Benedita Zalabantu joins Maine Poet Laureate Stuart Kestenbaum in conversation and to read her poem "Drop of Melanin and Blood," featured in A NEW LAND, a poetry anthology from The Telling Room. Stuart and Benedita discuss writing for yourself, finding people like yourself reflected in a community of writers, a love of Stephen King and horror, working through mental health in the pandemic, finding the small details that encapsulate bigger themes, and talent’s role in poetic performance. Benedita is a senior at Portland High School and was one of the youngest students accepted into The Telling Room’s Young Writers and Leaders program.