Quintessential Poetry: A Global Poetry & Spoken Word Poetry Podcast

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Clif Collins was an English professor at Montgomery College, Rockville, MD. He taught at the college for 25 years. In 2017, he wrote the book "Lives of the Apostles." The book (available on Amazon), encompasses themes of grief, loss, betrayal, coming of age, endurance, and love (in its various forms). Further, it examines the momentary circumstances of everyday people as they try to connect with life in the modern age. Friends and colleagues of Clif's will salute his poetic legacy by reading from “Lives of the Apostles.”

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Heather Corbally Bryant teaches in the Writing Program at Wellesley College. She has taught at the Pennsylvania State University, the University of Michigan, and Harvard College where she won awards for her teaching. She received her A.B. with honors in History and Literature from Harvard. She received her PhD in Literature from the University of Michigan. Her academic publications include, How Will the Heart Endure: Elizabeth Bowen and the Landscape of War (University of Michigan Press, 1992). It was awarded the Murphy Prize for best first book. In 2018, she published her work of creative nonfiction, You Can’t Wrap Fire in Paper, which explores her grandmother’s years as a journalist in Shanghai during the 1920s. Since 2011 she has published six books of poetry with the Finishing Line Press: Cheap Grace, Compass Rose, My Wedding Dress, Thunderstorm, Eve’s Lament, and James Joyce’s Water Closet (forthcoming). The Parallel Press Poetry Series of the University of Wisconsin at Madison published her chapbook, Lottery Ticket (2013).  

In addition, she has published poems in The Christian Science Monitor, In Other Words, and Fourth & Sycamore. James Joyce’s Water Closet, her seventh book of poems, won honorable mention in the Finishing Line Press Open Chapbook Competition of 2018 and is going to be nominated for a Pushcart Prize. It is forthcoming in the fall of 2018. Her eighth book of poems, Island Dream Songs, a full-length collection, will be published in early 2019. Thunderstorm has been nominated for a Massachusetts Book Award.

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Aaron R also known as - Aaron R The Poet - writes poetry and also produces and directs short poem films. Poetry is a way to express real life situations in a way that all people can relate to using a myriad of topics. Aaron R was the winner of first ever World Food Day poetry competition organized by Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Aaron R has also had poems featured in books on social justice. Aaron R also has a book Poetically Correct Volume 1 available on Amazon.com and iTunes. Aaron can be reached at aaronRpoems.com.

The mission of Quintessential Listening: Poetry is to provide a forum to examine topical events and contemporary issues through the power of poetry. Hosted by Dr. Michael Anthony Ingram, the live format offers poets and spoken word artists opportunities to either showcase their own poetry or the works of others. The show also offers poets the freedom to give voice as well as bear witness to the social, cultural, racial, political, health, global, gender, economic and environmental issues that affect all of our lives.

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Claudine Nash lives and writes in New York. She obtained a B.A. in English and Psychology from Wesleyan University and later went on to obtain two master’s degrees and a Ph.D. in Psychology from Connecticut College and St. John's University. Heavily influenced by her background in psychology, her poetry frequently delves into such topics as loss, healing and the liberation of releasing the past. Her most recent writings have focused on the power of connecting to our authentic selves and true inner voice.

Her collections include her full-length poetry books The Wild Essential (Aldrich Press/Kelsay Books, 2017) and Parts per Trillion (Aldrich Press, 2016) as well as her chapbook The Problem with Loving Ghosts (Finishing Line Press, 2014). She also edited an anthology of writing by people living with mental illness entitled Destigmatized: Voices for Change (Madness Muse Press, 2017), as well as the book In So Many Words: Interviews and Poetry from Today’s Poets (Madness Muse Press, 2016). Claudine’s poetry has earned numerous literary distinctions including Pushcart Prize nominations and prizes from such publications as Eye on Life Magazine, The Song Is..., Thirty West Publishing House, Avalon Literary Review and Lady Chaos Press. Internationally published, her poems have appeared in a wide range of magazines and anthologies including Asimov’s Science Fiction, BlazeVOX, Cloudbank, Haight Ashbury Literary Journal and Dime Show Review among others and have been integrated into various dance, visual and musical art forms.

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Larew's work has appeared most recently in Little Patuxent Review, Contemporary American Voices, FORTH vox poetica, Poetry Super Highway, Poets & Artists, Every Day Poems, Lunaris Review (Nigeria), Amsterdam Quarterly, and The Wild Word. His fourth collection is due out this year from Foothills Publishing House. He’s been nominated for four Pushcarts, is a member of the Shakespeare Folger Library’s poetry board, and organizes several events in Prince George’s County, MD and beyond including Poetry X Hunger and The Poetry Poster Project. He is a global hunger specialist, and lives in UpperMarlboro, MD ... and he’s very, very short. On Facebook at Hiram Larew, Poet.

The mission of Quintessential Listening: Poetry is to provide a forum to examine topical events and contemporary issues through the power of poetry. Hosted by Dr. Michael Anthony Ingram, the live format offers poets and spoken word artists opportunities to either showcase their own poetry or the works of others. The show also offers poets the freedom to give voice as well as bear witness to the social, cultural, racial, political, health, global, gender, economic and environmental issues that affect all of our lives. Poems of all different types and genres are welcome.

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode!

The mission of Quintessential Listening: Poetry is to provide a forum to examine topical events and contemporary issues through the power of poetry. Hosted by Dr. Michael Anthony Ingram, the live format offers poets and spoken word artists opportunities to either showcase their own poetry or the works of others. The show also offers poets the freedom to give voice as well as bear witness to the social, cultural, racial, political, health, global, gender, economic and environmental issues that affect all of our lives. Tonight's open mic call-in show features the work of poet Ann Christine Tabaka. 

Ann Christine Tabaka has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize in Poetry, has been internationally published, and won poetry awards from numerous publications. She lives in Delaware, USA.  She loves gardening and cooking.  Chris lives with her husband and three cats. Her most recent credits are: Pomona Valley Review, Page & Spine, West Texas Literary Review, The Hungry Chimera, Sheila-Na-Gig, Synchronized Chaos; Pangolin Review, Trigger Fish Critical Review, Foliate Oak Review, Better Than Starbucks!, Mused, The Write Launch, The Stray Branch, The McKinley Review; Fourth & Sycamore.

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Lisa Stice is a poet/mother/military spouse, the author of two poetry collections Permanent Change of Station (Middle West Press, 2018) and Uniform (Aldrich Press, 2016), and a Pushcart Prize nominee. She volunteers as a mentor with the Veterans Writing Project, as an associate poetry editor with 1932 Quarterly, and as a contributor for The Military Spouse Book Review. You can learn more about her publications at https://lisastice.wordpress.com/.

The mission of Quintessential Listening: Poetry is to provide a forum to examine topical events and contemporary issues through the power of poetry. Hosted by Dr. Michael Anthony Ingram, the live format offers poets and spoken word artists opportunities to either showcase their own poetry or the works of others. The show also offers poets the freedom to give voice as well as bear witness to the social, cultural, racial, political, health, global, gender, economic and environmental issues that affect all of our lives.

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode!

Claudine Nash lives and writes in New York. She obtained a B.A. in English and Psychology from Wesleyan University and later went on to obtain two master’s degrees and a Ph.D. in Psychology from Connecticut College and St. John's University. Heavily influenced by her background in psychology, her poetry frequently delves into such topics as loss, healing and the liberation of releasing the past. Her most recent writings have focused on the power of connecting to our authentic selves and true inner voice.

Her collections include her full-length poetry books The Wild Essential (Aldrich Press/Kelsay Books, 2017) and Parts per Trillion (Aldrich Press, 2016) as well as her chapbook The Problem with Loving Ghosts (Finishing Line Press, 2014). She also edited an anthology of writing by people living with mental illness entitled Destigmatized: Voices for Change (Madness Muse Press, 2017), as well as the book In So Many Words: Interviews and Poetry from Today’s Poets (Madness Muse Press, 2016). Claudine’s poetry has earned numerous literary distinctions including Pushcart Prize nominations and prizes from such publications as Eye on Life Magazine, The Song Is..., Thirty West Publishing House, Avalon Literary Review and Lady Chaos Press. Internationally published, her poems have appeared in a wide range of magazines and anthologies including Asimov’s Science Fiction, BlazeVOX, Cloudbank, Haight Ashbury Literary Journal and Dime Show Review among others and have been integrated into various dance, visual and musical art forms.

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode!

Catfish McDaris’ best readings were in Paris at the Shakespeare and Co. Bookstore and with Jimmy"the ghost of Hendrix"Spencer in NYC on 42nd St. He’s done over 20 chaps in the last 25 years. He’s been in the New York Quarterly, Slipstream, Pearl, Main St. Rag, Café Review, Chiron Review, Zen Tattoo, Wormwood Review, Great Weather For Media, Silver Birch Press, Mas Tequila Review, and Graffiti and been nominated for 15 Pushcarts, Best of Net in 2010 and 2013, he won the Uprising Award in 1999, and won the Flash Fiction Contest judged by the U.S. Poet Laureate in 2009. Also in The Louisiana Review, George Mason Univ.Press, and New Coin from Rhodes Univ. in South Africa. He’s recently been translated into Spanish, Italian, French, Polish, Swedish, Arabic, Mandarin, Bengali, Yoruba, Tagalog, and Esperanto. His 25 years of published material is in the Special Archives Collection at Marquette Univ. in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

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Luis Fermin was born in Pensacola, FL, March 25, 1987, to a White-American mother and a Dominican father. They divorced when he was 2 years old. Subsequently, he and his mom moved back to the United States. His creative writing actually started in elementary school, where artistic expression was strongly encouraged. There he remembers writing several short stories (generally about himself and his friends having superpowers and fighting bad guys) and developing a comedic comic book series. In middle school, he came up with a few ideas for sci-fi novels but never got past writing the first couple of paragraphs for any of them. From there on, his creative writing pretty much went dormant. It wasn't until he was around 20 years old that he started writing creatively again, this time with the desire to work towards becoming a professional rapper. Luis’ unique performance style is the culmination of all of his experiences. He is unparalleled in terms of memorization, rhythmic technique, and delivery. In fact, his vocal energy is magnetic. As a spoken word artist, Luis Fermin holds nothing back and instead give everything to his audience. He is an active member of the Guerilla Poetry Insurgency (http://www.onecommonunity.org/causes/dc-guerrilla-poetry-insurgency).

Music:

Lino Rise,

Longzihun and Jessica Yip 

Kevin Macleod