The Beat Poets in the 21st Century

I joined Michelle Taransky, Maria Raha, Thomas Devaney and Chris McCreary in a conversation about the cosmic anti-fascism of the Beat poets & their restless place in the academy. I also share a Diane DiPrima poem written days after the death of Amiri Baraka. Thanks for having us, Julia Bloch & Kelly Writers House!

Dreaming in the Immaterial Age

LigoranoReese (Nora Ligorano & Marshall Reese) installed their ice sculpture on Independence Mall during the DNC Convention. On July 25, the 35 feet wide X 5feet tall ephemeral structure melted away in a matter of hours. The artists employed a writers' residence on-site to work through the experience as tourists and conventioneers looked on.

My late afternoon contribution is entitled THE AMERI___ D____ (5:35pm)

No Border No Cry en Español

                                                                                                                 
                                                                                                                                           
My recent piece reclaiming radical Irish solidarity with people of color is now available in Spanish. Mexico's TRANSTIERROS is featuring No Border No Cry. Thanks so much to Carlos Soto-Román for the translation.

Both the Spanish and English versions can be found here.                                                                                                                                                               

What All the Dark Cannot Extinguish- Introducing Bernie Sanders

I was honored to introduce Senator Bernie Sanders with a poem at Drexel University on Monday. I took great inspiration from the thousands of Bernie supporters that attended. Also, I talked to Susan Sarandon for a good 20 minutes- about Latin American poetry & the sad state of U.S. support for its artists. So there was that. Feel. The. Bern.

Write Your Block 2016

Write Your Block 2016 has recently featured poems representing North Philly, the Gayborhood, Kensington, Kingsessing, UC, Pennsport, Whitman and East Passyunk. Watch these incredible kids from around the city share their blocks at a Spells Writing Lab workshop- courtesy of The Philadelphia Citizen.


I’m from green trees with leaves from The Philadelphia Citizen on Vimeo.

Organize Your Own

A night of performance launched Organize Your Own: The Politics & Poetics of Self-Determination Movements. The stellar lineup included Salem Cullo-Jullin, myself, Marissa Johnson-Valenzuela, and Jennifer Kidwell & Thomas Graves.

You can read about my No Border No Cry project here.
You can listen to the piece here.

Watch the entire event here.

Write Your Block… The Next Episode

The next manifestation of Write Your Block is happening thanks to the great people at The Philadelphia Citizen, who are committed to solutions-based journalism. See what's happened so far and where it's headed here.

Gabriel Ojeda-Sague's Oil and Candle

You can pre-order Gabriel Ojeda-Sague's amazing new book here at Timeless Infinite Light.

Here's my take on this exciting publication:

"Oil and Candle does the syncretic work of shining slant light on our endings/beginnings. This kind of tricksterism opens passage for communication beyond the limits of our oppressive orthodoxies- poetic and otherwise. Included in this book are cleansing spells to help clear our paths- “limpias of poets who have never been scared just of/ walking around in the world/ limpias of poets who trust the police/ limpias of poets who poison the apple/ limpias of poets who still trust irony”. This text is not simply about Ojeda-Sague at a crossroads. It is you, me… all of us who share in bodies that can be found there. Let’s look into each other’s faces with the light Gabriel provides, in all its queer ritual brilliance."

Documenting Histories, Interpreting Dreams

(w/ Sam Durso January 2014)

I recap my tenure as Philadelphia Poet Laureate during the past two years. You can find it here at The Philadelphia Citizen.