The wonderful poet Halah Mohammed interviewed me a couple months ago about my poetry background and practice. Part 1 of the interview is here! Check out the rest of her interviews with spoken word poets around the world on her website, https://unblockingfreedomofexpression.wordpress.com
“When I was in third grade we had a teacher named Tom Smith who was eclectic. He wanted to focus on the arts, so we did a ton of poetry. We all memorized Edgar Allen Poe’s The Raven, all 18 stanzas [chuckles], and we learned about the Italian Renaissance as well as the Harlem Renaissance. We took a field trip to Harlem, which for third graders from Pennsylvania is something that is not normally done…He didn’t end up teaching us much from the standard curriculum, so the administration didn’t approve and he left the school a couple years after I had him. But he was absolutely amazing and started that love for art and words with me. Then, I just started casually writing for a while and kept at it ’til now [smiles wide].”
“What has poetry given you?”
“I’ve always primarily been a dancer. I started dancing at the…
View original post 274 more words
Katie Ailes 