chapter Eight - Our Conversation with Dasha Kelly | 22 juin 2026 | 02:14:06 | |
In Volume Seven: Chapter Eight of the Program, we welcome Milwaukee, Wisconsin-born and based Writer, Poet, Storyteller, Author, Performance Poet, Teaching Artist, and Creative Change Agent Dasha Kelly. A former Milwaukee Poet Laureate and Wisconsin's first Black Poet Laureate, Dasha has spent decades building community through the power of story, imagination, and creative expression. During our conversation, Dasha reflects on her early years as a self-described curious kid, arts-and-crafts enthusiast, and natural storyteller. We discuss the role her mother played in encouraging her creative pursuits, her early interest in fiction writing, and how a fascination with psychology and human behavior ultimately intersected with her lifelong love of storytelling. Dasha shares her journey into poetry, including her initial resistance to the form before eventually embracing it as a powerful vehicle for exploration and connection. We talk about her creative process, how she determines whether an idea belongs in poetry, fiction, or nonfiction, and the ways those forms often overlap in her work. We also examine the evolution of Milwaukee's literary community through Dasha's eyes, comparing her reflections from the early 2000s to the thriving creative culture she helped cultivate over the years. She speaks candidly about community building, connection, and the profound impact of bringing together people from different backgrounds through shared artistic experiences. Contact Dasha: Recorded Spoken Word Performances Featured Include: Porsha O. – Trigger Barbara Fant – Medicine Black Chakra –I Spit Fire Ariana Brown – Supremacy Javon Johnson – Shotgun | |||
| Volume Seven: Chapter Seven - Our Conversation with Jennifer LoveGrove | 01 juin 2026 | 02:06:25 | |
In Volume Seven: Chapter Seven of the podcast, we welcome Dunnville, Ontario-born and Toronto-based Writer, Author, and Poet Jennifer LoveGrove. Jennifer is the author of four full-length poetry collections and the novel Watch How We Walk, which was long-listed for the Giller Prize. Her poetry collection Beautiful Children with Pet Foxes was long-listed for the Raymond Souster Award, and her newest collection, The Tinder Sonnets, is available now via Bookhug Press. In our conversation, we discuss Jennifer's creative history—from childhood creativity and growing up with a typewriter and lamp-chair writing setup, to the lasting influence of religion and the sense of outsiderhood that shaped both her worldview and artistic voice. We discuss her movement between fiction and poetry, whether those creative instincts originate from the same creative space, and the realities of maintaining a writing practice beyond romantic ideas of inspiration. Jennifer speaks candidly about discipline, resistance, self-doubt, and the emotional terrain of writing—why first drafts can feel exhausting, what revision gives back, and whether satisfaction comes from the act of writing itself or from seeing something new brought into existence. We also spend time discussing The Tinder Sonnets—a collection based on Jennifer’s experiences navigating dating apps and modern relationships in middle age. Our conversation touches on vulnerability, confession, female desire, misogyny in contemporary dating culture, and the expectations society places on women as they age. Jennifer reflects on writing openly about intimacy and emotional complexity, what it means to transform personal experience into poetry, and whether the collection brought clarity, confrontation, or simply another way of living alongside difficult truths Contact Jennifer: Recorded Spoken Word Performances Featured Include: Prentice Powell – True Love Asia Samson – Enough Alysia Harris – Death Poem Kyla Janee Lacey – I Pulled Out A Knife On Him Emi Mahmoud – Window Games | |||
| Volume Seven: Chapter Six - Our Conversation With Steven Seidenberg | 25 mai 2026 | 02:08:03 | |
In Volume Seven: Chapter Six of The Program, we welcomed Boston-based Photographer, Poet, Writer, Philosopher, and Visual Artist, Steven Seidenberg. We discuss Steven’s newest poetry collection, Coda, his ongoing photographic work, including his exhibition at the John and Geraldine Lilley Museum of Art and the forthcoming photographic project Kanazawa Vacancy. In our conversation, Steven reflects on what it means to see his work displayed publicly and discusses his fascination with photographing empty landscapes, abandoned structures, and unstable environments—images that ask viewers not simply to look, but to reconsider what they’ve been seeing all along. We discuss Steven’s early creative and intellectual history. He talks about his youthful attraction to poetry and philosophy, describing a compulsive literary obsession that shaped his identity and ultimately led him to leave high school before finding his academic footing at Simon’s Rock and later Bard College. We discuss the influence of reading on writing, the role philosophical literature played in his development, and how his interest in photography emerged alongside his early writing life, including memories of developing black-and-white photographs in his uncle’s darkroom. Our conversation also explores family influences, Steven’s path through philosophy and academia, and his eventual transition away from teaching and copy editing toward a full-time creative life. Along the way, we unpack his remarkably patient artistic process, with projects often taking a decade or more to complete. This was a thoughtful and reflective conversation about observation, artistic patience, intellectual curiosity, and the lifelong pursuit of meaning through multiple creative forms. Contact Steven: Recorded Spoken Word Performances Featured Include: Brittany Barker – The Classroom Before the Revolution Joshua Bennett – 16 Bars For Kendrick Lamar Gina Loring – Freedom To Learn Steven Willis – Instead Of A Suicide Note, I Wrote This Alexis Green – He Used To Send Me Flowers | |||
| Volume Seven: Chapter Five - Our Conversation with Brenda Cardanes | 11 mai 2026 | 02:12:04 | |
In Volume Seven: Chapter Five, Brenda Cárdenas joins the Program for a wide-ranging conversation about creativity, language, culture, visual art, and the experiences that shaped her voice as a writer and poet. A Milwaukee, Wisconsin born and based educator, essayist, and author, Brenda earned her undergraduate degree from the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, her teaching certification from the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh, and her MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Michigan. She is the author of the award-winning poetry collection Trace, which received the 2024 Society of Midland Authors Poetry Award and was the Silver Award winner of the 2023 Foreword INDIES Poetry Awards. She is also the author of three chapbooks, served as Milwaukee Poet Laureate from 2010–2012, and in 2025 was named Wisconsin Poet Laureate. Throughout the conversation, Brenda reflects on growing up surrounded by creativity in many forms—from family members who painted, crafted furniture, made saddles, and told stories—to discovering poetry as the medium that allowed her to fully explore culture, memory, and identity. We discuss her early love of visual art, arts and crafts with her aunt, and the impact storytelling had on her imagination as a child. Brenda also talks about beginning to write stories around the age of eight, being encouraged by teachers early on, and eventually discovering poetry in high school through an American Authors course. Our conversation explores the importance of representation in literature and how discovering Latin poetry and bilingual writing during undergrad changed her understanding of what poetry could do. Brenda speaks candidly about how encountering poets who reflected her own culture and experiences gave her permission to more openly write about identity, language, and heritage. The conversation also touches on what it is like sharing life with fellow poet and former Milwaukee Poet Laureate Roberto Harrison, the ways visual art continues to influence her writing process, and what it meant to receive the call informing her that she had been selected as Wisconsin’s Poet Laureate in 2025. Recorded Spoken Word Performances Featured Include: Ephraim Nehemiah – Inheritance of a Broken Home Khalil Saadiq – Somebody's Watching Me Alexandria Bennett – Color Blind Denice Frohman – Accents Lionheart – Pretty Hurts | |||
| Volume Seven: Chapter Four - Our Conversation with Leah V | 03 mai 2026 | 01:50:09 | |
In Volume Seven: Chapter Three of the program, we welcome Bronx-born, New York City-based Writer, Performance Poet, Curator, and star of the one-woman show "The Long Way Home", Leah V. In our conversation, we trace her creative history—from writing poetry at seven, to studying musical theater, to finding her footing in New York’s spoken word scene. We touch on her recent marriage and what it’s like balancing something deeply personal with a public life rooted in performance. We revisit "Virtual Voices", the virtual open mic space that introduced me to her work back in 2020, and her "partner in Creative crime" and co-host JRose. We spend time on a pivotal chapter—losing her father, the silence that followed, and what brought her back to writing during COVID. That return to the page becomes a turning point, not just creatively, but personally. At the center of the conversation is her one-woman show, The Long Way Home: A Spoken Word Journey—a piece built around her late father’s poems and journal entries. We talk about what it means to carry someone’s voice forward, what she discovered about him in the process, and how grief evolves when you’re forced to sit with it, shape it, and share it. We also get into the New York poetry community, the importance of creative spaces, her experience performing at the Apollo Theater, and how she thinks about the stage—as a place of discovery or revelation. Contact Leah V: Recorded Spoken Word Performances Featured Include: Just Ace – What If I Was Him Arantza Garcia – Recipe Book Kennie Sings – Like A Lady Leah V – 3am | |||
| Volume Seven: Chapter Three - Our Conversation with Irina Moga | 26 avr. 2026 | 01:49:08 | |
In Volume Seven: Chapter Three of the program, we welcomed Writer, Author, and Poet Irina Moga. Her work has been nominated for the SFPA Rhysling Award and Best of the Net, and her collection Variations Without Palace was the 2022 winner of the Dina Sahyouni International Literary Prize. She’s the author of six collections, including her latest, Quantum, and is an active member of several literary organizations across Canada. In our conversation, Irina discusses her early creative beginnings—starting with a poetry group in high school that, in her words, “mercilessly” tore apart each other’s work. What could have discouraged a young writer instead became foundational, shaping her approach to revision, experimentation, and resilience. We talk about what it means to have your work challenged early, and how that kind of environment can either push you out—or pull you deeper in. We also spend time on one of the more fascinating parts of her journey: the transition from writing in Romanian to writing in English after immigrating to Canada. Rather than simply carrying over her voice, Irina made the intentional decision to rebuild it. We get into what that process looked like in real time—the frustrations, the disconnects, and what it took to stay committed to that evolution instead of retreating to what was familiar. Throughout the conversation, Irina shares how writing lives for her today—not just as a craft, but as a space. A space of silence, concentration, and layering, where language, culture, and personal experience intersect. We talk about poetry as both deconstruction and reconstruction—how it allows us to break reality apart and reassemble it into something that feels more true, more honest, and sometimes more bearable. Contact Irina: Recorded Spoken Word Performances Featured Include: Taalam Acey – Affirmation for Black Men Brandon Alexander Williams – Black Woman Studies Anita D. – Colors Alyesha Wise – Cannibal Ciara Chantelle – Empty Cups | |||
| Volume Seven: Chapter Two - Our Conversation with Stephanie Bolster | 31 mars 2026 | 02:12:06 | |
In Volume Seven: Chapter Two of the podcast, we welcomed Vancouver-born, Quebec-based Educator, Writer, Poet, and Author of the poetry collection Long Exposure, Stephanie Bolster. Stephanie is Professor of Creative Writing at Concordia University, earned her BFA and MFA from the University of British Columbia, and is the author of five poetry collections. In our conversation we discuss her creative beginnings—starting with early storytelling, a childhood desire to become an author, and the writers who helped define her path. She speaks on discovering poetry through Emily Dickinson, and later finding something deeper and more urgent in the work of Sylvia Plath—an influence that helped shift poetry from something she enjoyed to something she needed. We also spend time unpacking identity—what it meant to call herself a poet early on, before expectations and career entered the picture, and how that relationship to the word “poet” has evolved over time. That idea opens into a broader conversation about imagination, the role poetry plays in making sense of the world, and whether those two instincts—creation and understanding—work together or pull in different directions. We discuss Long Exposure, a project more than a decade in the making, and what it means to finally bring that work into the world. Stephanie reflects on her relationship with the collection, the time it took to come together, and how living with a manuscript for that long shapes both the work and the writer behind it. We close on process and balance: her writing routine, the importance of physical space and environment, and the ongoing challenge of making room for writing within the realities of teaching, family, and life. It’s a transparent look at the tension between knowing writing is essential and still having to negotiate time for it. Contact Stephanie: Recorded Spoken Word Performances Featured Include: Shanelle Gabriel – Vanity Matt Capone – Learned with Love Gigi Bella – Slut Anyrah Shaveh – We Must Not Die Young Moody Black – Eight Letters | |||
| Volume Seven - Chapter One - Our Conversation with Ebony Stewart | 23 mars 2026 | 01:34:54 | |
In Volume Seven: Chapter One of the Program, we welcome Houston, Texas–born and based Educator, Playwright, Actress, Writer, Author, and Performance Poet Ebony Stewart. She is the 2017 Woman of the World Slam Champion, a three-time Austin Neo Soul Slam Champion, a B. Iden Payne Award recipient, and the David Mark Cohen New Play Award winner. She is also the author of four books, including her latest poetry collection Wash, which was recently named an Honors Award winner by the Texas Institute of Letters. In our conversation, Ebony reflects on what that recognition for Wash actually means—not just as an acknowledgment of the work itself, but as an outside validation of her writing acumen. We talk about the evolution of her voice, the version of herself that shows up in this collection, and how periods of creative difficulty—graduate school where writing poetry became difficult—shaped the way she approaches the page now. We also spend time sitting with something a lot of artists tend to move past too quickly: accomplishment. With a résumé as extensive as hers, Ebony discusses how often she truly pauses to take it in. Ebony opens up about the leap into becoming a full-time creative—what it looked like before that transition, the grind of balancing teaching with constant travel and performance, and the moment she decided to bet on herself. From there, we get into confidence: what it’s made of, how authenticity, self-awareness, and emotional honesty factor into it, and how she’s learned to carry heavy things like grief without letting them define every room she walks into. Contact Ebony: Recorded Spoken Word Performances Featured Include: Nayo Jones – We Will Not Ask Jay Ward – Gentrification Alysia Harris – Controlled Burn Ebony Stewart: How We Forget (After Loyce Gayo) | |||
| Volume Six: Chapter Twenty - Our Conversation with Kathryn MacDonald | 16 mars 2026 | 01:53:34 | |
In Volume Six: Chapter Twenty of the Program, we welcome Ontario-based Educator, Writer, Painter, Photographer, Author, and Poet Kathryn MacDonald. Our conversation explores the many ways creativity can intersect—through poetry, visual art, travel, and teaching—and how each discipline shapes the way an artist observes and responds to the world. Kathryn discusses her reputation as an ekphrastic writer, explaining how her poetry often emerges from an emotional dialogue with visual art and the details she encounters in everyday life. We talk about the role observation plays in her work, her writing process, and how reading and creative community continue to shape her development as a writer. We also explore her experiences as a sailor and traveler, how those journeys have influenced her imagination, and the relationship between her poetry, painting, and photography. The conversation concludes with a discussion of her forthcoming poetry collection, The Blue Gate, a lyrical exploration of love, grief, and the shifting emotional landscapes that follow loss. Contact Kathryn: Recorded Spoken Word Performances Featured Include: Jae Nichelle – Brown Skin Girl Emi Mahmoud – Window Games Crystal Valentine – I am Black before Woman in February Natasha Ria: Shine Javon Johnson: Building | |||
| Volume Six: Chapter Nineteen - Our Conversation with Maria Giesbrecht | 08 mars 2026 | 01:37:22 | |
In Volume Six: Chapter Nineteen of the Program, we welcome Durango, Mexico-born, Toronto-based Poet, Author, Curator, and Writer Maria Giesbrecht. She is a graduate of the post-graduate Creative Writing program at Humber College and the winner of the Jack McCarthy Book Prize and the Lesley Strutt Poetry Prize. Her work has also been recognized as a finalist for the Narrative Poetry Prize, a Best of Net nominee, and the runner-up for the Eden Mills Poetry Contest. She is the author of the poetry collection Peeling Oranges, and her forthcoming collection A Little Feral is scheduled for release May 8 and is currently available for pre-order. In our conversation, Maria and I talk about how her love of language began early—reading a Nancy Drew book nightly as a kid—and how poetry first entered her life in eighth grade through a science teacher who introduced her to spoken word and rap. We explore how writing became both refuge and release during difficult years growing up, and how persona poems help her navigate creative blocks. Maria also reflects on her religious upbringing and the complicated relationship she has had with faith, doubt, obedience, and questioning—and how writing has helped her process that evolving spiritual conversation. We discuss the early-morning creative state she relies on for drafting poems, and the turning point when she left a career in corporate accounting to pursue writing full-time. Finally, we talk about her writing community Gather, the role it plays in supporting other writers, and the ideas behind both of her poetry collections. Contact Maria: Recorded Spoken Word Performances Featured Include: Marie Foolchand – I am the People, the Mob Dua Saleh – Fractions Gabriel Ramiez – On Realizing Im Black Andrea Gibson: Nutritionist Dani Cook: Recess | |||
| Volume Six: Chapter Eighteen - Our Conversation with David Martin | 23 févr. 2026 | 01:47:00 | |
In Volume Six: Chapter Eighteen we welcome Educator, Poet, Writer and Author David Martin. He earned his BA in English from the University of Calgary and his MA in English from the University of Alberta. His work has been widely recognized across Canada’s literary landscape — including winning the CBC Poetry Prize, receiving the Silver Award for Poetry from the Alberta Magazine Awards, and being shortlisted for the W.O. Mitchell Book Prize, the Banff Mountain Book Competition, and FreeFall Magazine’s poetry contest. He is the author of two chapbooks and four full-length poetry collections, including his recently released book Night Stead. In addition to his poetry, he is the frontman and primary songwriter for the multi-genre band The Fragments, whose eight-album catalog spans indie-pop, alternative, jazz-inspired textures, and most recently, country. In our conversation, we explore the intersection of music and poetry — whether songwriting and verse come from the same creative space, and how genre shifts function in his artistic evolution. We trace his creative history back to a pivotal, life-changing poetry reading by multidisciplinary artist Kirk Miles — a moment that reframed how he understood poetry and ultimately led to his involvement with Calgary’s long-running Single Onion Poetry Series, where he now serves as an organizer. We also talk about his obsession with sound, his process of recording and listening back to drafts, and how grief — particularly the loss of his brother — reshaped both his writing practice and the emotional architecture of his work. Finally, we dive into Night Stead — a formally inventive and deeply personal collection that challenges conventional reading structures while exploring vulnerability, memory, and interior life. This is a conversation about discipline and experimentation, silence and return, structure and sound — and what it means to build a creative life across multiple mediums. Contact David: Recorded Spoken Word Performances Featured Include: Alyssa Michelle – The Mis-Education of the Introvert Khalil Saadiq – Somebody's Watching Me Shawn William – Tired Kelsey Bigelow: A Grandfathers Hands Anna Maria Morris: A Love Poem for Myself | |||
| Volume Six: Chapter Seventeen - Our Conversation with Kestral Gaian | 02 févr. 2026 | 01:54:41 | |
Our guest this week is a Scotland, United Kingdom–based writer, poet, playwright, and author. Kestral Gaian, who is the author of four books, including their most recent poetry collection, Tubelines: The Poetry of Motion, available now via their website and wherever books are sold. In our conversation, we trace Kestral’s parallel paths through creativity and technology — including a lengthy career in software and tech — and how those two worlds increasingly collide. That collision leads us into a thoughtful discussion of artificial intelligence, creative labor, and authorship, sparked by Kestral’s project justsayno.ai. We talk candidly about over-reliance on AI, creative disruption, and the growing concern that AI may help people produce writing without necessarily helping them become writers. From there, we move into Kestral’s creative history: starting to write at the age of five, transitioning from storytelling into poetry, and grappling early on with questions of identity and representation. Growing up under the shadow of the UK’s Section 28 — legislation that erased queer stories from schools and libraries — profoundly shaped what felt possible to write. We talk about silence, visibility, and the long-term effects of being told certain stories shouldn’t exist. The conversation then turns to Tubelines, a poetry collection written over five years and inspired by fifty encounters on the London Underground. We talk about people-watching, movement, routine, and the quiet humanity that reveals itself in shared spaces. Contact Kestral: Recorded Spoken Word Performances Featured Include: Toni Payne – Let the Headline Scream Meccamorphosis – Thrift Shop Asia Samson – As I Am Christopher Diaz: Again Matthew Cuban: Shotgun | |||
| Volume Six: Chapter Sixteen - Our Conversation with Leslie Saint Julien | 19 janv. 2026 | 02:15:47 | |
In Volume Six: Chapter Sixteen of The Program, we welcome Poet, Actor, Producer, Playwright, and Author of the new book Hair Me, Leslie Saint Julien. Making her third appearance on the podcast, Leslie returns to discuss the evolution of her personal and powerful stage project Hair Me: A Journey Through the Rich Tapestry of Black Hair and the book of the same name. In this wide-ranging and honest conversation, Leslie shares how 2025 became a transformative year after a period of burnout and creative exhaustion, and what she’s learned about rest, resilience, and intention. We explore her journey from writing an award-winning poem to developing it into a one-woman stage play, complete with a companion book, script, and educational study guide designed for classrooms. She opens up about the pressures Black women face when it comes to hair — not just in terms of aesthetics, but as a matter of survival, self-expression, and social perception. We dig into the emotional and cultural weight of “code-switching” one’s hairstyle, the complexity of navigating critique, and the behind-the-scenes work required to bring a theatrical vision to life. Leslie is also the author of Brooklyn Stew and three poetry collections. A graduate of the University of Maryland with a degree in Criminology and Criminal Justice, she later studied acting at the New York Film Academy. Contact Leslie: Recorded Spoken Word Performances Featured Include: Destiny Birdsong – Killing White Destiny Birdsong – Mythicona Ray Jane – Spoils Summer Durant: Same Ghetto Jedi the Poet: Strap Up | |||
| Volume Six: Chapter Fifteen - Our Conversation with Barbara Fant | 05 janv. 2026 | 02:00:22 | |
In Volume Six: Chapter Fifteen of The Program, we welcome Educator, Community Activist, Poet, Performance Poet, and Author Barbara Fant, who is making her third appearance on the podcast. Born in Youngstown, Ohio and now based in Los Angeles, Barbara is the author of three poetry collections Paint, Inside Out, Mouths of Garden, and her newest collection, Joy in the Belly of a Riot. For over a decade, she has led poetry workshops for incarcerated youth and adults, people in recovery, and survivors of human trafficking and domestic violence. In this conversation, we talk about the journey of releasing a new book, returning home for her Ohio book launch, and the creative relationships that have shaped her path — including long-standing friendships formed through performance poetry and slam. Barbara also shares what it means to be named a Recording Academy 2025 New Member, becoming a voting member for the Grammys, and how poetry, music, and performance continue to intersect in her life. We dive into her slam and performance history, finding joy on the other side of trauma, and how Joy in the Belly of a Riot helped her arrive at a clearer understanding of who she is — fully embracing faith, poetry, and purpose without compartmentalizing any part of herself. A thoughtful, honest, and wide-ranging conversation about art, healing, joy, and becoming. Contact Barbara: Recorded Spoken Word Performances Featured Include: Sunshine Lombre – Daydream Tonya Ingram – Monster Theresa Davis – Why I Do This Barbara Fant: Brown Bodies Bending Barbara Fant: Medicine | |||
| Volume Six: Chapter Fourteen - Our Conversation with Candace Green | 15 déc. 2025 | 01:19:49 | |
In Volume Six: Chapter Fourteen of The Program, we welcome Candace Marquez Green, a Chicago-born and Chicago-based community activist, entrepreneur, writer, poet, and author of the new poetry collection, "In Glimpses and Reminisces". Candace holds a Bachelor’s degree in Entertainment Business, a Master of Arts in Public Relations, and a Master of Business Administration. She is the recipient of the 2022 Chicago Defender Woman of Excellence Award, was named one of Crain’s Chicago Business and Black Women’s Professional League 40 Under 40, and currently serves on the board of the Chicago Poetry Center, a nonprofit dedicated to expanding access to poetry across diverse communities throughout Chicago. Our conversation explores the many layers of Candace’s creative identity, beginning with her long history in pageantry. She reflects on what pageantry taught her about discipline, confidence, access, and leadership, while also addressing the more complicated narratives often associated with the pageant world. From there, we transition into her creative history and examine the parallels between pageantry and poetry — performance and vulnerability, composure and truth — and how those worlds have shaped, rather than contradicted, one another. Candace speaks openly about growing up on Chicago’s South Side, witnessing addiction, loss, and trauma within her family, and how writing became her earliest and most honest form of self-expression through journaling and poetry. The conversation then turns to her newest poetry collection, a deeply personal work shaped by love, grief, resilience, and self-discovery. Candace shares the significance of writing much of the book during an intense creative period, and she also discusses the experience of self-publishing the collection and the pride she feels in releasing a book rooted in lived truth rather than polished performance. This episode is a thoughtful conversation about identity, growth, and the long journey from learning how to be seen to learning how to speak — honestly and on one’s own terms. Contact Candace: Recorded Spoken Word Performances Featured Include: Porsha O – Trigger William Evans – For My Wife Who Fell In Love With A Ship Buried At Sea Ephriam Nehemiah – Inheritance of a Broken Home Alyesha Wise: Untitled: To Black Women Kenneth Something: Rape Poem | |||
| Volume Six: Chapter Thirteen - Our Conversation with Sadiqa de Meijer | 24 nov. 2025 | 01:51:49 | |
In Volume Six: Chapter Thirteen we welcome Amsterdam-born, Kingston Ontario-based Writer, Poet, Author, and Essayist Sadiqa de Meijer. She is the author of two acclaimed poetry collections — Leaving Howe Island, finalist for both the Governor General’s Award for English-language Poetry and the Pat Lowther Memorial Award, and The Outer Wards, a finalist for the Raymond Souster Award. She is also the author of two nonfiction collections: the Governor General’s Award–winning alfabet / alphabet: A Memoir of a First Language, and her newest book, In the Field, now available from Palimpsest Press. Sadiqa is also the current Poet Laureate for Kingston, Ontario. This is her first appearance on the program. In our conversation, Sadiqa traces her creative history back to childhood — from immigrating from the Netherlands to Canada at age twelve, and how those early linguistic and cultural shifts shaped both her worldview and her writing. She reflects on experiencing marginalization as a person of color in Dutch society, the challenges of immigration, and the humility and attentiveness those experiences instilled in her as an artist. We talk about the deep imaginative life she had as a child: disappearing into books, being surrounded by storytelling, and how the desire to transform the private experience of reading into “conversation” was her earliest pull toward writing. She discusses discovering poetry in elementary school, becoming more intentional about her craft in high school and university, and the moment writing shifted from something she loved to something that felt essential — a part of her identity. We go deep into her award-winning nonfiction book alfabet / alphabet, where she examines losing — and later reclaiming — her mother tongue, Dutch. Sadiqa discusses how language shapes memory, how certain emotions exist differently in different languages, and why writing this book was personally necessary. She also speaks about the difference between the inward resonance she privileges in poetry and the slightly more outward-facing awareness she brings to her essays. Contact Sadiqa: Recorded Spoken Word Performances Featured Include: Jasmine Mans – You Gon' Get This Work Bianca Phipps – Born To Embody It Lady Brion – I Talk Black Javon Johnson – The Shotgun Rudy Francisco – Honesty | |||
| Volume Six: Chapter Twelve - Our Conversation with Melissa Powless Day | 17 nov. 2025 | 01:58:25 | |
In Volume Six: Chapter Twelve of the Program, we welcome Melissa Powless Day — a London, Ontario–based educator, writer, poet, and author. She serves as Chair for Western University’s Indigenous Writers Circle, is a Visiting Cultural Teacher for the London District Catholic School Board, and is currently completing her PhD in Indigenous Education at Western University. A Pushcart Prize nominee, she’s the author of the 2023 chapbook Secondhand Moccasins — shortlisted for the bpNichol Chapbook Award — and her debut full-length poetry collection, A Bow Forged From Ash, released through Palimpsest Press. In our conversation, Melissa reflects on the past few months of sharing her new collection with readers and communities across Canada, and what this season has meant for her as a creative. We discuss her reclamation journey and the importance of lineage — from the influence of her mother and grandmother, to the deeper meaning of pride in being a proud Indigenous woman. She shares how her sense of heritage began to shape her voice as a writer, the role music played in her artistic growth, and how ’90s artists like Mary J. Blige, Brandy, and Tupac Shakur helped her see parallels between Indigenous and African-American experiences through art and storytelling. We also talk about community, identity, and transformation — from her experiences in gaming and creative technology to the deliberate and deeply personal process of creating A Bow Forged From Ash. Melissa opens up about her writing process, the emotional high of publication, and the lessons learned from navigating both the joy and the business of bringing her work into the world. Finally, she discusses the reclamation of her name, the legacy of the Sixties Scoop, and how her creative work continues to be a powerful act of rewriting, healing, and self-discovery. Contact Melissa: Recorded Spoken Word Performances Featured Include: Ajanae Dawkins – For the Blonde Girl and the Classroom of Ghosts Ephraim Nehemiah – Afrofuturistic Fairy God Being Ayana Albertson – Her Rights Crystal Valentine – Black Privilege Matt Capone – Learned with Love | |||
| Volume Six: Chapter Eleven - Our Conversation With Gary Barwin | 13 oct. 2025 | 02:26:24 | |
In Volume Six: Chapter Eleven of The Program, we welcome a Hamilton, Ontario–based educator, writer, poet, essayist, composer, and musician Gary Barwin. With a BFA and BA from York University and a PhD in Music Composition from SUNY Buffalo, Barwin has built a career that refuses to stay in one lane. He’s the author of more than thirty books and chapbooks—including Yiddish for Pirates, winner of the 2017 Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour and the Canadian Jewish Literary Award for Fiction, and shortlisted for both the Scotiabank Giller Prize and the Governor General’s Award. His newest collaboration, Muttertongue—co-authored with Toronto Poet Laureate Lillian Allen and friend of the podcast Gregory Betts—is a bold fusion of both poetry and sound. In our conversation, Gary and I trace the through-lines of a life shaped by movement, music, and story. We talk about his family’s journey—from Lithuania to South Africa, through Northern Ireland, and finally to Canada—and how those histories reflects through his creative work. We discuss his grandfather’s influence, the man who first took him seriously as a writer, and the way family narratives—of exile, resilience, and humor—continue to surface in his art. We also explore Hamilton’s quiet but powerful role in his creative life, how writing and music speak the same emotional language, and why he believes creativity isn’t something that fades—it deepens. Gary discusses the leap from poetry to prose when writing Yiddish for Pirates, what that process taught him about discipline and discovery, and what it felt like to have that debut novel embraced so widely after decades of writing poetry and composing music. Finally, we dig into Muttertongue—how the collaboration with Allen and Betts came together, what it means to work at the intersection of sound, text, and visual poetry, and how they hope audiences experience the project as both a book and an album. Contact Gary Recorded Spoken Word Performances Featured Include: King Yaw – Poetry Service Terisa Siagatonu – Note To Self Gabrielle Smith – Black Bird Nelle Divine – Dont Fall In Love With A Healer AkeemJamaal Rollins – Suicide Note | |||
| Volume Six: Chapter Ten - Our Conversation with Isabella DeSendi | 06 oct. 2025 | 01:13:24 | |
In Volume Six, Chapter Ten we welcomed Hoboken, New Jersey–based educator, poet, writer, and author Isabella DeSendi. A 2024 Pushcart Prize nominee, 2024 Ruth Lilly Fellowship finalist, 2024 Best New Poets selection, and 2025 New Jersey Fellowship finalist, Isabella earned her MFA from Columbia University. Her 2020 chapbook Through the New Body won the Poetry Society of America’s Chapbook Fellowship, and her debut full-length collection Someone Else’s Hunger was released September 15th via Four Way Books. In our conversation, Isabella talks about what it’s been like to live inside the excitement and vulnerability of releasing her first book while touring, and how she navigates the tension between Isabella the writer and Bella the person. We discuss how her understanding of voice, fear, and visibility evolved between Through the New Body and Someone Else’s Hunger, and how she has learned to “call a monster by his name” through the act of writing. Isabella shares how her family’s stories — her mother’s, her abuela’s — shaped her voice and sense of resilience, and how iconic figures like Eve, Mary, and Medusa stand beside those familial presences in her poems. We talk about the slow, deliberate process that shapes her work, how hunger became both the literal and spiritual thread uniting her collection, and what it means to transform pain into power — to turn the very wound that could have destroyed you into a source of strength. We also discuss anger’s rightful place in poetry and the complicated beauty of reclamation. Contact Isabella: Recorded Spoken Word Performances Featured Include: Ifrah Hussein – Tell Us Lyrical Faith – Black Boy Joy Masterpiece Poet – Slingshot Rick Dove – A Poetic Conceit Lionheart– Pretty Hurts | |||
| Volume Six: Chapter Nine - Our Conversation with Irène P. Mathieu | 29 sept. 2025 | 01:36:22 | |
In Volume Six: Chapter Nine, we welcome Dr. Irène Mathieu — a Washington, D.C.–born, Virginia-based pediatrician, educator, researcher, and award-winning poet. She earned her BA in International Relations from the College of William & Mary, her MD from Vanderbilt University, and a Master’s in Public Health from Johns Hopkins. Today she serves as Associate Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Virginia, where she also helps lead programs in Health Humanities, and sits on the board of Virginia Clinicians for Climate Action. Dr. Mathieu is the author of four books of poetry — The Galaxy of Origins, Orogeny (winner of the Bob Kaufman Book Prize), Grand Marronage (Editor’s Choice for the Gatewood Prize and runner-up for the Cave Canem/Northwestern Book Prize), and her most recent, Milk Tongue (2023). Her work has earned Pushcart Prize nominations, national contest honors, and features in outlets including The Washington Post, NPR, The Los Angeles Times, and more. Contact Irène: Recorded Spoken Word Performances Featured Include: Alyesha Wise – Trauma Joseph Capehart – Bad Habits Javon Johnson – Black and Happy Denice Frohman – Accents Jay Ward – Gentrification | |||
| Volume Six: Chapter Eight: Our Conversation with Destiny Birdsong | 15 sept. 2025 | 02:15:01 | |
In Volume Six: Chapter Eight of The Program, we sit down with Shreveport-born Writer, Poet, Essayist, and Author Destiny Birdsong, In our conversation, we trace Destiny’s creative journey from her childhood love of storytelling to the spark that ignited her lifelong devotion to poetry. We talk about how her early awareness of difference shaped her imagination, and how writing became a way to transform both beauty and pain into art. Destiny reflects on her university years, when writing full-time felt impractical, and how she eventually committed fully to the literary path. We explore the influence of Cave Canem, a transformative community for Black poets, and the pivotal advice from writer Chris Abani that pushed her toward a deeper honesty in her work—an honesty that shaped her acclaimed poetry collection Negotiations. She opens up about the vulnerability of writing for others versus writing for herself, and the revelations that came with seeing her first book in print a decade after completing her MFA. We also dig into her award-winning debut novel Nobody’s Magic, a powerful triptych that follows the lives of three Black women with albinism in Shreveport, Louisiana. Destiny shares insights into character building, the emotional complexities of writing characters she loved—and even some she initially hated—and why she chose to tell three distinct but interconnected stories. This is a thoughtful, vulnerable, and inspiring conversation with a Creative which I really enjoyed. Contact Destiny: Recorded Spoken Word Performances Featured Include: Ephraim Nehemiah – Inheritance of a Broken Home Porsha O. – Trigger William Evans – For My Wife Who Fell In Love With a Ship Buried at Sea Destiny Birdsong – Killing White (working title) | |||
| Volume Six: Chapter Seven - Our Conversation with Gregory Betts | 08 sept. 2025 | 01:44:10 | |
In Volume Six: Chapter Seven, we are joined by Vancouver-born poet, writer, educator, and editor Gregory Betts. A professor of English at Brock University and Literary Arts Residency Lead at the SETI Institute, Greg has authored or edited more than 25 books, including his most recent collaboration Muttertongue: What is Word In Utter Space, co-written with Lillian Allen and Gary Barwin. In our conversation, we trace Greg’s creative journey—from his earliest poems being published without his knowledge, to discovering the power of poetry in community through a George Bowering book and an Al Purdy reading that changed how he saw writing. We talk about his commitment to literary communities, his take on experimental versus avant-garde writing, and why he believes the difference between the two matters. Contact Gregory:: Recorded Spoken Word Performances Featured Include: Ebony Stewart – Mental Health Barz Jus Marvin – My Depression Natasha Miller – The Difference Between a Girlfriend and a Woman Elizabeth Acevedo – Afro Latina Asia Samson – As I Am | |||
| Volume Six: Chapter Six - Our Conversation with Drew Carroll | 25 août 2025 | 02:33:51 | |
In Volume Six: Chapter Six of The Program, we welcome back Chicago-based writer, poet, and blogger Drew Carroll. It’s been over five years since our last conversation, and a lot has changed. Drew has traded powerlifting for building worlds—through poetry, short fiction, and most recently his new digital platform, The Blog of Drew, launched in June. In our conversation, we discuss his journey from writing poetry during some of the hardest times in his life, to creating his own short fiction universe, to stepping away from social media and eventually returning with new projects. Drew shares his thoughts on the idea of therapy, seeking therapy, vulnerability, and masculinity—especially for Black men—and how those ideas have shaped his creativity. We also dive into his passions outside of writing, including professional wrestling and the state of the industry today. Contact Drew: Recorded Spoken Word Performances Featured Include: Ajanae Dawkins –When Viola Davis Won Darius Simpson – Genocide Alysia Harris – In Situations Like This Taalam Acey – Affirmation For Black Men Prentice Powell – True Love | |||
| Volume Six - Chapter Break | 17 août 2025 | 00:43:08 | |
No guest this week — instead, it's our Chapter Break episode. For this one, We’ve pulled together six of our favorite live readings and spoken word performances from past guests on the program. Think of it as a chance to pause, revisit, and really sit with the words that have stayed with us — and hopefully with you too. We’ll be back next week with a brand-new conversation. Recorded Spoken Word Performances Featured Include: Sabrina Ali - I Want You Back (Appearance: Volume Three - Chapter Seventeen) Nicoli The Poet - Who Hurt You (Appearance: Volume One - Chapter Two) Kennie Sings - I'm Just Sayin' (Appearance: Volume Four - Chapter Two) Michael Phillips - Freedom (Appearance: Volume One - Chapter Nine) Dr. Tara Betts - Stay Lit (Appearance: Volume Four - Chapter Thirteen) Bashar Abou Hawili - Good For Me (Appearance: Volume Three - Chapter Nine) | |||
| Volume Six: Chapter Five - Our Conversation with Story Teller Gordon | 03 août 2025 | 02:06:01 | |
In Volume Six: Chapter Five of The Program, we welcomed Story Teller Gordon —a New York-based Community Activist, Poet, Spoken Word Artist, Author of the poetry collection "Don't Speak For Me", and founder of FORM NYC, a nonprofit that blends poetry, public health, and community healing. With a Master of Public Health degree in Health Policy and Management, Gordon is a multidisciplinary creative who uses his art and voice to create spaces for connection, conversation, and care. In our conversation, we discuss his poetry origins in 2020 during the height of the virtual open mic era, how he discovered poetry as a form of emotional clarity, and why relatability—not just catharsis—is central to his work. Gordon opens up about his unique writing process, the discipline it takes to create with intention rather than emotion, and how performance, for him, is more about conversation than theatrics. We also explore FORM NYC, the community-centered nonprofit he founded in 2018. From campaigns like "Stop Street Harassment" to "My Brother is Calling" and "Safe Space", Gordon shares the motivations behind creating programs that support the mental, emotional, and spiritual health of young men—especially in a time where masculinity is being redefined and often misrepresented. Contact Story Teller Gordon: Recorded Spoken Word Performances Featured Include: Khalil Saaqiq – Who Am I Kelsey Bigelow – A Grandfather's Hands Shanelle Gabriel – Daddy's Girl Story Teller Gordon – New Year's Resolution | |||
| Volume Six: Chapter Four - Our Conversation with Natasha Ria El-Scari | 28 juil. 2025 | 01:43:26 | |
In Volume Six: Chapter Four of the podcast, we welcome Poet, Spoken Word Artist, and Author Natasha Ria. Natasha Ria has been writing and performing poetry for three decades. Whether it is performing with live musicians in Jazz, R&B, or Hip Hop or sharing her quieter literary work, her signature voice soothes audiences and brings them closer to themselves. Personal, political, intersectional, Natasha Ria brings her entire self to her performances. Contact Natasha: Recorded Spoken Word Performances Featured Include: Anita D – And the Psych Ward Says Jae Nichelle – Friends With Benefits Rudy Francisco – Scars To The New Boyfriend Natasha Ria – Shine | |||
| Volume Six: Chapter Three - Our Conversation with Alyssa Michelle | 13 juil. 2025 | 02:06:33 | |
In Volume Six: Chapter Three of the podcast, we welcome Poet, Spoken Word Artist, and Author Alyssa Michelle for her third appearance on the program. Alyssa, based in Albany, New York, is a mother, motivational speaker, and creative writing consultant who has authored three poetry collections: Growing Pains, The Awakening, and Blooming Season. In our conversation, we ease in with her road trip R&B playlist, then dive into a discussion about introversion, energy, growth, and the personal work behind Alyssa’s creative evolution. We revisit her start as a young writer who turned to poetry for safe expression and trace how her writing has shifted from chronicling trauma to embodying confidence, healing, and self-empowerment. She opens up about the importance of honoring her past without staying bound to it — particularly in her performance work, where she now feels called to reflect joy, strength, and renewal on stage. We also discuss her latest book, Blooming Season, a personal collection of 22 poems that represents, essentially, both a closing of one chapter and the quiet beginning of another. Plus, Alyssa shares her experience participating in the LA Times Festival of Books and offers insight into her new role as a creative writing consultant, supporting writers across a wide range of genres. Alyssa brings honesty, warmth, and a quiet wisdom that makes this conversation both comforting and energizing, and is why she is one of our favorite guests to converse with. Contact Alyssa: Recorded Spoken Word Performances Featured Include: Maya Mayor – Perfect Lyrical Faith – Lay My Edges Shawn William – Tired Alyssa Michelle – Solitude Thoughts | |||
| Volume Six: Chapter Two - Our Conversation with Dr. Theri Pickens | 07 juil. 2025 | 02:09:43 | |
This week on the program, we welcomed Poet, Scholar, Educator, and Author of the poetry collection "What Had Happened Was" - Dr. Therí Pickens . Dr. Pickens is a Professor of English at Bates College, where she teaches courses in African American and Arab American literature, disability studies, philosophy, and literary theory. In our conversation, we explore the intersections of Blackness, disability, poetry, and presence — and how she weaves these into both her creative and academic work. We begin with a fun round of word association that touches on everything from “Mad Blackness” to ‘90s R&B and Uno (yes, the card game), before diving into her creative history — from being the “young nerd” with a backpack full of books to her early dreams of publishing poetry. Dr. Pickens shares how she began seriously honing her craft as a poet in 2017, using poetic forms to guide and discipline her creativity. We discuss how her scholarly work in disability studies, particularly Black Disability Studies, informs her poetry — and how she challenges dominant frameworks like “mutual constitution” in understanding Blackness and disability. She offers insightful distinctions between impairment and disability, and how structural barriers—not bodies—create inaccessibility. Contact Dr. Pickens: Recorded Spoken Word Performances Featured Include: Ariana Brown – Supremacy Yaw – Ancestral Ghosts Dasan Ahanu – Conversation With God Ayanna Florence – Boy Calls Me Pretty Ifrah Hussein – Tell Us | |||
| Volume Six: Chapter One - Our Conversation with Sunshine Lombre | 29 juin 2025 | 01:50:41 | |
In the premiere Chapter of Volume Six, we welcomed Chicago-born and based Educator, Poet, Writer, Spoken Word Artist, and Dancer, Sunshine Lombré . From her early start in ballet at the age of three to her decision to pursue dance and poetry professionally, Sunshine walks us through her artistic evolution—how physics gave way to poetry, how Craigslist led to one of her first choreography gigs, and how an unexpected injury became a spiritual and creative turning point. We talk about the interplay between poetry and movement—how dance, especially fem-centered forms like burlesque and belly dancing, can carry memory and emotion in ways language sometimes can't. Sunshine opens up about how embracing her sensuality and femininity transformed not only her art but her relationship to herself. She also shares her passion for healing through art, both personally and in community. From her work with Poetry for Personal Power to teaching in libraries and arts councils, Sunshine is deeply invested in using creativity to empower others—especially those who might not see themselves as “artistic.” Toward the end of our conversation, we discuss her advocacy and activism, including the emotional weight and responsibility of poems like "For Gaza" and "Living in Portable Caskets". We explore what it means to create art that holds both sensuality and sorrow, joy and justice—and how those things can coexist. Contact Sunshine: Recorded Spoken Word Performances Featured Include: Kyla Janee Lacey– Pulled Out A Knife On Him Zach Goldberg – Blackout Javon Johnson – The Shotgun Sunshine Lombré – For Gaza | |||
| Volume Five: Chapter Twenty - Our Conversation with Ajanaé Dawkins | 22 juin 2025 | 02:11:26 | |
In Volume Five: Chapter Twenty, we welcomed Ajanae Dawkins. Ajanaé is a poet, conceptual artist and theologian. She works through poetry, visual art, performance, and audio to explore the politics of faith, grief, and intimate relationships between Black women. As a theologian, she blends cultural criticism, memoir, and theology as autotheory to consider the relationship between Black church history, spirituality, and creation. Her work has appeared in the Academy of American Poets’ Poem-a-Day, The Rumpus, Prairie Schooner, the Indiana Review, Frontier Poetry, The BreakBeat Poets Black Girl Magic Anthology and more. Her solo-exhibition, No One Teaches Us How To Be Daughters, debuted at Urban Arts Space in 2024. Her chapbook, BLOOD-FLEX, won the New Delta Review’s Chapbook prize and is forthcoming in Spring 2025. Contact Ajanae: Recorded Spoken Word Performances Featured Include: FreeQuency – The Seven Deadly American Sins Ya Ya Poet– Ling Ling Black Chakra – Pass Ajanaé Dawkins – When Viola Davis Won | |||
| Volume Five: Chapter Nineteen - Our Conversation with Alysia Nicole Harris | 14 juin 2025 | 02:35:00 | |
In Volume Five: Chapter Nineteen, we welcomed Educator, Poet, Writer, Spoken Word Artist, host of the Chasing After Wind podcast, and Author of the chapbook How Much We Must Have Looked Like Stars To Stars, Dr. Alysia Nicole Harris. Alysia has dedicated her life to studying words in their spiritual, social, linguistic and creative capacities. Renowned internationally as a spoken word artist, Alysia has had a professional career as a performance artist and speaker since 2010, amassing over nine million views on YouTube. The author of the prize-winning chapbook How Much We Must Have Looked Like Stars to Stars (2016) received her MFA in poetry from New York University in 2014 and her PhD in linguistics from Yale University in 2019. Alysia has written, performed, and taught workshops in twelve countries for organizations including but not limited to: U.S. Mission to Ukraine, U.S. Mission to South Africa, U.S. Mission to Jordan, NAACP, Yale Center for Faith & Culture, Virginia Theological Seminary, City Seminary New York, The Disrespected Literatures Conference, Morehouse Center for Excellence in Education, University of Birmingham, University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, MoMA: PS1, Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Nasher Sculpture Center, The Big Quiet, Button Poetry, and many schools and universities. She is currently working with members of a Texas community to restore a 108-year-old former CME church in Texas and transform it into an intergenerational space for community storytelling. Through this work she hopes to preserve Black places and celebrate Black stories in the U.S. South. Contact Alysia: Recorded Spoken Word Performances Featured Include: Ebony Stewart – How We Forget (after Loyce Gayo) Sabrina Ali – MisterOgyny Roscoe Burnems – Agnostic Alysia Harris – Situations Like This | |||
| Volume Five: Chapter Eighteen - Our Conversation with Margo LaPierre | 09 juin 2025 | 02:31:27 | |
In Volume Five: Chapter Eighteen, we welcomed Writer, Poet, Editor, and Author of the forthcoming poetry collection "Ajar", Margo LaPierre. Margo edits fiction and creative non-fiction. She completed an undergraduate degree in philosophy at Toronto Metropolitan University in Toronto, and graduated from the Toronto Metropolitan Chang School’s Publishing Program. She is currently completing a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing at the University of British Columbia. In her volunteer work, she is the newsletter editor of Arc Poetry Magazine, the interim fiction editor of Untethered magazine, and a poetry selection jury member of Bywords.ca (www.bywords.ca). In 2019, she was the sole recipient of the Claudette Upton Scholarship, an annual, national award that recognizes a promising student editor from among Editors Canada’s student affiliates. She is a member of the poetry collective VII, also comprising Manahil Bandukwala, Ellen Chang-Richardson, Conyer Clayton, nina jane drystek, Chris Johnson, and Helen Robertson. Contact Margo: Recorded Spoken Word Performances Featured Include: Andrea Gibson – For The Days I Stop Wanting A Body Alyesha Wise – Flowers Christopher Diaz – Again Asia Samson – Enough Ania D – Colors | |||
| Volume Five: Chapter Seventeen - Our Conversation with Anastacia-Renee | 01 juin 2025 | 02:02:08 | |
In Volume Five: Chapter Seventeen, we welcomed Educator, Writer, Poet, Playwright, and Author of the poetry collection "Here in the (Middle) of Nowhere", Anastacia-Reneé. (From anastacia-renee.com): Anastacia-Reneé (She/They) is a queer writer, educator, interdisciplinary artist, playwright, former radio host, TEDX speaker, and podcaster. She is the author of (v.) (Gramma/Black Ocean), Forget It (Black Radish); Sidenotes from the Archivist (HarperCollins/Amistad, ), and Here in the (Middle) of Nowhere (HarperCollins/Amistad). Side Notes From The Archivist was selected as one of “NYPL Best Books of 2023,” and, The American Library Associations (RUSA) “Notable Books of 2024.” Anastacia-Reneé is a recipient of the James W. Ray Distinguished Artist Award and, she was selected by NBC News as part of the list of "Queer Artist of Color Dominate 2021's Must See LGBTQ Art Shows," for “(Don’t Be Absurd) Alice in Parts” an installation at the Frye Art Museum. Anastacia-Reneé served as Seattle Civic Poet (2017-1019) during Seattle’s inaugural year of UNESCO status. Contact Anastacia-Renee: Recorded Spoken Word Performances Featured Include: Nia Lewis – Closed Edwin Bodney – Good Morning Aleah Bradshaw – Questions Gabrielle Smith – Blackbird Dasan Ahanu – Double Entendre | |||
| Volume Five: Chapter Sixteen - Our Conversation with Dre Hill | 26 mai 2025 | 02:11:14 | |
In Volume Five, Chapter Sixteen, we welcomed Poet, Artist, Writer, and Author Dre Hill. Dre is a Black literary and visual artist. Hill tags himself as an artist, writer, and storyteller. He is a published fiction writer, poet, photographer, painter, and more. He graduated from Trimble Tech High School in 2017, then earned his B.A. in Animation and Writing from Drury University in 2021. While at Drury, he had two pieces published in the literary magazine Currents. His work was featured in the “Race in America” art exhibit. His senior film, “Solace”, won second place in the 2022 MBEA competition. Hill’s work is both individualist and collective, seemingly speaking for and to each reader respectively as well as to and for groups as a whole. His work is vivid, colorful, and animated in nature. There are heavy Afrocentric, and often supernatural or metaphysical themes, in his work. Often exploring the connections between some of life’s mundane experiences and the almost extraordinary ways in which black people engage and grapple with them. Contact Dre: Recorded Spoken Word Performances Featured Include: Alysia Harris – Controlled Burn Bianca Phipps – Born To Embody It Taalam Acey – Seldom Seen Barbara Fant – Brown Bodies Burning Danez Smith – Dear White America | |||
| Volume Five: Chapter Fifteen - Our Conversation with Asia Samson | 04 mai 2025 | 02:18:20 | |
In Volume Five: Chapter Fifteen, we welcome Poet, Writer, and Spoke Word Artist Asia Samson. (From theasiaproject.com): Since 2009, The Asia Project has toured over 2000 colleges with an acoustic music poetry act that has amazed audiences all over the country. On the microphone is Asia Samson: writer, poet and part-time ninja. He has been seen on HBO Def Poetry Jam and has shared the stage with such artists as Janelle Monae, Jill Scott, DMX, Mos Def, Dead Prez and KRS-One. Accompanying him on the guitar is his brother-in-law Jollan who uses music to create an atmosphere that brings poetry to emotional levels you would never expect. They have been featured on HBO Def Poetry, Button Poetry, TEDx, NPR’s Tiny Desk Contest, SoFar Sounds, Story Conference, and Entrepreneur’s Organization. They have worked with companies such as the US Military, Nokia, Disney, To Write Love On Her Arms and AEvolve. They have broken college-booking records for the most booked poetry act in the college market garnering them the awards of APCA College Performer of the Year and thrice APCA Spoken Word Artist of the Year. Contact Asia: Recorded Spoken Word Performances Featured Include: Sunni Patterson – Black Back Ashley Lumpkin – Inheritance Ephriam Nehamiah – Teaching My Son How To Say No Asia Samson – As I Am Asia Samson – Enough | |||
| Volume Five: Chapter Fourteen - Our Conversation with Dream | 27 avr. 2025 | 02:02:35 | |
In Volume Five, Chapter Fourteen, we sit down with Baltimore-based artist Dream—an educator, poet, writer, photographer, and meditation guide. In our conversation, Dream discusses her creative journey, releasing her spoken word pieces on streaming platforms, and talks about the influence that her family’s creativity has had on her. We dive into poetry, writing, the benefits of meditation, and the beauty of helping others. A conversation about art, presence, intentionality, and more. Contact Dream: Recorded Spoken Word Performances Featured Include: Reagan Myers – Depression Is Funny Like That Imani Cezanne – Flowers Marshall Davis Jones – Touchscreen Elizabeth Acevedo – A Love Letter To My Beloved King Yaw – Ancestral Ghosts | |||
| Volume Five: Chapter Thirteen - Our Conversation with Natalie Lim | 20 avr. 2025 | 01:45:43 | |
In Volume Five: Chapter Thirteen, we welcome Poet, Writer, and Author of the poetry collection, “Elegy For Opportunity”, Natalie Lim. Natalie Lim (she/her) is a Chinese-Canadian poet living on the unceded, traditional territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh Peoples (Vancouver, BC). She is the author of a full-length book of poetry, Elegy for Opportunity (Wolsak & Wynn, 2025) and a chapbook, arrhythmia (Rahila's Ghost Press, 2022). Winner of the 2018 CBC Poetry Prize and Room Magazine’s 2020 Emerging Writer Award, her work has been published in Arc Poetry Magazine, Best Canadian Poetry 2020 and elsewhere. Contact Natalie: Recorded Spoken Word Performances Featured Include: Timothy DuWhite – The Story of How He Happened Denice Frohman – Accents Kenneth Something – Rape Poem Mike Rosen – When God Happens Javon Johnson – Black and Happy | |||
| Volume Five: Chapter Twelve - Our Conversation with Samiya Bashir | 13 avr. 2025 | 02:11:59 | |
In Volume Five: Chapter Twelve, we welcome Poet, Writer, Playwright, and Author of the forthcoming poetry collection, "I Hope This Helps", Samiya Bashir. Samiya Bashir’s honors include the Rome Prize in Literature, the Pushcart Prize, Oregon’s Arts & Culture Council Individual Artist Fellowship in Literature, plus numerous other awards, grants, fellowships, and residencies including MacDowell, the Atlantic Center for the Arts, and the New York Council on the Arts. She is the author of three books, and her fourth “I Hope This Helps” is scheduled to be released May 13th. Contact Samiya: Recorded Spoken Word Performances Featured Include: Melissa Newman-Evans – Nine Things I Would Like To Tell Every Teenage Girl L3thal Po3t – Superhero First Appearance: Here Tucker Bryant – Facts About Myself Meccamorphosis – Thriftshop Natasha Hooper – A Letter To Whomever Is Next | |||
| Volume Five: Chapter Eleven - Our Conversation with Ahja Fox | 06 avr. 2025 | 02:33:05 | |
n Volume Five: Chapter Eleven, we welcome Poet, Writer, Performance Poet, and Poet Laureate of Aurora Colorado, Ahja Fox. Ahja is a mother, educator, freelancer, and the current Poet Laureate of Aurora, Colorado for a four-year term which ends Spring of 2026. She has editorial, hosting, unique performance and teaching experience through working with or for the City of Aurora, Art of Storytelling, Poetix University, Copper Nickel, Poetry Brothel Denver, Kallisto Gaia Press, Poetix University, Progenitor Literary & Art Journal and more. Currently, she teaches with Lighthouse Writers as a youth instructor, hosts Poetry Breakfast with Hoffman Library, and is a board member for Soul Stories, and commits to delivering poetry-focused lessons at various schools and public places. Contact Ray Jane: Recorded Spoken Word Performances Featured Include: Lyrical Faith – Bilingual Rudy Francisco – Scars To The New Boyfriend Steven Willis – The Hustle Speaks Ashley Davis – Lesson In Healing Sonya Renee Taylor – The Body Is Not An Apology | |||
| Volume Five: Chapter Ten - Our Conversation with Sharnnell Spivey | 23 mars 2025 | 01:41:50 | |
In Volume Five: Chapter Ten, we welcome Poet, Writer, and Author of the new book "Root of the Matter" Sharnnell Spivey. From her Bio: "Sharnnell Spivey was born and raised in Detroit, MI where she first realized her passion for writing. She started at a young age by keeping journals. Sharnnell wrote in her journal about her daily life and feelings that she felt as if she could not express to others. As a preteen, she took an interest in Maya Angelou and her writings. She looked at a woman that was so bold and used emotions and turned them into art; Sharnnell wanted to do the same. She began writing poetry and realized she had a heart for it. She later published her first book of poetry at the age of 15 entitled, “So Many Emotions by One Little Girl”. She wrote her second poetry book “Keeping it Real” however she stopped writing for 6 years after experiencing a domestic violence situation. After coming out of her writers block, she spent 3 months writing about her experience in her nonfictional book entitled, “Domestic Drama: Her Truth”. It was hard to express the things that she experienced at that time however, she wanted to get her story out, hoping others come forward and remove themselves from such situations." Contact Sharnnell: Recorded Spoken Word Performances featured in this Chapter Included: Taalam Acey – Willie Lynch LLC Sherrika Mitchell – Crescent Love Roscoe Burnems – Metaphysics for White Privilege Alex Dang – What Kind of Asian Are You Thea Monyee – For Little Girls | |||
| Volume Five: Chapter Nine - Our Conversation with Rebecca Salazar | 16 mars 2025 | 02:30:29 | |
In Volume Five: Chapter Nine, we welcome Activist, Poet, and Author of the forthcoming poetry collection "antibody". Rebecca (she/they) is a queer, racialized Latinx writer, editor, and community organizer. Published works include sulphurtongue (McClelland & Stewart), the knife you need to justify the wound (Rahila’s Ghost) and Guzzle (Anstruther). Rebecca edits poetry for The Fiddlehead and Plenitude magazines, is a co-founder of BIPOC Pride Fredericton, and works as a graduate researcher for the Cymbeline in the Anthropocene research project. Rebecca is currently completing a PhD on trauma, queerness, and ecopoetics, while living on the unceded territory of the Wolastoqiyik people. Contact Rebecca: Bluesky: @rsalazar Featured Performance Poets in This Chapter: Jasmine Combs – Monster Darius Simpson – Genocide Christopher Michael – Purse Clutchers GiGi Bella – Slut | |||
| Volume Five: Chapter Eight - Our Conversation with Ray Jane | 09 mars 2025 | 02:11:51 | |
In Volume Five: Chapter Eight, we welcome back to the program Educator, Advocate, Poet, Spoken Word Artist, and Author of the book "Black Like That: Poems from a Conduit" Ray Jane. Ray is a Brooklyn-born poet raised in Far Rockaway, Queens. She uses her poetry to lift herself and other women of color. Always aiming to strengthen her voice, Ray Jane was also the winner of the Verb Benders slam poetry team’s inaugural poetry slam. Some of her feature performances include: “Digital Verse,” sponsored by The Nuyorican Poets Café and The Green Space. You can find her expressing her perspective as a Black female artist on several podcasts, including We Be Imagining/Black Siren Radio and Sound Minds Podcast’s “Potent Women Wordsmiths.” She has moderated her own workshops with ¡Oyé Group! Poet’s Corner (2021- 2023) and Art Defined, and hosted The Nuyorican Poets Cafe Thursday Night Online Open mic (2022-2023) and “Freestyle Friday” for The Word Is Write. Contact Ray Jane: Purchase Black Like That: Poems for a Conduit here and here Recorded Spoken Word Performances Featured Include: Jared Singer – Just Take a Shower Jahman Hill – White Heaven Loyce Gayo – How We Forget Ray Jane – Sobering | |||
| Volume Five: Chapter Seven - Our Conversation with Lalo León | 03 mars 2025 | 01:53:27 | |
In Volume Five: Chapter Seven, we welcome the Author of the book "Las Bugambilias: A Bilingual Queer Novel" Lalo León. Lalo was born and raised in Southern New Mexico near the U.S. Border with Mexico. He holds a structural engineering degree from New Mexico State University, a Master's Degree in architecture from Arizona State University, and is a retired Mariachi. “Las Bugambilias" is a work which reflects on his experience of being a conversion therapy survivor and how the interplay of Latino and American cultures have an impact on immigrant stories. Contact Lalo: Instagram: @thelaloleon Featured Performance Poets in This Chapter: Anna Maria Morris – A Love Poem For Myself Danez Smith – Waiting On You To Die So I Can Be Myself Jasmine Mans – You Gon'Get This Work Jay Ward – Gentrification Website: jwardpoetry.com | |||
| Volume Five: Chapter Six - Our Conversation with Robert Lashley | 24 févr. 2025 | 01:53:27 | |
In Volume Five: Chapter Six, we welcome Poet, Essayist, Freelance Writer, Critic, and Author of the forthcoming novel "I Never Dreamed You'd Leave in Summer", friend of the Podcast Robert Lashley. Robert is a 2016 Jack Straw Fellow, a nominee for a Stronger Genius Award, and an Artist Trust Fellow. This was his second appearance on the program. Contact Robert: Recorded Spoken Word Performances Featured Include: Brandon Alexander Williams – Black Woman Studies Muna Abdulahi – Pronounce Us Correctly Anyrah Shaveh – If We Must Die Young Moody Black – Eight Letters Gayle Danley – Rough | |||
| Volume Five: Chapter Five - Our Conversation with Tarika Holland | 16 févr. 2025 | 02:23:57 | |
In Volume Five: Chapter Five, we welcome Teaching Artists, Poet, Dancer, Spoken Word Artist, and Author of the book Becoming The Artist Volume One, Tarika Holland. Contact Tarika: Instagram: @tarikaholland Featured Performance Poets in This Chapter: Crystal Valentine – Black Privilege Ebony Stewart – Mental Health Barz Matthew Cuban Hernandez – Challenger Edwin Bodney – Good Morning | |||
| Volume Five: Chapter Four - Our Conversation with Kelsey Bigelow | 09 févr. 2025 | 02:22:52 | |
In Volume Five: Chapter Four we welcome back to the Program Page Poet, Spoken Word Artist, and Author of the book Far From Broken, Kelsey Bigelow. From Her Website: Kelsey Bigelow is a poet and speaker based in Des Moines. She spends her time working as a mental health poet sharing this therapeutic tool with audiences of all ages across the world. She is the author of four poetry projects, including her latest book "Far From Broken." Her work is published with several small presses and journals. Kelsey is a 2024 Pushcart Prize nominee, a 2023 Button Poetry Video Contest Finalist, and a 2023 Central Avenue Poetry Prize finalist. As a performer, Kelsey has worked with organizations such as The Mayo Clinic, NAMI, Planned Parenthood, and more. Videos of her work can be found on YouTube, Button Poetry, Ghost Poetry Show, and elsewhere. She's the founder of the Des Moines Poetry Workshop, the chair for the Iowa Poetry Association Poetry Slam, a teaching artist in the Des Moines community, the director for the BlackBerry Peach National Poetry Slam, and a founding member of the 2025 io-what poetry slam team. Contact Kelsey: Instagram: @kelkaybpoetry Featured Performance Poets in This Chapter: Jae Nichelle – Afro So Big Emi Mahmoud – Window Games God's Ink – Pennies Alexandria Bennett – Sapiosexual | |||