ACTIVIST
Poetry is the language of beauty and wholeness. It is the language of resistance and revolution. People often turn to poetry when they need answers to life’s challenges or desire to express life’s wonder. In our current political, environmental, and social climate, the world often feels fraught with violence and chaos — it's an unfortunate universal experience, but so are love and peace. The art of poetry can create a more healed and generous society. It is poetry, and the work of poets, that are a part of that paradigm shift. Poetry can be part balm and part manifesto. The meeting of these two ideas energizes the poet to listen deeply, read voraciously, write freely, and share widely.
“The Grove”
Community Coalition’s Debra Lee Organizing Fellowship Graduation
Annenberg Community Beach House
October 30, 2025
“Black Angels in America”
Dreaming in Mourning Book Release
Sims Library of Poetry
November 12, 2022
READING and WRITING as ENGAGED ACTIVISM.
rooting back to the Latin actus ("a doing, driving, or impulse")
“...just remember that your real job is that if you are free, you need to free somebody else. If you have some power, then your job is to empower somebody else.”
—Toni Morrison
As a socially engaged poet steeped in cultural work, I strive to embody what it means to be an activist: someone whose impulse is driven by acts of connection, justice and love. For me, poetry does not exist in a vacuum outside the “real world.” It is a reflection of the world we live in and a portal to the world we could inhabit. I do not - and cannot- separate who I am from the poems I write. As an educator, my teaching is rooted in equity, access, and joy. As a poet who also teaches, I believe the writing and studying of poetry is a transformative act. Every workshop I lead, every lecture I give, every reading I perform, every poem I publish is an opportunity to bring the magic of poetry to new and familiar audiences. In her poem, “Paul Robeson” Gwendolyn Brooks, could not have said it better: “…we are each other’s harvest: we are each other’s business: we are each other’s magnitude and bond.” To engage with this world through poetry is to creatively and courageously make one another each other’s business.