In Volume Seven: Chapter One of the Program, we welcome Houston, Texas–born and based Educator, Playwright, Actress, Writer, Author, and Performance Poet Ebony Stewart. She is the 2017 Woman of the World Slam Champion, a three-time Austin Neo Soul Slam Champion, a B. Iden Payne Award recipient, and the David Mark Cohen New Play Award winner. She is also the author of four books, including her latest poetry collection Wash, which was recently named an Honors Award winner by the Texas Institute of Letters.

In our conversation, Ebony reflects on what that recognition for Wash actually means—not just as an acknowledgment of the work itself, but as an outside validation of her writing acumen. We talk about the evolution of her voice, the version of herself that shows up in this collection, and how periods of creative difficulty—graduate school where writing poetry became difficult—shaped the way she approaches the page now.

We also spend time sitting with something a lot of artists tend to move past too quickly: accomplishment. With a résumé as extensive as hers, Ebony discusses how often she truly pauses to take it in.

Ebony opens up about the leap into becoming a full-time creative—what it looked like before that transition, the grind of balancing teaching with constant travel and performance, and the moment she decided to bet on herself. From there, we get into confidence: what it’s made of, how authenticity, self-awareness, and emotional honesty factor into it, and how she’s learned to carry heavy things like grief without letting them define every room she walks into.

Contact Ebony:
Website: ebpoetry.com Instagram: @gullyprincess

Recorded Spoken Word Performances Featured Include:

Nayo Jones – We Will Not Ask
Instagram: @nayojones Website: nayojones.com

Jay Ward – Gentrification
Instagram: @jayward2030

Alysia Harris – Controlled Burn
Instagram: @poppyinthewheat Website: alysiaharris.com

Ebony Stewart: How We Forget (After Loyce Gayo)
Ebony Stewart: Single

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In Volume Six: Chapter Twenty of the Program, we welcome Ontario-based Educator, Writer, Painter, Photographer, Author, and Poet Kathryn MacDonald. Our conversation explores the many ways creativity can intersect—through poetry, visual art, travel, and teaching—and how each discipline shapes the way an artist observes and responds to the world.

Kathryn discusses her reputation as an ekphrastic writer, explaining how her poetry often emerges from an emotional dialogue with visual art and the details she encounters in everyday life. We talk about the role observation plays in her work, her writing process, and how reading and creative community continue to shape her development as a writer.

We also explore her experiences as a sailor and traveler, how those journeys have influenced her imagination, and the relationship between her poetry, painting, and photography.

The conversation concludes with a discussion of her forthcoming poetry collection, The Blue Gate, a lyrical exploration of love, grief, and the shifting emotional landscapes that follow loss.

Contact Kathryn:
Website: kathrynmacdonald.com

Recorded Spoken Word Performances Featured Include:

Jae Nichelle – Brown Skin Girl
Instagram: @croptopassassin Website: jaenichelle.com

Emi Mahmoud – Window Games
Instagram: @emibattuta Website: emi-mahmoud.com

Crystal Valentine – I am Black before Woman in February
Instagram: @crystalvalentine94 Website: iamcrystalvalentine.com

Natasha Ria: Shine
Website: natasharia.com Instagram: @natasharia

Javon Johnson: Building
Instagram: @javonism

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In Volume Six: Chapter Nineteen of the Program, we welcome Durango, Mexico-born, Toronto-based Poet, Author, Curator, and Writer Maria Giesbrecht. She is a graduate of the post-graduate Creative Writing program at Humber College and the winner of the Jack McCarthy Book Prize and the Lesley Strutt Poetry Prize. Her work has also been recognized as a finalist for the Narrative Poetry Prize, a Best of Net nominee, and the runner-up for the Eden Mills Poetry Contest.

She is the author of the poetry collection Peeling Oranges, and her forthcoming collection A Little Feral is scheduled for release May 8 and is currently available for pre-order.

In our conversation, Maria and I talk about how her love of language began early—reading a Nancy Drew book nightly as a kid—and how poetry first entered her life in eighth grade through a science teacher who introduced her to spoken word and rap.

We explore how writing became both refuge and release during difficult years growing up, and how persona poems help her navigate creative blocks.

Maria also reflects on her religious upbringing and the complicated relationship she has had with faith, doubt, obedience, and questioning—and how writing has helped her process that evolving spiritual conversation.

We discuss the early-morning creative state she relies on for drafting poems, and the turning point when she left a career in corporate accounting to pursue writing full-time.

Finally, we talk about her writing community Gather, the role it plays in supporting other writers, and the ideas behind both of her poetry collections.

Contact Maria:
Instagram: @theguelphpoet Website: mariagiesbrecht.com

Recorded Spoken Word Performances Featured Include:

Marie Foolchand – I am the People, the Mob
Instagram: @laframbuessa

Dua Saleh – Fractions
Instagram: @doitlikedua Website: duasaleh.com

Gabriel Ramiez – On Realizing Im Black
Instagram: @poetramirez Website: ramirezpoet.com

Andrea Gibson: Nutritionist
Website: andreagibson.org Instagram: @andreagibson

Dani Cook: Recess
Instagram: @thedanicook Website: thisisdani.com

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In Volume Six: Chapter Eighteen we welcome Educator, Poet, Writer and Author David Martin.

He earned his BA in English from the University of Calgary and his MA in English from the University of Alberta. His work has been widely recognized across Canada’s literary landscape — including winning the CBC Poetry Prize, receiving the Silver Award for Poetry from the Alberta Magazine Awards, and being shortlisted for the W.O. Mitchell Book Prize, the Banff Mountain Book Competition, and FreeFall Magazine’s poetry contest.

He is the author of two chapbooks and four full-length poetry collections, including his recently released book Night Stead.

In addition to his poetry, he is the frontman and primary songwriter for the multi-genre band The Fragments, whose eight-album catalog spans indie-pop, alternative, jazz-inspired textures, and most recently, country.

In our conversation, we explore the intersection of music and poetry — whether songwriting and verse come from the same creative space, and how genre shifts function in his artistic evolution.

We trace his creative history back to a pivotal, life-changing poetry reading by multidisciplinary artist Kirk Miles — a moment that reframed how he understood poetry and ultimately led to his involvement with Calgary’s long-running Single Onion Poetry Series, where he now serves as an organizer.

We also talk about his obsession with sound, his process of recording and listening back to drafts, and how grief — particularly the loss of his brother — reshaped both his writing practice and the emotional architecture of his work.

Finally, we dive into Night Stead — a formally inventive and deeply personal collection that challenges conventional reading structures while exploring vulnerability, memory, and interior life.

This is a conversation about discipline and experimentation, silence and return, structure and sound — and what it means to build a creative life across multiple mediums.

Contact David:
Instagram: @david_jamesmartin Website: davidjamesmartyin.ca

Recorded Spoken Word Performances Featured Include:

Alyssa Michelle – The Mis-Education of the Introvert
Instagram: @poetress_michelle TikTok: @poetress_michelle

Khalil Saadiq – Somebody's Watching Me
Instagram: @khalil_saadiq

Shawn William – Tired
Instagram: @iamshawnwilliam

Kelsey Bigelow: A Grandfathers Hands
Instagram: @kelkaypoetry Website: kelkaypoetry.com

Anna Maria Morris: A Love Poem for Myself
Instagram: @annamariamorris Website: annamariamorris.com

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Our guest this week is a Scotland, United Kingdom–based writer, poet, playwright, and author. Kestral Gaian, who is the author of four books, including their most recent poetry collection, Tubelines: The Poetry of Motion, available now via their website and wherever books are sold.

In our conversation, we trace Kestral’s parallel paths through creativity and technology — including a lengthy career in software and tech — and how those two worlds increasingly collide. That collision leads us into a thoughtful discussion of artificial intelligence, creative labor, and authorship, sparked by Kestral’s project justsayno.ai. We talk candidly about over-reliance on AI, creative disruption, and the growing concern that AI may help people produce writing without necessarily helping them become writers.

From there, we move into Kestral’s creative history: starting to write at the age of five, transitioning from storytelling into poetry, and grappling early on with questions of identity and representation. Growing up under the shadow of the UK’s Section 28 — legislation that erased queer stories from schools and libraries — profoundly shaped what felt possible to write. We talk about silence, visibility, and the long-term effects of being told certain stories shouldn’t exist.

The conversation then turns to Tubelines, a poetry collection written over five years and inspired by fifty encounters on the London Underground. We talk about people-watching, movement, routine, and the quiet humanity that reveals itself in shared spaces.

Contact Kestral:
Instagram: @kes.tr.al Website: kestr.al

Recorded Spoken Word Performances Featured Include:

Toni Payne – Let the Headline Scream
Instagram: @tonipaynequotes Website: tonipayneonline.com

Meccamorphosis – Thrift Shop
Instagram: @meccamorphosis Website: meccamorphosis.com

Asia Samson – As I Am
Instagram: @theasiaproject Website: theasiaproject.com

Christopher Diaz: Again
Instagram: @lightbulbchris Website: christopherdiazcreates.com

Matthew Cuban: Shotgun
Instagram: @matthewcuban Website: matthewcuban.com

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In Volume Six: Chapter Sixteen of The Program, we welcome Poet, Actor, Producer, Playwright, and Author of the new book Hair Me, Leslie Saint Julien. Making her third appearance on the podcast, Leslie returns to discuss the evolution of her personal and powerful stage project Hair Me: A Journey Through the Rich Tapestry of Black Hair and the book of the same name.

In this wide-ranging and honest conversation, Leslie shares how 2025 became a transformative year after a period of burnout and creative exhaustion, and what she’s learned about rest, resilience, and intention. We explore her journey from writing an award-winning poem to developing it into a one-woman stage play, complete with a companion book, script, and educational study guide designed for classrooms.

She opens up about the pressures Black women face when it comes to hair — not just in terms of aesthetics, but as a matter of survival, self-expression, and social perception. We dig into the emotional and cultural weight of “code-switching” one’s hairstyle, the complexity of navigating critique, and the behind-the-scenes work required to bring a theatrical vision to life.

Leslie is also the author of Brooklyn Stew and three poetry collections. A graduate of the University of Maryland with a degree in Criminology and Criminal Justice, she later studied acting at the New York Film Academy.

Contact Leslie:
Instagram: @lesliesainjulien Website: lesliesaintjulien.com

Recorded Spoken Word Performances Featured Include:

Destiny Birdsong – Killing White
Instagram: @bird_songoftheyear Website: destintbirdsong.com

Destiny Birdsong – Mythicona
Instagram: @bird_songoftheyear Website: destinybirdsong.com

Ray Jane – Spoils
Instagram: @itsrayjane Website: itsrayjane.com

Summer Durant: Same
Instagram: @summeraen

Ghetto Jedi the Poet: Strap Up

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In Volume Six: Chapter Fifteen of The Program, we welcome Educator, Community Activist, Poet, Performance Poet, and Author Barbara Fant, who is making her third appearance on the podcast.

Born in Youngstown, Ohio and now based in Los Angeles, Barbara is the author of three poetry collections Paint, Inside Out, Mouths of Garden, and her newest collection, Joy in the Belly of a Riot. For over a decade, she has led poetry workshops for incarcerated youth and adults, people in recovery, and survivors of human trafficking and domestic violence.

In this conversation, we talk about the journey of releasing a new book, returning home for her Ohio book launch, and the creative relationships that have shaped her path — including long-standing friendships formed through performance poetry and slam.

Barbara also shares what it means to be named a Recording Academy 2025 New Member, becoming a voting member for the Grammys, and how poetry, music, and performance continue to intersect in her life.

We dive into her slam and performance history, finding joy on the other side of trauma, and how Joy in the Belly of a Riot helped her arrive at a clearer understanding of who she is — fully embracing faith, poetry, and purpose without compartmentalizing any part of herself.

A thoughtful, honest, and wide-ranging conversation about art, healing, joy, and becoming.

Contact Barbara:
Instagram: @iambarbarafant Website: barbarafant.com

Recorded Spoken Word Performances Featured Include:

Sunshine Lombre – Daydream
Instagram: @ladylombre

Tonya Ingram – Monster
Instagram: @tonyainstagram

Theresa Davis – Why I Do This
Instagram: @shepiratepoet Website: artisttheresadavis.com

Barbara Fant: Brown Bodies Bending
Instagram: @iambarbarafant Website: barbarafant.com

Barbara Fant: Medicine
Instagram: @iambarbarafant Website: barbarafant.com

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In Volume Six: Chapter Fourteen of The Program, we welcome Candace Marquez Green, a Chicago-born and Chicago-based community activist, entrepreneur, writer, poet, and author of the new poetry collection, "In Glimpses and Reminisces". Candace holds a Bachelor’s degree in Entertainment Business, a Master of Arts in Public Relations, and a Master of Business Administration. She is the recipient of the 2022 Chicago Defender Woman of Excellence Award, was named one of Crain’s Chicago Business and Black Women’s Professional League 40 Under 40, and currently serves on the board of the Chicago Poetry Center, a nonprofit dedicated to expanding access to poetry across diverse communities throughout Chicago.

Our conversation explores the many layers of Candace’s creative identity, beginning with her long history in pageantry. She reflects on what pageantry taught her about discipline, confidence, access, and leadership, while also addressing the more complicated narratives often associated with the pageant world.

From there, we transition into her creative history and examine the parallels between pageantry and poetry — performance and vulnerability, composure and truth — and how those worlds have shaped, rather than contradicted, one another. Candace speaks openly about growing up on Chicago’s South Side, witnessing addiction, loss, and trauma within her family, and how writing became her earliest and most honest form of self-expression through journaling and poetry.

The conversation then turns to her newest poetry collection, a deeply personal work shaped by love, grief, resilience, and self-discovery. Candace shares the significance of writing much of the book during an intense creative period, and she also discusses the experience of self-publishing the collection and the pride she feels in releasing a book rooted in lived truth rather than polished performance.

This episode is a thoughtful conversation about identity, growth, and the long journey from learning how to be seen to learning how to speak — honestly and on one’s own terms.

Contact Candace:
Instagram: @chosenpoetic Website: candacegreen.net

Recorded Spoken Word Performances Featured Include:

Porsha O – Trigger
Instagram: @iamporsheolayiwola Website: porshaolayiwola

William Evans – For My Wife Who Fell In Love With A Ship Buried At Sea
Instagram: @williamevanswrites Website: williamthe3rd.com

Ephriam Nehemiah – Inheritance of a Broken Home
Instagram: @ephriamnehemiah

Alyesha Wise: Untitled: To Black Women
Instagram: @alyeshawise Website: alyeshawise.com

Kenneth Something: Rape Poem
Instagram: @saysomethingpoet

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