John Roche is a New Mexico poet. His books include Road Ghosts, The Joe Poems, On Conesus, and Topicalities. He's also edited a number of anthologies, taught at the Rochester Institute of Technology and Michigan State, and holds an MA from the University College Dublin, Ireland.

Pen and Poet

John Roche - Albuquerque Poet and Author of Road Ghosts

Bill Nevins is a New Mexican poet who is also an educator, social worker, journalist, and farmer. He is author of the book Heartbreak Ridge and other poems out with Swimming with Elephants Publications and his poetry can also be found in countless places like Central Avenue, The Rag, Maple Leaf Rag.

Bill Nevins - New Mexico poet and author of Heartbreak Ridge

Chibbi is a poet, actor, singer, and make up artist currently residing in San Antonio TX. He is the author of two books at the moment, Where the Wild Things Grow and Otro/Patria. And he is the founder of Laredo Border Slam, which started in 2010.

Chibbi Orduna - Texas Poet and author of Otro/Patria

Bassam was a rapper, then page poet, then spoken word artist from Toronto, and is now the National Director for speakNORTH, formerly Spoken Word Canada. They are the National Poetry Slam Champion at the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word in 2016 with the Guelph (pronounce Gwealth) Poetry Slam team, Canadian Individual Poetry Slam finalist in 2017, and has two books out by Swimming with Elephants Publications “disaster in die * an overdose sunrise” and “bliss in die / unbinging the underglow” and a collection through GenZ Publishing “_nil:/per.OS: seppuku|smiles & songs for sarah”, and a proud Auntie.

Bassam - Toronto Poet and Author of bliss in die / unbinging the underglow

Mela Blust is the social media coordinator for Animal Heart Press, poetry reader for The Rise Up Review, and contributing editor for Barren Magazine. Her work can be found all over the place, not the least of which is The Bitter Oleander, Rust+Moth, Califragile, Setu Magazine, and Rhythm & Bones Lit. She has one book out so far called Skeleton Parade through APEP Publications.

Mela Blust - Pennsylvania Poet and Author of Skeleton Parade

Joshua Merritt is a spoken word poet whose love of the human experience, food metaphors, and grey areas propelled him into the poetry slam scene. He has shared his work in a few slams across the country, and currently calls Portland, Oregon home. You can find his work recorded here for the first time on this podcast, and may see forthcoming work at poetry venues around Portland.

Joshua Merritt

For the last three years Cathy has performed slam poetry in New Mexico. She tied for second at the 2018 Southwest Shootout in the individual category and was the 2018 Lobo Slam Champion. Her work is published in Raven Chronicles and 3Elements Literary Review and is forthcoming in Roanoke Review, and Toe Good. Her poetry is inspired by the body of the land and by the landscape of her body. Find more work at rewritereread.wordpress.com. Find her zines at Bookworks or Astrozombies. If you are a poet and want to be on the show find me on Facebook, Twitter, or email me at rene.mullen@gmail.com. 

Cathy Cook

Jack Tapestry has been a slam poet for two decades. Tapestry came from Oklahoma City, resides in Albuquerque, and his poetry is amazingly gut wrenching and powerful. He’s also a comedian and over all performance master.  You can find Jack Tapestry on Youtube and at poetry and comedy events throughout Albuquerque.  Tapestry is also on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.   

Jack Tapestry

Gina Marselle is not only a poet but a high school teacher, mother, wife, and photographer. You can find her work in many places like the Alibi, the Rag, Adobe Walls, among others. She’s author of the book of poetry called A Fire of Prayer: a Collection of Poetry and Photography. And her photography can be found, among other places, in A Fire of Prayer and also the book of poetry, September, by Katrina Guarascio (or Katrina Crespin, who we’ve had on the show already).

Gina Marselle

I sit and speak with Jules Nyquist, traditional and spoken word New Mexico poet, about her new book "Homesick, then", about life, loss, healing, family, and of course shares some of her poetry.  Jules Nyquist is the founder of Jules’ Poetry Playhouse, LLC, a place for poetry and play in Albuquerque, NM, which also is the umbrella for Jules’ Poetry Playhouse Publications.  In 2017, three books by women were published, with future tiles in 2018. Jules is a native Minnesotan and moved to Albuquerque on spring equinox 2011. Jules teaches creative writing and poetry classes and hosts poetry readings with visiting writers. She took her MFA in Writing and Literature from Bennington College, VT. Her two books of poems, Behind the Volcanoes and Appetites (Beatlick Press), were finalists for the NM/AZ Book Awards.   Her latest book is Homesick, then which is a poetic memoir of the life and death of her parents and deals with caretaking issues and also domestic violence suffered by her grandmother. Jules’ poems have appeared in 5 AM, Salamander, Malpais Review, Adobe Walls, A View from the Loft, St. Paul Almanac, Long Islander News, Gray Sparrow, House Organ, Duke City Fix, Café Review and others. She is co-editor of the Poets Speak Anthology series by Jules’ Poetry Playhouse Publications and Beatlick Press.

Jules Nyquist

Zachary Kluckman is an award winning poet. Named the 2015 and 2016 Slam Organizer of the Year, 2014 Slam Artist of the Year at the National Poetry Awards. They've been on national slam stages as an individual and as part of a group, including the Rumble Room team that went to Southern Fried Poetry Slam in 2017. At SoFried, Kluckman lead 3 newbies (me, Robin Reynolds, and Anna Martinez). A founding organizer the 100 Thousand Poets for Change program. Author of Per-City Poems, Animals in Our Flesh, Some of it is Muscle, and , one of the 4 poets in Rumble Room Volume 1, and has published at least 100 poems in various publications outside of these 4 collections.

Zachary Kluckman

Performance poet Rowie Shebala talks about her time on many final stages representing several different cities around the US, family, her life as a Native American in the Southwest, and as always, shares some of her poetry. 

Rowie Shebala

Poet and managing editor for Swimming With Elephants Publishings Katrina Crespin talks about her life as a poet, an editor for an Albuquerque small press company, her growth as both a traditional and performance poet, and reads some of her poems.  You can find Katrina Crespin's work under her maiden name Katrina Guarascio at SwimmingWithElephants.com. Her works include 'my verse', 'The Fall of a Sparrow', and 'September: traces of letting go'.

Katrina Crespin

Paulie Lipman is a performer, writer, and poet who’s been on national poetry slam finals stages, has been on the slam scene for 16 years, and recently published a chapbook with Swimming with Elephants Publications called “from below/denied the light.” Paulie is published in journals and some of their performances can be found on Youtube. Paulie is currently touring the US and taking bookings as of March 15, 2018. You can purchase “from below/denied the light” from Amazon here, find Paulie and some of their tour dates here, or find Paulie on Twitter and Instagram as well. 

Paulie Lipman

Performance poet Mercedez Holtry talks about her two poetry collections, what it's like to be a Chicana poet, how she got involved in poetry slam, and of course, shares some of her art. You can find her books My Blood is Beautiful and, just release in February of 2018, her newest collection I Bloomed a Resistance from my Mouth at SwimmingWithElephants.com. 

Mercedez Holtry

Intimate conversations and readings with poets, both page and stage. The show that proves poetry can, and should, be accessible to everyone.

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John Roche - Albuquerque Poet and Author of Road Ghosts

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