The Poet Speaks Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

It's the SEASON 9 Finale!

Check out Amanda's conversation with Mason Granger !

Mason Granger (he/him) is a spoken word artist with over a decade of experience on stages & in educational settings across all 50 states and nine countries. His work centers around matters of class, nature, and sustainability-- both of ourselves as human beings and the world we share-- all from an imaginative and forward-thinking perspective.

As the inaugural Poet in Residence of the Schwarzenegger Institute at USC and an LA-Paris 2024 Poetic Games Olympic Showcase Awardee, Mason is one of Southern California's most engaging poetic voices. Whether inhabiting a stage himself or making space for others' voices to shine, Mason's approach to the craft of spoken word poetry emphasizes engagement, connection, and creativity. His philosophy is simple: Teachers make sure you walk out knowing what you need to know; poets make sure you walk out feeling what you need to feel. Mason's work, intentionally, makes sure you walk out with both cups full.

As a poet, Mason has been featured on ESPN (2011) , PBS (2018), the Golden Globes (2021), multiple national magazines, and founded a spoken word YouTube channel (2014), SlamFind, with 100,000 subscribers. As an educator and nonprofit director at Get Lit - Words Ignite in LA (2024) and Bowery Poetry Club in NYC (2019), his students have performed for The Last Poets (2018), Prince Harry & Meaghan Markle (2021), been named National Youth Poet Laureate (2023), and achieved countless other accolades. He created poetry exchange programs in Romania (2019) and The Netherlands (2024), performed at the Austrian World Summit (2024), and did a backflip once (2003).

At the end of the day, however, it's not about an individual's past accomplishments, but how we can all build a better future based on the moments we create together in the present. Spoken word poetry, at its very best, is a living art form, and filling a room with that Life--no matter where, when, or with who-- is what inspires Mason every time he steps on stage.


Mason's Links: @masongranger 

CHECK OUT AMANDA'S NEW TV SHOW: The Poet Speaks with Amanda Eke! Now airing on the Archaeology Channel and Roku!

STREAM HERE:
https://heritagetac.org/programs/the-poet-speaks-with-amanda-eke-i28z2vn9bsc?category_id=65263

Be sure to check out The Poet Speaks Podcast on Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/thepoetspeakspodcast/

And listen to,The Poet Speaks Podcast, on the go on ALL STREAMING PLATFORMS WORLDWIDE!

Apple:https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast...
Spotify:https://open.spotify.com/show/1cM1rdF...

Did you know The Poet Speaks is also Amanda's touring global workshop? She teaches people all about how to make, create and the history of Spoken Word and Indigenous oral traditions! To make a booking for The Poet Speaks Workshop with your organization, apply for mentorships with Amanda, book interviews, as well as writing consultations, please use this link: https://www.amandaeke.com/services

Music by: Buzu Buzu
https://www.instagram.com/bbuzu/

Check out Amanda's conversation with Adela Najarro!

Adela Najarro is the author of four poetry collections, including Volcanic Interruptions, which earned an Honorable Mention at the 2024 International Latino Book Awards. Her forthcoming collection, Variations in Blue, will be published in March 2025 by Letras Latinas/Red Hen Press.
A California Arts Council Fellow, Najarro is a passionate advocate for Latine/x arts and social justice, serving on the board of Círculo de Poetas and Writers. She holds a doctorate in literature and creative writing from Western Michigan University and an M.F.A. from Vermont College. 

Adela's Links: @adelanajarro

CHECK OUT AMANDA'S NEW TV SHOW: The Poet Speaks with Amanda Eke! Now airing on the Archaeology Channel and Roku!

STREAM HERE:
https://heritagetac.org/programs/the-poet-speaks-with-amanda-eke-i28z2vn9bsc?category_id=65263

Be sure to check out The Poet Speaks Podcast on Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/thepoetspeakspodcast/

And listen to,The Poet Speaks Podcast, on the go on ALL STREAMING PLATFORMS WORLDWIDE!

Apple:https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast...
Spotify:https://open.spotify.com/show/1cM1rdF...

Did you know The Poet Speaks is also Amanda's touring global workshop? She teaches people all about how to make, create and the history of Spoken Word and Indigenous oral traditions! To make a booking for The Poet Speaks Workshop with your organization, apply for mentorships with Amanda, book interviews, as well as writing consultations, please use this link: https://www.amandaeke.com/services

Music by: Buzu Buzu
https://www.instagram.com/bbuzu/

Check out Amanda's conversation with Miguel Martin Perez!

Miguel Martin Perez (he/they) is a queer Afro-Dominican poet raised in Harlem and the South Bronx. He is a Cave Canem Fellow, a 2022 Langston Hughes Fellow at the Palm Beach Poetry Festival, and an alum of the Tin House Winter Workshop. His work has received the Leslie McGrath Poetry Prize in 2023, the Pacific Spirit Poetry Prize in 2021, and was a finalist for the 2022 Mississippi Review Poetry Prize. His poems appear or are forthcoming in Narrative, Colorado Review, Raleigh Review, Acentos Review, and Santa Fe Writers Project Quarterly among others. He holds an MFA in creative writing from the University of California – Riverside and currently resides in the Bronx. 


Miguel's Links:@mmppoetry.

CHECK OUT AMANDA'S NEW TV SHOW: The Poet Speaks with Amanda Eke! Now airing on the Archaeology Channel and Roku!

SUBSCRIBE AND STREAM HERE:
https://heritagetac.org/programs/the-poet-speaks-with-amanda-eke-i28z2vn9bsc?category_id=65263

Be sure to check out The Poet Speaks Podcast on Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/thepoetspeakspodcast/

And listen to,The Poet Speaks Podcast, on the go on ALL STREAMING PLATFORMS WORLDWIDE!

Apple:https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast...
Spotify:https://open.spotify.com/show/1cM1rdF...

Did you know The Poet Speaks is also Amanda's touring global workshop? She teaches people all about how to make, create and the history of Spoken Word and Indigenous oral traditions! To make a booking for The Poet Speaks Workshop with your organization, apply for mentorships with Amanda, book interviews, as well as writing consultations, please use this link: https://www.amandaeke.com/services

Music by: Buzu Buzu
https://www.instagram.com/bbuzu/

Check out Amanda's conversation with Siggy Trust!

Sagirah “Siggy” Layne is an Accountant and poet/spoken word artist of Grenadian descent, from Brooklyn, NY. She started her accounting career as an auditor at Ernst & Young over 10 years ago in NY before moving to CA and switching to tax. She began performing spoken word over 6 years ago after moving to CA, although she’s been writing since she was a young girl. She’s now a bi-coastal girlie living, writing, and performing in both NY and CA. She’s performed for various organizations, twice at the Pan-African Film Festival Spoken Word Fest, and planned, produced, and performed her first two solo shows in 2022 & 2023. In April 2020, she released her debut poetry book “The Rise of the Dope Black Woman” under her pen name “Trust” and is currently working on book #2, set to be released in 2025.

When not working and writing, Siggy enjoys spending time with her loved ones, working out, listening to music, playing her piano, and knitting and crocheting. She is a life member and President of the Athens-Westmont Section of The National Council of Negro Women, Inc. She also enjoys traveling, especially back home to her family land, the beautiful Isle of Spice, Grenada.

Siggy's Links:trust.thequietforce.com

CHECK OUT AMANDA'S NEW TV SHOW: The Poet Speaks with Amanda Eke! Now airing on the Archaeology Channel and Roku!
SUBSCRIBE AND STREAM HERE:
https://heritagetac.org/programs/the-poet-speaks-with-amanda-eke-i28z2vn9bsc?category_id=65263

Be sure to check out The Poet Speaks Podcast on Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/thepoetspeakspodcast/

And listen to,The Poet Speaks Podcast, on the go on ALL STREAMING PLATFORMS WORLDWIDE!

Apple:https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast...
Spotify:https://open.spotify.com/show/1cM1rdF...

Did you know The Poet Speaks is also Amanda's touring global workshop? She teaches people all about how to make, create and the history of Spoken Word and Indigenous oral traditions! To make a booking for The Poet Speaks Workshop with your organization, apply for mentorships with Amanda, book interviews, as well as writing consultations, please use this link: https://www.amandaeke.com/services

Music by: Buzu Buzu
https://www.instagram.com/bbuzu/

Check out Amanda's conversation with Nerd The Poet!

Dominic “Nerd” McDonald also known as Nerd the Poet, is a young Black Entrepreneur and Spoken Word artist from various cities in Los Angeles, California who relocated to the DC Metro area in 2019. He has put his views on growing up in the inner city between two households, his Hip Hop music obsession, college experiences, and more into Poetry and Spoken Word. 
His first poetry book "The Love Song of D. Nerd McDonald" was written in 2015 and by 2016 he began touring and traveling as a Professional Published Poet. By his second tour in 2018 had published his second work "H.E.R (Heavens Epitome Realized)" along with two college friends and set his eyes on expanding his brand to the East Coast.  His passion comes from serving the community, especially through the arts. He is the 2022 winner of the Day 8 Publishing's "DC Poet Project". 

By writing from his heart and what he sees and hears, he hopes to be a “change agent” to the unheard. 

Nerd's Links: https://www.instagram.com/nerdthepoet?igsh=OG54bTVrYWpyMjBl

Be sure to check out The Poet Speaks Podcast on Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/thepoetspeakspodcast/

And listen to,The Poet Speaks Podcast, on the go on ALL STREAMING PLATFORMS WORLDWIDE!

Apple:https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast...
Spotify:https://open.spotify.com/show/1cM1rdF...

Did you know The Poet Speaks is also Amanda's touring global workshop? She teaches people all about how to make, create and the history of Spoken Word and Indigenous oral traditions! To make a booking for The Poet Speaks Workshop with your organization, apply for mentorships with Amanda, book interviews, as well as writing consultations, please use this link: https://www.amandaeke.com/services

Music by: Buzu Buzu
https://www.instagram.com/bbuzu/

Check out Amanda's conversation with Anastasia Lindsey!

 Anastasia Lindsey is an award-winning author and self-taught poet, native to IL. Her work explores the ways in which relationships shape us in specific and universal ways, the waves of human emotions, the healing journey, and the transformational power of love. She is also a photographer, creative, singer, and artist. Her book, O C E A N, has received much recognition across the US and is available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. She takes pride in launching herself into our unique and diverse world, to create poetic masterpieces that help us heal our hearts. She believes that mixing imagination with creativity creates an unshakeable power within that cannot be broken. Poetry, to her, is taking the ordinary out of life and making it extraordinary. It's lifting the veil between strangers and showing that we are all connected. Anastasia's work explores grief, loss, love, trauma, healing, self-empowerment, transformation, and much more. Her soul is poured into her work and connects humanity, one poem at a time.

Anastasia's Links: summersolacehealing.com  

Be sure to check out The Poet Speaks Podcast on Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/thepoetspeakspodcast/

And listen to,The Poet Speaks Podcast, on the go on ALL STREAMING PLATFORMS WORLDWIDE!

Apple:https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast...
Spotify:https://open.spotify.com/show/1cM1rdF...

Did you know The Poet Speaks is also Amanda's touring global workshop? She teaches people all about how to make, create and the history of Spoken Word and Indigenous oral traditions! To make a booking for The Poet Speaks Workshop with your organization, apply for mentorships with Amanda, book interviews, as well as writing consultations, please use this link: https://www.amandaeke.com/services

Music by: Buzu Buzu
https://www.instagram.com/bbuzu/

Check out Amanda's conversation with Marlana-Patrice Pugh Hamer!

Marlana-Patrice Pugh Hamer (She/Her) is an award-winning poet, writer, performer, public speaker, educator, and volunteer/activist. She has a BA in English. Also, an MEd in Curriculum & Instruction. 
Her poetry and nonfiction have appeared in various anthologies. Most recently, Dimepiece: Ten Years of CLI Poetry. Her debut poetry collection is Taking Off My Black & White Saddle Shoes: Cleveland Poems. It is a memoir in verse spanning from her birth to the present (World Stage Press, 2024). 
Marlana-Patrice is a veteran English and reading teacher who has taught on many levels, including teaching Freshman Composition at Purdue University. Both a lifelong teacher and lifelong learner, she is currently a Teaching Assistant with Community Literature Initiative (CLI).
A native Clevelander, Marlana-Patrice caught the open mic bug before taking an early retirement and relocating to the Phoenix Metro area in Arizona. She performs as "Marlana-Patrice." To date, one of her most memorable poetry performances was at the iconic Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center during a Los Angeles Poet Society 2022 Open Mic. 

Marlana's Links: Linktr.ee/marlanapph

Be sure to check out The Poet Speaks Podcast on Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/thepoetspeakspodcast/

And listen to,The Poet Speaks Podcast, on the go on ALL STREAMING PLATFORMS WORLDWIDE!

Apple:https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast...
Spotify:https://open.spotify.com/show/1cM1rdF...

Did you know The Poet Speaks is also Amanda's touring global workshop? She teaches people all about how to make, create and the history of Spoken Word and Indigenous oral traditions! To make a booking for The Poet Speaks Workshop with your organization, apply for mentorships with Amanda, book interviews, as well as writing consultations, please use this link: https://www.amandaeke.com/services

Music by: Buzu Buzu
https://www.instagram.com/bbuzu/

Check out Amanda's conversation with Tess Taylor!

Tess Taylor’s  body of work deals with place, ecology, memory and cultural reckoning.  She’s published five celebrated poetry collections: The Misremembered World, The Forage House, Last West: Roadsongs for Dorothea Lange, and Rift Zone, one of the Boston Globe’s best books of 2020. Her book Work & Days was one of the NY Times best poetry books of 2016.  In fall 2023, she published  the anthology Leaning Toward Light: Poems for Gardens and the Hands that Tend Them, a collection of contemporary gardening poems for an era of climate crisis. In 2024-2025 she will serve as the Poet Laureate of El Cerrito California. She lives and gardens just outside Berkeley, California.

Tess's links:  https://www.tess-taylor.com/

Be sure to check out The Poet Speaks Podcast on Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/thepoetspeakspodcast/
And listen to,The Poet Speaks Podcast, on the go on ALL STREAMING PLATFORMS WORLDWIDE!

Apple:https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast...
Spotify:https://open.spotify.com/show/1cM1rdF...

Did you know The Poet Speaks is also Amanda's touring global workshop? She teaches people all about how to make, create and the history of Spoken Word and Indigenous oral traditions! To make a booking for The Poet Speaks Workshop with your organization, apply for mentorships with Amanda, book interviews, as well as writing consultations, please use this link: https://www.amandaeke.com/services

Music by: Buzu Buzu
https://www.instagram.com/bbuzu/

It's the Season 7 Finale!
Check out Amanda's conversation with Moyosolaoluwa Olowokure!

Moyosolaoluwa Olowokure is a Nigerian poet, model, digital creator, and recording artiste whose work explores psychology, spirituality, and romance.

Her works have graced African Creatives’ platforms such as, the Aké Festival, LIPFEST, KABAFEST, BellaNaija, and Drummr Africa. She is also known for her commissioned work with NGOs and brands across Nigeria. 

Off the stage, Moyosola’s online community has grown to over 30,000 people across the globe as she collaborates with artists of various disciplines and backgrounds. Her debut single, “Sex is a kind of death (SIAKOD)” was released in February 2024 and currently has over 8,000 plays on major streaming platforms.

Moyosolaoluwa's links:
https://www.instagram.com/moyosolaolowokure?igsh=MTVldjRudmgwNjNwbw==

Be sure to check out The Poet Speaks Podcast on Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/thepoetspeakspodcast/

And listen to,The Poet Speaks Podcast, on the go on ALL STREAMING PLATFORMS WORLDWIDE!

Apple:https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast...
Spotify:https://open.spotify.com/show/1cM1rdF...

Did you know The Poet Speaks is also Amanda's touring global workshop? She teaches people all about how to make, create and the history of Spoken Word and Indigenous oral traditions! To make a booking for The Poet Speaks Workshop with your organization, apply for mentorships with Amanda, book interviews, as well as writing consultations, please use this link: https://www.amandaeke.com/services

Music by: Buzu Buzu
https://www.instagram.com/bbuzu/

Check out Amanda's conversation with Benin Lemus!

Benin Lemus (she|her) is an LA-based poet and educator. Born in La Mesa, California, and raised in Portland, Oregon, she has called many places home, including North Carolina where she attended Bennett College for Women, an HBCU where she earned a degree in English Literature. Her debut poetry collection, Dreaming in Mourning, is published by World Stage Press. She is a 2022 Inaugural Workshop Fellow with Obsidian Magazine’s O|Sessions: Black Listening–A Performance Master Class and the 2022 Honorable Mention in the Furious Flower Poetry Center’s annual poetry competition. Benin’s work is published online and in print, most recently in Márọkọ́: Journal of African Poetry and TORCH Literary Arts.

Benin's links:
www.beninlemus.com

Be sure to check out The Poet Speaks Podcast on Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/thepoetspeakspodcast/

And listen to,The Poet Speaks Podcast, on the go on ALL STREAMING PLATFORMS WORLDWIDE!

Apple:https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast...
Spotify:https://open.spotify.com/show/1cM1rdF...

Did you know The Poet Speaks is also Amanda's touring global workshop? She teaches people all about how to make, create and the history of Spoken Word and Indigenous oral traditions! To make a booking for The Poet Speaks Workshop with your organization, apply for mentorships with Amanda, book interviews, as well as writing consultations, please use this link: https://www.amandaeke.com/services

Music by: Buzu Buzu
https://www.instagram.com/bbuzu/