Quintessential Poetry: A Global Poetry & Spoken Word Poetry Podcast

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Ahmad Al-Khatat was born in Baghdad, Iraq. His work has appeared in print and online journals globally. He has poems translated into several languages such as Farsi, Chinses, Spanish, Albanian, Romanian. He has published some poetry chapbooks, and a collection of short stories. He has been nominated for Best of the Net 2019 and was also nominated for the Pushcart Price 2020.

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Poet / Life Coach

Archna Sahni is a Toronto poet who lives between India and Canada. She was born in India and raised in the cities of Delhi, Chandigarh, Mumbai, and Kuala Lumpur. She immigrated to Canada in 1992 to make Toronto home, but often unexpectedly finds herself back in India for long periods, only to head back to Canada again. She is the author of First Fire (Calicut, India: Yeti, 2005) and Another Nirvana (Toronto: Mawenzi, 2018). Archna has published widely in literary magazines and performed her work in Canada, India, and USA. Her other avatars are educator and life coach; as life coach, Archna empowers persons by helping them shift from self-doubt to self-trust. Her book Another Nirvana can be purchased at https://www.mawenzihouse.com/product/another-nirvana/ and she can be reached at [email protected].

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Since seeking publication just a few years ago, Mela's work has been nominated for multiple awards and has appeared or is forthcoming in dozens of literary journals and magazines. Her debut poetry collection, Skeleton Parade, is available with Apep Publications and her second collection, They Found a Woman’s Body, is available with Vegetarian Alcoholic Press. She is a contributing editor for Barren Magazine, and can be followed at https://twitter.com/melablust

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Author

Teresa James is known for her poetry and art shared throughout social media as Love of a Poet. Where you can actually interact with her. She is passionate about the creativity and beauty of poetry. She mostly writes short poems about love and relationships. She is a mother of seven children, a horticulturist, and philanthropist. While going through heartbreaks, struggles, and grief throughout life. She learned to write her emotions down on paper to vent and release pain. She now bleeds ink by writing and sharing through her poetry.

"The beauty of a poem is not in the length of the content...It's in the power of the words." ❤

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Susannah Kathleen Douglas hails from the beautiful twin-island Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. She is the last child of Merlin and Lloyd Douglas. At 44 years old, she is a divorced mother of two children, both of whom have challenged her to be the best version of herself.

As a disciple of Jesus Christ, Susannah believes that the Bible is the best book ever written. An entrepreneur, Susannah’s passion is connecting with people. Her desire is to see them fulfill the will of God for their lives and to walk in Authenticity.

With a Diploma in Cosmetology, Susannah has helped to transform people from the inside, and out, believing that true Beauty radiates from within. After years of running away from the call to write, Susannah finally surrendered this aspect of her life to the Lord - writing had always been a passion but she never felt equipped or qualified to do so. In 2021, she signed up for a "Writing to Heal" class and with the support and encouragement from the class teacher, she began writing again, with purpose.  

Susannah's love for poetry was ignited. Something about poetry caused her to express her once silenced, suffocated feelings and gave her a new level of hope and fulfillment. Susannah began to write her books, hopefully soon to be published, and began to share her poetry with a few friends. She went deeper and wrote more with the support and encouragement received.

Believing in God’s timing, she knows He is orchestrating this season of her life by aligning her with the right people. For Susannah, the future is filled with the manifestation of all that God has promised with His Holy Spirit as her guide. She knows that when the time is right the Lord will allow all her books that HE has placed inside of her to be published.

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Clifford Bernier’s The Silent Art won the Gival Press Poetry Award. He is also the author of Dark Berries and Earth Suite, each selected by the Montserrat Review as a Best Chapbook. He appears in The Write Blend poetry circle collection and accompanies the Voices of Woodlawn poets on harmonica. In addition, Mr. Bernier appears on harmonica in the Portuguese “Accumulated Dust” world music series and performs regularly in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia. He has been featured in readings in Los Angeles, Seattle, Chicago, Buffalo, Detroit, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and the Washington, DC area, including the Library of Congress, the Arts Club of Washington, George Washington University (where he is a member of the Washington Writer’s Collection) and the Bethesda Writer’s Center. He has been a reader for the Washington Prize and a judge for the National Endowment for the Arts’ Poetry Out Loud recitation contest. From 2003-2008 he hosted the Poesis reading series in Arlington, Virginia, and performed with the Jazzpoetry band at venues in and around Washington, DC. He has been nominated for two Pushcart Prizes and a Best of the Net Award.

Visit Cliff's website at http://cliffbernier.com/

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S. Yarberry is a trans poet and writer. They currently serve as the Poetry Editor of The Spectacle. S. has their MFA in Poetry from Washington University in St. Louis and is now a PhD candidate in literature at Northwestern University. S. is also the author of a new book of poetry A Boy in The City.

A Boy in the City interrogates how our bodies both seduce and elude. Told through the lens of an intimate partnership, Yarberry explores the way we inhabit and are simultaneously distanced from our bodies–our loose seams, our disappearances and infinities, our longing among the brilliance and mundanity of the “streets and lights and strangers” of our cities. The collection feels like an easy Sunday morning a few months after a break-up; a raw nerve, romantic and splintered.

Carl Phillips calls Yarberry a “defiant new voice” who “writes past the ‘festoonery’ of gender and easy binaries.” Mary Jo Bang says the poems in A Boy in the City are, “incisive, erotic, artfully antiro- mantic and Paul Tran says, “Yarberry’s gift to us is that we can become anything, too.”

S. Yarberry

Pronouns: they/them 

Website: https://syarberry.com/

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JULIE VALIN turns songs into poems, since she is perpetually influenced by music, and she was too shy to be in a rock ‘n’ roll band. Her poems have appeared in The Gasconade Review, The Black Shamrock, The Poeming Pigeon, Chiron Review, Red Fez, and more, plus several anthologies & collections, including the Punk Rock Chapbook Series by Epic Rites Press. She is a book designer for her business, Self to Shelf Publishing Services, and works at her community library, and is also a co-founder of the celebrated after-hours poetry press, Six Ft. Swells. She loves piling books artistically on her nightstand and running through the woods knowing nothing is really chasing her. She lives in Northern California with her husband and daughter.

Nothing dies for good in Songs for Ghosts, Julie Valin's second poetry collection. In plainspoken and free verse rock 'n' roll style, Valin celebrates the moments that make and break us, travels that invigorate us, the people who mean the world to us, and the feelings attached to the ceaseless entrance and exit of these moments. Memories intertwined with songs is a motif, and, with a soundtrack included in the back, the book reads as if it's an invitation to hang out with the poet, listening to her handmade mixtape.

To order a signed copy of Songs for Ghosts directly from Julie, please see below: 

http://tinyurl.com/mcsongsforghosts

Please visit the Meadowlark's website:

meadowlarkbookstore.com

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Ellen Thea is an award-winning performance poet, drummer, dancer, and holistic counselor, utilizing tarot, astrology, crystals, and energy work. Her journey has taken her from New York City to South Florida to rural Alaska. She has been writing and performing almost her entire life, learning to write & starting dance at age 4 with her first audition (on a Broadway stage) at age 5, writing and performing short original sketches by third grade. Ellen's father, a talented visual artist, both inspired and intimidated her. Growing up in the cultural wonderland of NYC in the '50's, '60's and '70's, Ellen chose to use words and movement as both her paintbrush and medium. Ellen received a bachelor's degree in psychology with an (almost) minor in theatre from Union College, Schenectady, NY 1978. Her master's degree is in marriage and family therapy with a specialization in medical family therapy from Nova Southeastern University, Davie, Florida 1996.  After college Ellen moved to South Florida where she had her three children. After suffering a head injury from a vicious mugging, Ellen heeded the counsel of a Cherokee medicine woman, who sent her to Alaska for a healing walk. Ellen's awards include Bitterroot Poetry Magazine Award 1986, the Douglas Freels Poetry Award 2002, the Dancing Poetry Competition 2013, and the Poetry Matters Award 2014. Her book, "On My Way To The Apocalypse" (a 55 page non-linear prose poem), was published by Dingaroo Press in 2012. (That same year, Ellen became a grandmother.) She's created and performed original works (full shows and as a featured artist) in New York, Florida, Ohio, Michigan and Alaska. Her work (both writing and esoteric) has been featured on the radio. Ellen's also been a newsreader and d.j. on the local radio station. In addition, she's created several specialized curriculums & workshops for children through adult learners.

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Diane Wilbon Parks is an accomplished poet, visual artist, and author; Diane has written two poetry collections and a Children’s Book. She is the founder of “The Write Blend”, a culturally diverse poetry circle, and has been recognized as one of Prince George’s County Poets of Excellence and Literary Leaders. She has celebrated the installation of one of her poems and artwork as a permanent sign at the North Patuxent Research Refuge. Diane’s poetry has been widely featured nationally and internationally, online, and in newsletters, online magazines and journals, anthologies: Random House’s International Anthology, “Singing in the Dark”, and International Magazine, Wexford Women, and locally in the Annapolis, Westfield Magazine. She has been an Expert Consultant to the National Trust for Historic Preservation at Woodlawn and the National Endorsement for the Arts. Diane’s interviews have been included in the 43rd and 44th Anniversary of Grace Cavalieri’s “The Poet and The Poem at the Library of Congress. Diane is a USAF Veteran, a Member of UMD’s, Phi Kappa Phi’s Honor Society, a PMP - currently working as a Sr. IT Program Manager. Diane resides in Maryland with her husband; she has two adult children and a new granddaughter.