Poets

Born Jeremy Hickson, “Jack” would self label as a fledgling Maverick; they are but a student of Life. The stage/pen name is inspired by the idea that, as a creative being, they are a Jack of all trades… master of some. As a queer, biracial, multiethnic United States-ian, their work reaches at once backwards as roots, and forwards as canopy. It ranges from the metaphysical to the very physical; diversity rings out — an anthem. Jack holds a Bachelor’s degree from Rutgers University, and double majored in English and Sociology. They have always held an interest both in the literature and social structures of various periods: the interplay of the literary and literal worlds. In many of their poems, glimpses of the old masters can be gleaned, as well as influences from the not so distant past, and his present day poetic peers. A heartfelt thank you to all who hold space, and who carry a torch to contrast the darkness.

Instagram: @Jack_Val_Trades

Karen Garrabrant/aka Karen G. is co-founded C/literati, a womxn/queer/gender outlaw open no mic. She is a founding board member of Grrl’s Rock Camp ATL & slam manager of the Art Amok Slam. She has operated as a poet & organizer in Atlanta for 20 plus years. She has been a clock holder, score keeper, MC, bout manager, tournament director & PSI secretary, with a streak of attending every big event from 2004-2017, except for one. 

Karen loves editing & coaching poetry. She is stepping away from organizing, and now is embracing her own poems again. They are  made possible by Billy Tuggle, Tara Hardy, Mags Down,Gia Kagan-Trenchard, Adam Stone, Theresa Davis, Marty McConnell, Scott Woods, Louise Robertson, Daryl Funn & Ophelia Rising & others as well as the spaces they create & hold for communities. 

She writes about love, grief, loss, and experiences that the late Gabrielle Bouliane described as “all of this is true, none of this is real.”  Karen is famous for hugs & being a loud cheerleader because life is short. Punk is her gender, Q is her sexuality, she answers to she/they pronouns. She came out in DC & the Riot Grrl era, so DIY & Fugazi inform her foundation. Reach out & she will reach back.

Instagram: @kgarrab

Kim Adonna’s poetry has appeared in We’Moon, Malpaís Review, BOMBFIRE, and Fixed and Free Poetry Quarterly. Her spoken prose has won multiple DimeStories competitions. She was the editor of the zines Toil; Yes, With Mayo; and Clot: Moving on when you can’t get up. Her two erotica zines, Superhero Huge and I Would Lay You Down and Give You Everything, were also hand-published. Kim’s first poetry book is expected Summer 2023 through Read or Green Books. https://www.imagineabird.com/

IG @plum_eclipse

Kimberly K.M.A. Anderson is a mixed race poet from South Africa. She found her voice through poetry & started the "Turning Pain into Power" movement. 

She speaks of being a mixed race woman in South Africa & takes you on a journey of consciousness & thought. She's a co-founder of #Iampoetry_Africa, a foundation that helps poets master their craft & heal through poetry. Her love of history influences her writing & tells stories of the ones before us.

FB Kimberly Anderson

IG @kimberlyanderson_kma 

Kimberly Shaw is a native of Charleston, SC & mother of 2 amazing boys with Autism. She's a graduate of Winthrop University in Rock Hill, SC with a Bachelor of Arts in Mass Communication. She's been writing for thirty years, performing her work on Write About Now, The Word is Write & MindWell Poetry. 

FB: kimberlyshawpoetry

IG: @kimberlyshawpoetry

Twitter: @MsKimberlyShaw

www.kimberlyshawpoetry.com

https://soundcloud.com/kimberlyshawpoetry

Cashapp: $krs843

Venmo: @Kimberly-Shaw-24

PayPal: @KShaw610 

Kimberly Scribbles is a native of Charleston, SC & mother of 2 amazing boys with Autism. She's a graduate of Winthrop University in Rock Hill, SC with a Bachelor of Arts in Mass Communication. She's been writing for thirty years, performing her work on Write About Now, The Word is Write & MindWell Poetry. 

FB: kimberlyshawpoetry

IG: @kimberlyshawpoetry

Twitter: @MsKimberlyShaw

www.kimberlyshawpoetry.com

https://soundcloud.com/kimberlyshawpoetry

Cashapp: $krs843

Venmo: @Kimberly-Shaw-24

PayPal: @KShaw610 

The Lantern Carrier is a creative writer & author born in Grenada, West Indies, now lives in London.  He grew up writing poetry but switched to inspirational & meta-physical poetry when he took up the meditative life. 

Lantern Carrier has won multiple slam competitions with performance pieces, as well as making the finals in the H&T National Final (Brighton).  

Lantern Carrier brings Light through his work. His ability to weave words is unique, his focus being the uplifting, lofty and sublime.

Laura Lilia resides in her hometown Houston, TX with her family, two pet chickens, and her niece Chihuahua. As a child, writing was always the best way of processing her unique unexpected life experiences within time, as life kept piling on, she drifted away from her writing. In early 2019, she attended local and online writing workshops all over the world to find her way back into writing. She created the pieces of poetry collections in her first debut poetry book “Becoming Forever Changing Leaves.” Her poetry has become a blueprint for how she was able to make sense of her unique experiences, and redirected her back into her walk of faith. Laura is a Community Health Worker in the medical field by day, attending school in the evenings, an active advocate for Suicide Prevention and Awareness with Poppy’s Run for Life, and is a continuously curious fan of experiencing life through art, fitness, and being in the world to inspire others... as others inspire her. 

Instagram: @Llau48

Facebook: Laura Lilia

TikTok: Internalwaves  

Soundcloud : Laura Lilia   https://on.soundcloud.com/XACA7nfrCEeu29Z18 

Linktr.ee: https://linktr.ee/Lauralilia?utm_source=linktree_profile_share&ltsid=02e198b0-4af5-4a30-8df8-409e22c2e226. 

DeAnn Hill, " Ma Dukes" is 54 Years Young. She has 3 amazing adult children and 6 wonderful grandchildren. Ma Dukes has had a love affair with words for most of her life. Writing started in school but she has, only in the last few years, started putting the kind of passion into it, that words deserve. Ma Dukes has been an out and proud member of the LGBTQI community since 1996, when she, "came out."

CashApp: $MaDukesPoetry Madukespoetry@gmail.com  

FB @ DeAnn Hill FB, @ The Word Is Write 

Marcos Cervantes III is a father, adventurer, information consultant, poet, photographer, certified trauma informed life coach and professional wearer of many hats. 

A true creative originally from New Orleans and growing up in Dallas he has always been right brain led. 

His journey has led him through many experiences and given him a unique perspective on the millions of shades of grey in being human.

IG @lifejuggernaut

Richard W. Spisak Jr. began his work as a professional artist in the studio of Mel Tanner of Lumonics, studying performance Light art. Then Richard worked with the Lumist Kenvin Lyman of Dazzleland Studios, who had earned the very first Doctorate of Lumia granted by the Sorbonne. Richard worked at the Miami Space Transit Planetarium during the production and debut of the MARTIAN (Viking) LANDER SHOW. Richard earned a BROADCAST Engineering License and later studied Digital Electronics. He's performed as a LIGHT ARTIST in Planetariums and toured as a LASER ARTIST in both North and South  Americas.Richard has been a Writer/Producer/Director in Live theatre, TV, RADIO, and the WEB. His political and ANTI-WAR essays have been published in volumes for three decades. He has published two short story collections the first, "Two Small Windows, in a Pair of Mirror Doors," a collection of stories about Aliens, Ashrams, and Gurus, and his second collection, including both fiction and non-fiction, is entitled “Between the Silences." It has been lauded from Asia to the Americas. His new poetry collection is scheduled to be published this summer, is entitled “STONE POETRY."In 2022 Richard published the poetry he has been performing for the last decade in a volume entitled "7370 Allen Drive". Since 2022 Richard has been producing an International Literary webcast entitled “POETS of the East”. It has just wrapped up its fifth season, "Poets of the East," featuring poets from Asia, Europe, and the Americas. Now living in the mountains of Tennessee rick@averyvoice.comPOETS OF THE EAST: https://NewMercuryMedia.com/poe.html Two Small Windows in a pair of mirror doors https://twosmallwindows.com Between the Silences: http://betweenthesilences.com 7370 Allen Drive: 7370 Allen Drive - RickMy Multimedia Art Work PNN- Progressive News Network - Produced by News Director Rick Spisak (newmercurymedia.com)

Rosalynn "Roz" is a Puerto-Rican poet from the Bronx. Her passion for writing, social justice & healing are fuel to her poetry. Her pieces have been published in collaborative works such as, "I Can’t Breathe: Social Justice Literary Magazine" & "Love Letters to Gaia: an Anthology." Rosalynn’s goal is to inspire, motivate & help people heal through the art of poetry. 

Instagram: ThroughHerBigBrownEyes

Facebook: Rosalynn J. Diaz 

Website: ThroughHerBigBrownEyes.com 

CashApp: $RosalynnDiaz

Venmo: @Rosalynn-Diaz

S.Z. Putnam is a Hmong American writer from Wisconsin. Her works are composed from real life experiences. 

S.Z. has loved writing her entire life. She consumed works of literature in her youth, then thrived while expressing herself through words while attending college. 

After a mid-life trauma, she stopped writing & only recently resumed. She has found poetry is an insight to her mind and helps navigate her healing journey.

She also pens under E.Z. Putnam.

Instagram & Facebook: @esszputnam 

Sarah Doolittle, an English teacher from New Mexico, has been passionate about reading and writing from a young age. She wrote her first full-length story when she was eleven years old on her mother’s ancient brick of a computer, and began writing poetry in high school (usually during math classes). With a strong inclination towards poetry and short stories, Sarah pursued Education and English Literature at the University of New Mexico. Her studies ignited a deep fascination with the written word's power to illuminate the human experience. Although her writing covers diverse themes, Sarah predominantly explores subjects like grief, healing, closure, and empowerment, with an emphasis on the enchantment and magical qualities of nature.

(find more poetry at)
Instagram: @ladyelff

Tabatha Adams was birthed in a city of art, surrounded by nothing more than the image of motivation. Her passion for writing came before she was allowed to express herself, hiding poetry in the back of note books she learned how to cope with the violence behind a gate. 

Child molestation, single parent homes, and addiction have been the tools given to create beauty out of all her broken pieces. You can find the truths to these subjects in her poems, but it's in her spoken word that she truly comes alive, knitting tragedies into the voice of comfort. 

You can find her on the stages of Nuyorican Poets Cafe, Art at the sound, Word is write, Bronx art and fun hub , Art at the basin and has also been a featured poet at the NYC poetry festival 2022.

Her publishing can be found with Bronx Council of the Arts, Turning Corners, as well as other anthologies. Her education/training in writing has come from multiple platforms including Gotham Writers, Nuyorican Poets, and NYPL workshops such as Island and Kingsbridge Writers.    

Her passion is food, street photography, family and the freedom of self expression.

Instagram: Tab_001Poetry

TaurinV is a first-time author who hails from the city of RVA. His journey with poetry started with a trip to the library in middle school and a Nikki Giovanni poem.

That was the spark that led him to pick up a pen and try to put words together on paper.

He has been writing on and off since his teenage years but didn’t start sharing with the world until 2008. He began posting poems online and meeting other poets. He started writing a book soon after, but it never quite came together until now, thanks to the support of so many fellow poets along the way.

He is a dad, a veteran, Hip-Hop and Jazz head, a proud Blerd, a woodworker, a novice Film & TV enthusiast, a lover of all types of art and of course poetry.

Instagram: @taurin.v 

www.taurinv.com 

Terri Rose Jertson is an artist, wife, mother, and peer recovery specialist from New Jersey. She began writing poetry in 2020 to cope with the new normal. 

She regularly attends open mics and has featured on many poetry platforms.

She is a contributor in the erotic anthology entitled "Touching Tongues" (2021) from Read or Green Books.

FB: Theresa Rose Jertson

IG: @TheChameleonPoetic

https://www.instagram.com/ifunniezmom

Valois J. Vera, aka "Crip Lyrical", is a Disabled Revolutionary, Author, Poet/Spoken Word Artist, and Activist based out of so-called Denton, TX. His work in Disability Culture and Liberation is well noted. In addition to serving on several boards and commissions, Valois is a public speaker and has served as guest lecturer at a variety of colleges and universities including the University of North Texas, Fordham University, Azusa Pacific University, and the University of California-Berkeley. While his journalism work can be found in New Mobility Magazine, Latino Rebels, and Rooted in Rights, their poetry has been published in Spoonie Press, Mollyhouse, and the anthology American Graveyard: Calls to end Gun Violence, Volume I (Read or Green Books). He is the author of three collections of poetry; Crip Lyrics: the Unapologetic Poetry of Disability (POOR Press, 2021), I, The Revolution (self-pub., IngramSpark, 2023), and Love, Liberation, and other Longings (Read or Green Books, 2024. Valois is the Founder of Thunder and Lightning Poetry Collective and is the recipient of the 2023 Art Spark Texas Lynn Marie Johnson Media Arts Award and the 2024 American Association of People with Disabilities Paul G Hearne Emerging Leader Award.

Alexis G. Garcia aka Vexed Lex is a queer Hispanic writer from East Harlem, NY. She graduated from Manhattanville College in 2017 where she majored in English with a concentration in Creative and Professional Writing, and minored in Criminal Law. Currently, she works as a calendar clerk and paralegal at a personal injury law firm in Midtown.

Her interest in law began in the eleventh grade when she joined and became the Captain of her school’s Moot Court/Mock Trial team. Her passion for writing has been with her since as early as the first grade where she stapled pieces of construction paper together and created picture books which eventually transitioned into filling up spiral and composition notebooks with fiction stories. Poetry found her in the tenth grade where she took a chance and joined Writers’ Collective, a weekly after-school program that provided a safe space for her to dive into the world of poetry and opened her eyes to being able to perform her work in front of crowds, in spite of her nagging social anxiety.

When Covid-19 caused the world to shut down in 2020, she made it her mission to use that time to get more serious about having more of her work published. Since then, her poetry has been published in several anthologies and literary magazines. She has performed her poetry with the Nuyorican Poets Cafe, Barbed Wire Open Mic Series, Nomadic Press, the Word is Write and other virtual open mics, in addition to in-person open mics at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe & Bronx Music Heritage Center. Her work discusses mental health, self-reflection, love and has covered other topics such as queer identity, sexual harassment and abortion. 

Alexis has always had dreams of publishing her own books, both poetry & novels. This book is just the beginning. She is contemplating going to law school and, one day, becoming a judge. 

For now, she continues to put her energy into her writing, managing her mental health & becoming more comfortable with performing at in-person events.

Instagram: @vexedlexpoetry   

Facebook: @VexedLex  

Website: officialvexedlex.com