In this Season 10 finale of The Poet Speaks Podcast, host Amanda Eke sits with Muttertongue — Lillian Allen, Gary Barwin, and Gregory Betts — to explore poetry as sound, collaboration, and living archive. Their latest project, What Is a Word in Utter Space, is a sonic poetry LP that bends language beyond the page, inviting listeners into a layered soundscape where voice, rhythm, and experimentation converge. Together, we discuss the making of the album, the power of collective creation, and how ...
Jan 25, 2026•56 min•Season 10Ep. 7
Check out Amanda's conversation with Uche Nduka! Uche Nduka is a Nigerian American poet-pilgrim, collagist, and essayist presently living in New York City. He is the author of 15 volumes of poems of which the latest are BAINBRIDGE ISLAND NOTEBOOK(Roof Books, 2023) and TO UMBER(The Bodily Press,2025). A NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellow in Poetry, his writing has been translated into Italian, Finnish, Turkish, Arabic, Dutch, German, Serbo-Croat, Romanian. His essays on music, poetry, mortality, politics, ...
Jan 04, 2026•22 min•Season 10Ep. 6
Check out Amanda's conversation with Tiriq Rashad! A proud native of Atlantic City and Pleasantville, or “Atlantic-Ville” as he affectionately calls it, Tiriq Rashad draws deeply from his roots to craft a narrative style steeped in resilience, authenticity, and empathy. With a master’s degree in social work and a calling to heal through words, he has built a body of work that speaks to the soul while confronting life’s most difficult truths. His previous literary works, including his memoir A Di...
Dec 21, 2025•43 min•Season 10Ep. 5
Check out Amanda's conversation with Fatima-Ayan Malika Hirsi! Fatima's work strives to instigate action in service to world-building, social change, and collaboration. Her poems live in Obsidian: Literature & Arts in the African Diaspora, MAYDAY, Torch, Rise Up Review, and other portals. She is a fellow of the Pink Door Writing Retreat, the Anaphora Arts Writing Residency, In Surreal Life, and the Abode Virtual Summer Retreat. She is the author of the chapbooks EVERYTHING GOOD IS DYING and ...
Dec 14, 2025•48 min•Season 10Ep. 4
Check out Amanda's conversation with Erica Miriam Fabri! Erica Miriam Fabri is a Brooklyn-based poet. Her first book, Dialect of a Skirt, published by Hanging Loose Press (2010), was a finalist for the 2011 Paterson Poetry Prize and included on the list for: The Best Books of 2010 at About.com; and the bestseller lists for Small Press Distribution and the Poetry Foundation. Her second book, Morphology, (2025) was the winner of the Write Bloody Publishing Jack McCarthy book award. Her work has be...
Dec 07, 2025•49 min•Season 10Ep. 3
Check out Amanda's conversation with Keys Will! Keys Will is a poet, author, and educator whose pen-seasoned lines rise from lived experience and the work of becoming. Under her moniker Keys Will, she crafts poetry and prose with quiet power: inviting readers and listeners into spaces of healing, introspection, and reclamation. Her chapbook Chrysalis (and upcoming works) mark her as a vital contemporary voice reshaping what it means to season language with truth. Whether in classrooms, reading r...
Nov 30, 2025•43 min•Season 10Ep. 2
Season 10 of The Poet Speaks opens with a historic conversation with Richard Blanco, Presidential Inaugural Poet, award-winning author, educator, and cultural voice! Born in Spain to Cuban exile parents and raised in Miami, Richard has long explored the universal themes of home, identity, and belonging through his poetry, memoirs, and public work. In this episode, he and Amanda reflect on his journey as the youngest, first Latinx, immigrant, and openly gay Inaugural Poet, the meaning of home wit...
Nov 22, 2025•1 hr 7 min•Season 10Ep. 1
It's the SEASON 9 Finale! Check out Amanda's conversation with Mason Granger ! Mason Granger (he/him) is a spoken word artist with over a decade of experience on stages & in educational settings across all 50 states and nine countries. His work centers around matters of class, nature, and sustainability-- both of ourselves as human beings and the world we share-- all from an imaginative and forward-thinking perspective. As the inaugural Poet in Residence of the Schwarzenegger Institute at US...
May 04, 2025•1 hr 3 min•Season 9Ep. 6
Check out Amanda's conversation with Adela Najarro! Adela Najarro is the author of four poetry collections, including Volcanic Interruptions, which earned an Honorable Mention at the 2024 International Latino Book Awards. Her forthcoming collection, Variations in Blue, will be published in March 2025 by Letras Latinas/Red Hen Press. A California Arts Council Fellow, Najarro is a passionate advocate for Latine/x arts and social justice, serving on the board of Círculo de Poetas and Writers. She ...
Apr 27, 2025•37 min•Season 9Ep. 5
Check out Amanda's conversation with Yetvart S. Majian! Yetvart S. Majian, a first-generation Armenian-American native of Hudson County and Saint Peter’s University alum, is a local poetry facilitator, active performer and literary organizer in the tristate area. Yetvart's Links: @emajian CHECK OUT AMANDA'S NEW TV SHOW: The Poet Speaks with Amanda Eke! Now airing on the Archaeology Channel and Roku! STREAM HERE: https://heritagetac.org/programs/the-poet-speaks-with-amanda-eke-i28z2vn9bsc?categor...
Apr 20, 2025•49 min•Season 9Ep. 4
Check out Amanda's conversation with Larry Love! Larry Love is a dynamic professional spoken word artist who performs powerful pieces of poetry with an urgent intent to highlight the need for social change. He is also the Writer, Producer and Director of several spoken Word musical stage plays which center on love and the unpredictability of relationships. As founder and CEO of the entertainment and outreach organization, Creative Love Network, Larry believes that poetry, music and the arts can ...
Apr 13, 2025•33 min•Season 9Ep. 3
Check out Amanda's conversation with Shay.thepoet ! Shataysha Byrd was born and raised in the Bronx, New York. Shataysha originally started poetry in fifth grade but did not get the courage to perform in front of an audience until 20 years old. After the first performance, she knew the stage was her home from that moment on. Then the pandemic took a different turn in the world that stopped many different artists from performing and or producing. This did not stop Shay.thepoet, it instead has ope...
Apr 06, 2025•36 min•Season 9Ep. 2
Welcome to Season 9! Check out Amanda's conversation with Brandon Leake! Brandon Leake is the season 15 winner of America’s Got Talent, a 7x Telly Award Winner, 1x SOVAS Award Winner, and 1x Emmy Award Winner. Brandon has been a Poetic Performer, Keynote Speaker, and Workshop leader for over a decade, traveling locations such as: New Zealand, Canada, Mexico, South Africa, and 42 States. Brandon has collaborated with companies such as Meta, CBS, California Hospital Association, Good Morning Ameri...
Mar 30, 2025•46 min•Season 9Ep. 1
It's our Season 8 Finale! Check out Amanda's conversation with Regie Cabico! Regie Cabico is a spoken word pioneer having won The Nuyorican Poets Cafe Grand Slam. Mr. Cabico was a featured poet at the 2022 Whitney Biennial and received the 2006 Writers for Writers Award from Poets & Writers. Television credits include HBO’s Def Poetry Jam, TEDx & NPR’s Snap Judgement. He is a teaching artist at the Kennedy Center for the Arts and is one of the inaugural recipients of the 2023 James Baldw...
Dec 15, 2024•37 min•Season 8Ep. 10
Check out Amanda's conversation with Thomas Fucaloro! The winner of numerous grants from the Staten Island Council of the Arts, the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, NYC Office for the Prevention of Hate Crimes and NYC Commission of Human Rights to name a few. Thomas Fucaloro has been on six national slam teams. He holds an MFA in creative writing from the New School and is a co-founding editor of Great Weather for Media and NYSAI press. He is an adjunct professor at Wagner College, BMCC and C...
Dec 08, 2024•39 min•Season 8Ep. 9
Check out Amanda's conversation with LaTasha Diggs! A writer, vocalist and performance/sound artist, LaTasha N. Nevada Diggs is the author of Village (Coffee House Press 2023), TwERK (Belladonna, 2013) as well as the co-editor of Coon Bidness . Diggs has presented and performed at California Institute of the Arts, El Museo del Barrio, The Museum of Modern Art, and Walker Art Center and at festivals including: Explore the North Festival, Leeuwarden, Netherlands; Hekayeh Festival, Abu Dhabi; Inter...
Dec 01, 2024•46 min•Season 8Ep. 8
Check out Amanda's conversation with Ralonda Simmons! Ralonda Simmons is a speaker, published author, educator, and singer born in California but residing in the Denver metro area. She received her BA from Metropolitan State University of Denver, and her MS from Boise State University. She’s also a proud graduate of two seasons of the Community Literature Initiative out of Los Angeles. As an artist and wanderer, her mission is to be an example of authentic expression and hard-won wisdom in the f...
Nov 24, 2024•38 min•Season 8Ep. 7
Check out Amanda's conversation with Miguel Martin Perez! Miguel Martin Perez (he/they) is a queer Afro-Dominican poet raised in Harlem and the South Bronx. He is a Cave Canem Fellow, a 2022 Langston Hughes Fellow at the Palm Beach Poetry Festival, and an alum of the Tin House Winter Workshop. His work has received the Leslie McGrath Poetry Prize in 2023, the Pacific Spirit Poetry Prize in 2021, and was a finalist for the 2022 Mississippi Review Poetry Prize. His poems appear or are forthcoming ...
Nov 17, 2024•44 min•Season 8Ep. 6
Check out Amanda's conversation with Siggy Trust! Sagirah “Siggy” Layne is an Accountant and poet/spoken word artist of Grenadian descent, from Brooklyn, NY. She started her accounting career as an auditor at Ernst & Young over 10 years ago in NY before moving to CA and switching to tax. She began performing spoken word over 6 years ago after moving to CA, although she’s been writing since she was a young girl. She’s now a bi-coastal girlie living, writing, and performing in both NY and CA. ...
Nov 03, 2024•42 min•Season 8Ep. 5
Check out Amanda's conversation with Nerd The Poet! Dominic “Nerd” McDonald also known as Nerd the Poet, is a young Black Entrepreneur and Spoken Word artist from various cities in Los Angeles, California who relocated to the DC Metro area in 2019. He has put his views on growing up in the inner city between two households, his Hip Hop music obsession, college experiences, and more into Poetry and Spoken Word. His first poetry book "The Love Song of D. Nerd McDonald" was written in 2015 and by 2...
Oct 27, 2024•43 min•Season 8Ep. 4
Check out Amanda's conversation with Anastasia Lindsey! Anastasia Lindsey is an award-winning author and self-taught poet, native to IL. Her work explores the ways in which relationships shape us in specific and universal ways, the waves of human emotions, the healing journey, and the transformational power of love. She is also a photographer, creative, singer, and artist. Her book, O C E A N, has received much recognition across the US and is available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. She take...
Oct 20, 2024•35 min•Season 8Ep. 3
Check out Amanda's conversation with Marlana-Patrice Pugh Hamer! Marlana-Patrice Pugh Hamer (She/Her) is an award-winning poet, writer, performer, public speaker, educator, and volunteer/activist. She has a BA in English. Also, an MEd in Curriculum & Instruction. Her poetry and nonfiction have appeared in various anthologies. Most recently, Dimepiece: Ten Years of CLI Poetry. Her debut poetry collection is Taking Off My Black & White Saddle Shoes: Cleveland Poems. It is a memoir in verse...
Oct 13, 2024•39 min•Season 8Ep. 2
Check out Amanda's conversation with Tess Taylor! Tess Taylor’s body of work deals with place, ecology, memory and cultural reckoning. She’s published five celebrated poetry collections: The Misremembered World, The Forage House, Last West: Roadsongs for Dorothea Lange, and Rift Zone, one of the Boston Globe’s best books of 2020. Her book Work & Days was one of the NY Times best poetry books of 2016. In fall 2023, she published the anthology Leaning Toward Light: Poems for Gardens and the Ha...
Oct 06, 2024•43 min•Season 8Ep. 1
It's the Season 7 Finale! Check out Amanda's conversation with Moyosolaoluwa Olowokure! Moyosolaoluwa Olowokure is a Nigerian poet, model, digital creator, and recording artiste whose work explores psychology, spirituality, and romance. Her works have graced African Creatives’ platforms such as, the Aké Festival, LIPFEST, KABAFEST, BellaNaija, and Drummr Africa. She is also known for her commissioned work with NGOs and brands across Nigeria. Off the stage, Moyosola’s online community has grown t...
Jun 23, 2024•24 min•Season 7Ep. 8
Check out Amanda's conversation with Benin Lemus! Benin Lemus (she|her) is an LA-based poet and educator. Born in La Mesa, California, and raised in Portland, Oregon, she has called many places home, including North Carolina where she attended Bennett College for Women, an HBCU where she earned a degree in English Literature. Her debut poetry collection, Dreaming in Mourning, is published by World Stage Press. She is a 2022 Inaugural Workshop Fellow with Obsidian Magazine’s O|Sessions: Black Lis...
Jun 16, 2024•52 min•Season 7Ep. 7
Check out Amanda's conversation with Estee Marie! Estee is a multitalented artist, educator, and leader who has dedicated her life to sharing the transformative power of art with others. With a name meaning "star," Estee shines brightly in a variety of creative endeavors, including publishing a poetry collection, "These Dry Bones," which shares the story of how she overcame childhood trauma; and hosting a spoken word TV show, "SPEAK," that aired on Time Warner Cable's Faith on Demand channel. Af...
Jun 09, 2024•33 min•Season 7Ep. 6
Check out Amanda's conversation with Tyler Lenn Bradley! Tyler Lenn Bradley (she/her) is a motivational poet and mental health advocate. Tyler strives to inspire others to thrive in the art of self-love and persevere towards their dreams with joy. Recently, Tyler’s debut poetry collection ‘Phasing Freely,’ was published by Alegria Publishing. In her book, Tyler explores her personal mental health journey through the many phases of the moon, inviting readers to excavate and examine the craters of...
Jun 02, 2024•37 min•Season 7Ep. 5
Check out Amanda's conversation with Milissajoi! Milissajoi is a 17-year-old spoken word poet and two-time LA Youth Poet Laureate finalist. Her achievements include being featured in the 2023 and 2024 Pan African Film Festival Spoken Word Fest, graduating from the 2022 California State Summer School of the Arts and earning her associates degree in Business while in high school. Milissajoi's links: https://www.instagram.com/milissajoi.spoken?igsh=MTVsMzNxa2hzYXN1Yw== Be sure to check out The Poet...
May 26, 2024•34 min•Season 7Ep. 4
Check out Amanda's conversation with Neha Misra! Neha Misra नेहा मिश्रा (she/her) is a first-generation immigrant poet, a contemporary eco-folk artist, and an award winning climate justice advocate. Neha’s Mother Earth wisdom centered interdisciplinary studio rooted in her Global Majority lineage embodies the transformative power of art to build bridges between private, collective, planetary healing and justice. Neha is a 2023-35 Hamiltonian Artists Fellow. She has been honored as a Presidential...
May 19, 2024•53 min•Season 7Ep. 3
Check out Amanda's conversation with Krystle May Statler! Krystle May Statler is a Black-multiracial artist and designer with an MFA in Writing from Otis College of Art & Design. She is the author of Prayer for Relief and lives in Portland, OR with her partner, Kevin Thomas. Krystle's links: https://krystlemaystatler.com/ Be sure to check out The Poet Speaks Podcast on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thepoetspeakspodcast/ And listen to,The Poet Speaks Podcast, on the go on ALL STREAMING...
May 12, 2024•41 min•Season 7Ep. 2
