My poems “when asked why I will never be poet laureate of [redacted]” and “no” appear in the latest issue of Bicoastal Review . Both poems are accompanied by a reading.
"waking with nightmares" published in Vita Poetica
“The Hypocrites address Dante,” Gustave Dore [Dante's Inferno]
"waking with nightmares" written after a section of G.K. Chesterton’s book The Everlasting Man and is now published in Vita Poetica along with a reading of the poem.
It’s a little dark, but that’s kind of the point. . .
Voices in Verse Coffee House (NHCSB May 19, 2026)
Two video clips from my reading at The Voices in Verse Poetry Coffee House at New Heights Charter School of Brockton on May 19, 2026.
“Lady Daedalus” was first published in my chapbook Dust & Ashes (Californios Press, 2020).
“reflection” was first published in The Decolonial Passage and nominated for a Best of the Net.
Both are ekphrastic poems included in my forthcoming collection Selling the World (Shanti Arts Publishing) .
“watching a production of The Tempest after a colleague asked about my relationship with white women” published in Terrain
My poem “watching a production of The Tempest after a colleague asked about my relationship with white women” was published in Terrain.org as part of their Letters to America series. The link includes a reading of the poem.
The poem contains research on Caliban in The Tempest from The Great White Bard: How to Love Shakespeare While Talking About Race by Farah Karim-Cooper.
Gloucester Writers Center reading 7/17/25
A (partial) recording of my reading with Luisa Caycedo-Kimura at the Gloucester Writers Center on July 17th, 2025. Luisa read from her wonderful new book All Were Limones while I read from a manuscript in progress.
My set list (such as it is):
“across the table” (excerpt) [time: 2:37]
“What else can I say when this lady says it all so well? Just…I think of you.” [time: 3:50]
“midwifery” [time: 5:50]
“you’d get over it” [time: 7:36]
“Gloucester Harbor | 78 “ [time: 8:35]
"oh God! please stop!!" in South Florida Poetry Journal
My poem “oh God! please stop!!” now appears in South Florida Poetry Journal . Bonus: a recording of me reading the piece accompanies it. Trigger warning: historical, graphic racial violence.
Click on the link below and scroll down to my name.
“oh God! please stop!!”
from the back of the class, his cry careens
over the heads of the rest—their stricken faces, jaws slack
or furiously clenched, eyes dewy or attempting to shut out
the assailant in my words—but I refuse. continue explaining
the lynching by car of James Byrd Jr., briefly mentioned
in Rankine’s The White Card, open on their desks. the event
is presented as a turning point, character development for ‘Charles,’
a billionaire with Basquiat’s Defacement on his wall. a news story
whose horror shook him into seeing that racism still existed
in the enlightened, heady days of 1998. a details-oriented educator,
I clarify why ‘Charles’ was so troubled.
Byrd—49, disabled, Black—was walking home
when three white men—one he thought a friend,
had known his whole life—offered him a ride
in a grey Ford pickup. crushed between them,
they forced him to remote woods, kicked and punched
and baseball batted him in and out of consciousness,
spray painted his face blacker, pissed and shat on him,
retrieved a 24-foot-long chain from the truckbed,
noosed it about his ankles, and dragged him for 1.5 miles.
the FBI’s autopsy determined he was conscious―
trying to keep his upper-body off the road-rashing concrete―
until their carefree swerving swung him into a culvert,
which severed his right arm and head. undaunted,
they continued to drag his remainder for another 1.5 miles
to the cemetery of a Black church, where they mutilated
and distributed his corpse to be found in time
for the following morning’s Sunday service.
I tell my class this did not happen in a grainy, black and white photo
of the past. 81 pieces of Byrd were jigsaw-scattered through Jasper, Texas
on June 7th in 1998, two weeks before I graduated from high school,
that I was only two years older than they are now. I remind my stunned―
sobbing, silent—students that I am younger than their parents,
who may send me emails asking why I would subject their children
to these horrors from another time, who may—echoing ‘Charles,’
echoing their children, echoing James Byrd Jr—ask me to please stop.
but the truck didn’t, so I can’t.
DMQ Poetry Salon
Proud to read for Disquieting Muses Quarterly’s (DMQ) Poetry Salon
The poems I never read in public (a virtual reading from said the Frog to the scorpion)
I don’t read longer poems at poetry readings. However, I composed some of my longest poems in said the Frog to the scorpion. Months ago, I made an intention to record these poems because I slaved over them and wanted my physical voice attached to them as they are to the poems I read aloud regularly.
So here is a 13 min reading of longer poems from said the Frog to the scorpion
Poems:
1. "when asked why I believed Her"
2. "who She is" (I screwed up the title in the video)
3. “when asked about toxic amnesia”
4. “take your pick”
5. “when asked why I won't”
And yes, there are a lot of squirrels behind me...
Boston Poetry Slam Reading Video
Here’s the video of my September 20, 2023 reading for Boston Poetry Slam (at Starlight) is available on Instagram
1:2:1 Interview and Reading with Cedric Arno
My interview and reading with Cedric “Cedboogie” Arno was filmed in Worcester and streamed on Facebook. You can watch both through the link below:
Short Reading from said the Frog to the scorpion
I read two poems from said the Frog to the scorpion at the open mic of the Pour Me a Poem gathering in Mansfield, MA hosted by Wayne-Daniel Berard and Sara Letourneau on the second Thursday of each month.
Listen to “hevel” and “when asked what it’s like to love Her.”
Book launch reading of said the Frog to the scorpion
The book launch of said the Frog to the scorpion (Harbor Editions, 2024) was a special event.
I was honored to have Kai Coggin and Maya Williams read their amazing poetry as a part of the night. You can watch the recording through the link below.
A five minute reading for Black History Month, Valentine’s Day, and my new collection
In honor of Black History Month, Valentine’s Day, and the publication of my new collection, here is a five minute reading from said the Frog to the scorpion and one other poem.
Poems read in the video (the first four appear in said the Frog to the scorpion):
Hevel
when asked what it’s like to love Her
at some point
Two poems in Vita Poetica Journal
I am working on a series of poems I am calling midrash qatan, or “a little story/exposition.” They are expositions, retellings, and reimagings of stories from the Hebrew Bible and Christian New Testament. The name pays homage to Rabbinic genre of Midrash Rabbah (“a great midrash”).
Two of these poems have just been published in Vita Poetica Journal:
“found” (a midrash qatan on Luke 15)
and
“subtlety: an assay” (a midrash qatan on Genesis 3)
Both pages include an audio recording of me reading these poems.
Reading at Grolier's Poetry Book Shop
I was honored to read at Grolier’s Poetry Book Shop with Dale Cottingham and April Ossman on Dec. 7, 2023. Here is the recording. I’m introduced at 21:45 mins.
Two 'Letters to America' in Terrain.org
Demien DineYazhi’s My Ancestors Will Not Let Me Forget This, 2020. Letterpress Print
Terrain.org has published both "when asked what might finally lead me to drink or abuse schedule 1 narcotics" & "white History Month" as a part of their Letter to America series.
Both are accompanied by a “dramatic reading.” Click below to read/listen.
"self-evident" @ Holler Salon
My reading of “self-evident” at Sundress Academy of the Art’s Holler Salon at Firefly Farm (TN). October 28th 2023.
Muttology Book Launch Reading Video
CLICK TO PURCHASE
I had the pleasure of being a guest reader along with Shareen K. Murayama for the virtual book launch of Maurya Kerr’s new collection MUTTOLOGY
Click the link below for the full reading
Time stamps:
Shareen K. Murayama: 1:14
MEH: 8:23
Maurya Kerr: 20:20
Roxbury Poetry Festival in the Boston Globe
Minneapolis Mini-Book Tour
I’m doing readings at three bookstores August 9-11th in Minneapolis
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