Words and Shit

Join hosts Chibbi and Raqui as we welcome Jon Sands to the Words and Sh*t stage! Get to know the person behind the poetry! Jon Sands is a winner of the 2018 National Poetry Series, selected for his second book, It’s Not Magic (Beacon Press, 2019). Since March, he’s been hosting an interview series on IG Live called Ps & Qs. You can follow him at @iAmJonSands. His work has been featured in the...

Join hosts Chibbi and Aris Kion as we welcome FreeQuency to the Words and Sh*t stage! Streaming Live on The Blah Poetry Spot's page, tune in to get to know the person behind the poetry! Storyteller, speaker, workshop leader, and performance artist, FreeQuency is a Black migrant non-binary humanoid, who self identifies as masculine off-center, femme adjacent, an AunTea, and/or a prettyboi. FreeQuen...

Join hosts Chibbi and Raqui as we welcome Rudy Francisco to the Words and Sh*t stage! Streaming Live on The Blah Poetry Spot's page, tune in to get to know the person behind the poetry! Rudy Francisco is one of the most recognizable names in Spoken Word Poetry. He was born, raised, and still resides in, San Diego, California. At the age of 21, Rudy completed his B.A. in Psychology and decided to c...

Join hosts Chibbi and Raqui as we welcome José Olivarez to the Words and Sh*t stage! Streaming Live on The Blah Poetry Spot's page, tune in to get to know the person behind the poetry! José Olivarez is the son of Mexican immigrants. His debut book of poems, Citizen Illegal, was a finalist for the PEN/ Jean Stein Award and a winner of the 2018 Chicago Review of Books Poetry Prize. It was named a to...

Join hosts Chibbi and Rooster as we welcome Christopher Michael to the Words and Sh*t stage! Streaming Live on The Blah Poetry Spot's page, tune in to get to know the person behind the poetry! Christopher Michael has been rocking Texas mics for 20 years. Former President of Poetry Slam Inc, Texas Poet Laureate nominee, National Poetry Slam Finalist, has shared stages with Angie Stone & Eric Be...

Aris Kian is a student of community organizing and abolition. She is ranked #10 in the 2020 Women of the World Poetry Slam and #4 in the 2019 CUPSI competition with UH team CoogSlam. She is an Emerging Writers Fellow with Writers in the Schools and an Inprint C. Glenn Cambor Fellow pursuing her MFA at the University of Houston. Her poems are published with Write About Now, Underground Journal, Hou...

Join hosts Chibbi and Raqui as we welcome Bonafide Rojas to the Words and Sh*t stage! Streaming Live on The Blah Poetry Spot's page, tune in to get to know the person behind the poetry! Poet and musician Bonafide Rojas was born and raised in the Bronx. He is the author of four collections of poetry: Pelo Bueno: A Day in the Life of a Nuyorican Poet (Dark Souls Press, 2004), When the City Sleeps (G...

Join hosts Chibbi and Raqui as we welcome Natasha Hernandez to the Words and Sh*t stage! Streaming Live on The Blah Poetry Spot's page, tune in to get to know the person behind the poetry! Natasha Hernandez is a writer and nurse from San Antonio, TX. She previously published the San Anto Pos, Wow! zine. Influenced by San Antonio culture, comic books, science fiction and feminismo, works include po...

Join Chibbi & Raqui for their conversation with and performance by Ayokunle Falomo! Ayokunle Falomo is Nigerian, American, a TEDx speaker, and the author of African, American (New Delta Review, 2019) and two self-published collections: KIN.DREAD (2017) and thread, this wordweaver must! (2014). His work has been featured in print and online numerous times, including in The New York Times, Houst...

Ariana Brown is a queer Black Mexican American poet from San Antonio, Texas. She is the author of Sana Sana, a poetry chapbook with Game Over Books, and a 2014 national collegiate poetry slam champion. Ariana’s work investigates queer Black personhood in Mexican American spaces, spirituality, and care. She is currently studying to be a librarian. You can find her poems and rants @ArianaThePoet on...

Brandon Leake is the winner of Season 15 of NBC’s America’s Got Talent. He is also the Founder and CEO of Called To Move – CTM, is an artistic visionary whose roots lie in the ghettos of the south side of Stockton, California. Being born and raised to a single parent household with his mother, Carla Leake-Gibson, Brandon was accustomed to the complexities of playing this game of life with the deck...

ShaCondria "iCon" Sibley is an Alexandria, Louisiana native, and longtime New Orleans-based, award-winning poet, author, performing artist, visual artist, teaching artist, host, event curator, and creator of the viral “to all the little Black girls with big names” movement. A multiple-time national poetry slam champion and performer, she travels the country and has made many television and stage a...

Dr. Adam Falkner is a poet, educator and arts & culture strategist. He is the author of The Willies (Button Poetry, 2020) and Adoption (Winner of the 2017 Diode Editions Chapbook Award), and his work has appeared in a range of print and media spaces including on programming for HBO, NBC, NPR, in the New York Times, and elsewhere. A former high school English teacher in New York City’s public s...

Boris “Bluz” Rogers has risen through the ranks of spoken word entertainment. He is an Emmy Award winner, has been recognized with an Excellence in Leadership award from the NAACP, is the current Director of Creative Engagement for Blumenthal Performing Arts, and is the slam master and coach of SlamCharlotte - the competitive team of poets whom he led to back to back National Poetry Slam victories...

Black Chakra is a spoken word and hip-hop artist whose talents have been showcased on stages across America. In his time competing in poetry slam competitions he has been a national poetry slam champion, Texas Grand Slam champion, Southern Fried slam champion, and a plethora of other titles too long to list. Black Chakra embodies the city of Baltimore through aggressive performance and incredible...

Yesika Salgado is a Los Angeles based Salvadoran poet who writes about her family, her culture, her city, and her fat brown body. She has shared her work in venues and campuses throughout the country. Salgado is a two time National Poetry Slam finalist and the recipient of the 2020 International Latino Book Award in Poetry. Her work has been featured in the Los Angeles Times, Teen Vogue, Univision...

Noel Quiñones is a Puerto Rican writer, performer, and community organizer from the Bronx. As a writer, he’s received fellowships from Poets House, the Poetry Foundation, CantoMundo, Candor Arts, and SAFTA (Sundress Academy for the Arts). His work has been published in POETRY, the Latin American Review, Rattle, Kweli Journal, and elsewhere. As a performer, he’s featured at Lincoln Center, Harvard...

Natasha Carrizosa is a poet, writer, emcee, and speaker. Her work is deeply rooted in her childhood and life experiences. Raised as the daughter of a fierce African-American mother and Mexican father, her writing reflects the dichotomy of these two rich cultures. She is author of mexiafricana, heavy light, and crown. Her work has recently been published in ¡Manteca! - an anthology of Afro-Latino p...

Joaquín Zihuatanejo was awarded the 2017 Anhinga Press-Robert Dana Prize for Poetry. His latest collection, Arsonist, was published by Anhinga Press in September of 2018. His work has been featured in Prairie Schooner, Sonora Review, Huizache, and Southwestern American Literature among other journals and anthologies. Joaquín received his MFA from the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe,...

Jasminne Mendez is a Dominican-American poet, educator, playwright and award-winning author. Mendez has had poetry and essays published by or forthcoming in The New England Review, Crab Creek Review, Kenyon Review, Gulf Coast, The Rumpus, and others. She is the author of two poetry/prose collections: Island of Dreams (Floricanto Press, 2013) which won an International Latino Book Award, and Night-...

Alexandra van de Kamp is the Executive Director for Gemini Ink, San Antonio’s Writing Arts Center. Her most recent books of poems are Kiss/Hierarchy (Rain Mountain Press 2016) and The Park of Upside-Down Chairs (CW Books 2010). She has also published several chapbooks, including Dear Jean Seberg (2011), which won the 2010 Burnside Review Chapbook Contest. Her poems have been published in journals...

Join hosts Chibbi and Eddie V as we welcome Shadow and Dr. Henzbo to the Words & Sh*t stage!  Akin "Shadow" Sawyerr is the Executive Director, and former president, of Southern Fried Poetry, Inc which owns and operates Southern Fried Poetry Slam an annual Spoken Word and Performance Poetry tournament now entering its 29th year. Recently, he produced and Organized the world's first 3D Avat...

Join hosts Chibbi and Eddie V as we welcome Big Mike to the Words & Sh*t stage!  Mike Bertram, referred to as “Big Mike” on the stage and “Mr. B” in the classroom, has been teaching for 25+ years and is currently a 3rd Grade teacher in New Jersey. He started performing spoken word poetry in 2002 and was a member of the 2005 Nuyorican Poetry Slam Team. He was a featured poet on HBO’s Russe...

Join hosts Chibbi and Eddie V as we welcome Ebony Payne-English to the Words and Sh*t stage!  Ebony Payne-English is an author, performance artist, and educator from Jacksonville, FL. She is the first woman to establish her own chapter of the international poetry organization, Black on Black Rhyme. Ebony is curator of the Museum of Contemporary Art Jacksonville’s first Hip Hop exhibition, The...

ITS Join hosts Chibbi and Eddie V as we welcome Anthony "Big Ant" Gordon to the Words and Sh*t stage!  Anthony Gordon is an accomplished educator, slam poet and DJ originally from Detroit, MI. He is a 4-time national slam poet, the 2013 Fort Worth Slam Champion, and finished in the top 30 at 2013 Individual World Poetry Slam in Spokane, WA. Big Ant is also a successful youth slam coach. He wa...