Words and Shit

Join hosts Chibbi and Raqui as we welcome Jon Sands to the Words and Sh*t stage! Get to know the person behind the poetry!

Jon Sands is a winner of the 2018 National Poetry Series, selected for his second book, It’s Not Magic (Beacon Press, 2019). Since March, he’s been hosting an interview series on IG Live called Ps & Qs. You can follow him at @iAmJonSands. His work has been featured in the New York Times, as well as anthologized in The Best American Poetry. He teaches at Brooklyn College, Urban Word NYC, and for over a decade has facilitated a weekly writing workshop for adults at Baily House, an HIV/AIDS service center in East Harlem. He tours extensively as a poet, but lives in Brooklyn.

Join hosts Chibbi and Aris Kion as we welcome FreeQuency to the Words and Sh*t stage! Streaming Live on The Blah Poetry Spot's page, tune in to get to know the person behind the poetry!

Storyteller, speaker, workshop leader, and performance artist, FreeQuency is a Black migrant non-binary humanoid, who self identifies as masculine off-center, femme adjacent, an AunTea, and/or a prettyboi. FreeQuency’s work interrogates and occupies the in-between spaces of gender & geography while exploring the mundane nuances and stark contradictions of everyday existence. They have been featured in or written for The Independent, the New York Times, OkayAfrica, Upworthy, TEDx, For Harriet, Teen Vogue, Huffington Post, Everyday Feminism, & other outlets, and gave a TED talk with nearly 1million views that almost didn't get released.

Join hosts Chibbi and Raqui as we welcome Rudy Francisco to the Words and Sh*t stage! Streaming Live on The Blah Poetry Spot's page, tune in to get to know the person behind the poetry!

Rudy Francisco is one of the most recognizable names in Spoken Word Poetry. He was born, raised, and still resides in, San Diego, California. At the age of 21, Rudy completed his B.A. in Psychology and decided to continue his education by pursuing an M.A in Organizational Studies. As an artist, Rudy Francisco is an amalgamation of social critique, introspection, honesty, and humor. He uses personal narratives to discuss the politics of race, class, gender, and religion while simultaneously pinpointing and reinforcing the interconnected nature of human existence.

Rudy Francisco seeks to create work that promotes healthy dialogue, discourse and social change. Furthermore, Rudy has made conscious efforts to cultivate young poets and expose the youth to the genre of Spoken Word Poetry via coaching, workshops and performances at preparatory schools and community centers. Rudy has also received admiration from institutions of higher education. He has conducted guest lectures and performances at countless colleges and universities across the nation.

Rudy Francisco has shared stages with prominent artists such as Gladys Knight, Jordin Sparks, Musiq Soul Child, and Jill Scott. He is also the co-host of the largest poetry venue in San Diego, competes in domestic and international poetry slam competitions and had the honor of being nominated for an NAACP Image Award. Ultimately, Rudy's goal is to continue to assist others in harnessing their creativity while cultivating his own. Rudy Francisco is the 2009 National Underground Poetry Slam Champion, 2010 Individual World Poetry Slam Champion, and appeared on TV One’s “Verses and Flow”

Join hosts Chibbi and Raqui as we welcome José Olivarez to the Words and Sh*t stage! Streaming Live on The Blah Poetry Spot's page, tune in to get to know the person behind the poetry!

José Olivarez is the son of Mexican immigrants. His debut book of poems, Citizen Illegal, was a finalist for the PEN/ Jean Stein Award and a winner of the 2018 Chicago Review of Books Poetry Prize. It was named a top book of 2018 by The Adroit Journal, NPR, and the New York Public Library. Along with Felicia Chavez and Willie Perdomo, he co-edited the poetry anthology, The BreakBeat Poets Vol. 4: LatiNEXT. He is the co-host of the poetry podcast, The Poetry Gods. In 2018, he was awarded the first annual Author and Artist in Justice Award from the Phillips Brooks House Association and named a Debut Poet of 2018 by Poets & Writers. In 2019, he was awarded a Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Fellowship from the Poetry Foundation. His work has been featured in The New York Times, The Paris Review, and elsewhere.

Join hosts Chibbi and Rooster as we welcome Christopher Michael to the Words and Sh*t stage! Streaming Live on The Blah Poetry Spot's page, tune in to get to know the person behind the poetry!

Christopher Michael has been rocking Texas mics for 20 years. Former President of Poetry Slam Inc, Texas Poet Laureate nominee, National Poetry Slam Finalist, has shared stages with Angie Stone & Eric Benet . He's the founder of 310 Brown Street publishing, author of three books and SlamMaster for Austin NeoSoul. You can check out his work on www.mrmichael310.com, 310brownstreet.com, or his album “Nuclear Orange” on ITunes, Spotify & Tidal.

Aris Kian is a student of community organizing and abolition. She is ranked #10 in the 2020 Women of the World Poetry Slam and #4 in the 2019 CUPSI competition with UH team CoogSlam. She is an Emerging Writers Fellow with Writers in the Schools and an Inprint C. Glenn Cambor Fellow pursuing her MFA at the University of Houston. Her poems are published with Write About Now, Underground Journal, Houston Review of Books, and elsewhere. Currently, she explores work surrounding her experience with academia, critical theory, and the Black imagination.

Join hosts Chibbi and Raqui as we welcome Bonafide Rojas to the Words and Sh*t stage! Streaming Live on The Blah Poetry Spot's page, tune in to get to know the person behind the poetry!

Poet and musician Bonafide Rojas was born and raised in the Bronx. He is the author of four collections of poetry: Pelo Bueno: A Day in the Life of a Nuyorican Poet (Dark Souls Press, 2004), When the City Sleeps (Grand Concourse Press, 2012), Renovatio (Grand Concourse Press, 2012), and Notes on the Return to the Island (Grand Concourse Press, 2017). He founded Grand Concourse Press, named after the thoroughfare he grew up on, in 2012.

Join hosts Chibbi and Raqui as we welcome Natasha Hernandez to the Words and Sh*t stage! Streaming Live on The Blah Poetry Spot's page, tune in to get to know the person behind the poetry!

Natasha Hernandez is a writer and nurse from San Antonio, TX. She previously published the San Anto Pos, Wow! zine. Influenced by San Antonio culture, comic books, science fiction and feminismo, works include poetry, comics, photos, and altars. Best compliment received: A homeless man once told Tash she looked like Selena. If he was just looking for a cigarette, it totally worked.

Join Chibbi & Raqui for their conversation with and performance by Ayokunle Falomo!

Ayokunle Falomo is Nigerian, American, a TEDx speaker, and the author of African, American (New Delta Review, 2019) and two self-published collections: KIN.DREAD (2017) and thread, this wordweaver must! (2014). His work has been featured in print and online numerous times, including in The New York Times, Houston Chronicle, Houston Public Media, Write About Now, Michigan Quarterly Review, Glass Mountain, Berkeley Poetry Review, Santa Fe Writers Project, and The Texas Review. A recipient of fellowships from Vermont Studio Center and MacDowell, his poems have been selected as finalists or winners for Fourteen Hills Press’ Stacy Doris Memorial Award, Flypaper Magazine‘s Music Poetry Contest, The OffBeat‘s Poetry Contest, and Nimrod Journal‘s The Pablo Neruda Prize in Poetry. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology from University of Houston, a Specialist in School Psychology degree from Sam Houston State University and is currently an MFA (Poetry) student at the University of Michigan’s Helen Zell Writers’ Program.

Ariana Brown is a queer Black Mexican American poet from San Antonio, Texas. She is the author of Sana Sana, a poetry chapbook with Game Over Books, and a 2014 national collegiate poetry slam champion. Ariana’s work investigates queer Black personhood in Mexican American spaces, spirituality, and care. She is currently studying to be a librarian. You can find her poems and rants @ArianaThePoet on Instagram and Twitter.