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"an open letter for back to school night" at Second Chance Lit

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Due to the pandemic, I was unable to read this poem to a variety of classrooms packed with parents feigning attention. In part, this is why I am still gainfully employed.

Biological Creatures found my poem "an open letter for back to school night" worthy to be included in their inaugural issue. But then they went under. Thankfully, the good folks at Second Chance Lit gave it new life You can read it here.

And as always, if you see yourself within its lines, you get no apologies from me (esp. if you’re a parent of one of my kids).

Addendum

What it might have looked like if I had actually read this at back to school night in the middle of a pandemic…

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Sonnet wins The Fare Forward Poetry Competition

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I am thrilled to announce that one of my theological sonnets—[Say Jonah was right and grace is wasted]—was the winner of The Fare Forward Poetry Competition!

In addition to publication in the next issue of Fare Forward, there was a cash prize, and bragging rights.

A special thanks to the journals who rejected this poem as not being good enough.

You can read it here

Two Poems Reprinted in Teaching Black Anthology

I am honored to have two of my poems reprinted in the upcoming University of Pittsburgh Press anthology Teaching Black: Pedagogy, Practice, and Perspectives on Writing edited by Ana Lara and Drea Brown.


Both of these poems— “an open letter to the school resource officer who almost shot me in my class” & “the surprising thing” — appear in my first collection, Teaching While Black.

Two Junenteeth Appropriate Poems in Awake (Lucky Jefferson)

On the first federally recognized Juneteenth, I’m honored to have two of my poems appearing in Our Power, Issue 3 of Awake by Lucky Jefferson.

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  • “an open letter to the stupid [redacted] about to get [redacted] if they mention ‘affirmative action’ one more [redacted] time”

    and

  • “revisionist history”

Review of Dust and Ashes at Sundress Reads

I didn’t know this review existed until my publisher tagged me on Facebook.

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I read it and learned that review writing is an art form all its own. This one: a masterpiece. I am honored and humbled and embarrassed and exposed.

Good feelings all around.


You can read the review here.

You can buy your copy here.

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Teaching Anti-Racist Poetry Workshop at Mass Poetry Festival 2021

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Today I lead a workshop on Teaching Anti-Racist Poetry as part of the Massachusetts Poetry Festival!

I think it went when and I didn’t bring (much) shame to the family.

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If you’re looking for a similar workshop with your students, your department, your school, your writing group (etc.) hit me up.

Here is the description of what we did today:

In this workshop, participants will explore anti-racist pedagogy through poetry. After defining terms, the time will be spent reading poetry from a variety of sources (mostly living BIPOC authors) and participating in analysis and discussion activities geared towards high school language arts classrooms. This workshop targets high school language arts teachers looking for ways to engage their classroom communities with honesty, vulnerability, and bravery. Participants will leave with a governing philosophy (“if not my class, then where?”), a classroom-ready packet of poems, and instructional ideas.

If you were in the workshop or the live stream and need access to the resources/materials that I provided, hit me up.

"Job 42:7-8" published in The Windhover 25.1

Once again, the good folks at The Windhover have published one of my theological sonnets.

“Job 42:7-8” takes its title from a part of the conclusion to the story of Job when YHWH addresses both us and Job’s “shit-head friend” (as I dub them in the poem) for the belief that victims have brought about their own suffering.

tl:dr Stop blaming victims!