I have been working on The Black Blood of Poetry for several years. Over the next 30 days, I will be revising the manuscript to submit to contests and publishers.

My Artist Statement about The Black Blood of Poetry:

The Black Blood of Poetry is both lament and liturgy—a poetic reckoning with the brutal legacy of anti-Blackness in America and a call to remember. My work is rooted in the rich oral and literary traditions of Black resistance. It is written in the shadow of the strange fruit that once swung from Southern trees, and in the light of those who dared to name injustice in poems, psalms, and protest. This chapbook weaves the political and the personal, the historical and the spiritual, to bear witness to what too often goes unspoken or unmarked.

My poetic voice was forged on the frontlines of lived experience. I grew up in the Marcy Housing Projects of Brooklyn, New York, and came of age in a world that taught me the language of survival. As a Credible Messenger and advocate with more than 25 years of experience in criminal law and social justice, I’ve worked alongside youth, returning citizens, and incarcerated men—mentoring, organizing, and listening. My work with the Osborne Association and now with The Fedcap Group, including mentoring programs for young adults and men at Sing Sing Prison, has only deepened my conviction that storytelling—especially poetry—is both weapon and medicine.

As an award-winning poet, playwright, and essayist, I have long used language to interrogate history and reclaim the dignity of Black life. I am the author of three books of poetry and one novel, including Black Shadows and Through the White Looking Glass: Remembrance of Things Past and Present (co-winner of the 1998 Edwin Mellen Poetry Prize), and Sometimes Blue Knights Wear Black Hats (a National Poetry Series Finalist in 2000). My writing is animated by the spirits of Black heroes—named and unnamed—who bled into the soil of this country and left behind a legacy of resistance. This chapbook is a tribute to them, and to the ongoing struggle for justice, identity, and truth.

I hold a master’s degree from New York Theological Seminary and bachelor’s degrees from Albany University and SUNY New Paltz. My criminal justice advocacy has been recognized with numerous awards, including the Ralph Bunche Bridge Builder Award (renamed the William Eric Waters Bridge Builder Award) and the Esther House Prison Ministry Award.

The Black Blood of Poetry is my offering to the archive of Black witness—a testimony written in fire and blood, in memory and defiance.