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Mukherjee, Dipika 2022

Wednesday, October 19, 2022
Blue Hour Reading Series with Willie Lin and Dipika Mukherjee
Haymarket House

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Migration, Exile…these are men’s words.
Women have always been torn up
like rice seedlings to be replanted
in marriage (or another name);
my language weeps its wedding melodies
in many dialects, many tunes
In my next life, O God, don’t make me a daughter:

– Dipika Mukherjee, “Migration, Exile…These Are Men’s Words”

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Watch Dipika Mukherjee’s 2022 reading with Willie Lin at the Chicago Poetry Center:

Dipika Mukherjee begins at 27:45 minutes.

The floor is red cement, cool
in Calcutta heat, the borders black
diamonds under bare feet.
A fierce grandfatherly snore
and the newsprint whirs
to the floor, stirred by a fan.
Up the steps, creeping past
the mezzanine. The women’s room
reveals itself by a hushed giggle.

– Dipika Mukherjee, “Sleep”

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Watch Dipika Mukherjee share poems from her book Dialect of Distant Harbors:

Read Dipika Mukherjee’s interview with Chicago Review of Books:

Outward Explorations and Interior Journeys: A Conversation with Dipika Mukherjee – Chicago Review of Books

An interview with Dipika Mukherjee on her new book of poems, “Dialect of Distant Harbors”

More info on Dipika Mukherjee⇒

Bennett, Keisha KJ Light 2022

Tuesday, September 27, 2022
Poetry @ the Green with Keisha KJ Light Bennett and Brittanii’ Batts
320 S. Canal

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Growing up, I used to be fascinated with creating my own “out of the box home.”

I’d find boxes, tape them together and stack them on top of each other.

I’d go outside and create fortresses out of trees and branches. I’d sit in it’s darkness and imagine myself shaping images.

I’d go in my closet, in the crease between a tub of clothes and the wall, close my eyes and imagine myself with super powers,
flying and bending fire with my hands.

– Keisha Janae, “Out of the Box Home”

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Watch Keisha Janae discuss her project “Trust in Life”:

More info on Keisha Janae⇒

Ratzabi, Hila 2022

Wednesday, September 21, 2022
Blue Hour Reading Series with Faylita Hicks and Hila Ratzabi
Haymarket House

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We fear from afar
The brutal waste of war
The extravagant arrogance of power.
We rage at the rage of men
Who refuse to see you, or rather,
Choose to see through you and thereby
Refuse to see themselves.

– Hila Ratzabi, “We See You: For Ukraine”

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Watch Hila Ratzabi’s 2022 reading with Faylita Hicks at the Chicago Poetry Center:

Hila Ratzabi begins at 42:51 minutes.

When I heard the explosions I was watching TV
after putting the kids to bed. There was nothing on
and I didn’t feel like checking the news,
dear God, because how could I want
to hear, over and over again,
the same story. While falling asleep
my son said, “I have so many stories
in my pocket to tell you.” Someone’s son,
another one, is dead. All his stories
folded up inside the quiet earth.

– Hila Ratzabi, “Prayer for Solomon Teka”

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Watch Hila Ratzabi perform at the Bowery Poetry Club:

Read Oak Park Public Library’s Feature on Hila Ratzabi:

Poet Hila Ratzabi is exploring the big questions & speaking for Earth

By Kristen Romanowski, Staff Writer & Editor Hila Ratzabi became a poet at age 7. As a New York City kid growing up in Queens, she was composing poems

More info on Hila Ratzabi⇒

Hicks, Faylita 2022

Wednesday, September 21, 2022
Blue Hour Reading Series with Faylita Hicks and Hila Ratzabi
Haymarket House

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The highway swells like tide and I lie awake, willing
dozens of wheels to swerve loose of the pile-up
I know is coming, always comes, when I am away,
being Black and bothered.

– Faylita Hicks, “ASMR Sleepcast: The Night After Being Released from the Rural County Jail”

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Watch Faylita Hicks’ 2022 reading with Hila Ratzabi at the Chicago Poetry Center:

Faylita Hicks begins at 8:17 minutes.

You should know this city
thirsts for copper-
tinged sediment & meat
fresh from the workers
of the dying farms & fields.
Sick without a steady flux
of salt-leaking star-beaten
bodies, this city turns
in on itself & chews
on my sisters

– Faylita Hicks, “Before Moving to Austin”

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Watch Faylita Hicks perform at The Tobin:

Read Faylita Hicks’ interview with The Rumpus:

A Time and a Place: Talking with Faylita Hicks – The Rumpus

Faylita Hicks discusses her debut poetry collection, HOODWITCH.

More info on Faylita Hicks⇒

Pastard, Sabrina 2022

Tuesday, September 20, 2022
Poetry @ the Green with Sabrina Pastard
320 S. Canal

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In this world there is
Sweetness
Like mangos
Like “let me cook for you”
Like a helping hand
Like the hug you never want to end
Like the look that reads love
Like what you’re about to find
between your lovers thighs
Like the spoon full of sugar
that makes the world go round

– Sabrina Pastard, “Sweetness”

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Watch Sabrina Pastard’s MFA gallery showcase:

We rareley saw the sun together
we were a part of the night
mosiquitos and
deep conversations
of just silly questions
of another story
of our sanity
the only yellow we know
is the glow of the street lights

– Sabrina Pastard, “Yellow”

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Visit Sabrina Pastard’s website⇒

Shafer, Michelle 2022

Tuesday, September 13, 2022
Poetry @ the Green with Michelle Shafer
320 S. Canal

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Watch Michelle Shafer’s performance of her song “Never Blue” at Poetry @ the Green:

Check out Michelle Shafer’s latest album Scattered Light:

Read this review of Michelle Shafer’s song “Stranger”:

Michelle Shafer Releases “Stranger”

The first couple of bars in any track as essential to setting up a mood, and Michelle Shafer doesn’t come into her new single “Stranger” with any degree of hesitance at all. With her voice as the centerpiece of the music, she creates a melodic bedrock for this single that sprawls across the whole of…

More info on Michelle Shafer⇒

Aldana, Christian 2022

Tuesday, September 6, 2022
Poetry @ the Green with Christian Aldana
320 S. Canal

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This is what joy looks like:
palm to palm, radiant, mga kasama.
Sing like every tomorrow is infinite,
each one of us a river, a rush, a dream.

Palm to palm, radiant, mga kasama
smile wide and drink sunlight.
Each one of us a river, a rush, a dream
unfurling into a monumental sea.

– Christian Aldana, “Pantoum for 2032”

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Watch Christian Aldana’s performance for Filipino American History Month:

Luya Set – Chris, Gilary & Lorenze from Caroline Olsen on Vimeo.

They will come to the door in broad daylight. Because they can.

When the sun is high and shining, and Chicago summer feels like it will never end

They will wait in the street.

They will knock.

– Christian Aldana, “Know Your Rights When ICE Comes to Your Door”

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More info on Christian Aldana⇒

Almandina, Melissa Castro 2022

Tuesday, August 30, 2022
Poetry @ the Green with Melissa Castro Almandina
320 S. Canal

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My father used to take me across time,
It came with us when we took the bus from Guadaliajara to Michoacán where
I sought scorpions, I hunted them, like I hunted ghosts
I was 4.

– Melissa Castro Almandina, “Because I Taught Myself How to Read English”

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Trapped monarchs die inside
Before they become dust
It is cruel to see a monarch in
A cage, winged flesh ripped
In the name of nationalism
In keeping the wings white
What a cruel vision
To see fluttering dreams
Encased.

– Melissa Castro Almandina, “Children of the Dead”

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Check out this book review of “The Breakbeat Poets Vol. 4: LatiNext,” featuring poetry by Melissa Castro Almandina:

“The Breakbeat Poets Vol. 4: LatiNext” Celebrates Latinx Community and Future-Building

“Writing, for me, is a way of reimagining that which I’ve experienced and creating something new. It’s a way of future-building. It’s a way of taking back agency. Each time I do this in my writing, I think it makes me a little more free.”

Visit Melissa Castro Almandina’s website⇒