March 2012was a big month for poetry and community. Ifeatured...

March 2012

was a big month for poetry and community. I

featured at LouderArts in NYC for the first time (hello, foreshadow!)
the Wade-Lewis Poetry Slam Invitational that I co-founded a couple years back went well despite my huge step-back in leadership that year.
but most importantly for the first time ever I attended (and competed in) the Woman of the World Poetry Slam. I did well for myself competitively, heard the best poetry I’d ever heard at a slam before (cus hello, ladies rock it), but most importantly I saw my community step up to the plate to support and protect me and other victim/survivors of abuse. I had some good fucking witches in my corner. (Featured here: Mindy Nettifee, Rachel McKibbens, Gypsee Yo and myself.) Mysteriously, the pamphlet “How to Identify a Predator at Your High Tea” was distributed and it was the mark of a big, necessary new wave in the poetry slam community. I felt loved, validated, and supported—-but mostly I felt ready to help and fight and rabble-rouse against the bullshit, to Red Rover arm-link with these strong, incredible women.