Richmond Virginia native, Douglas Powell/Roscoe Burnems is a poet, published author, spoken-word artist, comedian, educator, father, and husband who has dedicated his craft to entertaining and educating. As a “slam poet” he has been a two-time regional finalist (2009, 2014), National Poetry Slam Champion (2014), NPS Group Piece Finalist (2018), and NUPIC/Underground Slam Champion (2019). He is the founder and member of The Writer's Den Poetry Slam team and collective. With Roscoe as a coach The Writer's Den has been consistently ranked top 10 in the country. As a poetry slam coach he also took the VCU poetry slam team to be ranked 3rd in the world (2018). In addition to the putting on poetry-based events and poetry slams, the collective -consisting of mostly poets, but also songwriters, bloggers, and visual artists- conducts writing and performance workshops for youth and adults. Douglas Powell/ Roscoe Burnems has become a layered performer using his many talents to discuss trauma, resilience, and the human experience.