Cedric Tillman's Blog, page 4
November 12, 2021
"Absent From The Body" published in Solstice Literary Magazine, Spring 2021
I'm grateful to guest editor Oliver de la Paz for selecting and Solstice for publishing this poem in the Spring 2021 issue from late March. It is one of several that I wrote in the aftermath of George Floyd's murder.
https://solsticelitmag.org/content/ab...
https://solsticelitmag.org/content/ab...
November 11, 2021
This Is What America Looks Like Anthology Readings, 4/26 & 10/26
#late
I'm pleased to announce that my poem "Swagger and Swish" appears in This Is What America Looks Like: Poetry and Fiction from DC, Maryland, and Virginia. The anthology was published in Feburary and features work from over 100 artists. My poem was inspired by news articles around the time of Kaitlyn Jenner's transition, including Kim Kardashian's statements about her difficulty with accepting the transition and Kylie Jenner's relationship with then-boyfriend Tyga. Finally, the title comes from a statement about the LGBT community made by the civil rights icon Adam Clayton Powell in Ebony magazine in 1950. I'm grateful to editors Jona Colson (my old American University classmate!) and Carolyn Bock for allowing this poem, which gave me such fits I took it out of my last collection, to see the light of day. The collection is available here and and elsewhere:
https://www.washingtonwriters.org/thi...
For the 4/26 virtual reading hosted by The Reston (VA) Used Bookstore, I had the pleasure of reading with moderator Nathan Leslie, Marcy Dilworth, Jenny Moore, Kirsten Porter, Greg Luce, and Leona Sevick. For the 10/26 reading, hosted by Jona and Montgomery College (MD), I read with Natalie Illum (another AU classmate :), David Ebenbach, Amanda Hodes, David Lott, and Tara Campbell, yet another fellow graduate of AU's MFA program.
I'm pleased to announce that my poem "Swagger and Swish" appears in This Is What America Looks Like: Poetry and Fiction from DC, Maryland, and Virginia. The anthology was published in Feburary and features work from over 100 artists. My poem was inspired by news articles around the time of Kaitlyn Jenner's transition, including Kim Kardashian's statements about her difficulty with accepting the transition and Kylie Jenner's relationship with then-boyfriend Tyga. Finally, the title comes from a statement about the LGBT community made by the civil rights icon Adam Clayton Powell in Ebony magazine in 1950. I'm grateful to editors Jona Colson (my old American University classmate!) and Carolyn Bock for allowing this poem, which gave me such fits I took it out of my last collection, to see the light of day. The collection is available here and and elsewhere:
https://www.washingtonwriters.org/thi...
For the 4/26 virtual reading hosted by The Reston (VA) Used Bookstore, I had the pleasure of reading with moderator Nathan Leslie, Marcy Dilworth, Jenny Moore, Kirsten Porter, Greg Luce, and Leona Sevick. For the 10/26 reading, hosted by Jona and Montgomery College (MD), I read with Natalie Illum (another AU classmate :), David Ebenbach, Amanda Hodes, David Lott, and Tara Campbell, yet another fellow graduate of AU's MFA program.
RHINO Poetry Reading, 4/30/21
Late as usual-but I was blessed to be recognized this past spring for my poem "Feed My People (The Toxicology Prayer)" with a second place finish in the contest for RHINO Poetry's Editors' Prize. The link to the poem is here:
https://rhinopoetry.org/poems/feed-my...
It was wonderful reading with such talented poets, including Editors' Prize winner Jamaica Baldwin, Honorable Mention winner Michael Frazier, Founders' Prize winner (and old friend) Curtis Crisler. A much belated congratulations here to the other poets whose work was recognized, including Monica Berlin, Bernard Capinpin/Enrique Villasis (Translator/Author duo), Jessica Cuello, Haley Graffunder, and Brandon Young.
https://rhinopoetry.org/poems/feed-my...
It was wonderful reading with such talented poets, including Editors' Prize winner Jamaica Baldwin, Honorable Mention winner Michael Frazier, Founders' Prize winner (and old friend) Curtis Crisler. A much belated congratulations here to the other poets whose work was recognized, including Monica Berlin, Bernard Capinpin/Enrique Villasis (Translator/Author duo), Jessica Cuello, Haley Graffunder, and Brandon Young.
November 30, 2020
The Literary Cypher (Nov. 17 reading)
Many thanks to LP Kersey of the Literary Cypher, a DMV area reading series, for reaching out to me and giving me a chance to fellowship with other DMV writers (if only through Facebook). She usually have 8 readers go for about 8 minutes and though we didn't know each other for the most part, it was like family in the room. I was thrilled to be able to read with my American University classmate and "susta" Venus Thrash, and got to hear the work of Dr. Michele Simms-Burton, someone I'd gotten acquainted with via Facebook without having had the pleasure of hearing her creative output. Other readers included novelist Heather Elizabeth King, poetry duo Wilnona & Jade, poets Janique Muckelvene and Destiny Hemphill, and writer/journalist Lottie Joiner.
Thanks Furious Flower! (Nov. 6 Reading)
I'm grateful to Lauren K. Alleyne, Dr. Joanne Gabbin, and Furious Flower for having me via their Facebook Reading series on Nov. 6. I had over 250 comments/engagements on the reading and spent a couple hours after just responding to everyone. Furious Flower does so much to promote Black poetry, including workshops for aspiring poets, conducting readings, and archiving talks and panels on poetry. Please support them as you see fit or are able.
https://www.jmu.edu/furiousflower/
https://www.jmu.edu/furiousflower/
September 10, 2020
Furious Flower Reading Nov. 6, Summer (Virtual) Readings
Hi all (some):
I'm grateful for what's been an accidentally busy summer for online readings for me. I had come to terms with the idea that I just wouldn't be doing promotion of IN MY FEELINS because I couldn't imagine pursuing online readings but the generosity of several old friends (and some new ones) prevented me from going into a hole. So...
*On September 21, I'm tentatively scheduled to read a couple of pieces for April Armstrong's Oral Diktion Academy series. This is broadcast on Facebook and the show runs from 8-10 September 21, 2020.
*Back on July 15, Caleb Beissert of the Poetry Open Mic Asheville series had me "up" for the second time.
*On June 18, Kimberly Simms Gibbs and Andrew Clark of the CarolinaPoets reading series invited me to read with fellow Cave Canem alums Glenis Redmond and Tyree Daye for Juneteenth.
*And finally, on May 20, my old friend Al Black of the Mind Gravy Reading Series down in Columbia, SC, invited me to read.
Further off-I'm thrilled and honored to be doing an online reading on Nov. 6 for Furious Flower, an organization that does so much to promulgate Black poetry. Many thanks to the generous assistant director of FF, Dr. Lauren K. Alleyne (a seriously good poet in her own right) and director Dr. Joanne Gabbin-loved to be in the company of these good folks when I could get down to Harrisonburg pre-COVID. (James Madison U. in Harrisonburg, VA, is FF's home.)
Please tune in the Oral Diktion and Furious Flower readings on FB, and don't forget to pick up copies of IN MY FEELINS from me (see my profile here, also my Twitter profile) or elsewhere (order from your local bookstore, Barnes and Noble online, or Amazon; LILIES IN THE VALLEY remains available through Small Press Distribution [spdbooks.org]). Thanks!
I'm grateful for what's been an accidentally busy summer for online readings for me. I had come to terms with the idea that I just wouldn't be doing promotion of IN MY FEELINS because I couldn't imagine pursuing online readings but the generosity of several old friends (and some new ones) prevented me from going into a hole. So...
*On September 21, I'm tentatively scheduled to read a couple of pieces for April Armstrong's Oral Diktion Academy series. This is broadcast on Facebook and the show runs from 8-10 September 21, 2020.
*Back on July 15, Caleb Beissert of the Poetry Open Mic Asheville series had me "up" for the second time.
*On June 18, Kimberly Simms Gibbs and Andrew Clark of the CarolinaPoets reading series invited me to read with fellow Cave Canem alums Glenis Redmond and Tyree Daye for Juneteenth.
*And finally, on May 20, my old friend Al Black of the Mind Gravy Reading Series down in Columbia, SC, invited me to read.
Further off-I'm thrilled and honored to be doing an online reading on Nov. 6 for Furious Flower, an organization that does so much to promulgate Black poetry. Many thanks to the generous assistant director of FF, Dr. Lauren K. Alleyne (a seriously good poet in her own right) and director Dr. Joanne Gabbin-loved to be in the company of these good folks when I could get down to Harrisonburg pre-COVID. (James Madison U. in Harrisonburg, VA, is FF's home.)
Please tune in the Oral Diktion and Furious Flower readings on FB, and don't forget to pick up copies of IN MY FEELINS from me (see my profile here, also my Twitter profile) or elsewhere (order from your local bookstore, Barnes and Noble online, or Amazon; LILIES IN THE VALLEY remains available through Small Press Distribution [spdbooks.org]). Thanks!
February 14, 2020
Feb. 20 Reading at The New School, NYC
Hey all-
I'll be in NYC for a hot minute reading from FEELINS. Come through!
2/20, 6:30 - 8:30 pm
The New School, Wollman Hall
65 West 11th Street
New York
Come celebrate the recent publications of new work by three brilliant Cave Canem poets. Recipient of the 2019 Josephine Miles Award from PEN Oakland, James Cagney is the author of Black Steel Magnolias in The Hour of Chaos Theory (Nomadic Press, 2019), a debut collection of which poet Connie Post says, “There is much to behold in this masterful book….” Poet and visual artist Xandria Phillips‘ debut collection, HULL (Nightboat Books, 2019), is praised by poet Thylias Moss for being “brilliantly executed. Everything precise. Xandria Phillips is no ordinary architect.” Cedric Tillman is the author of two poetry collections, most recently, IN MY FEELINS (Word Poetry, 2020), praised by author Alan Michael Parker for holding “fabulous poems of candor and jump, muscle and song.” Free and open to the public. Refreshments served. Co-sponsored with The New School Creative Writing Program.
James Cagney is a poet from Oakland, California. He has appeared at venues throughout the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond, including Vancouver, Chicago, and Mumbai. James’ first book, Black Steel Magnolias in The Hour of Chaos Theory (Nomadic Press, 2019), is the winner of the 2019 Josephine Miles Award from PEN Oakland. It is available now from NomadicPress.org More of James’ writing can be found at TheDirtyRat.blog.
Xandria Phillips is a poet and visual artist from rural Ohio. Xandria has received fellowships from Oberlin College, Cave Canem, Callaloo, and the Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing, where they are the First Wave Poetry Fellow. Their poetry has been featured in American Poetry Review, Black Warrior Review, Crazyhorse, Poets.Org, Virginia Quarterly Review, and elsewhere. Their first book, HULL was published by Nightboat Books in 2019.
Cedric Tillman holds a BA in English from UNC Charlotte and graduated from American University’s Creative Writing MFA program. He is a Cave Canem Graduate Fellow and a former Nation Magazine (now Boston Review) “Discovery” contest semifinalist. Cedric’s poems appear in several publications including Pleaides, Rove, The Manhattanville Review, Furious Flower: Seeding the Future of African American Poetry, Iodine Poetry Journal and Home Is Where: an anthology of African American Poets from the Carolinas. Between 2016 and 2018, his second collection, IN MY FEELINS (Word Poetry, 2020), received semifinalist recognition in contests sponsored by Saturnalia Books, Cleveland State University, and Fresno State University; and finalist recognition from Press 53, Pleiades and the University of Akron. In 2017, his poem “the flag” received Special Mention recognition for the Pushcart Foundation’s Pushcart Prize. His debut collection, entitled Lilies in the Valley, was published by Willow Books in 2013. Cedric hails from Lilesville and Charlotte, NC. He currently lives in northern Virginia.
I'll be in NYC for a hot minute reading from FEELINS. Come through!
2/20, 6:30 - 8:30 pm
The New School, Wollman Hall
65 West 11th Street
New York
Come celebrate the recent publications of new work by three brilliant Cave Canem poets. Recipient of the 2019 Josephine Miles Award from PEN Oakland, James Cagney is the author of Black Steel Magnolias in The Hour of Chaos Theory (Nomadic Press, 2019), a debut collection of which poet Connie Post says, “There is much to behold in this masterful book….” Poet and visual artist Xandria Phillips‘ debut collection, HULL (Nightboat Books, 2019), is praised by poet Thylias Moss for being “brilliantly executed. Everything precise. Xandria Phillips is no ordinary architect.” Cedric Tillman is the author of two poetry collections, most recently, IN MY FEELINS (Word Poetry, 2020), praised by author Alan Michael Parker for holding “fabulous poems of candor and jump, muscle and song.” Free and open to the public. Refreshments served. Co-sponsored with The New School Creative Writing Program.
James Cagney is a poet from Oakland, California. He has appeared at venues throughout the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond, including Vancouver, Chicago, and Mumbai. James’ first book, Black Steel Magnolias in The Hour of Chaos Theory (Nomadic Press, 2019), is the winner of the 2019 Josephine Miles Award from PEN Oakland. It is available now from NomadicPress.org More of James’ writing can be found at TheDirtyRat.blog.
Xandria Phillips is a poet and visual artist from rural Ohio. Xandria has received fellowships from Oberlin College, Cave Canem, Callaloo, and the Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing, where they are the First Wave Poetry Fellow. Their poetry has been featured in American Poetry Review, Black Warrior Review, Crazyhorse, Poets.Org, Virginia Quarterly Review, and elsewhere. Their first book, HULL was published by Nightboat Books in 2019.
Cedric Tillman holds a BA in English from UNC Charlotte and graduated from American University’s Creative Writing MFA program. He is a Cave Canem Graduate Fellow and a former Nation Magazine (now Boston Review) “Discovery” contest semifinalist. Cedric’s poems appear in several publications including Pleaides, Rove, The Manhattanville Review, Furious Flower: Seeding the Future of African American Poetry, Iodine Poetry Journal and Home Is Where: an anthology of African American Poets from the Carolinas. Between 2016 and 2018, his second collection, IN MY FEELINS (Word Poetry, 2020), received semifinalist recognition in contests sponsored by Saturnalia Books, Cleveland State University, and Fresno State University; and finalist recognition from Press 53, Pleiades and the University of Akron. In 2017, his poem “the flag” received Special Mention recognition for the Pushcart Foundation’s Pushcart Prize. His debut collection, entitled Lilies in the Valley, was published by Willow Books in 2013. Cedric hails from Lilesville and Charlotte, NC. He currently lives in northern Virginia.
January 27, 2020
Feb. 2 Reading at the American Poetry Museum, Washington, DC
On Sunday Feb. 2, I'll be reading at the American Poetry Museum with fellow American University MFA program graduate Steve Castro and fellow Cave Canem fellow/professor/poet Jane Alberdeston from 3-5 pm. This is my first event since IN MY FEELINS came out and I'm grateful to Samuel Miranda and Fred Joiner for their generosity in hosting us. (We'll be sure to get y'all out if you're catching the Super Bowl as I am.)
The APM's Center for Poetic Thought is located at 716 Monroe St. NE, Studio #25 in NE Washington D.C.'s Brookland neighborhood. Check out the links below for author info and books or contact me personally at cedricLtillman@gmail.com.
Jane Alberdeston
Blue Whale Phenomena
Lilies in the Valley
In My Feelins
The APM's Center for Poetic Thought is located at 716 Monroe St. NE, Studio #25 in NE Washington D.C.'s Brookland neighborhood. Check out the links below for author info and books or contact me personally at cedricLtillman@gmail.com.
Jane Alberdeston
Blue Whale Phenomena
Lilies in the Valley
In My Feelins
January 3, 2020
Hot Boy Fall? Busboys and Poets, PEN/Faulkner Writers-in-Schools, Cave Canem Reading
Work's been crazy so I'm way behind on my updates over here. On October 22, I stood in for the gracious and thoughtful María Fernanda as feature at the 14th & K Busboys and Poets in DC. Some coworkers were sweet enough to come out and I got to meet Tatiana Figueroa Ramirez (COCONUT CURLS Y CAFE CON LECHE) who was a cool host and who I will forever remember as one of the major figures in peer pressuring me to get on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/ctwriter1/, btw)! I read from LILIES IN THE VALLEY and from my new collection IN MY FEELINS.
On November 25th I had the pleasure of visiting DC's Takoma Education Campus as a participating writer in the PEN/Faulkner Writers-In-Schools program for the first time at Takoma Education Campus in DC. These middle school kids, about 60 or so, were so sweet but they're not shy about asking tough questions. (For example, the "n-word" is in my LILIES, as in the title poem "Lilies In The Valley," and I was asked why I'd used that word-had to explain the context.) It was good for me to get in front of a class for the first time since my short-lived stint at Rowan-Cabarrus Community College in 2011 and shake off a lot of rust. And I've never had the opportunity to sign so many books! I have to thank my poetry brothers Alan King and Derrick Weston Brown for insisting on the idea and Alan for giving them my info.
Finally, on December 1 I had the pleasure of reading with my Cave Canem family on a rainy Baltimore day at the Pratt Library, Dec. 1. The event was hosted by Reggie Harris of Poets House. Kyle Dargan, director of the MFA Creating Writing program at American University was the featured reader, but graciously shared his honorarium with the rest of us, including Abdul Ali, Teri Cross Davis, Alan King, Saida Agostini, and Hayes Davis. Steven Leyva of the University of Baltimore was also in attendance. This was my second year in a row participating, and it made think that I need to get about the business of getting some new work done every year if I want to participate-now that I'm so close to Baltimore by way of living in the DMV, I feel obligated to have new material when I raise my hand for these going forward...
More to come soon! I'll be reading in DC at the American Poetry Museum on Feb. 2 with fellow AU alum Steve Castro and Jane Alberdeston, at The New School with Xandria Phillips and James Cagney (Cave Canem reading), and at Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill on April 12. I'll post about those more as they approach.
On November 25th I had the pleasure of visiting DC's Takoma Education Campus as a participating writer in the PEN/Faulkner Writers-In-Schools program for the first time at Takoma Education Campus in DC. These middle school kids, about 60 or so, were so sweet but they're not shy about asking tough questions. (For example, the "n-word" is in my LILIES, as in the title poem "Lilies In The Valley," and I was asked why I'd used that word-had to explain the context.) It was good for me to get in front of a class for the first time since my short-lived stint at Rowan-Cabarrus Community College in 2011 and shake off a lot of rust. And I've never had the opportunity to sign so many books! I have to thank my poetry brothers Alan King and Derrick Weston Brown for insisting on the idea and Alan for giving them my info.
Finally, on December 1 I had the pleasure of reading with my Cave Canem family on a rainy Baltimore day at the Pratt Library, Dec. 1. The event was hosted by Reggie Harris of Poets House. Kyle Dargan, director of the MFA Creating Writing program at American University was the featured reader, but graciously shared his honorarium with the rest of us, including Abdul Ali, Teri Cross Davis, Alan King, Saida Agostini, and Hayes Davis. Steven Leyva of the University of Baltimore was also in attendance. This was my second year in a row participating, and it made think that I need to get about the business of getting some new work done every year if I want to participate-now that I'm so close to Baltimore by way of living in the DMV, I feel obligated to have new material when I raise my hand for these going forward...
More to come soon! I'll be reading in DC at the American Poetry Museum on Feb. 2 with fellow AU alum Steve Castro and Jane Alberdeston, at The New School with Xandria Phillips and James Cagney (Cave Canem reading), and at Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill on April 12. I'll post about those more as they approach.
IN MY FEELINS Is Finally Here!
Hi all:
Happy to announce that my second collection, IN MY FEELINS, is out now!
Get it from me: $21 inc. shipping, signature; Venmo (Cedric-tillman-1), Cash App ($CedricTillman), PayPal (ctwriter@hotmail.com)
or for $19 at:
Park Road Books, Charlotte
https://www.parkroadbooks.com/book/97...
Barnes and Noble:
https://www.parkroadbooks.com/book/97...
Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/My-Feelins-Ced...
IN MY FEELINS' page on my publisher's (WordTech) site (includes samples, blurbs, links to Barnes and Noble, Amazon)
https://www.wordpoetrybooks.com/tillm...
"When the world makes you into a mixtape, and what you need and what you click on and how you love seems a-jumble, read the poems of Cedric Tillman. These are fabulous poems of candor and jump, muscle and song. But his astonishing new book is also a compendium of testimonies-'Testimonial Poetics' might be a thing, starting now-to help us define ourselves in the moment, and our momentary selves."- Alan Michael Parker
"Cedric Tillman knows the reaches of the skipped stone. These poems are all-human-at once vulnerable, humorous and peacock. In My Feelins holds everything up to the light in consideration-from the domestic to the sociopolitical-while the most critical examination is reserved for the self. The reader will find themselves laughing out loud at imaginative political commentary and freshly devastated as Tillman revisits the terrorist attack in Charleston, SC and his own father's death. This collection is reflective of a heart shaped by origin and witness-a life worth reading about."- Kwoya Fagins Maples
"'Being free means getting used to the ghosts'-this is the heart of Tillman's collection. Through his mastery of persona and imagery, Tillman gives a voice to all the ghosts of his neighborhood and our neighborhood, the ghosts of his history and ours. In My Feelins is a great lyric collection, and a necessary reminder of the freedoms that can only be achieved by reckoning with the voices inside us and around us."- Jason McCall
Happy to announce that my second collection, IN MY FEELINS, is out now!
Get it from me: $21 inc. shipping, signature; Venmo (Cedric-tillman-1), Cash App ($CedricTillman), PayPal (ctwriter@hotmail.com)
or for $19 at:
Park Road Books, Charlotte
https://www.parkroadbooks.com/book/97...
Barnes and Noble:
https://www.parkroadbooks.com/book/97...
Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/My-Feelins-Ced...
IN MY FEELINS' page on my publisher's (WordTech) site (includes samples, blurbs, links to Barnes and Noble, Amazon)
https://www.wordpoetrybooks.com/tillm...
"When the world makes you into a mixtape, and what you need and what you click on and how you love seems a-jumble, read the poems of Cedric Tillman. These are fabulous poems of candor and jump, muscle and song. But his astonishing new book is also a compendium of testimonies-'Testimonial Poetics' might be a thing, starting now-to help us define ourselves in the moment, and our momentary selves."- Alan Michael Parker
"Cedric Tillman knows the reaches of the skipped stone. These poems are all-human-at once vulnerable, humorous and peacock. In My Feelins holds everything up to the light in consideration-from the domestic to the sociopolitical-while the most critical examination is reserved for the self. The reader will find themselves laughing out loud at imaginative political commentary and freshly devastated as Tillman revisits the terrorist attack in Charleston, SC and his own father's death. This collection is reflective of a heart shaped by origin and witness-a life worth reading about."- Kwoya Fagins Maples
"'Being free means getting used to the ghosts'-this is the heart of Tillman's collection. Through his mastery of persona and imagery, Tillman gives a voice to all the ghosts of his neighborhood and our neighborhood, the ghosts of his history and ours. In My Feelins is a great lyric collection, and a necessary reminder of the freedoms that can only be achieved by reckoning with the voices inside us and around us."- Jason McCall
