Quintessential Poetry: A Global Poetry & Spoken Word Poetry Podcast

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Zach Beach, MA is an international yoga teacher, best-selling author, poet, love coach, founder of The Heart Center love school, and host of The Learn to Love Podcast. 

He is the author of the Amazon best-seller The Seven Lessons of Love and two poetry collections, his first entitled Drinking Roses on Sunday and his latest collection is 108 Savasana Poems: Blissful Words From the Heart of Yoga.

Zach's writings have appeared on such websites as The Huffington Post, Elephant Journal, and MindBodyGreen, while his poems have been seen in such publications as October Hill Magazine, The Oddville Press, and The CHILLFILTR Review. Learn more at www.zachbeach.com

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Susan Abbott paints, draws, writes, does wild and crazy things often with color, sometimes with words. Since March 2021 she has been on a tear of writing villanelles. Prevalent themes in her work are about women (family, friends, historical, mythical, magical, imaginary),love, death, nature, spirituality, social injustices. She is not shy about using humor to bring a sense of poignancy along with a lighter to touch to some difficult topics. Her work has appeared in old feminist rags like “So’s Your Old Lady,” “Sojourner,” and “Perspective.” The coming out correspondence with her mother was included in “Between Ourselves: Letters Between Mothers and Daughters” (Houghton Mifflin, 1984). Her newer work appears in Cholla Needles, When Women Awake: Grief Issue, “Feckless Cunt: A Feminist Anthology (World Split Open Press, 2018); and “Touching Creatures Touching Spirit: Living in a Sentient World” by Judy Grahn, (Red Hen Press, 2021). Her chapbook “Nasty Woman Rise: The Dream and the Curse” (2017) was published by Cholla Needles. She is the illustrator along with poet Cynthia Anderson of the collaborative chapbook “Now Voyager” (Cholla Needles, 2019). A chapbook of her newer poems and art,  “The Every Day Holy of We” is due out from Cholla Needles in 2022.

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Abi Taylor is an Artist/Illustrator living and working in North Vancouver BC. She takes inspiration from the places around her and inside her mind. After finishing her degree of Visual Arts at Emily Carr University she would like to make drawings for children's books.

Alden Wallace Mackay has been published in numerous literary magazines across the continent. He hopes one day this might pay the bills.

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I am 38 years old and writing since fifteen in Urdu. Lately joined English literary universe as a poet. Before that I was already wotking on a novel. The work goes on. Professionally I works as an Incharge Advances in a bank. Done Masters in Political Science. And perhaps that is enough that is worth of mention. Rest it is a life of an ordinary person.

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New York Times bestselling poet Nikki Grimes received the 2020 ALAN Award for outstanding contributions to young adult literature. Her distinguished works include the much-honored books Garvey’s Choice, ALA Notable book Southwest Sunrise, Coretta Scott King Award winner Bronx Masquerade, five Coretta Scott King Author Honor books, Print and Siebert Honor winner Ordinary Hazards, Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor winner One Last Word, its companion Legacy: Women Poets of the Harlem Renaissance, and the New York Times bestseller Kamala Harris: Rooted in Justice. She is the creator of the ALA Notable Poetry Book Come Sunday, At Jerusalem’s Gate, and Voices of Christmas, and has been featured in the pages of Image: Journal of Arts and Religion, Today’s Christian Woman, Poetry Magazine, and on the Academy of American Poets series Poem-a-Day, among others. Ms. Grimes lives in Corona, California.

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Aaron R The Poet sponsors multiple poetry contests throughout the year. Chev won the the 2021 Summer Edition of the contest. Key Wills won 2nd place and Miss Kiane won 3rd place. Other participants in the contest were Jae/Intangible Motivation, Yvette G. Santana and She So Cold. Listen to all tonight at 8:00 PM (EST).

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Don Kingfisher Campbell, MFA in Creative Writing from Antioch University Los Angeles, taught Writers Seminar at Occidental College Upward Bound for 36 years, been a coach and judge for Poetry Out Loud, a performing poet/teacher for Red Hen Press Youth Writing Workshops, L.A. Coordinator and Board Member of California Poets In The Schools, poetry editor of the Angel City Review, publisher of Spectrum magazine, and host of the Saturday Afternoon Poetry reading series in Pasadena, California. For awards, features, and publication credits, please go to: http://dkc1031.blogspot.com

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Tanya (Hyonhye) Ko Hong is a bilingual Korean American poet and translator. She has an MFA in poetry from Antioch University. Tanya is the author of four poetry collections, most recently The War Still Within: Poems of the Korean Diaspora(KYSO Flash Press, 2019), written primarily in English. Before that, she published Mother to Myself (Prunsasang Press, 2015) in Korean, Yellow Flowers on a Rainy Day (Oma Books of the Pacific, 2003) in English, and Generation One Point Five (Esprit Books, 1993) in Korean with English translations. Her poetry appears in Rattle, Beloit Poetry Journal, Entropy, Cultural Weekly, WSQ: Women’s Studies Quarterly (published by The Feminist Press), the Choson Ilbo, The Korea Times, and the Aeolian Harp Series Anthology, among others. 

Tanya was the first Korean-American recipient of the Yun Doon-ju Korean-American Literature Award. Her segmented poem, “Comfort Woman,” won the 11th Moon Prize from Writing in a Woman’s Voice and received an honorable mention from the Women’s National Book Association. She was a finalist for Frontier’s Chapbook Contest and the Ko Won Literature Award, and a semi-finalist in the Jack Grapes Poetry Contest. She has received grants from the Korean Cultural Center, the Daesan Foundation, and Poets & Writers. Weaving together two cultures, Tanya’s poetry gives voice to multiple generations of Korean and Korean-American women. Her most recent collection, The War Still Within includes a well-researched and vividly imagined sequence of poems based on the experiences of the Korean “comfort women” who were forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese Imperial Army during World War II.

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Jonathan Hopkins is no stranger to the exquisite art of writing (sic). He began writing poetry at the age of 14 and continues to write over 35 years later. He has penned several short stories and over 200 pieces that range in style from sonnet to modern spoken word. His book, “Golden Dreams on Copper Wings: Life’s Flight Through Poetry” is a retrospective, often humorous, look at his life through the eyes of his pen. Jonathan was a fixture in the Washington DC area poetry scene under the Pseudonym “The Wryte One.” His peers have described him/his work as “genius,” “... one of the most prolific and fanatically-flowing writers I’ve met,” “neurotic word-play,” ”the definition of poetry,” as well as countless other superlatives. Jonathan is also a gifted guitarist who has been playing since the age of 16. He has played with a plethora of local artists, performed in numerous venues, worked on several recorded projects and has even shared the stage with Eric Benet. Jonathan hopes to express his life, his love and his Lord Jesus Christ through his gifts of writing and music.

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Happy or joyful poems that make you rejoice in life and the essence of being.

Reflective poems about dealing with love and relationships.

Inspiring poems that encourage you to take a chance, experiment, and follow your dreams to wherever the journey leads.

Motivational poems that tip your life inspiration into action and foster growth and development.

Confronting poems that may shake you up a little, and hopefully stir you on to greater self-empowerment.

Co-hosted by Aaron R. The Poet, DeeLynn, Dr. Michael Anthony Ingram, Brian Donnell James and Jackie Oldham