On How I Ended Up On (Another) Government Watch List...

My poem “an open letter to the school resource officer who almost shot me in my class” has been reprinted in Into the Void’s new anthology We Are Antifa: Expressions Against Fascism, Racism and Police Violence in the United States and Beyond.

Available on Amazon, 100% of the proceeds from this collection goes to Black Lives Matter Toronto.

"The Whitening" - Flash Fiction at The Fiction Pool

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“The Whitening” is my first piece of fiction to be published. No surprise that it’s flash.

I’m grateful to the good folk at The Fiction Pool for accepting it, espcaily when I’m still not sure on the genre. Horror? Speculative? An average Tuesday?

And a special shout out to Vincent, who was there when the story began—back when it was supposed to be a joke.

How things have changed.

Teaching While Black Reviewed in The Radical Teacher

An in-depth and insightful review of Teaching While Black was written by Eben Wood for The Radical Teacher (where some of the poems in my collection originally appeared).

Mr. Wood comments on my work through the critical lens of radical pedagogy, including not only my poems in his analysis, but also my choice of epigrams, ordering, and this historical moment.

It’s always humbling to see my work through someone else’s eyes. Click image to read.

"Between the woods and frozen lake..." Creative Nonfiction at Barren Magazine

This story takes its title from Robert Frost’s “Stopping By The Woods On A Snowy Evening” for many, many reasons. It was first written for my kids in class a few years ago, completing a memoir assignment alongside them.

But it was more than that.

I was sharing the burden of vulnerability in writing. An exercise in revealing without revealing. Saying something at a slant, through omission, obscured, knowing only some would see the picture clearly. Knowing that those who did see at first glance were able to because of something shared. Something unspoken, but now brought to light.

Everyone else simply saw an interesting story.

This story is dedicated to those with eyes to see and is now live at Barren Magazine



Five New Poems at Rigorous Magazine

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

  • “Little Africa” ~ a school poem

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

  • honesty in advertising ~ exactly what the title says

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

  • exposure therapy ~ being an ally takes different forms

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

Two (Dysfunctional) School Poems at Porcupine Literary

“an open letter to the secretary who asked how i haven’t taken to drink or schedule 1 narcotics like so many of our colleagues”

and

“an open letter to the white girls caught chanting “NIGGER” on Snapchat, again”

have just been published at Porcupine Literary: A journal by and for teachers and can be read here.


Both of these poems have one important thing in common: they are about events after which people said, “you CAN’T write about that,” while others said, “how have you NOT written about that yet?!”

Well here they are. And I’m breaking my own rule: these are 100% accurate to events in schools I’ve worked in over the years. If you know, you know.

#NoChill

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Tahoma Literary Review Spotlights "self-evident"

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"self-evident" by Matthew E. Henry, or MEH, caught my attention with its multiple and powerful layers. Told as an adult memory, it enters the moment when a child is asked to believe their own history isn't real but to focus instead on a cleaner, more inspiring narrative. For me, Henry's poem tackles rock-hard truths with personal experience and simple questions, and in so doing reexamines what we teach our children.

~ Mare Heron Hake, Poetry Editor TLR

See the rest here.

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Dust and Ashes - Chapbook Accepted for Publication by Californios

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My chapbook Dust and Ashes was officially accepted for publication by Californios Press and is scheduled to be released this Fall.

This collection is a series of responses to a variety of visual and literary art, using the Jewish Torah and Christian New Testament as a (rough) backdrop.

I figured I should put my Masters of Arts in Theological Studies (concentration: Hebrew Bible and theology and the arts) to good use this time around.

More information to follow.